#foreign nationals release

[sayruq]

A bill has been submitted to the United States congress calling for a full review of the country’s bilateral relationship with South Africa following the International Court of Justice ruling that found it plausible that Israel has committed acts of genocide against Gaza. The bipartisan bill which was introduced by US Republican congressman John James and Democratic Party congressman Jared Moskowitz this week could threaten South Africa’s prospects to benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The bill will still need to be discussed and passed by congress. It states that not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, US President Joe Biden in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, shall certify to the appropriate congressional committees and release publicly an unclassified determination explicitly stating whether South Africa has engaged in activities that undermine United States national security or foreign policy interests.

[zvaigzdelasas]

President Joe Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency,” according to a final report released Thursday by a Department of Justice special counsel.

But special counsel Robert Hur said he was declining to prosecute Biden over his handling of that material.

The FBI found that material in the garage, offices, and basement den in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home. It included documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Biden’s entries about national security, the new report said.

“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” Hur wrote.

“He knew he kept classified information in notebooks stored in his house and he knew he was not allowed to do so.”

But that evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the special counsel wrote.

Hur in his nearly 400-page report wrote, “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” the report said. [...]

Hur was blunt in detailing lapses in Biden’s memory when he was interviewed for the probe.

“He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 - when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’),” the report said.

“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him,” Hur wrote.

“In a case where the government must prove that Mr. Biden knew he had possession of the classified Afghanistan documents after the vice presidency and chose to keep those documents, knowing he was violating the law, we expect that at trial, his attorneys would emphasize these limitations in his recall,” the special counsel added.

Biden in a statement said, “I was pleased to see they reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach – that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed.”[...]

Trump was charged in June with 37 felonies, including willful retention of national defense information, a violation of the Espionage Act.

Trump had hundreds more classified documents in his possession than Biden did — more than 300 in total, including 102 that were seized during an FBI raid on Trump’s Palm Beach resort home in August 2022. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Hur’s report Thursday said that the materials recovered from Biden spanned his career in national office from 1973 when he became a U.S. senator, and through his two terms as vice president under former President Barack Obama from 2009 through early 2017.

Biden during his career “has long seen himself as a historic figure,” and during that time collected papers and artifacts that were connected to “significant issues and events in his career,” the report said.

“He used these materials to write memoirs published in 2007 and 2017, to document his legacy, and to cite as evidence that he was a man of presidential timber,” Hur wrote.

Well we're officially never gonna hear the end of this one huh [8 Feb 24]

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

John Parker, other Gaza solidarity activists detained in Cairo, Egypt

Nov. 30: John Parker, a candidate for California’s 37th congressional district, is being detained by the Egyptian National Security Agency, along with other participants in the Global Conscience Convoy in Cairo, initiated by the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists.  

He was taken into custody along with others when the group unfurled a banner that read “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.” Parker and other detainees from Argentina, Australia and France have yet to be released.  

John Parker stated: “The Palestinian people desperately need food, fuel, water, medicine and aid.  The Rafah crossing must be opened so that people of the world can get needed supplies to the Palestinian people. Anything less contributes to Israel’s criminal genocide.”

Parker is a founding member of the Los Angeles based Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice and a reporter with Struggle-La Lucha.  He traveled to Cairo to be a part of the Global Conscience Convoy for Gaza. 

The Embassy of the United States is aware and informed of the detention. The Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Struggle-La Lucha and the Peoples Power Assembly are demanding the U.S. embassy seek Parker’s release and that Egyptian authorities release all four detainees immediately.

Contact the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Egyptian consulates in the U.S. to demand the release of all those detained.

Egyptian Consulate, Washington, DC, United States

3521 International Court, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20008

(202) 966-6342

(202) 244-4319

Email: embassy@egyptembdc.org

Website: http://www.egyptembassy.net

[reasonsforhope]

do you have any good queer news? I'm a queer person and hearing all the shit thats happening across the world is making me bummed out

I do! All of this is from LGBTQ Nation's excellent good news tag

^Article date: July 6, 2023

"Only two months after its formation, the “No SB 180” initiative had succeeded at making the city of Lawrence, Kansas a sanctuary city for LGBTQ+ people. Last week, in a unanimous vote, Lawrence became the first city in the state to declare itself as such.

Ordinance 9999 bans the city and all of its employees from collecting or releasing information on a person’s “biological sex, either male or female, at birth” and from helping with any investigation, detention, arrest, or surveillance “conducted by a jurisdiction with the authority to enforce Senate Bill 180, as enacted.”"

^Article date: July 28, 2023

"A federal judge has told a group of anti-trans parents to mind their own business after the group filed a lawsuit challenging an Ohio school district’s bathroom policy.

The attempts to meddle do not “pass legal muster,” he wrote in his ruling, saying that the group has no reason to sue.

“Not every contentious debate concerning matters of public importance presents a cognizable federal lawsuit,” Judge Michael Newman wrote, denying their petition to stop the Bethel Local School District’s policy that allows a single transgender middle school student to use the restroom that aligns with her gender identity."

^Article date: August 8, 2023

"The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the independent federal agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance, has released its first-ever “LGBTQI+-inclusive” policy since its founding in 1961.

The four-point policy is meant to serve as a blueprint for USAID staff and partners around the world to champion LGBTQ+ and intersex development and the human rights of all queer people through the agency’s work, said Jay Gilliam, USAID’s senior LGBTQI+ coordinator, in a video explaining the policy...

In simpler terms, the U.S. will try to improve diplomatic relationships with other countries by investing in locally-led LGBTQ+-inclusive programs that are shown to positively impact communities in need."

^Article date: August 3, 2023

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in favor of three transgender students who were forbidden by their schools from using bathrooms matching their gender identities. The circuit court upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction that said the schools have to let trans students use facilities associated with their genders...

The case involves three trans boys in Martinsville, Indiana and Terre Haute, Indiana, who need access to the boys’ room at their middle and high schools...

The court took into account the fact that Title IX bans discrimination on the basis of sex in schools that receive federal money, which is most of them. Citing the 2020 Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton Co. that found that job discrimination against LGBTQ+ people necessarily takes sex into account and is therefore prohibited under Title VII, the appeals court ruled that the trans boys are likely to succeed in their case and that preventing them from using the correct bathroom while the case works its way through the court system could cause irreparable harm.

^Article date: August 2, 2023

^Article date: June 21, 2023

"A federal judge has ruled on the side of trans rights after a conservative group tried to overturn an Ohio school district’s anti-bullying policy.

The national conservative group Parents Defending Education (PDE) tried to get a preliminary injunction passed on the Olentangy Local School District’s prohibition on misgendering trans students. The policy includes students, teachers, and parents and it applies to out-of-school hours and social media as well."

^Article date: August 2, 2023

There's literally a bunch more I wanted to include, by the way! Tumblr just stopped being able to load them. Going back to add a few more in the reblogs now.

I know it feels like everything is against us right now. But I promise you: that is not true. The bigots and bastards may usually be the ones moving faster (in large part because they suck and don't care about democracy or due process at all),

But in the end, we are going to win. I promise.

[sh0rtins0mniac]

Who are the hostages still held by Hamas?

On October 7, 2023, 253 Israelis and foreign nationals were kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas and gazan civilians. Since then, 105 were released in a prisioner exchange deal, 4 were released by Hamas and 3 were rescued.

However, 134 remain in captivity (4 of those were kidnapped prior to 2023). A recent investigation has concluded that more than a fifth of the hostages are dead and the fate of some other hostages remains unknown. This video explains how doctors determine which hostages are dead, based on the nature of their injury and by analyising footage and the victims' last phone calls. Additionally, during the operation in Gaza, the IDF has recovered the bodies of a few victims and returned to their families for burial.

Since I couldn't find this all in one place, I've compiled a list of: 1) hostages who are presumed alive; 2) hostaged whose death has been reported/confirmed; 3) hostages who were released or rescued. In the group of hostages presumed to be alive who haven't been released, the youngest is 1-year-old Kfir Bibas and the oldest hostage is Iraqi-born 85-year old Shlomo Mansour.

As we learn more information, I'll continue to update this post.

They need to come back home. I'm hoping for more successful rescue operations soon. Keep them in your thoughts.

Hostages still held by Hamas (presumed alive or fate unknown):

(1) (2) (3)

Abraham Eitan Mor (23)

Abraham Munder (79)

Agam Berger (19)

Alex Danzig (75)

Alexander (Sasha) Trupanob (28)

Alexander Lobanov (32)

Almog Meir Jan (21)

Almog Sarusi (26)

Alon Ohel (22)

Amiram Cooper (85)

Andrey Kozlov (27)

Arbel Yehoud (28)

Ariel Bibas (4)

Ariel Cunio (26)

Avera Mengistu (37) – Has been held hostage since 2014

Avinathan Or (30)

Bar Kupershtein (22)

Bipin Joshi (23)

Carmel Gat (39)

Chaim Peri (79)

Daniel Gilboa (19)

David Cunio (33)

Dolev Yehoud (35)

Doron Steinbrecher (30)

Edan Alexander (20)

Eden Yerushalmi (24)

Eitan Horn (37)

Eli Sharabi (51)

Eliya Cohen (26)

Elkana Bohbot (34)

Evytar David (23)

Gadi Moses (79)

Gali Berman (26)

Guy Gilboa-Dalal (22)

Hamzah Al-Zayadni (22)

Hersh Goldberg Polin (23)

Hisham al-Sayed (35) - Has been held hostage since 2015

Yair Horn (45)

Idan Shivi (28)

Itzhk Elgarat (68)

Kaid Farhan Elkadi (53)

Karina Ariev (19)

Kfir Bibas (1)

Liri Albag (18)

Matan Angrest (21)

Matan Zangauker (24)

Maxim Herkin (35)

Muhammed Alatrash (40)

Naama Levy (19)

Nadav Popplewell (51)

Nimrod Cohen (19)

Noa Argamani (26)

Oded Lifshitz (83)

Ofer Kalderon (53)

Ohad Ben Ami (55)

Ohad Yahalomi (49)

Omer Neutra (22)

Omer Shem Tov (21)

Omer Wenkert (22)

Omri Miran (46)

Or Levy (33)

Ori Danino (24)

Rom Braslavski (19)

Romi Gonen (23)

Sagui Dekel-Chen (35)

Samuel Keith Siegel (64)

Segev Kalfon (25)

Shiri Bibas (32)

Shlomi Ziv (40)

Shlomo Mansour (85)

Tal Shoham (38)

Tamir Nimrod (19)

Tsachi Idan (51)

Yagev Buchshtab (34)

Yagev Kirsht (34)

Yarden Bibas (34)

Yoram Metzger (80)

Yosef Al-Zayadni (53)

Yosef Ohana (23)

Ziv Berman (26)

Hostages confirmed/reported dead:

(Note: I couldn't find a report with the full list, but if you google each individual name you can find sources.)

Alon Shamriz (26) – Mistakenly killed by the IDF

Amit Buskila (28) - Likely killed on Oct. 7. Body recovered on 17/05/24.

Arye Zalmanovich (85) - Death reported by Hamas. He was forced to appear in a propaganda video.

Asaf Hamami (41)

Aviv Atzili (49)

Daniel Oz (19) - Killed on Oct. 7. Status updated on 25/02/24

Daniel Perez (22) - Killed on Oct. 7. Status updated on 17/03/24

Dror Kaplun (68)

Dror Or (48) - Killed on Oct. 7. Status updated on 02/05/24.

Eden Zecharya (28)

Eitan Levy (53)

Elad Katzir (47) - Murdered by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. His body was recovered in Khan Yunis. Status updated on 06/04/24.

Eliyahu Margalit (75)

Elyakim Libman (23) - Killed on Oct. 7. It was presumed he was a hostage because his body wasn't found, but it was later discovered his remains were accidentally buried with another victim. Status updated on 03/05/24.

Gad Haggai (73)

Guy Iluz (26)

Hadar Goldin (32) - Body held hostage since 2014

Hanan Yablonka (42) - Killed on Oct. 7. Body recovered on 24/05/24.

Ilan Weiss (56)

Inbar Haiman (27)

Itay Chen (19) - Killed on Oct. 7. Status updated on 12/03/24.

Itay Svirsky (35) – Killed by Hamas in captivity. His body was shown in a propaganda video

Itzik Gelenter (58) - Likely killed on Oct. 7. Body recovered on 17/05/24.

Joshua Loitu Mollel (21) – A released video shows how he was brutally murdered by a group of men on October 7

Judy Weinstein (70)

Kiril Brodski (19)

Lior Rudaeff (61) - Killed on Oct. 7. His body was taken to Gaza. Status updated on 07/05/24.

Maya Goren (56)

Mordechai Yonathan Samerano (21) - Killed on Oct. 7. His body was taken to Gaza.

Nik Beizer (19)

Noa Marciano (19) – Her body was found near the Al-Shifa hospital

Michel Nisenbaum (59) - Killed on Oct. 7. Body recovered on 24/05/24.

Ofir Tzarfati (27)

Ofra Keider (70)

Oren Goldin (34)

Orión Hernandez (30) - Killed on Oct. 7. Body recovered on 24/05/24.

Oron Shaul (30) – Body held hostage since 2014

Ran Gvlli (24)

Ravid Katz (41)

Ron Benjamin (53) - Killed on Oct. 7 and his body was taken to Gaza. Body recovered on 18/05/24.

Ron Scherman (19)

Ronen Engel (54)

Sahar Baruch (24) – Killed by Hamas during a failed hostage rescue operation

Samer Talalka (22) – Mistakenly killed by the IDF

Shay Levinson (19)

Shani Louk (22) - Body taken to Gaza. Her body was recovered on 17/05/24.

Sonthaya Oakkharasr - Killed on Oct. 7. Body taken to Gaza. Status updated on 16/05/24.

Sudthisak Rinthalak - Killed on Oct. 7. Body taken to Gaza. Status updated on 16/05/24.

Tal Chaim (42)

Tamir Adar (38)

Tomer Ahimas (20)

Uriel Baruch (35) - Status updated on 26/03/24

Yair Yaakov (59) – Killed on Oct. 7. Sons and girlfriend were released. Status updated on 15/02/24.

Yehudit Weiss (65) – Her body was found near the Al-Shifa hospital

Yossi Sharabi (53) – His dead body was shown in a propaganda video

Yotam Haim – Mistakenly killed by the IDF

Ziv Dado (36)

Released/rescued hostages:

(1) (2)

Abigail Edan, 4, American citizen

Ada Sagi, 75

Adi Shoham, 38

Adina Moshe, 72

Agam Goldstein-Almog, 17

Aisha Ziyadne, 17

Alma Avraham, 84

Alma Or, 13

Amit Shani, 15

Amit Soussana, 40

Anucha Angkaew

Aviv Asher, 2, German citizen

Aviva Adrienne Siegel, 62

Bancha Kongmanee, Thai national

Bilal Ziyadne, 18

Boonthom Phankhong, Thai national

Buddee Saengboon, Thai national

Chalermchai Sangkaew

Channa Peri, 79

Chen Goldstein-Almog, 48

Clara Marman, 63, Argentine citizen

Daniel Aloni, 44

Dafna Elyakim, 15

Doron Katz Asher, 34, German citizen

Ditza Heiman, 84

Emilia Aloni, 5

Emily Toni Kornberg Hand, 8

Emma Cunio, 3, Argentine citizen

Erez Calderon, 12, French citizen

Eitan Yahalomi, 12, French citizen

Ela Elyakim, 8

Fernando Marman – Rescued by the IDF

Gabriela Leimberg, 59, Argentine citizen

Gal Goldstein-Almog, 11

Gal Tarshansky, 13

Gelienor (Jimmy) Pacheco, 37, Filipino national

Hagar Brodetz, 40

Hanna Katzir, 77

Hila Rotem Shoshani, 12

Ilana Gritzewsky Kimchi, 30

Irena Tati, 73, a Russian citizen, was included on the list but released separately from the exchange deal.

Itay Regev Jerbi, 18

Juckapan Sikena

Judith Raanan, 59 [Released 22/10/23]

Karina Engel-Bart, 51, Argentine citizen

Keren Munder, 54

Komkrit Chombua

Kong Saelao

Liam Or, 18

Liat Beinin Atzili, 49, American citizen

Luis Har – Rescued by the IDF

Manee Jirachart

Margalit Mozes, 78, German citizen

Maya Regev Jirbi, 21

Meirav Tal, 53

Mia Leimberg, 17, Argentine citizen

Mia Shem, 21, French citizen

Mika Engel, 18, Argentine citizen

Mongkhol Phajuabboon, Thai national

Moran Stela Yanai, 40

Natalie Raanan, 17 [Released 22/10/23]

Nattaporn Onkaew

Natthawaree Moonkan, Thai national

Naveh Shoham, 8

Nili Margalit, 41

Noam Avigdori, 12

Noga Weiss, 18

Noam Or, 17

Noralin Babadilla, 60, born in the Philippines

Nurit Cooper [Released 24/10/23]

Ofri Brodetz, 10

Ohad Munder, 9

Or Yaakov, 16, German citizen

Ori Megidish – Rescued by the IDF

Oriya Brodetz, 4

Owat Suriyasri, 40, father of two

Ofelia Adit Roitman, 77, born in Argentina

Ofir Engel, 17, Dutch citizen

Paiboon Rattanin

Pattanayut Tonsakree

Phonsawan Pinakalo

Ra’aya Rotem, 54

Raz Ben-Ami, 56, German citizen

Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, 36

Raz Asher, 4, German citizen

Ron Krivoi, 25, an Israeli-Russian citizen, was included on the list, although he was released separately from the exchange deal.

Ruth Munder, 78

Sahar Calderon, 16, French citizen

Santi Boonphrom, Thai national

Sapir Cohen, 29

Shani Goren, 29

Sharon Aloni-Cunio, 34, Argentine citizen

Sharon Hertzman Avigdori, 52

Shiri Weiss, 53

Shoshan Haran, 67

Surin Kesungnoen

Tal Goldstein-Almog, 8

Tamar Metzger, 78

Uthai Sangnuan, Thai national

Uthai Thunsri, Thai national

Wichai Kalapat, 28, Thai national

Wichian Temthon

Withoon Phumee, 33, Thai national

Yaffa Adar, 85

Yagil Yaakov, 12, German citizen

Yahel Shoham, 3

Yarden Roman-Gat, 35, German citizen

Yelena Trupanov, 50, a Russian citizen, was included on the list but released separately from the exchange deal.

Yocheved Lifshitz [Released 24/10/23]

Yuli Cunio, 3, Argentine citizen

Yuval Brodetz, 8

Yuval Engel, 12, Argentine citizen

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - May 15, 2023

🐕 - Now It's a Paw-ty

1. World's oldest ever dog celebrates 31st birthday

Bobi was born on 11 May 1992, making him 31 years old, in human years. A big birthday party is planned for Bobi today, according to Guinness World Records.

It will take place at his home in the rural Portuguese village of Conqueiros in Leiria, western Portugal, where he has lived his entire life.

2. The FDA has officially changed its policy to allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that they’ve eased restrictions on blood donations by men who have sex with men in an effort to address blood shortages. The new policy recommends a series of individual risk-based questions that will apply to all donors, regardless of their sexual orientation, sex, or gender. Gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships will now be permitted to donate blood.

3. Illinois passes bill to ensure community college credits transfer to public universities

The Illinois General Assembly has passed a bill that would help community college students transfer to public universities.

It would ensure that certain classes taken at community colleges could be transferred to any higher education institution in the state. Some schools currently only count community college coursework as elective credits.

4. Brazilian President Lula recognizes 6 new indigenous territories stretching 620,000 hectares, banning mining and restricting farming within them

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has decreed six new indigenous reserves, banning mining and restricting commercial farming there. The lands - including a vast area of Amazon rainforest - cover about 620,000 hectares (1.5m acres).

Indigenous leaders welcomed the move, but said more areas needed protection.

5. More than 1,000 trafficking victims rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia

More than 1,000 trafficking victims were rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia over the last week, officials in Indonesia and the Philippines said. 

Indonesian officials said Sunday they freed 20 of their nationals who were trafficked to Myanmar as part of a cyber scam, amid an increase in human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia. Fake recruiters had offered the Indonesians high-paying jobs in Thailand but instead trafficked them to Myawaddy, about 567 kilometers (352 miles) south of Naypyidaw, the capital, to perform cyber scams for crypto websites or apps, said Judha Nugraha, an official in Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

6. A peanut allergy patch is making headway in trials

An experimental “peanut patch” is showing some promise for toddlers who are highly allergic to peanuts. The patch, called Viaskin, was tested on children ages one to three for a late-stage trial, and the results show that the patch helped children whose bodies could not tolerate even a small piece of peanuts safely eat a few.

After one year, two-thirds of the children who used the patch and one-third of the placebo group met the trial’s primary endpoint. The participants with a less sensitive peanut allergy could safely tolerate the peanut protein equivalent of eating three or four peanuts.

7. Critically endangered lemur born at Calgary Zoo

The Calgary Zoo has released pictures of its newest addition, a baby lemur. The zoo says its four-year-old female black-and-white ruffed lemur, Eny, gave birth on April 7. The pup’s father is eight-year-old Menabe. The gender of the pup has not been confirmed but the Calgary Zoo says the pup appears bright-eyed and active and is on the move.

The black-and-white ruffed lemur is registered among the 25 most endangered primates in the world, due mostly to habitat loss and hunting.

----

That's it for this week :)

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[thomine]

like a ripple in a pond | heizou

PAIRING | heizou / reader

TAGS | general audiences, mystery, minor npc oc, mystery, kiss, canon compliant, happens after inazuma archon quest (but knowledge on the quest is not needed)

SUMMARY | heizou does not believe in coincidences, so seeing you at tenryou street piqued his curiosity. however, it's not your appearance on a street you hardly frequent that bothers him. it's your expression.

WORD COUNT | 5.1k words

INFO | title given by @isekyaaa | beta'ed by ekolu & mimkyu | ao3 | more

When he crosses paths with you on his way home, the shocked expression you have when he calls your name tickles his intuition.

Nothing is a coincidence, Heizou believes, and he should be the one that’s surprised.

First, his office is located in Tenryou, and it’s also in Inazuma City, the place he lives. It’s no anomaly to see him on the street. Second, you live in a village far away. Third, you only ever visit Yae Publishing House during your trips to the city. 

The girl at your side might be a clue though.

When Heizou walks over with a big smile to say hello, the girl stands awkwardly, hands itching for a handshake, but she is also poised for a bow. She doesn’t seem like a local. He wants to assume she’s your friend, but if you are visiting someone you rarely hang out with, casual clothes might not be your choice of wear.

With all these pieces, Heizou is seeing a clearer picture of the situation. You’re giving a tour to someone from another nation. How sweet. However, that does not explain why you are shocked to see him. The Tenryou Commission did send a search party to find his whereabouts, so maybe you chanced upon this rumour and thought he was missing. But you know him. He is never lost with his intuition in the lead. You’re the last person he expects to fall for such stories.

He exchanges greetings with you, and you give a pleasant smile, but soon return to that new distant demeanour of yours. It has been a month since he last saw you at the publishing house. You were always joyful to meet him, sometimes even gracing him with snacks from your home as both of you chewed on dried lavender melon while discussing mystery novels. This is a change he isn’t prepared for, so he focuses on the girl by your side.

“My name is Shikanoin Heizou, a special detective working for the Tenryou Commission. Welcome to Inazuma,” he says as he extends his hand to the foreigner.

Her eyes flit Heizou up and down, and although she tries to be polite, Heizou can sense some doubt in his claim as a detective, not to mention a special one. She returns a friendly grip, body relaxed, but tenses up again. Her eyes beg at you for some guidance, but you’re deep in contemplation.

“It’s nice to meet you Shikanoin… Heizou?” she says after her failed call for your attention. She then introduces herself as Bertha, and Heizou smiles at her name. So she’s from Mondstadt.

“You can call me Heizou.”

Bertha loosens up, releasing a faint sigh. “Oh, I’m glad I didn’t offend you. I heard that some people like to be called by their first name, but some are stricter and only want to be called by their last name.”

“Not at all. I don’t find it a big deal, but if you remember my full name, it might come in handy if you find yourself in a tight pinch.” 

“Oh, that’s really nice of you,” she says in a way that’s hard to decipher if she’s being friendly or she means it. “There were a few instances I did feel unwelcomed,” Bertha mumbles, then she returns to her cheerful self and continues, “but you’re really too kind. Your friend too! I was lost but your friend offered to be my guide for free!”

“I had time to spare,” you bashfully say, walking closer to Heizou. “Can I speak to you for a bit?” You give Bertha a sheepish smile. “I have some matters to discuss with him. We’ll be back! Give us a minute.”

Before she can respond properly, you’re walking down the road. Heizou tips his head to Bertha as a small note of parting and follows suit. Questions sharpen his senses as he scavenges you for keywords. You’re restless. Tired too. Each observation adds a layer to his hill of concern for you. What have you been doing the past month to end up in such a state?

“Actually… I am lost,” you admit after finding a good place out of Bertha’s earshot. You glance behind Heizou to watch her. He takes note how she seems more interested to ask about an Inazuma charm than ask for directions from the nearby store owner. “Bertha wants to go to Komore Teahouse and I thought I knew the way but I guess… I overestimated myself.”

Getting lost… Thinking you’ll know the way but not really… Heizou taps his forehead. Have you been frequenting Inazuma City? It explains your tiredness. The walk back to your village requires climbing and sometimes bandits loiter the paths. It matches your predicament too. Increased visits to the city made you confident you can navigate it by yourself… but if you did frequent the city, would you be lost? Unless you’re only visiting a few places, and Komore Teahouse is out of your parameters.

“Where did you meet Bertha?” Heizou asks. You are taken aback by his question. Reasonably so since the starting point does not matter when someone is lost. Even a baby is aware of this. “If you tell me, we will know where you took a wrong turn. You won’t get lost again.”

After a bit of hesitance, you oblige. “I saw her at Ogura Textile and Kimonos. I took a left turn believing it was a shortcut but… no success. What a relief that you appeared. She still thinks I can guide her. I wouldn’t want her to know I’ve been leading her to nowhere. Plus, how embarrassing… I approached to help but I ended up being lost as well.”

Heizou’s intuition pricks.

Your expression when you saw him had no inclination of relief. Not that it was hostile—it was surprise, mixed with a drop of disbelief.

“Then it must also be a relief to hear that you’re walking in the right direction,” Heizou says, smiling at the way your eyes light up. “Since you’re on the main road, it’s easy. Walk straight and just before the staircase to Hanamizaka, that’s when you turn to your left.”

“Thank you,” you say, but there is something else on your tongue you’re not sharing. He can tell from the way you lick your lips and press them together, as if sealing an envelope. 

Heizou spent his past few days tracking down a case. It was exhilarating to enter the ruins and find treasure hoarders deep in their mischief. This case of you, however, is a different kind of exhilarating. 

His intuition blares, warning him not to let this moment go. Not that he will. His brain is whirring with possibilities of what he can dig, and he isn’t satisfied with all the information he currently has.

“Perhaps I can join you, just in case,” he offers.

You stiffen. 

“It’s a straightforward path and I’m sure you can manage yourself,” Heizou says, “but my way home is in the same direction. It won’t hurt to do a little detour, would it?”

You furrow your eyebrows and watch Heizou suspiciously. 

“You’re suspecting something…”

“Aiyaya, how quick you are to accuse me. I just want to follow along.”

“And…?”

“And?” Heizou repeats, hands on his hips, smile stretching playfully. If he stitched everything right, Heizou is a problem to you, but he wasn’t one a month ago. Something has happened, and his intuition is telling him he has to find out why before it’s too late. “Aren’t you happy you bumped into me?”

“Relieved,” you correct. Heizou is smirking, silently arguing that it’s the same, and your quietness is your agreement. “If it doesn’t bother you, I don’t see why not…” you relent. It is never nice using your inability to say no to his advantage, but this is necessary to unearth your strange behaviour.

Heizou snaps his fingers in delight. He was worried he’ll have to return to paperwork after his cases. His intuition to leave for the publishing house a little later today was genius, serving him a delicious find.

“We shouldn’t keep Bertha waiting, should we?” He asks, and you sigh, deflated, but when you look at him, you have a restrained giddy smile on your face. Locking eyes with him, however, makes you squirm and you stare at the ground as if to collect your strength, yet you aren’t afraid of him like Bertha is. You’re standing close, almost as if preparing for the winds to sway you to bump into his shoulder.

His intuition tingles.

Oh.

How very exciting.

You are surprisingly well known in Inazuma City, Heizou observes, and although it distracts them from making their way to Komore Teahouse, the small conversations reveal plenty about you. Some of his colleagues recognise you, and interestingly they aren’t doushin that patrol the city. Ogura Textile and Kimono shop is just by the entrance of the police station. It should be expected that doushin will find you familiar if you’re frequently within the area… but they seem too friendly for you to be a face they witness crossing the streets on a regular basis.

He tries to ignore the small bud of green in his stomach, covering it with a yawn as one of his colleagues brag about his accomplishments. You’re nodding, listening, but your eyes wander too much. Sometimes you seem to be staring into space. After a minute or so, Heizou decides to save you from your misery, pulling you away.

An old lady also stopped the group to give you groceries in exchange for a kind act you did, which you eventually accepted so she could let you off. 

Heizou can see Bertha’s eyes grow with innocent admiration with every pit stop. When you introduce her as your friend to the locals, they extend their warm greetings. It isn’t a surprise when, at the teahouse, she frantically requests to exchange contacts. She even reveals the address of her lodging in Inazuma City, practically begging you to find her.

Only you. It seems Heizou is redacted out of the situation, left to stand at the side and wait.

“I am truly so grateful. I came to Inazuma alone believing it will be a smooth trip. Who knew my understanding of the Inazuma script and local customs is so shallow…” Bertha clasps both your hands. “You really saved me back there.”

“Oh, it’s not a big deal,” you say like a saint. “I’ll be happy to help within my means. But, um… could you let go of my hands now?”

“Oh, sorry.” Bertha looks as if you struck a knife in her chest.

“N–not that I hate it or anything—I can’t delay any longer. It’s getting late and I need to go home.” 

Heizou wants to laugh. There you go again letting people do as they want with you. Physical contact is not part of Inazuma’s culture, so he knows you’re at least uncomfortable. Bertha doesn’t need to know that though. She looks at the darkening sky and agrees, bidding you goodbye, and waves to Heizou as an afterthought.

You seem weary, and Heizou almost feels culpable approaching you for what he’s going to say next.

“Let me walk you home.”

‘Almost’ because the stupor in your expression is worth it.

“Yes, you shouldn’t walk me back home.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

“No, wait, I said you shouldn’t!”

“But you said ‘yes’.”

“As a detective, you shouldn’t cherry pick your clues.”

“As a detective, I am supposed to pick up things between the lines.”

“No, no, no. You’re reading this wrong. I don’t need you to walk me back home. I know the way and—wait a minute. I should just go now. The more we talk, the later it’s going to get. Good bye. It was nice meeting you.”

Heizou expects you to dash away, as your words imply, but you’re walking at a comfortable pace, and after a few metres, you do look back.

“I said not to follow me,” you hiss, intending it to be a warning but you sound conflicted instead.

“That’s hard when you’re making it too easy to do so.”

To his surprise, you stop and turn. You take a step closer to him and corner him like a culprit. Heizou is tempted to raise his hands in surrender, but he just smirks instead.

“Listen here, smart guy. I don’t know what you’re thinking but whatever you’re thinking of is wrong. You should just go your merry way and I will go on my own.”

“Then answer me this question, and your prize is that I’ll leave you alone.”

You shrink, looking uncertain.

“I’ll hear it first.”

He clears his throat comedically, adjusting his attire as he straightens his back, then stares into your eyes. You look away before returning with a gaze of equal determination.

“Can you explain what you’ve been doing near the police station?”

As if Heizou got caught in his own webbed game, you smile, eyes narrowing. The hunter has become the hunted it seems, when you so readily answer him.

“I guess you don’t know, but I am a freelancer who occasionally delivers parcels in Inazuma City. Most of the orders—well, the ones I take anyways—are to the police station.” 

He tilts his head and looks at you. You’re really bad at lying, needing every word of yours to be factually correct. In some sense that’s your charm. Under his inquisitive presence, you falter for a split second before steeling yourself.

You’re trying to throw him off from his original hypothesis. That has to be the reason why you’re still shaky in some aspects of your stance. You didn’t reveal any new information, but it’s nice to know his assumption that you frequent only the police station is correct, aligning with how you could not find Komore Teahouse.

With your guards up, it’s not easy to get more out of you. Regardless, the sun is no longer in the sky and the city is illuminated by street lamps. It is a great condition for one thing…

“Look at the time. I don’t think you should go home alone when you don’t have a weapon or vision to defend yourself. I guess it is in my interest to accompany you.”

You open your mouth in rebuttal but squeeze your eyes. Then, your raised index finger filled with accusatory intentions falls to your side as your shoulders slump.

“Fine. If you think it’s not a nuisance.”

You’re reluctant at first, answering his questions plainly, but as the night deepens, you start speaking the way you used to at the publishing house. Excitedly, you rap about your trivial adventures at the village, recounting tales like a narrator observing life unfold. In your good mood, Heizou tries asking about your delivery job, but you change the subject to ask about his cases. When you try to sneak a few questions on his whereabouts to piece together the incidents that led him to appear at Tenryou street, he gives you what you want, but, tit-for-tat, he doesn’t reveal he was on his way to the publishing house. 

When you reach home, you’re all smiles, as if you did not oppose his suggestion to walk you back home at all.

His intuition tingles.

He’s getting closer to the truth.

“That helpful delivery person has not come in weeks,” a colleague of Heizou laments as he enters a restaurant well known to tourists and high flyers, not so much doushin. “I ordered something and I was hoping it’d be that freelancer to arrive, but it was just a regular employee from Komaniya Express.”

“Oh, I know that freelancer—Heizou’s friend, right?”

Heizou does not say anything as he enters the restaurant after his colleagues for lunch. Many have commented his increased presence in the city is strange considering his love for pursuing personal cases that leads him to other islands of Inazuma, but no matter how much they poke, Heizou does not say anything more than he has personal dealings in Inazuma City.

Unfortunately, you haven’t stepped foot into the city for a while, puzzling him. His intuition doesn’t lead him anywhere else.

“Oi, Brother Heizou, help your brothers out, would ya? We want to know more about your friend.”

Something ugly buzzes in his gut. Over the weeks, as he dug for more evidence to solidify his hypothesis, he learned a lot about you. He has known you for a while, but only as a novel enthusiast. His first encounter with you was at the Publishing House, and buying novels was the only reason you travelled the distance from your village to the City. He didn’t question much and left after he browsed through the shelves, but you were always there when he visited, and it was fun having discourse with you on the reality of these novels.

Turns out you took the long journey to the bookstore not just for yourself, but to buy books for the village. The old lady you bumped into? She is from your hometown. She was visiting her grandson who lived in the city, and that grandson, inspired by the books you brought back, decided to chase his dreams. He’s apparently an up-and-coming novelist.

As gentle as ripples on a pond, sometimes he worries how fragile you are, but it amazes him how large your small actions become.

To have his colleagues fawn over you is expected considering your deeds, but Heizou still doesn’t like it.

“Aiyaya, it’s a little too early to be talking about all this. We haven’t even ordered our meals. Come, Uesugi, what do you want to eat?” 

Uesugi, a colleague, brightens up at the invitation, and the boys holler and hoot as they scan the menu.

In the midst of chaos, a voice finds its way to Heizou’s ears. 

It’s Bertha. She dashes towards Heizou’s position, uncaring about the way his colleagues fall silent and watch her with great curiosity. Heizou doesn’t care either. What he cares for is if you are with her, and if you are, then his intuition is right. Bertha is the reason you’ll visit the city again.

“Oh, it’s such a pleasure to meet you! We were just talking about you. Come, let me show you where we’re seated.”

Without any warning, Bertha grabs his hand and drags him up the stairs. Heizou’s colleagues just gawk. Even their honed quick reflexes are no match against the shock that sits them in their place, and he is carried away before they know it.

“We’ll order for you!” one of them shouts before Heizou is gone.

He has no idea how Bertha has the strength to sprint up the stairs. Upon reaching the second floor, he is slightly exhausted but tries to compose himself when he spots you sitting at a nearby table. You’re sipping your drink, and when you notice him, you almost choke.

“Take a seat!” Bertha gestures to the seat beside you. You cough, twisting your body away from him. It is only after you take a deep breath do you sit proper, straining your face to remain expressionless.

“Bertha,” you say with a controlled voice, “Your break to the toilet was faster than I expected.”

“That,” she says, pursing her lips in embarrassment, “I actually forgot about that because I was so excited. I shall go now.” But it seems as if it is intentional, for she giggles on her way down the stairs.

Heizou pulls out the chair opposite you instead since Bertha is gone. Plus, he’ll give himself till Bertha returns. The longer he stays, the more questions his brothers will ask him. You do not like being bombarded with grand gestures, something his colleagues will do when they realise you’re in the vicinity.

You return to your drink, staring at the table.

“How’s lunch—” you say. 

“It’s nice to see you around—” he says as well.

Both of you gently laugh. He gestures for you to go first.

“I didn’t know you'd eat lunch at this restaurant. You don’t seem like someone who likes fancy food.”

“That’s right. I prefer more homely dishes, but my friends wanted something special.” 

“Special? Is today a special day? Wait a minute, when is your birthday?”

Heizou chuckles, leaning against the table. “It’s not my birthday. They’re just being sentimental that I’m around. I am their model employee.”

You nod, laughing, and then fade to silence.

“It’s nice to see you around,” Heizou starts. You’re almost back to your normal self, it seems. Less tense, less rigid. More welcoming. Still, a streak of sadness stains your mien.

“Yeah… Bertha wanted me to accompany her through her itinerary. She’s invited me to join her a few times but I declined, and then I felt horrible about it… This is the second of the seven places she wants to visit. I’m in for a long day, huh.”

“Is that why you haven’t been doing deliveries, then?”

“Not really,” you say, shrinking into your seat. “Did… Bertha say anything to you?”

Oh? Heizou can feel his lips curving into a smirk. She did drop that you were talking to her about him. He tries to control his expression and tap his temple in thought.

“Perhaps she did…”

You jump in your seat, hands reaching out to create some barrier between him and you.  “Look, I can explain. I–I–”

“You can when I walk you home,” Heizou says as he stands. “I believe you’ll have a long day today, and it’ll be dangerous for you to go home yourself. I’ll meet you at Bertha’s.”

“Wait, I don’t know when I’ll end. How about I meet you at the police station?”

The rowdiness from his peers below reminds him of their casual talk about you.

“The hostel is fine. If not, I'll wait for you. How about that?”

“I don’t really have a choice if I want to explain myself, right…”

“You’re right,” he teases. You look down in your seat, but he manages to catch you biting your lip to abate a nervous smile. “I’m not giving you another opportunity.”

He leaves, crossing paths with Bertha on his way down the stairs. She’s upset he can’t stay, but understands that he’s still on the clock and the meal his colleagues ordered for him has probably arrived. She bids farewell and Heizou rejoins with his friends.

They pester him with questions on who Bertha is, which he answers honestly. A few catch on that Bertha isn’t alone and asks who the other person might be. 

“Even a detective should have his secrets,” he says, then smiles and stuffs himself with food.

As quick eaters and obedient guards of the Tenryou Commission, they finish their meal before lunch break ends. Thankfully, neither you nor Bertha make your way down. As some quip about you and their sadness for your absence the past few weeks, Heizou can’t stop grinning.

His intuition is always right.

He’s looking forward to tonight.

Heizou throws his jitte into the air, catching it by hooking the handle with his index before spinning it idly. He has been waiting for 10 minutes with you nowhere in sight. He’s surprisingly optimistic though, especially considering Bertha’s personality. She will not let you slip away. It’s highly likely she knows of your meet up with Heizou at the end of the day. She would have pestered you for details, and you’ll give what she wants. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting…” you say behind him. He turns, confused why you’ll appear from the hostel, only to have his eyes feast on a wonderful sight. His jitte drops to his floor. You’re wearing traditional clothing, styled and tailored in a way that perfectly brings out your form. Heizou’s heart almost forgets its job. He bends down to pick his weapon.

“Bertha decided to use me as a model… uh…” You lift your sleeves and twist to look at yourself. “This is making things worse, isn’t it?”

“Where are your clothes?”

You sink, hands covering your face. Heizou kneels with you.

“I wasn’t paying attention and bumped into someone who spilled noodles on me.”

Nothing happens out of coincidence, Heizou believes. 

You groan. “I’m making this worse for myself.” Your hands are shaking, so he takes them gently in his and gives them an encouraging squeeze before standing to pull you up.

“I wonder what was on your mind,” he asks, partially knowing the answer. You don’t release your grip on him even though you’re on your feet.

You sigh. “This is the time for it to all be revealed, isn’t it? Although I believe you already figured it out.”

“I’m not a mind reader,” he says. “Even if I do know, don’t you want to say it?”

“No, I don’t.” You keep your head low. “Not really.”

He keeps quiet, patiently waiting for your next move. You look at his hand that’s holding yours, then at him before your face is stricken with nervousness. He gives an encouraging squeeze.

“Do you remember our first meeting?” you ask.

“At Yae’s Publishing House.”

A small smile graces your features as you seem to reminisce. “Your wit captivated me. I found you so charming, but scary. You could understand every twist and turn of the novels, I was envious.”

Heizou nods. He remembers that, and at that time he was grateful for your agreement. Normally people push aside his own beliefs, or even accuse his intuition to be child’s play. There’s a reason people call him peculiar and eccentric. It took a while to gather the trust of his comrades he currently calls his brothers, but you trusted him immediately. That made it easy to get along with you. He might not admit it, but meeting you was his highlights, not the best seller books.

“As we talked more, I started to like you, Heizou.”

The ambience is thick with suspense. It is what he expects to hear, but he stands, now the stunned one, unable to fathom the honesty in your gaze.

You finally pull your hand away from his grip. 

“When you stopped appearing at the publishing house, I wanted to see you again, so I tried many excuses to visit Inazuma City in hopes I’d bump into you. Truthfully, I was a little offended that when I tried, you were nowhere to be found. Then, just when I gave up, you were there. ” 

“You quit your job as a delivery person, didn’t you?”

You nod.

“And,” Heizou adds, “the day we met would be your last day in the city.”

“I went to the publishing house without fail. Went for multiple trips and even stayed there for a whole day just to increase my chances. I always wondered when we would meet again.”

As you speak, your head lowers. You touch your attire, eyeing it carefully. “I was thinking about what will happen now before I got noodles all over myself. I was so nervous, but Bertha is right. Keeping these feelings inside isn’t doing me any good. I rejected her invitation because I didn’t want to go to the city, to have anything to do with you… but I eventually agreed because it felt too good to be true that we walked home, and maybe I’m greedy…”

You lean against the wall, arms hugging yourself as an attempt to be smaller.

“She said if I don’t tell you, she’ll do it for me as the highlight of her trip before she leaves. Knowing how she is, I was worried she’ll give you a run down version of my feelings as the truth. I know I said I like you, but I’m really here to say I’m not going to anymore.”

Heizou can only stare. Soaked in sincerity and moonlight, you’re enthralling.

“This is so embarrassing,” you admit, facing his nonplus reaction. “You shouldn’t say anything. I’ll just go home now.”

Heizou wants to grab you before you elude him, but his intuition freezes him in place. Where is the joy in that if you succumb to his plea? At this moment, there is no greater test for you than him giving you the space to express yourself. For once, you don’t have to adhere to other’s desires, and in the quiet, he hopes you can hear your own. So he stands at the entrance of the hostel as he watches you go. Each step, his heart aches. His hands itch to reach forward, but he keeps them to his side. 

His intuition is always right.

You stop your march.

Slowly, you look back, and you dash towards him.

“It’s not easy to like you,” you confess when you return, panting. “And I keep telling myself I can stop liking you if I don’t see you but I’ll remember how we would talk for hours and I’d fall in love with the way your mind works, and then spiral into a mess of listing everything amazing about you.”

For a long time, you have been at the back of his mind too. While he runs around Inazuma, led by his intuition, he wonders how you’ll react to seeing him again. Perhaps his insistence to find the truth is also stemmed from his disbelief that you can look at him with such dejection. Where was the smile he found beautiful?

He doesn’t believe in coincidences, so this moment can’t happen if it isn’t for his frolicking attitude. He doesn’t regret it, but it does cause a small twang in his chest knowing he’s hurt you.

“I can’t change who I am,” he says.

“I know. I’m not asking you too. I don’t know what I’m asking, honestly. After this we can ignore each other and I’ll never visit the city again.” You look at him to search for some kind of confirmation or rebuttal. 

“Do you really want that?” he asks instead, and perhaps you see your reflection through his green eyes as you widen yours in gentle surprise, like facing a revelation. “You can do what you want with me. I’m not going anywhere.”

You take a step closer. He doesn’t budge, letting your breath hit his skin. A second later, you declare like a criminal: “I missed you.”

You hold his face and press your lips against his.

Heizou does not believe in coincidences. A ripple has to be caused by something. Humans have to be moved by something. He has fallen under scrutiny for this view, but there is no moment greater than this that proves his point. 

It is not a coincidence your lips mould his.

It is not a coincidence he likes you, and it’s not a coincidence you like him.

[itstokkii]

Now that the anthology is released, please check it out!! A lot of my friends, both writers and artists, put a lot of work into their pieces, and please make sure to follow their work as well!

However, I'll also take this time to explain why I left the @hws-anthology project.

Before I begin, I must clarify that this is not a callout post, that is not the intention. Rather, it's to clear up and explain the situation for those in the server that saw the aftermath and were confused as to what happened and why I left.

I joined the server at around mid to late February as an artist with the intention of highlighting and promoting the two countries that make up my identity: Uzbekistan and South Korea. I had also joined as I had always wanted to be part of a big project like an anthology, and I wanted to see how it would go.

By August, I had made and finished my pieces so they were ready, and no problems occurred until January 1st. At this time, I had begun a conversation about Korean history and culture. One of the people in the server asked about whether they, a plus sized foreigner, would be stared at in Korea as that was their deciding factor for travelling there. My response was that this may have been the case a few years ago, however this attitude has changed over the years among Koreans as more foreigners regularly visit Korea, and that society is more accepting of bodies that do not fit the standard. And at the most extreme, Koreans have higher standards for nationals compared to foreigners, so foreigners are less likely to be judged by East Asian beauty standards.

However, the owner of the server had expressed firm disagreement and insisted that, from their experience of going to Korea and Japan, that people will stare. I had brought up that as an ethnic Uzbek and a Muslim, a visible minority, neither has my community or I experienced such lengthy staring, if not during the early 2000s when foreigners were first beginning to come to Korea. And even through the spikes of terrorism and following Islamophobia in the mid 2010s, hate crimes, let along staring, was not a common reaction to or against the community, despite the worldwide reaction of terrorism being conflated to people like me that are visibly Muslim.

(in these screenshots, pink = the one who asked the question, blue=the server owner, purple = my friend, orange = third party(general), red, purple = third parties(individual users)

They insisted they were trying to help, as they were "coming from a country where staring is rude," implying that staring is normal and not rude in Korea.

At that point, they had attempted to "shut down" the conversation because we were "both right," and that I "didn't really understand what [they] were saying or where [they] were coming from."

As I tried to reiterate that as an Uzbek Muslim born and living in Korea as a Korean national, and as someone who has lived in Seoul and less populated regions of Korea, has seen the different reactions by Koreans, they instead opted to firmly say that they weren't continuing the conversation, insisted that we can both be right from our different perspectives, but that theirs was more helpful as a non-asian.

At this point, I expressed my discomfort with someone who is non-asian and has never experienced living in Korea, only as a traveler, speaking over my voice as a naturalized Korean citizen who was born and raised in Korea as a visibly ethnic and religious minority, and even insisting that my advice was lesser compared to theirs.

They replied by saying we both had to "agree to disagree" and that they didn't want to undervalue my opinion or upset me(despite my actual feelings of utter distraught), despite repeating again that they believed their advice to be more helpful. They said that if I did want to continue, I'd have to do it privately because it wasn't helpful to "duke it out in public," and ended the discussion by disabling me from being able to text in that discord channel for a day, and no longer being able to access that channel.

I was left speechless and distraught by this whole interaction. Not only did I feel that I was being talked over by someone who has had no lived experience in Korea to see the trends and beauty standards change along the years, and even placing their advice as "more helpful," but that they had also muted me from speaking up for myself in the channel, effectively placing me in a virtual "timeout." I felt like I was being treated like a young child from the way I was being told to "agree to disagree" to the way I was constantly shut down and had my voice ignored, to the eventual timeout where they muted me from the channel for a day.

And to me, it was also interesting to see them talk to others in the other channels like nothing happened while I was the one crying and shaking uncontrollably from being denied a place to speak and be heard, from having my lived experiences perceived as "lesser than."

As much as I didn't want to leave the server, I thought it was the better choice because as much as I wanted to promote Uzbekistan and Korea through my art, I realized that it shouldn't have to cost me my mental health to do so. The next day, I left a message as to why I was choosing to leave, and left.

Elif Harris's summary of Said's Orientalism: "The very purpose of Orientalism is to take control of the Orient and take away from it any ability to speak for itself." I quoted this because at its core, the way I was being treated was orientalist in nature, in the sense that the server mod continues to speak over me, a Korean citizen born and raised in Korea, when it comes to advice about Korean society, and then pushes it by emphasizing that their advice was more helpful, while also refusing to listen to me and trying to quell the conflict by repeating that both of us were right, and that we should agree to disagree. And, finally, they time me out like a child and blocks me from speaking up and standing up for myself. Know that I do not make accusations out of thin air because I'm feeling bored.

However, it didn't stop there. According to a few mutuals, my message was quickly taken down by the server owner, who then prevented people from using the channel I had the conversation in(misc-serious) the day prior. A friend of mine tried to repost it so that others would be able to see my message, to which she was muted from texting to all channels and using the voice channel for a week. Others began to question this, and I had heard a few people left the server due to the obnoxious level of muting and the fiery comments by the server owner as they defended their actions as us having a "normal disagreement" and that my message was deleted for being "immature."

After a little while, my friend was also placed in "timeout" for a week.

Due to this, Green relayed my friend's message on her behalf, and then left, with Red following as well, citing how the server became "oddly toxic."

To those of you who reached out and sent me kind messages, thank you so much! You didn't have to, but you felt the need to reach out anyway and even that gesture was truly grand to me, and comforted me as the shock still remained with me the next day.

As for the fandom, I have said it before at the beginning that the intention is not to be a callout post or a post about "drama" or "tea"—do not call it that. Asides from explaining my sudden departure from the anthology weeks before its release, it is also to ask the fandom a few very important questions:

"Why is it the norm for people to speak over others who have lived experiences in a particular place?"

"Why are we invalidating or ignoring their experiences and instead giving the power to speak about a region to someone with minimal interaction or knowledge about it?"

And lastly,

"Why is the fandom so comfortable with this?"

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[ghelgheli]

To understand the full context of the American-led ‘53 coup against Mosaddegh in Iran it is imo critical to recognize anti-communism as a proximate cause. Write-up below:

It is commonly understood that the early decades of the 20th century in Iran are characterized by British colonial extortion of material resources (mostly oil) within the boundaries of “Persia” (pre-1935) / “Iran” (post). The penultimate monarchical dynasty, the Qajars, were ousted in 1925—but the exile of the last Qajar Ahmad Shah was the direct result of the 1921 military coup led by then-Reza Khan (later the first “Pahlavi”, Reza Shah) which was directed by Britain. And at this time, British anxieties heavily featured concerns about Bolshevik encroachment from the Caucuses (not just through the newly-formed Azerbaijan SSR, but also through domestic sympathizers that fueled such projects as large as the transient Persian SSR, put down by Reza Khan after Soviet withdrawal).

This is stage-setting. Of course, by the 50s, in tandem with Cold War thread-pulling, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company constituted a thirsty tentacle of British imperialism sucking Abadan dry and contributing pittances to the local economy. It was in the midst of decades of growing resentment against this presence that Mosaddegh became Prime Minister in 1951 as the leader of the broad National Front coalition, and we are familiar with how intensely he campaigned for nationalizing the country’s oil and how pissy this made the British (here’s one and another post on the subject if not).

Here’s the detour: you may know that it was the CIA, an American institution, that orchestrated the ‘53 coup to oust Mosaddegh. But we were just now discussing threats against British colonial power in Iran. How did things get from B to A, as it were? We can’t take this for granted.

The British in fact spent the intervening two years trying to get Mosaddegh out by mobilizing the Shah and various right-wing (often clerical and mercantile) interests in Iran (this point, and much of what follows, draws from bits of Darioush Bayandor’s Iran and the CIA and Mostafa Elm’s Oil, Power, and Principle). They spent the same two years desperately trying to get the Americans on board with their efforts. But—here it is—the Truman regime and American foreign policy was in general intensely hostile to this strain of British interventionism in Iran, going so far as to issue warnings against it.

Why? Well, as you would expect, the Americans were concerned about Soviet influence in the region. Then-U.S ambassador in Tehran Henry Grady claimed that “Mosaddegh’s National Front party is the closest thing to a moderate and stable element in the national parliament” (Wall Street Journal, June 9 1951). This summarizes the American position at the time: Mosaddegh’s nationalist movement constituted the bastion against communism, and the US was very interested in the survival of this bastion lest Iran align with the USSR. 

What happened between 1951 and 1953 is that British pressure, operating through the Shah and more conservative elements of the Iranian government, jeopardized moderate support for Mosaddegh. With the right and center-right against him an entire wing of National Front coalition was falling off, and Mosaddegh found himself leaning more and more on the strengthening Tudeh Party, which had grown in numbers to militaristic significance during Mosaddegh’s tenure (including a network of at least 600 officers in the state military). Tudeh, of course, was the pro-Soviet communist party in Iran. And now the threads come together.

It was in this context of Mosaddegh, backed into a corner with almost only the communists behind him, that the CIA released a memo on November 20th, 1952 singing a very different tune:

It is of critical importance to the United States that Iran remain an independent and sovereign nation, not dominated by the USSR...

Present trends in Iran are unfavorable to the maintenance of control by a non-communist regime for an extended period of time. In wresting the political initiative from the Shah, the landlords, and other traditional holders of power, the National Front politicians now in power have at least temporarily eliminated every alternative to their own rule except the Communist Tudeh Party...

It is clear that the United Kingdom no longer possesses the capability unilaterally to assure stability in the area. If present trends continue unchecked, Iran could be effectively lost to the free world in advance of an actual Communist takeover of the Iranian Government. Failure to arrest present trends in Iran involves a serious risk to the national security of the United States.

And (!!!)

In light of the present situation the United States should adopt and pursue the following policies:...

Be prepared to take the necessary measures to help Iran to start up her oil industry and to secure markets for her oil so that Iran may benefit from substantial oil reserves...

Recognize the strength of Iranian nationalist feeling; try to direct it into constructive channels and be ready to exploit any opportunity to do so

It took two tries for the CIA to bring about a coup that removed Mosaddegh from power, but the objective of this coup was not the preservation of British control over Iranian resources; it was the maintenance of the Western sphere of influence against communist revolution (this was further prioritized by the arrival of the Eisenhower administration). In fact, after the coup the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now renamed British Petroleum) had to make room for six other companies from the US, France, and the Netherlands as part of a consortium, and this consortium would split profits with Iran 50/50. This is, to be clear, still colonialist extraction! But it constitutes a huge blow to British economic interests, because they were never the CIA’s goal. This is part of why the post-coup government is characterized far more as a US puppet than a British one.

It does remain that this was a sequence of events very much set in motion because of actions taken by the British government; by the time they managed to get shit to hit the fan, though, it was very much no longer in their control where the shit was flying.

[sayruq]

Informed Yemeni sources reveal to The Cradle that the US offered Sanaa – in exchange for its neutrality in the ongoing Gaza war – “an acknowledgment of its legitimacy.” This would involve severely reducing the role of the Saudi-backed Presidential Council led by Rashid al-Alimi and accelerating the signing of a roadmap with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to end the aggression against Yemen. The sources further reveal that the Americans pledged to immediately release withheld Yemeni public sector salaries from the National Saudi Bank, lift the country’s siege entirely, reopen Sanaa Airport, ease restrictions on the port of Hodeidah, and facilitate a comprehensive prisoner exchange agreement with all involved parties. In terms of reconstruction, the sources say: [Washington] pledged to repair the damages, remove foreign forces from all occupied Yemeni lands and islands, and remove Ansarallah from the State Department’s ‘terrorism list’ – as soon as they stop their attacks in support of Gaza. Despite these tempting offers, which have been the subject of negotiations between Sanaa and Riyadh for over two years, the Yemenis remained steadfast. Ansarallah leader Abdel Malik al-Houthi’s consistent position, as reiterated in his speeches, has been to continue operations as long as Israeli aggression against Gaza persists.

[easternmind]

The weird and wonderful history of Kowloon as a digital interactive space - Part I

The Kowloon Walled City was one of the most emblematic locations in Hong Kong due to its irregular, fast-paced and largely ungoverned growth within a minute parcel of land. During the occupation of Hong Kong Island by the British in the mid 18th century, the Qing authorities surrounded the area with walls, turning it into a strategic position from where to closely inspect the foreign nation's covert activities. Almost a century later, during World War II, the area was seized by the Japanese, who tore down the walls and repurposed the stone for the construction of a nearby airport.

After the war, China would eventually regain possession of the city, though the disinterest of local authorities in addressing its increasing social disturbances placed it in a downward path to a state of utter degradation. By the 1970s, Kowloon had become the epicentre of Hong Kong's criminal underworld, dominated by a handful of its most vicious Triads.

Towards the last years of its existence, the ancient settlement was as a precarious heap of concrete, sheltering nearly half a million people within less than seven acres of land. Cultural and political changes in China made it increasingly difficult for this urban anomaly to remain unaddressed. In the late 1980s, an action plan was put together aiming to relocate its inhabitants and reconvert the real estate into an inner-city park. Stories about residents refusing to leave their unsafe and unsanitary homes were featured prominently in newspapers, baffling readers all over the world. Once the single most densely populated area in the world, this enclave was an architectural aberration whose disconcerting aesthetic influenced numerous works of art in different fields of creation; including a small yet consequential number of video games that briefly reference or prominently feature this abominably transfixing space.

九龍島 (Kyu-Ryu-Tou) - Starcraft - 1986

The year is 2025. An arms dealer escalates the tensions between East and West by developing a genetic weapon in a secret base at Kowloon Island. The United Nations react by sending in their best man, Jamie Starr. Unrelated to the Walled City itself, the first game to be located in the Kowloon peninsula - and indeed include the name as a part of its title - is this obscure turn-based RPG, Kyu-Ryu-Tou for the NEC PC88 and FM-77 machines. The game is a sequel to Shangai, released the year before, featuring the same protagonist. Starcraft would also go on to produce a third instalment in 1987 named TO.KY.O. Clearly there wasn't much regard here from the developers part for geographic accuracy, as Kowloon is depicted here as being an island. While Hong Kong's southern territory is composed of an actual island, all the different areas named Kowloon are located in the mainland.

Riot City - Westone - 1991

One of the most shameless specimens among a relatively long list of Final Fight clones, Riot City contains subtle references to Kowloon, though never referring to it by name. Two narcotics detectives are assigned with the mission of dismantling a cartel running a crime-ridden located in fictional Riot Island. This recurring yet geographically nonsensical notion of Kowloon as an island comes up here, yet again. The final moment of the introduction sequence for this minor Sega arcade success shows both protagonists approaching a tight cluster of buildings whose source inspiration is quite unmistakable. Because Westone maintained ownership of most of this production's intellectual property, a later port to the PC Engine entitled Riot Zone was made possible with the help of Hudson soft. Kowloon's Gate - Zeque - 1997

Reviving the Walled City through the lens of cybermystic surrealism, Kowloon's Gate is a dense, daunting adventure masterfully capturing the slum's dark and narrow recesses. This 1997 Japanese Playstation exclusive spans across four discs of unparalleled full motion 3D CGI spectacle, alternating with real-time 3D dungeons brimming with outlandish characters and concepts deeply inspired by Chinese history, geography and cultural traditions.

Ironically, Zeque managed to embed the theme of Feng-Shui, the ancient geomantic art seeking harmony between the individual and their surrounding space, into a story set in the world's most historically untidy district.

SaGa Frontier - Square - 1997

SaGa Frontier takes place in a solar system named The Regions, composed of multiple inhabited worlds for the player to explore, each with its different degree of civilizational development and culture. One of these planets goes by the suggestive name Kūron. Its pervasive neon light signs, food stalls, makeshift cabins and rooftop scaffolding instantly evoke the memory of China’s so-called city of darkness.

Shadow Hearts - Sacnoth - 2001

Shortly after the release of Koudelka, Sacnoth's initiated the development of Shadow Hearts, the first episode from a cult RPG trilogy exclusively designed for the Playstation 2. In good Japanese fashion, the game proposes an anachronistic yet visually suggestive depiction of Kowloon, portraying its architectural style and degree of decay as it existed in the late twentieth century, despite the fact that the game's events take place during the nineteen twenties.

Just as noteworthy is the almost complete absence of any inhabitants, which inadvertently make this portrayal of the quarter eerily reminiscent of the state in which it was found circa 1993 or 1994, as local authorities brought the long, arduous eviction project to a close.

Shenmue II - SEGA AM2 - 2001

Shenmue II exhibits the most complete and period-accurate video game representation of Kowloon to date. While more recent games featuring this area may represent a number of its aspects with the aid of improved visual fidelity, none features it with such depth as this masterpiece of masterpieces. More than mere background decoration, Kowloon exists in the Shenmue series as a crucial, climacteric element of its modern epic narrative.

It is a well known fact that Yu Suzuki and his team conducted extensive research of the region so as to achieve a result that impresses even to this day. It must be noted, however, that they have similarly taken a fair share of creative liberty when converting the area to best align with the themes they wished to explore. Further reading is required for a more complete context in this regard, namely how this area ties with an early Dreamcast tech demo design which fans lovingly named Tower of Babel. Ostensively, technical limitations did curtail the degree of precision in which the surrounding area could be replicated. The aerial view from the cutscene in which Ryo Hazuki arrives on location places Kowloon at an imaginary degree of elevation over surrounding vegetation. In the year of 1987, during which the game is set, the actual enclave stood perfectly levelled with a myriad of other modern buildings, undoubtedly more than could be reproduced under the circumstances. These trifling considerations aside, Shenmue II entirely succeeds in capturing the vibrant life and mesmerizing beauty of the destitute and decayed urban agglomeration, in a way that it was deemed entirely impossible at the time of its release.

For reasons entirely related to per post content limitations imposed by Tumblr, this article will be continued in PART II.

[adiluv]

❥ 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐄 + 𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐃𝐎𝐋 𝐇𝐂𝐒. ˚⊹꒷

🎤୧・꒰word count꒱ 1154.

💿୧・꒰warnings꒱ yandere character ꒰implied stalking, obsessive/possessive behavior꒱, idol/modern au, reader is not traveler, reader is from sumeru, intentional lowercase, not edited.

🎧୧・꒰adi moment꒱ inspired by this ask! i'm literally such a big fan of yandere idol scara there is so much untapped potential here that i think we need to start looking at!! hope you enjoy!! ໒꒰ྀི∩´ ᵕ `∩꒱ྀི১

as a disclaimer, i don't support yandere behavior in real life! please don’t interpret this post as justification for any of scaramouche's actions.

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who's the sixth of the twelve harbingers, a snezhnayan-based idol group that's recently gone viral and taken teyvat by storm. with members hailing from all seven nations, you'd instantaneously deem the inazuman native your favorite—something about his more blunt and bratty personality catching your attention. with plenty of releases and tons of merch drops, you'd find most of your income going to posters, albums, photocards, and apparel—an easily noticeable focus on scaramouche themed items taking hold early within your collection.

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who meets you while lost in sumeru city, having decided to take a vacation after the success of his latest tour within liyue. delays with transportation had caused him to show up late for his hotel reservation, leaving him stranded in the foreign city without anywhere to stay... which is precisely where you come in. even with the large amount of mora you'd dedicated towards supporting the group, concerts were far out of your budget—tickets being sold out mere minutes after dropping. so when you'd met your bias sitting on a staircase with a suitcase beside him, you'd been quick to offer him shelter within your apartment, leading the man back to your place and opting to sleep on the couch and give him your bed.

꒰💀꒱・it's this trusting nature of yours that initially causes him to consider you the biggest idiot in teyvat, with scaramouche contenting himself to make good use of the amenities you've oh so graciously provided. he's given free access to all of your belongings for hours on end whenever you go to work—given more than enough freedom as you slave over your stove to cook dinner once you finally return. really, you're lucky he's the real deal, he thinks, because it would be stupidly easy for him to just rob you one day and run off. ꒰not like anybody would believe he robbed you, either.꒱ ...but he has no need for your pitiful belongings, and he'd feel like a real asshole to do such a thing, so he leaves them be.

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who, despite his first impressions, finds himself growing fonder and fonder of you as time goes on. you're an utter klutz, lacking common sense and self-preservation skills—however. you're caring. kind. you take him sightseeing on your days off and offer to pay for the things he buys, even though he currently has more mora than you'd ever obtain within your lifetime. while a superfan with his merch lining the walls, you see past the persona he wears on stage—see the real him and make an effort to know him. you treat him like an equal, unlike everybody he'd encountered after becoming an idol.

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who begins missing you after returning to snezhnaya, borderline regretful that he hadn't entertained his idle thoughts and taken something from your apartment as a reminder of your hospitality. he's never felt this way about a fan ꒰let alone anybody else within his life꒱ this way before—wanting nothing more than to cast away his duties and seek you out once again. the first night back in his home is spent as an all-nighter, detective-esq determination while he searches instagram for your profile and nearly jumps out of his bed once he finally locates it. of course, you accept his request, and he takes great joy in scrolling through your posts and unashamedly liking all of them. not like you'd even mind, anyway. your followers list is, in the same manner, put up for examination—though he doesn't exactly want to tell you about that.

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who stalks your spotify almost every day, listening to all of your playlists and taking notes on the various musicians that pop up. immature as it is, it's difficult to stop the searing jealousy that threatens to pop up whenever other idol groups pop up a little too often for his tastes, a sour taste left in his mouth as he attempts to convince himself that the harbingers ꒰him, specifically꒱ are still your favorites. although he publicly claims that he has no need for rivalries with other groups, there's just something inherently satisfying about seeing one of his tracks beating those of the other groups on your playlist, silent hopes that you'd also prefer it over theirs. 

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who begins sending you gifts once his obsession really takes hold. whether it be money, merch, or the random items on your avidyazon wish list, expect to see a lot of packages arriving at your doorstep—all with notes from scaramouche commenting on whatever's inside the box. receiving tickets to any and all harbinger concerts also becomes a common occurrence, transportation to the other nations paid in full. while touring in inazuma, he does the honors of sending you a kimono alongside front-row tickets, practically ordering you to wear it and saying he's excited to see just how amazing you'll look in it. you're so preoccupied by the gesture that you don't even think to ask when he got your measurements. 

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who takes you backstage after each and every one of his performances, having his bodyguard escort you to his personal dressing room. although he asks you to tell him about any significant events within your life, he almost never seems to be shocked by any of them—instead giving you an almost knowing look... as though he already had the information. not to mention that anybody bothering you almost always stops after mentioning your discomfort to him. a part of you wonders whether he does anything to interfere, but it seems near impossible considering his busy schedule and the fact that he's miles away from you in another nation. must just be a crazy coincidence, right..?

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who demands your attention at every moment within these meetings, growing insanely agitated if you so much as attempt to talk about the other harbingers—especially il dottore. attempts to figure out why he hates the senior member so much are outright ignored, scaramouche instead opting to quickly silence you by either pinching your lips together or boldly kissing you ꒰if he's feeling particularly jealous, that is꒱. "you shouldn't even think about other men in my presence," he'll say, "let alone dottore." and because you don't want to upset your idol, you simply nod your head and change the subject.

꒰💀꒱・yandere idol scaramouche who would've asked you to be his partner by now, if not for the many scandals that would erupt from such a request. he's aware that some of his fans obsess over him in the same way he does you, and he'd hate to place you into any dangerous situations because of his greed. don't get him wrong, though. you still aren't allowed to date anybody else, a fact that he'll remind you off right before he sends you on your way. things may not be official, sure—but you still belong to him.

i have a taglist, which you can sign up for here!

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Navigation apps in Israel were instructed not to sure traffic jams anymore, so Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists won't be able to aim rockets at them.

The Minister of Defense made it clear that every benefit, support and compensation for the bereaved families of the Oct 7 massacre will apply to same-sex families, too.

Among Hamas' victims in the massacre are 235 people with non-Israeli nationality, an additional 74 are categorized as missing (meaning it's still unknown if they've been murdered or kidnapped), and they come from 41 countries. This includes at least 30 people murdered from Thailand, 10 from Nepal and 6 from China, at least some of them were beheaded.

Please explain to me how does beheading a student from Nepal help liberate any Palestinian, or why were non-Israelis butchered if the massacre was supposedly "resistance" against Israel?

The Israeli president revealed that among the documents recovered from Hamas terrorists were instructions from Al-Qaeda on how to build a weapon with cyanide.

This demonstrates how Hamas has been learning from other extremist Islamist organizations. They also adopted ISIS' use of the drug captagon to prevent a sense of fear in the terrorists, heighten their feelings of rage, as well as keep them going for longer. All of this (together with multiple reports that Hamas brought weapons for far more than just one day of slaughter) indicates that, while the massacre is the worst to have happened in the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict, what Hamas had in mind was probably even worse.

Israel screened today for foreign journalists 40 minutes of raw footage showing the massacre, most of it from Hamas terrorists' body cameras. Here is the full thread of one journalist, about some of the horrors seen in it. I'll share just one part of the thread, because I think #8 is really important:

The Israeli army has been releasing aerial photos showing how Hamas intentionally places its rocket launching sites next to civilians, so that either Israel is deterred from firing at these, to stop the rocket launching at civilians in Israel, or so that civilian Gazans will be harmed when Israel does act against these targets. For context, the Gaza strip DOES have uninhabited parts, where rocket launching would not endanger any civilians at all.

Today, Hamas has sent two attack drones and Hezbollah has sent one. The latter was flown and attacked from the direction of the sea.

An Israeli lawyers NGO has filed at the Hague to put Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad on trial for crimes against humanity.

Another personal story, this time of Atallah, a little Arab Bedouin boy whose father was told that, for being Israeli Arabs, they're more Jewish than Jews (and therefore legitimate targets to Hamas):

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Palestinians say their farewells at a funeral for civilian families murdered in cold blood by the Zionist occupation army in the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip on Friday. 📸 Photos taken following Israeli occupation bombing on Friday across various sectors of the Gaza Strip. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE, OCCUPATION FINDS NEW WAYS TO PUNISH PALESTINIANS ON DAY 210 OF GENOCIDE

On the 210th day of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 3 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 26 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while another 51 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to reach countless hundreds, even thousands of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

In the latest news, a statement issued on Friday by the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Commission, along with the Palestinian Prisoners Society, announced the deaths of two Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip in Israeli prisons.

One of the two prisoners included Dr. Adnan Ahmad al-Bursh (50yo), who was the Chief of the orthopedic department at Al-Shifa medical complex in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, while the second prisoner who died was Ismail Abdul Bari Khader (33yo).

Dr. Al-Bursh was kidnapped and detained by the Israeli occupation army back last December while visiting with a group of doctors at the Al-Awda Hospital, located in the Jabalia Refugee Camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The doctor had been previously wounded in an Israeli bombardment at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya about 5 months ago, and died while being held at the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank on April 19th.

The second prisoner, Bari Khader, died under "mysterious circumstances" following his detainment by Zionist forces. His body was transferred along with the bodies of dozens of detainees from Gaza and released through the Karm Abu Salem crossing in Gaza's southeastern tip.

According to the statement from the Prisoner's Commission, both Al-Bursh and Khader died as a result of torture and neglect at the hands of the Israeli occupation, going so far as to declare Al-Bursh's death a "deliberate assassination" as part of the occupation's targeting of Gaza's doctor's and healthcare system more broadly.

At the same time, the Palestinian National Campaign to Retrieve the Bodies of the Martyrs said the Israeli occupation continues to withhold the bodies of some 500 Palestinians who've died in Zionist jails, including at least 58 detainees since the beginning of 2024 alone.

“Withholding the bodies in the cemeteries and the occupation’s refrigerators constitutes an affront to the human dignity of a person, during his life and after his death, and a collective punishment,” the Campaign said in a statement.

In other news, the Caribbean Island nation of Trinidad and Tobago announced today the recognition of a Palestinian state, officially joining the island nations of Jamaica and Barbados, who previously recognized the State of Palestine.

The decision was made by Trinidad and Tobago's government following a cabinet meeting on Thursday, and came based on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The government said it has decided that such recognition would help to achieve a lasting peace in the region and strengthen the international consensus on Palestinian independence and sovereignty.

In additional news, Turkiye has suspended all trade operations with the Israeli occupation, unless and until the occupation allows the free flow of aid into the Gaza Strip.

The announcement was made by Turkiye's Trade Ministry late on Thursday, with the Ministry stating that in the second phase of restrictive measures, it has suspended all trade with Israeli entity due to its ""aggression against Palestine in violation of international law and human rights."

In the first phase, the Trade Ministry restricted the trade of 54 product catagories for export to the Israeli occupation on April 9th.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation's slaughter in Gaza continued for yet another day, with Israeli bombing and shelling targeting all sectors of the Gaza Strip, killing and maiming dozens of Palestinians.

On Thursday, a Palestinian citizen working as a truck driver to distribute humanitarian aid, by the name of Ahmed Yassin, was fired upon by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) with live bullets near the Al-Kuwaiti roundabout, in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Yassin was shot and killed by IOF soldiers during an attack on the roundabout area, while several others were wounded in the assault, all of whom were transported to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

In another attack, occupation air forces bombed a civilian residence in the Hassan al-Banna area of Gaza City, wounding at least six civilians.

On Thursday evening, intense airstrikes targeted a gathering of civilians in the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of 5 Palestinians, including a child, while a number of wounded were also reported, with casualties taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

In a simultaneous strike, Zionist warplanes bombarded civilians on Al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City, slaughtering three more Palestinians and wounding many others. The casualties were transported to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the city.

In another atrocity, occupation fighter jets bombed the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of Rafah City, in Gaza's south, murdering two Palestinian civilians.

The Zionist entity's war crimes continued when IOF warplanes bombarded a residential home belonging to the Shaheen family, in the Al-Zahur neighborhood of Rafah, resulting in the martyredom of six family members, including a mother and her five children, and wounding several others.

Yet another airstrike by IOF aircraft hit a residential home belonging to the Sheikh Al-Eid family, in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah City, resulting in at least 10 casualties, while 9 more civilians were wounded in an occupation bombing on the Al-Bureij Refugee Camp.

The massacres continued when occupation warplanes bombed near the Rafah crossing, killing two civilians, while Israeli jets repeatedly bombarded the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of Rafah.

In another murder, an Israeli occupation drone opened gunfire on a civilian in the Al-Salam neighborhood, killing a young Palestinian man named Imad Sabah.

The slaughter went on with a bombing that targeted the Mufti's land, north of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, wounding several people, while occupation fighter jets destroyed three residential buildings in the vicinity of the power plant in central Gaza.

As a result of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the local population has risen further still, now exceeding 34'622, including over 14'690 children and 9'680 women, while another 77'867 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

May 3rd, 2024.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[probablyasocialecologist]

Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Palestinian militant groups in Gaza in return for the release of some of the hostages held in the territory early in the war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

[...]

Negotiations resumed after the launch of the Israeli ground offensive on 27 October, but the same sources said Netanyahu had continued to take a tough line on proposals involving ceasefires of different durations in exchange for a varying number of hostages. Others indicated that negotiations which took place prior to the ground invasion involved a far larger number of hostages, with Hamas proposing the release of dozens of foreign nationals captive in Gaza.

[...]

According to three sources familiar with the talks, the original deal on the table involved freeing children, women and elderly and sick people in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, but the Israeli government turned this down and demonstrated its rejection with the launch of the ground offensive.

[zvaigzdelasas]

The US and the UK will reject the international court of justice order directing Israel to end its offensive on Rafah after slowly blurring their red lines that once stated that they could not support a military offensive in Rafah.

The line was first adapted by saying they could not support a major ground offensive without a credible plan to protect civilians, but since then the definition of what constitutes a major offensive has become more flexible.

The deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, told MPs on Monday “the UK could only support a constructive plan for Rafah that complies with international humanitarian law on all counts”.

On Tuesday he told the UK business select committee that “the significant operation in Rafah, it appears, has not yet started”, even though 800,000 people had fled the area, including 400,000 who had been warned to do so by the Israel Defense Forces. [...]

The select committee chair, Liam Byrne, cited the movement of 800,000 people: “If that is not significant, then what is?”

Mitchell replied that the UK was doing what it could do to help with aid, adding the fact “800,000 had chosen to go of itself would not lead us to make a change in the assessment” of whether a serious breach of IHL had occurred.

The Labour MP Andy McDonald, previewing the line taken by the ICJ, asked the minister: “What choice did they have to move? Was this just: ‘I think I want to go and live somewhere else’? Is that not a preposterous suggestion to make – that this is a matter of free will?”

Mitchell replied: “They have moved as a result of the circumstances.”

Byrne asked the minister directly: “Do you believe, Mr Mitchell, as the minister, that Israel currently has the intent to comply with international humanitarian law in Rafah?”

Mitchell replied: “It does not matter, chair, what I believe. What is important is the legal process that informs that decision.

He later admitted that the last released assessment of Israel’s compliance rested on evidence that ended in January.

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, took a different line in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, indicating that he had been briefed by Israeli officials and by Israeli professionals on refinements to the Rafah plan that would achieve its military objectives while taking account of civilian harm.

He said there was no mathematical formula to decide if a plan was acceptable. “What we’re going to be looking at is whether there is a lot of death and destruction from this operation or if it is more precise and proportional,” he said.

He made no reference to the conditions in which Palestinians forced to flee were living.

It seems, according to interpretation, that the US either feels it has persuaded Israel to adjust its plans to make them acceptable or, faced with an Israeli fait accompli that the invasion would proceed regardless of Washington’s objections, the US has effectively backed down.

24 May 24