#Ismail Tech

[spaberrygorakhpur0]

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[news4dzhozhar]

[mariacallous]

On March 11, Syrian farmer Ali Ahmad Barakat was driving a tractor to his fields in the fertile rebel-held lands of the Al-Ghab plain, just a few miles away from the front line with Assadist forces. For years, Al-Ghab’s farmers had refused to let the violence scare them away from working their fields.

But Barakat was about to become the next victim of a terrifying new Syrian Army-piloted weapon: a dirt-cheap, kit-built suicide drone.

Attacking civilians with drones isn’t new, but until recently, the vast majority of these attacks were carried out by more expensive long- and medium-range drones specifically designed for military purposes—characteristics that limited them to a small number of actors worldwide.

Armed groups such as the Islamic State began to experiment with small, cheap, off-the-shelf and custom-built drones in the 2010s, taking advantage of the consumer drone boom, but their attacks were largely focused on military targets and objectives.

Now, the picture has changed.

Small, inexpensive drones have become an indispensable tool on modern battlefields, as combatants come up with ever more creative ways to use these tiny flying robots. Inspired by these tactics, some fighters in conflicts from Myanmar to Syria are starting to use drone warfare techniques recently refined in the Russo-Ukrainian War, such as the use of tiny and ultra-fast suicide drones crafted from cheap hobby racing kits, as well as consumer camera drones rigged to drop explosives, to target, kill, and terrorize civilians.

And we don’t know how to stop them.

Since Russia first invaded Ukraine in early 2022, I’ve been monitoring the crucial role of small drone technology in the conflict, motivated by the hope that better understanding drone warfare tactics might make it easier to protect civilians from their dangers.

This March, the Syrian White Helmets civil defense group contacted me. According to their information (which has been published in a recent report), more and more civilians in the rebel-held front-line areas were getting attacked with small suicide drones. According to a number of sources, Russian military specialists had recently begun training Syrian Army forces to use both first-person-view (FPV) suicide drones and anti-drone guns. Russia’s drone warfare techniques were beginning to spread.

The attacks have shocked even hardened medics. One White Helmets volunteer, Ali Obied, was in the first group of medical workers to arrive on the scene after Barakat was killed. “When we reached the site, we saw how the suicide drone attacked the driver directly—it killed him and slaughtered him into pieces. We collected the pieces of the driver one by one,” he said. They were forced to withdraw quickly from the scene when, over a walkie-talkie, a spotter informed them that other drones were hovering nearby.

Another volunteer, Walid Abdeen, responded to an attack on April 16 that hit multiple civilian cars and a public market, injuring five people. He was confident that a suicide drone was the culprit, an observation backed up by other witnesses who saw the drone in the air before impact.  “When suicide drones explode, nothing remains from it, just small pieces—but the sound of the drone is the same as those drones used by journalists,” Abdeen said.

The volunteers agreed that this similarity to peaceful drones was a problem. “It’s difficult for civilians to differentiate between them in the sky, and all of a sudden, they attack someone—a house, a center, or a car,” said Ismail Alabdullah, a media coordinator and volunteer for the White Helmets.

“Those drones, if they want to kill someone who is walking to his school, or even the White Helmets, if they’re returning to their [medical] centers—the drones can find individuals, attack the centers, kill directly,” Alabdullah added. “We have experience with mortars, rockets, and artillery shelling attacks. But this new weapon is incredibly dangerous because it is so precise and cheap to develop.”

White Helmets representatives say dozens of these FPV drone attacks are happening each week. Thanks to the terror spread by these relentless attacks, civilians who have hung on in Syria’s border regions for years are finally beginning to leave.

These drone-powered mechanisms for spreading mass civilian terror aren’t restricted to Syria: They are also on the rise in Ukraine. Targeted attacks by Russian drones on Ukrainian civilians rose dramatically this summer. And while top U.N. officials condemned this uptick in attacks to the Security Council in March, the onslaught shows no signs of stopping.

From July 1 to 21 alone, I collected 34 separate cases of alleged attacks on Ukrainian civilians by Russian drones, drawing from open-source information posted by official sources in the Ukrainian government. As in Syria, most attacks in Ukraine seem to be taking place near the front lines, where relatively short-range FPV racing and consumer drones can reach, and with the same goal of spreading terror.

On July 2nd, a Ukrainian woman was reportedly injured by an FPV drone while she stood in her backyard in Berislava. Days later, on July 11th, authorities reported that two female volunteers were injured after a Russian FPV drone hit a humanitarian aid delivery point in Stanislav. Then, on July 18th, Kherson Oblast’s governor reported that a 74-year-old man in Oleksandrivka was killed by a Russian drone attack – one of a number of older civilian victims.

Some attacks have hit moving civilian vehicles, including minibuses and personal cars—and a number of clearly marked humanitarian and medical vehicles. On Jan. 26, Ukrainian media reported that a Russian FPV drone had attacked a marked car belonging to an aid worker working with a NGO connected to the U.N. Refugee Agency’s humanitarian mission, destroying the car. A journalist who was riding in the vehicle said that it was “very likely that the operator could see the labels on the car.”

Later, on May 29, a Russian drone attack killed a Ukrainian ambulance driver and seriously injured his wife (who had been riding in the vehicle). Soon after, on June 8, Oleksandr Prokudin, the governor of Kherson oblast, reported that after a spate of shelling in the vicinity of Bilozerka, a Russian drone had attacked an ambulance that arrived on the scene to help, injuring the driver.

The tactic has spread beyond Ukraine and Syria. In Gaza, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports that Israel has increasingly turned to small quadcopters to attack civilians and journalists, while Palestinian sources in Rafah told AFP in June that they lived in fear of “quadcopter drones, which mercilessly target anyone walking.” Israel has long used consumer-type quadcopters and racing drones for military purposes, including to drop tear gas on protesters in Gaza in 2018 and to counter so-called fire balloons sent from Gaza during the same period.

In Myanmar, rebel groups fighting the military junta have become adept at using small, cheap consumer and custom-built drones for both intelligence-gathering and for attacks. In recent months, Myanmar’s junta has begun to catch up: In September and October 2023, villagers in the Sagaing region said they were repeatedly attacked by bomb-dropping regime drones.

In another incident this July, the Insecurity Insight NGO reported that armed Myanmar military drones attacked a health center in the Sagaing region, killing a midwife, her two-year-old child, and at least five patients affiliated with the local resistance forces, as well as injuring at least 15. The patients who were killed reportedly had been injured in an earlier military drone attack, and had been seeking care for their injuries at the time

Mexico’s drug cartels, too, have become frequent users of consumer and DIY drones in recent years, both for smuggling and for terrorism. Like Bashar al-Assad’s forces, the cartels appear to view these sudden, shocking drone attacks as an effective way to terrorize civilians into ceding strategically valuable territory. In May 2023, more than 600 people were reportedly displaced from communities in Mexico’s Guerrero state due to cartel drone attacks, and attacks since then in the state have reportedly killed civilians and targeted local schools.

These tactics are spreading, and there is little guidance for civilians, including journalists and aid workers, on how to deal with them. Most existing writing on the subject is geared toward attacks from larger, more powerful, and stealthier long-range military drones.

Thankfully, there are some things the international community can start doing today.

National and international bodies and organizations concerned with civilian protection, such as the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, should come together to strategize around how best to protect people from small drone attacks. These groups should loudly condemn the terrorist attacks and investigate possible violations of international humanitarian law—as well as sponsoring the research and reporting needed to better understand the problem.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has led to the rapid development of new technologies for detecting drone radio signals in the air, new tools for electronically disabling drones, and a wide variety of other basic drone defense tactics (including the revelation that you can hide from thermal sensors by throwing a yoga mat over your head). Perhaps some of these tools and tactics could be adopted for civilian use.

Finally, we need more collective clarity around the legality of attacks on civilians with small drones under international humanitarian law as well as the legality of civilian efforts to defend themselves. Currently, interpretation of the law doesn’t adequately account for tiny flying robots in combat. As I wrote with my colleague Ossama A. Zaqqout in 2018 (and again in 2022), the presence of identical-looking small drones in the airspace over today’s conflicts makes it very hard for people on the ground to tell whose drone is whose.

Under international humanitarian law’s principle of distinction, combatants must distinguish themselves from civilians—but unlike manned aircraft, drones are too small to carry marks visible from the ground, and they can’t respond to radio checks. We need better solutions to avoid these cases of mistaken identity.

There’s also uncertainty around how humanitarian law might apply to civilian efforts to anticipate—and defend themselves against—drone attacks. Will civilians lose their noncombatant status if they use counterterrorism tools against small drones? Do civilians lose protection if they monitor radio waves for armed drone presence and report that information to combatants—or if they post that information online in a public place?

As is the case with so many other novel consumer technologies, we’ve swiftly figured out how to use drones both to help humanity and to hurt it. But civilians aren’t doomed to be easy targets—as long as we summon the international will to find ways to protect them.

[beardedmrbean]

The 13-year-old boy should have been in school last Thursday, instead of sitting in a police station in central Gothenburg. But police say he fired shots outside the offices of Israeli tech firm Elbit Systems.

“He was basically caught in the act,” said police spokesman August Brandt, who said the shots were being investigated as an “attempted murder and weapons offence”.

Kalleback on the outskirts of Gothenburg is a fairly sleepy residential neighbourhood with upmarket developments, a supermarket and a few offices.

Nobody was hurt and little more is known about why a child might have opened fire on an otherwise quiet Thursday morning, outside an Israeli company that sells defence and homeland security solutions.

But this was no isolated incident. In fact there have been several this year.

Earlier this month, Israel’s embassies were targeted both in Sweden and neighbouring Denmark.

First there was a shooting outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, then two Swedish teenagers aged 16 and 19 were arrested in Copenhagen after hand grenades were detonated near the embassy there.

Nobody was hurt, but Sweden's security service Sapo said immediately that Iran may have had a hand in both. Sapo head of operations Fredrik Hallstrom said Tehran’s involvement was an “objective hypothesis”.

Months ago Sapo accused Iran of recruiting Swedish gang members to carry out attacks on Israeli or Jewish interests.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the allegations as “unfounded and biased” and based on what it labelled misinformation emanating from Israel.

Many of the suspects have been teenagers, and some as young as 13 and 14.

“To understand why we see young Swedish teenagers attacking Israeli companies and embassies we need to first acknowledge that we have had an ongoing gang conflict here in Sweden for a long time,” says Diamant Salihu, an investigative crime journalist with Swedish public service television SVT.

One of Sweden’s most violent criminal gangs, known as Foxtrot, has brought a wave of violence to the streets of Sweden, often involving teenagers tasked with criminal errands ranging from shooting at the door of a rival, to detonating explosives to contract killings.

That spiralled in 2023 when Foxtrot gang leader Rawa Majid entered into a deadly feud with Ismail Abdo, a former friend who had become leader of a rival gang known as Rumba.

When Abdo’s mother was murdered at her home in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, in September last year, it opened a darker, increasingly violent chapter in Sweden’s gang wars.

A pair who were 15 and 19 at the time were found to have carried out the murder.

Majid fled abroad facing an international arrest warrant, an Interpol red notice and a growing list of enemies.

Born in Iran to Kurdish Iraqi parents, he had moved as a child to Sweden with his family.

He left Sweden for Turkey in 2018 then moved to Iran last year.

Israeli’s Mossad intelligence agency alleged that Majid had been working with Iran for months. It has blamed both his and Abdo’s gangs for the recent attacks.

When counter-intelligence chief Daniel Stenling said Sapo “can now confirm that criminal networks in Sweden are proxies that Iran uses,” Iran summoned Sweden’s highest diplomat in Tehran in protest.

Sweden has also sought the arrest of Majid’s rival, Ismail Abdo, who was arrested in Turkey last May but reportedly released on bail.

Journalist Diamant Salihu says Tehran has sought to persuade the gang to “commit crimes for the regime,” although Abdo’s gang has denied involvement with Iran.

While the gangs themselves may have been put under pressure by a foreign power, that cannot be the case for the teenagers who have become caught up in the wider Swedish problem of gang crime.

An estimated 14,000 people in Sweden are caught up in criminal gangs, according to a police report from this year, and a further 48,000 people are said to be connected to them.

“Today's 13- and 14-year-olds who commit these grotesque offences were three or four years old 10 years ago,” conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a televised debate of party leaders on public TV last weekend.

The debate turned into a blame game between the centre-right coalition currently in power and their predecessors on the centre left.

Social Democrat former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson called for a “completely new approach” but Kristersson said “a very large extent of this is a problem linked to poor integration; and the integration problem is built on too high immigration”.

A disproportionate amount of gang members are men from immigrant backgrounds, but this has shifted, to the extent that Diamant Salihu says young people and adults from ethnic Swedish backgrounds are increasingly becoming involved.

Criminology specialist David Sausdal of Lund University, in the south of Sweden, says it has become increasingly difficult to monitor networks as they have become fragmented online, dragging people into a “gang gig-economy”.

"The people involved in it are just hired guns, paid for services. They deliver a pizza or a hand grenade as good as they can.

“They're not super talented at it, they’re not motivated by inner hate or conflict as such. They're just doing a job.”

It is that kind of change in Swedish society that is worrying police and politicians alike.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer has spoken of three parallel threats to Sweden’s security – terror, state actors and organised crime.

But the latest gang attacks, in David Sausdal’s words, go against conventional understanding of what has previously driven serious crime.

[cathlinlaks]

I made an OC for the roleplay community. Someone in the commu said we need a half arabian girl with tech and mecha skill. So I combine Katherine Oud Winner facial feature(same as Quatre) with Setsuna F. Seiei complexion and put her in Marina Ismail's clothes the use Voltron's Pidge color palette.

And here she is; Sophiya Sine Attusi

Her middle name; Sine is used in the commu as her Thai nickname; ทราย (which means Sand) as a homage to Gundam Sandrock.

[btcinfonews]

Iqram Magdon-Ismail Launches JellyJelly Memecoin on Solana

Iqram Magdon-Ismail Launches JellyJelly Memecoin on Solana 🐙💸

Hold onto your crystals, crypto enthusiasts! 🌌 The latest thrill ride in the memecoin universe is here, and it’s called JellyJelly, the brainchild of Iqram Magdon-Ismail and Sam Lessin! But wait, before you dive in headfirst, let’s talk about how this colorful little critter has already caused some serious waves on the Solana blockchain. 🥴

JellyJelly Memecoin - A Splashy Introduction!

🧊 JellyJelly's Not-So-Sweet Launch

Just when you thought it was all fun and games, JellyJelly encountered manipulation challenges that made it the hottest topic in town (and not necessarily in a good way). This little guy was delisted by Hyperliquid due to some whale manipulation drama. Is it too spicy for your portfolio? 😅

"As a self diagnosed chaotic neutral whose hero is Jack Sparrow ... I highly approve of this insane crypto war playing out between degens, whales, and crypto trading platforms using JMJ even if I have nothing to do with it and only half understand it!" - Sam Lessin, The Block

🚨 Market Mayhem!

Talk about a wild ride! 🚀 The market reactions were immediate and a tad chaotic. Hyperliquid jumped in to recover losses and stabilize, but let’s be real—JellyJelly's value jumped around like a kid on a sugar high, mirroring the turmoil in the crypto sphere. Not great if you’re looking for stability! 🌀

What does this mean for us? Well, more financial ramifications than you can shake a stick at. It’s affecting traders left and right and making us question the entire platform's integrity. 🙈

🔒 Experts Weigh In

As JellyJelly dived deep into the ocean of memecoins, shiny new security measures popped up in conversations. 🛡️ Experts are calling for a serious overhaul of the tech infrastructure on these platforms because guess what? Memecoins have a history of being tantalizingly flawed, and it’s time we did something about it!

So, what’s your take? Should we embrace the chaos, or is it time to put our cozy wallets back in the drawer? 🤔🐉

If you need more juicy details on this rollercoaster ride, check out the full scoop here: JellyJelly on Bitcoin Info News!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Are you buying the hype, or is it time to let JellyJelly float away? 🍭💔

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are volatile, and investing involves risk. Always do your own research and consult a financial advisor.

#CryptoNews #JellyJelly #Memecoins #Solana #Investing #Blockchain #MarketTrends #WhaleManipulation #FinancialAdvice

[rashmeerl]

Happy new year from #thisweekthosebooks. The first brand new post of 2025 has two great reads, by Chris Stokel-Walker and the late, great Ismail Kadare. Please read: This Week’s Books:

A tech journalist recounts how TikTok went viral.

Mind control is not just about social media, says former Communist Albania’s greatest chronicler. https://thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/p/tiktok-ban-x-factor-trump-america-albania

[markmac1234]

(THE SOUNDS COLLECTIVE)

Greetings and welcome. Another chance to checkout. The Sounds Collective on Vibe 1 . Which went out across Staffordshire and the midlands.

We kicked off at midnight and went on for two and a quarter hours . Last nights show was jam packed with some of the truly deepest organic beats from my collection. Some truly smooth deep organic vibes with one or two deep house gems thrown in.

A top selection tonight from some of the best producers and Labels in their genre.….

Giving homage to a just a few of my favourite labels that shine in Organic tunes. M-Sol Deep - BeKool Records - Vlosfer Records - Déepalma Records - Be Adult Music - Songuara Records - DeepWit Recordings -Haute Musique. A real smooth two hour mix recorded live from last nights show.

The show went out at midnight finished after 2Am this very Sunday morning. Full Track-list Included.

Not one to miss.

Jump on in The beats are Deep and warm…

Mark Mac

The Sounds Collective

IT RUNS DEEP

DHR

Vibe 1

01 - Teeka, Riccardo Leardini, M-Sol DEEP - Amarum - M-Sol DEEP

02 - MissfeatT - he Daylight (Ranta Remix) Bekool Records

03 - Ivan Garci - Be Proud of You - Vlosfer Records

04 - Groove Gorynych -Come To Me - MixCult Digital

05 - DP-6 - Moontanning - DP-6 Records

06 - WESLEYU - Underwater (Juan Domecq Remix) - Bekool Records

07 - Ivan Garci - Eighties - Vlosfer Records

08 - Arco - Floating Up (Extended Mix) - Déepalma Records

09 - David Green - Talum - Mark Mac Remix - Bekool Lounge

10 - D.M.P - Something New (Lafreq Remix) - Haute Musique

11 - Savvas - Golden Sunset (Flowers on Monday Remix) - Bekool Records

12 - Ismail Kizil, M-Sol DEEP - Silk Road  - M-Sol DEEP

13 - Serious Dancers, Evren Furtuna - What Carmen Needs (Original Mix) - Be Adult Music

14 - Chicato, Francisco Manrique - Clouds - Bekool Records

15 - VieL  - Last Chance (Alley SA Remix) - Bekool Records

16 - Ranta - Hallerbos (Extended Mix) - Songuara

17 - The 8 Beat Quartet - Twelve (Kanedo Remix) - Be Adult Music

18 - Erdi Irmak - The Sun (Serious Dancers Remix) - Be Adult Music

19 - Hosse - Never Stop Playing feat. Katie Knight (Pango Remix) - Be Adult Roots

20 - Mark Mac - Untold Dreams - Deepwit recordings.

21 - Deephope - Uramaki - Deepwit recordings.

#DeepHouse #ITRUNSDEEP #Dub #Thesoundscollective #MarkMac  #Deephouse #House #Organic #Micro #TechHouse #Deep #House #Techno #Tech #TechHouse #vibes #Chill #Mix #Dj #Produced #smooth #Trance #ClassHouse #Tunes #Tracks #Promos #Mixed  #Haunting #Etherial

[accapitalmarket]

FOMC likely to cut in September, Gold jumps as Middle East conflicts escalate

US stocks rose on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve signalled the likelihood of a September interest rate cut, while, as expected, leaving rates unchanged following its latest policy meeting.

“A reduction in the policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference after the meeting. “We’re getting closer to the point at which it’ll be appropriate to reduce our policy rate, but we’re not quite at that point.”

In their policy statement, Fed officials made two important changes that acknowledged recent progress in their inflation fight and that pivoted them closer to lowering rates without making any explicit commitment.

The day’s US data added to the rate cut hopes. The Chicago purchasing managers index fell to 45.3 in July, down from a seven-month high of 47.4 in June, but above forecasts for 44.8. But the pending home sales index rose 4.8% month-on-month in June to 74.3, well ahead of expectations for a 1.5% increase.

Meanwhile, ahead of Friday’s key July non-farm payrolls, the latest ADP private sector employment report showed an increased of 122,000 month-on-month, below expectations for a 150,000 advance. June's gain was revised to 155,000 from 150,000.

At the close in New York, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrials Average was up 0.2% at 40,842, while the broader S&P 500 index gained 1.6% to 5,522, and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.6% to 17,599.

Meta Platforms was the latest of the tech Magnificent Seven to release quarterly earnings, albeit after the Wednesday close. The Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp owner, beat estimates for the second quarter and issued a better-than-expected forecast for the current period. That sent its shares 4.6% higher in after-hours trading.

But another Magnificent Seven component, Microsoft lost 1.1% as its fourth-quarter earnings, released after the Wall Street close on Tuesday, saw cloud revenue growth miss expectations.  Overall, the software giant’s earnings just edged past estimates for the quarter.

Chip stocks provided the main boost for the tech sector after Advanced Micro Devices jumped 4.4% as it posted stronger-than-expected earnings and forecast upbeat revenue for the current quarter, citing strong demand from artificial intelligence (AI). Rival NVIDIA benefited in kind, leaping 12.8%, while Broadcom gained 12.0%.

Elsewhere, Match Group was 13.2% higher after the online dating service recorded a second-quarter revenue beat and announced plans to lay off about 6% of its staff to cut costs. And Starbucks rose 2.7% after the coffee chain met expectations for quarterly profit, even as its global sales declined.

But on the downside, Pinterest dropped 14.5% after the social media group delivered a weaker-than-expected third quarter, despite achieving record global monthly active users. And health insurers Humana shed 10.6% on the back of weak forward guidance even as Q2 profit beat estimates.

With commodities, crude prices soared after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran heightened tensions in the Middle East, raising prospects of a wider conflict in the region hitting oil supplies.

US WTI crude climbed 5.2% to $78.61 a barrel, while UK Brent crude rose 4.0% to $80.21 a barrel.

Disclaimer:

The information contained in this market commentary is of general nature only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You are strongly recommended to seek independent financial advice before making any investment decisions.

Trading margin forex and CFDs carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Investors could experience losses in excess of total deposits. You do not have ownership of the underlying assets. AC Capital Market (V) Ltd is the product issuer and distributor. Please read and consider our Product Disclosure Statement and Terms and Conditions, and fully understand the risks involved before deciding to acquire any of the financial products provided by us.

The content of this market commentary is owned by AC Capital Market (V) Ltd. Any illegal reproduction of this content will result in immediate legal action.

[crimechillers]

Toronto Cyber Attack: Ismail Aydin Arrested on Hacking Charges

In a serious blow to cyber security, Toronto, the vibrant capital of the province of Ontario in Canada—a region renowned for its rich cultural tapestry and high-tech landscape—has been thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A Dark Cloud Over The Digital Horizon In the wake of a debilitating cyber attack that paralysed critical networks and compromised sensitive data, authorities…

[swldx]

BBC 0407 11 Apr 2024

12095Khz 0358 11 APR 2024 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55445. English, dead carrier s/on @0358z then ID@0359z pips and newsday preview. @0401z World News anchored by Chris Berrow. Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamist group and Haniyeh's family said. The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the attack, describing the three sons as operatives in the Hamas armed wing. The three sons were killed when the car they were driving in was bombed in Gaza's Al-Shati camp, Hamas said. Four of Haniyeh's grandchildren, three girls and a boy, were also killed in the attack, Hamas said. Hamas said on Tuesday it was studying an Israeli ceasefire proposal in the more than six-month-old Gaza war but that it was "intransigent" and met none of the Palestinian demands. "Our demands are clear and specific and we will not make concessions on them. The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position," Haniyeh said. President Joe Biden has promised Israel "ironclad" US support amid fears that Tehran could launch reprisals for an attack that killed senior Iranians. Mr Biden warned that Iran is threatening to launch a "significant attack" after Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Syria 10 days ago. "We're going to do all we can to protect Israel's security," he added. Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's leader said the Israeli attack in Damascus was equivalent to an attack on Iran itself. South Korea's liberal opposition party has won a landslide majority in the country's general election to retain control of parliament. The vote is widely seen as a midterm referendum on President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has three years left in office. His party leader Han Dong-hoon has resigned and Prime Minister Han Duk-soo has offered to resign. The head of the UN's atomic watchdog agency has condemned a drone strike near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, saying such attacks “significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident". In a statement on social media, Rafael Mariano Grossi said at least three direct hits against the main reactor containment structures took place. Russia earlier claimed a Ukrainian drone hit the dome above a reactor at the plant, but that radiation levels remained normal and no serious damage was caused. The plant remains close to the front lines, and both Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused the other of attacking the plant and risking a possible nuclear disaster. Russian forces carried out at least 10 air strikes targeting "critical infrastructure" in Ukraine's Kharkiv, the region's governor said early Thursday. Aleksandra Bielakowska, an advocacy officer for Reporters Without Borders who is based in Taiwan, was detained for six hours at Hong Kong International Airport, the Paris-based group said in a statement. She was questioned and her belongings were searched three times before she was deported without explanation. The most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen, a 67-year-old property developer stands accused of looting one of Vietnam's largest banks over a period of 11 years. The numbers involved are dizzying. Truong My Lan is charged with taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors say $27bn may never be recovered. Amazon.com's Amazon Web Services, the world's largest cloud-service provider, owes tech company Kove $525 million for violating its patent rights in data-storage technology, an Illinois federal jury said. @0406z "Newsday" begins. Backyard fence antenna, Etón e1XM. 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2258.

[mariacallous]

Since its start, the war in Gaza has been thought of as potentially foreshadowing a direct conflict between Iran and Israel. Hezbollah continues to threaten to open a new front in the war, and Iranian hard-liners have welcomed their country’s direct intervention. Last month, Iran’s former foreign minister, Javad Zarif, mentioned a letter written by hard-line officials to Iran’s supreme leader attempting to persuade him to engage in the conflict with Israel on behalf of Hamas.

The likelihood of an expanded regional war, however, is low. Despite the slogans echoed by Iranian hard-liners, the reality of Iran’s strategic thinking is more circumspect. There are at least seven reasons Tehran is likely to avoid starting a war with Israel on behalf of Hamas.

First, the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot rally society to engage in a new war as it did during the war with Iraq in the 1980s. It was the relentless mobilization of human waves, among other factors, that resisted the Iraqi army and forced Baghdad to withdraw from Iran’s territory. However, several decades later, society’s support for the political system has significantly declined. Following last year’s protests, coupled with the economic crisis caused, in part, by U.S.-led sanctions, discontent among the youth and the urban middle class has surged.

Second, the moderate faction in the Iranian government has been warning against Iran’s direct intervention in the war. Indeed, the war in Gaza has deepened political cleavages in Tehran. In the threat assessment of Iranian hard-liners, the destruction of Hamas is automatically associated with the subsequent collapse of Hezbollah and, ultimately, a military attack on Iran. That is why they support targeting American bases in Iraq and Syria by Iran’s Shiite proxies. This view stands in stark contrast with that of moderate officials, particularly Zarif, who has consistently warned about the destructive consequence of Iran’s potential involvement in a war with the U.S. According to Zarif, if Iran takes a more radical stance on Gaza, it could trigger a deadly conflict with the U.S., which Israel would welcome. And despite being marginalized by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s government, Zarif still holds significant influence among the political elites of the Islamic Republic and even its society.

Third, Israel’s apparent failure in deterring Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 does not alter Tehran’s strategic calculation toward Israel. Despite Israel’s reliance on high-tech defense technology like the Iron Dome missile defense system, Hamas inflicted a significant military and intelligence blow against it, thereby shattering its deterrence policy. But that does not shift Iran’s perspective on Israel or the power dynamics in the region. Though the Hamas operation rattled Israel’s long-standing credible deterrence strategy, it does not provide Iran with the opportunity to challenge Israel using missile power. Conversely, Iran may believe that Israel feels that reestablishing deterrence is an existential priority for which it’s worth taking extraordinary military or political risks.

Fourth, contrary to the conventional wisdom, neither Hamas nor even Hezbollah is Iran’s proxy; it would be more accurate to think of them as Iran’s nonstate allies. There is no top-down relationship between Tehran and Hamas. Even as Hamas aligns its actions with Iran, its approaches could diverge, as they notably did during the Syrian civil war when Hamas supported the Sunni anti-Assad rebels. American and Israeli intelligence has suggested that Iran’s top officials were not aware of the Hamas operation. In mid-November, Reuters claimed that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas, that because the Iranian government was given no warning of the attack on Israel, it will not enter the war on the Palestinian group’s behalf.

Fifth, Iran’s strategic partners in Moscow and Beijing have not declared their full support for Hamas. Iran has sought alignment with China and Russia under its Look East policy and would be loath to spoil its relationships with those countries. Tehran is, in fact, following a similar policy in Gaza to the one it adopted after observing the Sino-Russian wait-and-see approach to the capture of Kabul by the Taliban two years ago. The goal for Iran is to avoid being isolated in major international crises.

Sixth, there exists a deep belief among influential decision-makers in Iran that the Arab sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf would welcome a large-scale war between Iran and Israel. Iran may hope that Arab countries would sever their ties with Israel as a result of a wider war, but that is unlikely. Arab public opinion holds little sway over their countries’ foreign policies. And Arab leaders have long perceived Hamas as a disruptive Iranian proxy that they would be happy to see Israel dismantle once for all.

The last and the most significant factor influencing Iran’s apparent reluctance to engage in war is Khamenei’s specific point of view toward regional conflicts. Contrary to the mainstream view in the West, Iran’s supreme leader approaches responses to regional conflicts from a realist standpoint rather than an ideological one. Having served as the president of the Islamic Republic during the devastating war with Iraq, he is acutely aware of the consequences of war, especially with the U.S. This awareness led Iran to choose a relatively measured response following the assassination by the United States of Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the former leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. Such behavior aligns with his overall strategy in handling regional crises. More than two decades earlier, when Iranian diplomats in northern Afghanistan were killed by the first Taliban emirate and public sentiment in Iran leaned heavily toward a major intervention, Khamenei and Hassan Rouhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council at the time, helped prevent escalation.

These seven interconnected reasons explain the Islamic Republic’s reluctance to involve itself in the war on behalf of Hamas. The war in Gaza may, however, accelerate Iran’s nuclear program. There are strong voices in Iran, predominantly in the hard-liner camp, arguing that the country’s most significant tool to prevent the destruction of Hamas hinges on its decision to fully pursue nuclear capabilities. They believe that Iran’s trump card lies in its threat to develop nuclear weapons, showcasing vital support for its allies—similar to its past support for the Assad government of Syria. This reasoning gained substantial momentum when Israeli ultranationalist Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu advocated for the dropping of “some kind of atomic bomb” on the Gaza Strip “to kill everyone” as “an option.”

None of this implies that Iran is willing to abandon Hamas, its strategic asset in Gaza. Rather than standing idly by, Tehran is likely to continue applying pressure on both Israel and the U.S.—through Hezbollah and its Shiite proxies in Iraq and Syria—without escalating the conflict to a full-scale regional war.

[ginkgofold]

The video game and tech/media website Aftermath just put up an excellent interview with Ramil Ismail, who's part of the team behind Dreams on a Pillow, in their You Are Error podcast, where he talks about the history of Liyla & The Shadows of War, getting to know Rasheed Abueideh through dealing with how a Palestinian game is treated at large, and how you make a game and a development plan when your leading developer who carries the core of the whole project could be massacred at any time (and also the way Arabic has been and is mishandled in games and tech, and the damage that causes).

A really great listen if you want to know more about this game project.

Palestinian Game Dev Rasheed Abueideh has launched a fundraiser campaign for his game Dreams on a Pillow, based on a true story about the 1948 Nakba.

You can read the full story in the link above but I couldn't help sharing some of the concept art.

[andronetalks]

Scientists Discover New Rooms Inside Ancient Egyptian Pyramid

Sci Tech Daily By UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG SEPTEMBER 29, 2023 A team of Egyptian and German specialists, led by Egyptologist Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled from the Department of Egyptology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg (JMU), has made an important finding inside Sahura’s Pyramid. The team uncovered several previously undocumented storage rooms during their exploration. This new…