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Remember how pro-Kremlin ATRL users told us that Europe would freeze to death without russian gas, and russia would do just fine because it would be able to pivot to China? Well, they were terribly wrong. Russia's Gazprom has recorded enormous losses after being dumped by Europe, and there is no demand for russian gas in China. To put this into context, Gazprom used to be the world's third-biggest company in 2008 when Germany's ruling elites were still busy gaslighting us about how Europe needed russian gas. Russian energy giant Gazprom plunged to its biggest loss in at least a quarter of a century after gas sales more than halved in the fallout from Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. The loss of Rbs629bn ($6.9bn) in 2023 underlines how the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine has ravaged the state-owned natural gas monopoly, leading to plummeting sales in Europe, its main source of income. The Kremlin and Gazprom have trumpeted growing Chinese purchases of Russian gas as an eventual replacement. Those exports, however, were only 22bn cubic metres last year against the 230bn cubic metres a year Russia exported on average in the decade before the Ukraine invasion. https://www.ft.com/content/f6ba327b-5200-4deb-ba95-fba3bbd6536a

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"Growing concerns" that Ozempic will disrupt big tobacco, candy companies, and alcohol brands, according to Morgan Stanley Are GLP-1 drugs the first real threat to the hyper-processed food and alcohol industries? Until recently, the dominance of ultra-processed food and alcohol companies has seemed unassailable. With corporate food engineers cranking out more and more hyper-palatable products, the negative health impacts seemed to only be moving in one direction. The tide might be about to turn. Morgan Stanley recently did a survey of people taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic or Mounjaro. CNBC and Quartz got private looks at the survey results. Quartz wrote: full article: https://curingaddiction.substack.com/p/growing-concerns-that-ozempic-will

Russian Invasion of Ukraine PLEASE NOTE: Want a resource link to send funds to besides the armed forces? Please check out the tweet below. I try to update this OP at least weekly with new Ukraine war maps from Al-Jazeera further below. This OP was originally oriented around an original thread on Five Eyes intelligence of an upcoming invasion first posted here in November 2021 that was changed to reflect the invasion that officially began in February 2022 and then subsequent posts were deleted as a result of the April 2022 forum reset. Al-Jazeera Live Daily Tracker Before the war - Maps in Context RESOURCE CONTEXT Sourcing: Shorter source list (English only) Verified and/or Highly Cited: CLICK NAMES FOR LINKS No endorsement of any of their other positions or those of their employers; news focused only Phil Stewart (Military correspondent, Reuters) Christo Grozev (Executive Director, Bellingcat) Eliot Higgins (Founder/Creative Director, Bellingcat) The Kyiv Independent (Ukrainian independent outlet) Kyiv Post (Ukrainian newspaper) Kevin Rothrock (Editor, Meduza English) Andrei Soldatov (Senior Fellow, CEPA) Liveuamap (Global independent outlet) Andrew Roth (Moscow correspondent, The Guardian) Liubov Tsybulska (Stratcom Ukraine Information/Hybrid Warfare Security Center Founder) Stratcom Centre (Ukraine Ministry of Culture's Strategic Comms / Info Warfare) Oleg Shakirov (Russian Center for Advanced Governance, consultant at PIR Center) Daria Kaleniuk (Executive Director, Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Centre) Paula Chertok (Kyiv's Mohyla Journalism School; Writer, Euromaiden Press) Nataliya Gumenyuk (Kyiv-based founder of Public Interest Journalism Lab) Myroslava Petsa (BBC Ukraine reporter) NEXTA (Former Belarusian-based outlet covering Eastern Europe, now based in Poland) SUSPILNE NEWS (Ukrainian Public Broadcaster) Max Seddon (Moscow Bureau Chief, Financial Times) Michael Kofman (Director, Russian Studies at CNA) Maria Shagina (Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Sanctions in post-Soviet regions) Polina Ivanova (Financial Times Ukraine/Russia correspondent) Illia Ponomarenko (Defense reporter, The Kyiv Independent) Euromaiden Press (Ukrainian independent outlet) Maria Avdeeva (Research Director at Euro Expert Association, Security Ops/Disinfo in Ukraine) Michael Horowitz (Le Beck International Geopolitical Consulting Firm) Anton Troianovski (Moscow Bureau Chief, New York Times) Mary Ilyushina (Washington Post/CBS Russia correspondent) Olga Tokariuk (EFEnoticias freelance correspondent in Kyiv) Julia Davis (Russian Media Analyst, The Daily Beast) Shaun Walker (Eastern Europe reporter, The Guardian) Samuel Ramani (Bylines in Washington Post/Foreign Policy, Fellow, RUSI) Neil Hauer (BNEIntellinews independent journalist in Ukraine) Jack Detsch (National Security Reporter, Foreign Policy magazine) Christopher Miller (BuzzFeedNews, reporting on Ukraine) Shashank Joshi (Defence Editor, The Economist) Unofficial OSINTtechnical The Intel Crab Caucasus War Report

The Biden administration is set to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance, marking a significant shift in U.S. drug policy. This move would acknowledge marijuana’s potential medical benefits and reduce restrictions on its research and pharmaceutical use. The Department of Health and Human Services supports this change, highlighting marijuana’s lower health risks compared to other controlled substances. The rescheduling could benefit the $34 billion cannabis industry by easing tax burdens and potentially reducing the black market. However, some critics argue that it could lead to increased marketing targeted at children and ignore the risks associated with high-potency marijuana. The decision is still subject to a public review period and potential congressional intervention. Source

The procedure, which rejuvinates skin and improves the appearance of wrinkles, gained popularity after Kim Kardashian got a vampire facial during an episode of Kim and Kourtney Take Miami

WASHINGTON — Amid growing protests on college campuses by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the White House is planning for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to have a minimal presence for a traditional rite of spring: delivering commencement addresses. Biden is scheduled to speak at Morehouse College and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in May, while Harris is only slated to give a graduation speech at the Air Force Academy. First lady Jill Biden, who teaches at a community college, is expected to deliver a commencement address, though no school has been named. Two White House officials noted that the number of speeches for Biden and Harris is similar to the two previous years. By comparison, when then-President Barack Obama was seeking re-election in 2012, he delivered addresses at the Air Force Academy, Barnard College and Joplin High School. That same year, then-Vice President Biden spoke at West Point and high schools in the battleground states of Virginia and Florida. Another White House official declined to preview how Biden might address the campus unrest. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters this week that Biden always views these addresses "as a special time to deliver a message — an encouraging message, a message that's hopefully uplifting to the graduates and their families." Full article: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-plans-limit-bidens-graduation-speeches-campuses-erupt-prot-rcna149137

https://www.ft.com/content/56f7d6d6-6a93-4172-a49e-d8a91991e29d

Source "Portugal was responsible for the crimes commited against slaves and indigenous peoples of Brazil during the colonial era and should pay for this" - says portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. In a conversation on Tuesday night (April 23) with foreign correspondents, Rebelo de Sousa also said that he suggested that his government should make reparations for slavery and stated that his country "assumes full responsibility for the damage caused", such as massacres of indigenous people, slavery of millions of Africans and looted goods. April 22 was the 524th anniversary of the portuguese finding the land the indigenous people called Pindorama - modern Brazil. However, the Portuguese president did not specify how the reparation will be carried out. It is the first time that a president of Portugal -- who is the country's head of state -- has acknowledged guilt. Last year, Rebelo de Sousa said Portugal should apologize for transatlantic slavery and colonialism, but didn't make a full apology. As early as Tuesday night, he claimed that acknowledging the past and taking responsibility for it was more important than apologizing. "Apologizing is the easy part," he said. Portugal was the country that trafficked most Africans in the colonial era. There were almost 6 million of them, almost half of the total number of people enslaved at the time by European countries. Instead, Portugal's colonial era -- during which countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, Cape Verde and East Timor, as well as parts of India, came under Portuguese rule -- is often seen as a source of pride. Over more than four centuries, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported long distances, mainly by European ships and traders, and sold into slavery. Those who survived the journey were sent to work on plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean.

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During a session at Queen's Park on Thursday, MPP for Hamilton Centre Sarah Jama was asked to leave the house because she was wearing a keffiyeh. A keffiyeh is a black and white checkered scarf traditionally worn across much of the Middle East and has come to symbolize solidarity with Palestinians. Jama, who was a former NDP MPP until she was removed from the party back in October over her comments on the Israel-Gaza war, was asked to leave the chamber by House Speaker Ted Arnott. Earlier this month, Arnott banned keffiyehs in the legislature over concerns that wearing one made an overtly political statement. NDP Leader Marit Stiles issued a motion last week to overturn the ban, but that failed to pass. https://nowtoronto.com/news/canadians-react-after-mpp-sarah-jama-asked-to-leave-legislature-for-wearing-keffiyeh/

Half of Americans — including 42% of Democrats — say they'd support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to a new Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll. And 30% of Democrats — as well as 46% of Republicans — now say they'd end birthright citizenship, something guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Why it matters: Americans are open to former President Trump's harshest immigration plans, spurred on by a record surge of illegal border crossings and a relentless messaging war waged by Republicans. Axios Vibe Check: Amid a record number of border crossings, nearly two-thirds of Americans said illegal immigration is a real crisis, not a politically driven media narrative. https://www.axios.com/2024/04/25/trump-biden-americans-illegal-immigration-poll —— Where do we go from here? Seems like the global left is losing the debate on immigration to right wing.

From Business Insider: you after finding out your flight to puerto vallarta got delayed & you won't be reimbursed BEFORE this change takes effect

The end of an era.