Author: Ted Bell

Despite China’s isolated social media platforms, its public sphere has not been immune to the propaganda and disinformation being pushed by Israel during its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, according to a Beijing-based observer. “What worries me is that … some right-wing people … they are making a lot of propaganda in China,” said Liu Bo, a journalist who has been closely monitoring trends on Chinese social media platforms that are otherwise closed off to the world. There are websites in China which “platform” Israeli propaganda, such as one called “Israel Project,” he told Anadolu. “Information on that platform…

Copenhagen (17/08 – 78) Kidnapping, intimidation, and blackmail are just some of the means used to hit enlistment quotas in Tajikistan. When conscription season comes around in Tajikistan, military recruiters begin resorting to desperate measures. Scooping young men off the streets in actions tantamount to kidnapping is standard. But that is just for starters. To pressure communities into giving up their sons, recruiters will disconnect the electricity, detain relatives, and shut down mosques. Eligible levees draw lots to decide who will be the one to hand themselves over. The hunting season for men of draft age, which applies to people…

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – A new restaurant and bar will open at The District in Jackson later this year. Eudora’s Mississippi Brasserie will specialize in craft cocktails and serve a variety of dishes. “We are thrilled that Eudora’s has chosen The District at Eastover as its home,” said BreckHines and Ted Duckworth of Concord Companies. “Since the project’s beginnings, we havestrived to provide an elevated experience, starting with intentional design details that cometogether to create a special place for all of Metro-Jackson.” Eudora’s Mississippi Brasserie will begin construction and renovations in the coming months with plans to open to the…

President Erdoğan has pledged to build half a million homes within a year, but experts and the opposition say this promise is due to upcoming elections in May A month and a half after the earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria and killed nearly 60,000 people, bulldozers are still removing rubble and demolishing buildings. The task is daunting: it adds up to around 200 million tons of concrete, brick, metal and wood, according to calculations by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In terms of volume, this debris, piled one meter high, would occupy 100 square kilometers (38.6…

A judge should ignore a request from retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre to be removed from a civil lawsuit that seeks to recover misspent welfare money in Mississippi’s largest-ever public corruption case, the state Department of Human Services said this week. Millions of federal welfare dollars were intended to help low-income Mississippi residents — some of the poorest people in the country — but were instead squandered on projects supported by wealthy or well-connected people, including projects backed by Favre, prosecutors say. No criminal charges have been brought against the NFL Hall of Famer, although other people have pleaded guilty to their part in…

Eight former BBC journalists who had their applications to relocate from Afghanistan to the UK rejected are expecting their cases to be reconsidered after they successfully challenged the rationale behind the refusals at the high court. In a judgment handed down on Monday, Mr Justice Lane said the decisions had been made on an incorrect basis and, but for the error, there was a “more than fanciful prospect of a different outcome”. The journalists worked in high-profile roles for the BBC and other media agencies in Afghanistan before British troops withdrew last year. They are now in hiding, claiming they and their families…