The president of Kyoto Animation, Hideaki Hatta, denied the arsonist Shinji Aoba’s claims that the studio stole his novel during an 11th trial hearing for the deadly 2019 arson attack. Hatta stated the company does not steal ideas. While Aoba admitted carrying out the attack, his defense argued he was mentally incompetent. The fire killed 36 people and injured 33 others. After pausing productions, Kyoto Animation resumed work in 2022 with the release of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid season 2.

Memorials honoring the victims are planned to be unveiled on the 5th anniversary of the tragic incident in 2024.

Archive.today link to animehunch.com

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Thailand police arrest 14-yr-old suspected gunman after 3 killed at luxury mall. According to the article, chaos erupted after gunfire was reported at the upscale Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok. Three people were killed and four others injured in the shooting. Police arrested a 14-year-old boy suspected of being the gunman. Hundreds of people, including children, were seen pouring out of the mall in torrential rain. Gun violence is not uncommon in Thailand, with the incident coming a year after a nursery shooting killed 36 people, including 22 children.

Siam Paragon is Thailand’s most famous mall, known for its high-end stores and popular food court.

Archive.today link to www.reuters.com

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Temperatures in Spain shattered heat records for early October according to the country’s meteorological agency AEMET. Nearly 40% of weather stations recorded highs above 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit to start the month. Two cities, Badajoz and Montoro, broke continental Spain’s record for the warmest October temperature with readings of 38 and 38.2 degrees respectively, surpassing the previous mark of 37.5 degrees. Most of the Iberian Peninsula saw temperatures 7 to 14 degrees above normal. Even Madrid’s historic Retiro Park matched its October heat record of 30 degrees from 1930. The weather expert noted almost 100 individual records were broken just on October 1st alone. If the trends continue, future summers may not only be hotter but also longer, extending well into autumn which is usually milder.

The article notes that scientists widely attribute the rising global temperatures to human activity.

Archive.today link to www.reuters.com

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Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway connecting the capital Jakarta with Bandung. Largely funded by China under its Belt and Road Initiative, the 142 km railway will cut travel time from 3 hours to around 40 minutes on the Whoosh bullet trains reaching speeds up to 350 kph. The $7.3 billion project was constructed by a Chinese-Indonesian joint venture and faced delays due to land and environmental issues. Indonesian President Joko Widodo championed the project and will inaugurate commercial operations on Monday. During test runs, Chinese and Indonesian leaders rode the trains and were comfortable even at top speeds.

However, some experts question the financial viability of the high-speed rail for such a short route, as existing transportation is far cheaper.

Archive.today link to apnews.com

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Mainstream Western media frequently engages in relentless China-bashing by regurgitating trivial or fabricated stories without evidence. Positive stories about China are rare. Reporting typically adheres to three ideas - that China is a threat, must be linked to all global issues, and that curbing its rise is legitimate despite hundreds of millions gaining a better life. This betrays an imperial view that the West decides which nations participate in the global economy. The media war is powered by technology in a new propaganda era, with Western outlets assuming conflict is inevitable rather than promoting multilateralism.

Dismantling the dominance of Western media will be difficult but investing in alternative sources worldwide could provide more balanced views for local audiences.

Archive.today link to thediplomat.com

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Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling rejecting efforts to restrict indigenous land rights. The case involved the Xokleng people who were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands in southern Brazil in the late 19th century. While the Xokleng were granted rights to a 15,000 hectare reservation in 1996, they argued this land represented only a fraction of their original territory. The ruling sets a precedent against the “marco temporal” argument that indigenous groups must prove occupancy of disputed lands as of 1988. This decision will impact hundreds of similar land disputes and represents a boost for indigenous rights amid attacks on these rights during Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency. Anthropologists have documented the brutal tactics used to drive the Xokleng from their lands, including mercenaries collecting the ears of those killed.

The Supreme Court victory was met with celebrations and tears of joy from indigenous groups nationwide.

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Divided loyalties examines the fragmented political landscape in Somalia. The country was once governed by a nationalist party after independence, but clans soon dominated. Siad Barre then instituted a military dictatorship promoting socialism and irredentist nationalism. After his regime fell in 1991, new clan-based polities emerged like Puntland and Somaliland declared independence. The adoption of federalism in 2012 further incentivized clan divisions. Al-Shabaab also vies for control, exploiting clan grievances despite rejecting clan politics. Meanwhile, diaspora Somalis still hope for reunification despite the entrenched political rivalries.

In short, Somalia faces deep challenges overcoming clan divisions and forging a cohesive national identity after decades of conflict and decentralization.

JPMorgan Chase will pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the US Virgin Islands over Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. The lawsuit alleged that JPMorgan was complicant as Epstein was a client from 1998 to 2013, withdrawing up to $750,000 per year. While the settlement does not admit liability, JPMorgan regrets its association with Epstein. This is the first time a bank has paid an enforcement action related to human trafficking. The US Virgin Islands has also secured over $165 million in other settlements from Epstein’s estate and those connected to his crimes.

The agreement recognizes JPMorgan’s efforts to fight human trafficking through anti-money laundering programs.

Mexican auto parts workers at VU Manufacturing formed an independent union in 2022 called La Liga after years of domination by company-friendly unions. In retaliation, the company shut down operations in Piedras Negras, Mexico this year, leaving 400 workers jobless and 71 without legally-mandated severance pay. These workers now face blacklisting from other local factories. The case poses a challenge to new labor protections in the USMCA. Blacklisted former VU workers have struggled to find new jobs amidst employer reluctance to hire union activists. Auto manufacturing is highly interconnected between Mexico, the US and Canada, so Mexican workers’ conditions impact others across borders. As Mexican unions gain strength, companies threaten to relocate production. US unions have supported Mexican workers’ rights to organize independently.

A protest is planned at VU’s US headquarters to demand severance pay and an end to blacklisting in Piedras Negras.

The document discusses the concept of antisemitism and its relationship to Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It interviews author Rebecca Ruth Gould about her book “Erasing Palestine”, which analyzes how the definition of antisemitism has been expanded by some organizations to include all criticism of Israel in an attempt to shield it from scrutiny. Gould describes her own experience being accused of antisemitism over an article she wrote about the occupation, and how this led her to explore issues of free speech, Jewish identity, and the silencing of pro-Palestinian views.

The interview touches on Gould’s rediscovery of her Jewish roots and draws parallels between the oppression of Jews and Palestinians.

Iraqi torture survivors who were detained and abused by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib prison and other sites nearly 20 years ago continue to seek compensation and recognition from the U.S. government. While investigations have documented widespread torture, around 500 criminal probes led to charges for only 11 soldiers. Survivors have found no clear path to redress through the U.S. court system or compensation programs due to legal obstacles. The report profiles one survivor, Taleb al-Majli, who describes being tortured and continues to suffer physical and psychological impacts, lamenting the toll it has taken on his family. It argues the abuses stemmed from Bush-era policies that circumvented torture prohibitions and the U.S.

has yet to fully acknowledge responsibility or provide remedy for Iraqi victims.

Secret documents reveal that the US helped Pakistan secure a controversial IMF bailout loan through a secret arms deal to supply weapons to Ukraine. Pakistan sold munitions to the US to support Ukraine’s military, which helped cover Pakistan’s financing gap that the IMF required to approve the loan. This prevented an economic crisis in Pakistan and allowed its new government, installed after the US reportedly encouraged removing Imran Khan, to crack down on dissent. However, the harsh IMF-mandated austerity measures sparked widespread protests. The weapons sales were brokered by a controversial arms dealer and helped Pakistan gain both economic relief from the loan as well as political goodwill from the US.

However, questions remain about how secret military deals factored into the IMF’s assessment, and the crackdown has damaged Pakistan’s troubled democratic process in the aftermath of Khan’s ouster.

China is spreading disinformation in Taiwan ahead of the upcoming presidential election in January. Much of the disinformation aims to portray America, not China, as Taiwan’s greatest threat. The disinformation narratives are finding their way into Taiwanese media and influencing talk shows. A study found that while Chinese actors help spread most of the US-skepticism narratives, over half appear to have Taiwanese origins, suggesting China piggybacks on existing fears in Taiwanese society. China has developed systematic means of spreading falsehoods on Taiwanese social media that then get amplified by mass media, sometimes within half a day. However, surveys still show Taiwanese are warier of China than America.

The disinformation campaign underscores China’s insidious efforts to mislead Taiwanese voters, though its actual impact on the election remains uncertain.

Germany banned a far-right group called Artgemeinschaft and carried out raids across the country. The group had about 150 members and sought to indoctrinate children with Nazi ideology using racist and anti-Semitic literature. Police raided 26 apartments belonging to 39 members of the group in 12 states. The interior minister said this was a further blow against right-wing extremism and those who still spread Nazi ideologies today. Germany has seen a rise in the number of people involved in the far-right extremist spectrum, according to a government report.

It highlighted the disturbing nature of this group attempting to radicalize youth.