🤔 “It’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it” - George Carlin

@RiseGS

💵New Zealand Officially Enters ‘Double Dip’ Recession

New Zealand has sunk into its second recession in just 18 months, official data showed Thursday, as wild weather and efforts to tame inflation weighed heavily on the economy.

Output shrank 0.1% in late 2023, after falling 0.3% the previous quarter, StatsNZ said. New Zealand also suffered a downturn in late 2022 to early 2023.

The latest contraction came even though migration surged, with around 130,000 people arriving in NZ last year, boosting the population to 5.3mn.

@RiseGS

⚠️Israeli Forces Murdered Four Unarmed Palestinian Civilians in Khan Yunis with Targeted Drone Strikes

Al Jazeera has published exclusive footage from an Israeli drone shot down by resistance fighters in Gaza - revealing the IDF UAVs deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians fleeing Khan Yunis.

The drone pursues the youths until they were either dead or seriously injured.

The US, UK and many international govts are complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.

@RiseGS

🤔 Taiwan Reveals US Troops Stationed on Island Less Than 4 Miles from China

The admission came when Taiwan’s Defense Minister confirmed a report that US Special Forces have been training on outlying islands just 3.7 miles from China.

In an apparent escalation of the American military presence in Taiwan, it remains unclear how long the Special Forces have been deployed on the Kinmen Islands.

It was previously believed that the US maintained only limited troops on Taiwan itself, as the island nation would send its special forces to the US to train.

China does not appear to have addressed the remarks.

@RiseGS

⚠️ Polish Su-22M4 fighter-bomber flies over Polish farmers protest

@RiseGS

😳 Secret Report Warns Ottawa: Canada Could "Descend into Civil Unrest Once Citizens Realize the Hopelessness of Their Economic Situation” – National Post

The Canadian police report is listed as a piece of “special operational information” to be distributed only within the RCMP and among “decision-makers” in the federal govt.

“The coming period of recession will … accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations,” reads the report, entitled Whole-of-Government Five-Year Trends for Canada.

It warns that whatever Canada’s current situation, it “will probably deteriorate further in the next five years.”

A heavily redacted version was made public as a result of an access to information request filed by Matt Malone, an assistant professor of law at British Columbia’s Thompson Rivers University, and an expert in govt secrecy.

@RiseGS

🪙 The US has urged Kiev to stop attacks on Russian energy facilities, saying they could lead to a rise in global oil prices.

Financial Times quoted its sources as saying that Washington has sent warnings to high-ranking officials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Defence Ministry's GUR.

According to a US official, the White House is increasingly "frustrated by brazen attacks by Ukrainian drones" on oil facilities in Russia. The US also fears that the AFU attacks could allegedly provoke Russia to respond.

@ukraine_watch

💵Senior Ukrainian Army Official Arrested for ‘Embezzling $1.25MN in Aid’ Meant to Feed Soldiers

Aleksandr Kozlovsky has been arrested on suspicion of using the funds to buy an apartment in Kiev, a dozen plots of land and a car.

He had been working as the head of a military department that procured food for soldiers before his arrest.

An anti-corruption campaigner in Ukraine believes the real figure funnelled by Kozlovsky from military funds could be as high as $3.5mn.

The tip of the iceberg.

@RiseGS

🔴Israeli Soldier Shares Video on Social Media Depicting the Killing of Five Palestinian Civilians in Northern Gaza

The world is witnessing repeated, specifically targeted strikes on the unarmed in Gaza.

The sort of behavior the ICJ explicitly forbid in the genocide ruling against Israel – the “most moral” army in the world.

@RiseGS

🤔 UK Confirms 10 Ukrainian Pilots Have Completed "Basic RAF Flight Training"

The group will now head to “advanced training” provided by the French Air Force “before learning to fly F-16 fighter jets,” the UK govt noted.

@RiseGS

❗️Western Banks’ Legal Depts Understand “Catastrophic Consequences” of Russian Asset Confiscation – Kremlin

Some western banks are lobbying against EU proposals to redistribute billions of euros in interest earned on frozen Russian assets, senior industry sources informed Reuters - fearing it could lead to costly litigation.

"The legal department of any bank understands the catastrophic consequences of such actions to expropriate assets, both for the bank, for the country as a whole and for the European economy," Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday.

EU leaders on Thursday agreed to move ahead with work on a plan to use up $3.24bn a year to supply arms to Ukraine – suggesting the proceeds could be used within a few months.

@RiseGS