🇿🇦 🇸🇪 New short film about South Africa from Swedish film maker Jonas Nilsson.

https://odysee.com/@BoerProject:8/charged-protests-in-south-africa's-power:b

🇿🇦 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 South Africa: Diplomatic Spat Over 'Russian Weapons Transfer' Rises to Cabinet Level

⬛️ The South African and United States Cabinet officials responsible for foreign affairs have stepped into the diplomatic row over the alleged transfer in South Africa of weapons to a Russian cargo vessel last December.

⬛️ Amid controversy over an American claim that South Africa has supplied weapons and ammunition to a nation which has launched a war of aggression against Ukraine, South Africa's foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with one another late Friday about what Blinken described as "the vital U.S.-South Africa relationship."

⬛️ The U.S.-government funded news agency, Voice of America, described the row as a diplomatic spat which "has put relations between the two friendly nations at their lowest ebb in years."

⬛️ Blinken's call to Pandor was made after South Africa summoned the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, in a diplomatic démarche to protest his remarks on Thursday that the U.S. is "confident" that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto the cargo ship Lady R at the South African naval base in Simon's Town, near Cape Town, in December 2022.

https://allafrica.com/stories/202305140010.html

🐣 Happy Mother's Day

📎 Citizen Free Press

YOUR MOTHER

When your mother has grown older,
When her dear, faithful eyes
no longer see life as they once did,
When her feet, grown tired,
no longer want to carry her as she walks -

Then lend her your arm in support,
Escort her with happy pleasure.
The hour will come when, weeping,
You must accompany her on her final walk.

And if she asks you something,
Then give her an answer.
And if she asks again, then speak!
And if she asks yet again, respond to her,
Not impatiently, but with gentle calm.

And if she cannot understand you properly
Explain all to her happily.
The hour will come, the bitter hour,
When her mouth asks for nothing more.

🇺🇸 🇹🇼 "Marco Rubio and 2 other US senators introduce bill to rename the Taipei Representative Office to "Taiwan Representative Office", the exact same move as 🇱🇹 Lithuania 2 years ago, which led 🇨🇳 China to effectively cut almost all relations with the country." Arnaud Bertrand

https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202305130008

⚡️🇮🇷🇪🇬 Iran states that embassies of Egypt and Iran will be reopened in the near future, and that a meeting between the presidents of both republics will be arranged.

Talks between Egypt and Iran have been held in Baghdad, Iraq since March to discuss normalizing relations, and exploring the possibilities of said meeting between the heads of state.

@Mediterraneanman

The Washington Post website published a "partial" trannoscript of an interview with Zelensky. But the Internet archives have a more complete one. What are the differences?

The Washington Post website (paid access; the same version is available in some commercial aggregators) published a "partial" trannoscript of an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dated May 13 by a large group of journalists from the newspaper. The interview itself took place on May 1, and some articles based on it appeared in the following days - we talked about one of them on May 2.

However, some Internet users noticed that the site had previously posted a different trannoscript, which was not called partial; it is preserved in the Internet Archives.

Upon careful comparison, it turns out that the following fragment has disappeared from the currently available version:

Washington Post: It appears from the documents that the GUR, your intelligence agency, maintains covert contacts with Prigozhin, you were aware of these contacts, including meetings with Yevgeny Prigozhin and GUR officers. This is true?

Zelensky: This is a question of military intelligence. Do you want me to be convicted of treason? And therefore it is very interesting if someone says that you have documents or if someone from our government talks about the activities of our intelligence. I would also like to ask you: what sources in Ukraine do you contact? Who talks about the activities of our intelligence? After all, this is the most serious crime in our country. What Ukrainians do you talk to?

This is followed by several more remarks in which journalists assure Zelensky that the questions are based solely on leaked American documents and that none of the Ukrainian officials spoke to them about this.

Washington Post: I can tell you exactly what information there is about Prigozhin and GUR. On February 13, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, informed you about the Russian plan to destabilize Moldova with the help of two former Wagner employees. Budanov told you that he sees the Russian scheme as a way to expose Prigozhin because "we are dealing with him." You instructed Budanov to inform Moldovan President Maia Sandu, and Budanov told you that the GUR informed Prigozhin that he would be declared a traitor working for Ukraine. The document also says that Budanov expected the Russians to use the details of Prigozhin’s secret negotiations with the Main Intelligence Directorate and meetings with the Main Intelligence Directorate officers in Africa…

Zelensky: Listen, to be honest, you just read something, say something. I just don't understand where you get this from, who you are talking to and so on. You are talking about how I met with Budanov. It says that you are - how should I put it? It looks like you have people who have some kind of record, or you have proof, or you have something, because that's what it looks like. You are doing again, I beg your pardon, what you did before. You publish some information that does not help our state. So I don't quite understand what you are talking about. I don't quite understand your purpose. Is your goal to help Russia? I mean, it means that we have different goals. Each of these questions simply demotivates Ukraine, demotivates certain partners to help Ukraine. Well, anyway, I just don't understand your purpose.

A similar «skirmish» with Zelensky continues for quite some time, and at the end of it it is clear that he believes that the Washington Post obtained the documents he refers to from somewhere, purposefully, and did not study what was available on the Discord servers thanks to the actions of Jack Teixeira (This is the official version of what happened, first in the American press, and then in the investigating authorities).
https://news.1rj.ru/str/bbcrussian/46205

JUST IN - Turkey is likely heading for a run-off election. Erdogan drops below 50%, according to the state news agency.

@disclosetv

🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈 — 7.12.2022 | The EU plans to enshrine into law the right of homosexual couples to adopt children under the guise of equality!

Parenthood inside the European Union varies from country to country from a legal POV. In some countries homosexual couples are recognised by law, can marry and even adopt children while in some countries, located mainly in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and, in addition, Italy, adoption of children by homosexual couples is prohibited and this is something that the EU wants to change under the guise of "creating uniformity across the bloc" and "ensuring the equal rights of parents and children in accordance with the EU's values".

COM 695 is a proposal for a new regulation, currently under debate in the European Council, which aims to create a universal set of rules applicable inside the EU regarding recognition of parenthood.

🔻 The main elements of the proposal include:

◾️Designation of the jurisdiction: the proposal determines the courts of the Member States that have jurisdiction in matters related to parenthood, ensuring the best interest of the child;

◾️ Designation of the applicable law: as a rule, the law applicable to the establishment of parenthood should be the law of the State of the habitual residence of the person giving birth. Where that rule results in the establishment of parenthood as regards only one parent, alternative options ensure that parenthood can be established as regards both parents;

◾️ Rules for recognition of parenthood: the proposal provides for the recognition of court decisions and authentic instruments establishing or providing evidence of the establishment of parenthood. As a rule, parenthood established in a Member State, should be recognised in all the other Member States, without any special procedure; ❗️❗️

◾️ Creation of a European Certificate of Parenthood: children (or their legal representatives) can request it from the Member State which established parenthood, and choose to use it to prove their parenthood in all the other Member States. The Commission proposes a harmonised template, common to the whole EU. The use of the Certificate would be optional for families, but they have the right to request it and to have it accepted all over the EU.

While the press release does not explicitly say that the "recognition of parenthood will apply to same-sex couple" the document attached to it is straightforward in this regard:

"Given that in international law, Union law and Member States’ laws, all children have the same rights without discrimination, the proposal covers the recognition of the parenthood of a child irrespective of how the child was conceived or born and irrespective of the type of family of the child. The proposal thus includes the recognition of the parenthood of a child with same-sex parents and also the recognition of the parenthood of a child adopted domestically in a Member State".

🇫🇷🏭 — 11.05.2023 | French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled measures to spur a reversal of the country’s industrial decline as he seeks to respond to massive US aid for its green sectors and rebuild his political fortunes at home.

Pledges include an expanded use of tax credits for investment, streamlining procedures to open new factories, and boosting financing in education and training. He also said the government will change bonuses for electric vehicles to exclude those produced with a large carbon footprint, a measure that would support European production.

“The battle for reindustrialization is key on an economic level, it is key on a geopolitical level, and it is key on a political level for the unity of the nation,” Macron told business leaders and lawmakers gathered at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Thursday. “We must accelerate and go much further.”

The initiatives aim to tackle France’s long-standing industrial weakness, which has seen it sink further behind European Union peers. The weight of manufacturing in the EU’s second-biggest economy has slid to 10%, compared with more than 20% in Germany.

The government is concerned the US Inflation Reduction Act could exacerbate those difficulties by luring investment away from Europe with the promise of bigger subsidies.

In a nutshell, Emmanuel Macron is taking action now before its too late to save France's prospects of remaining a key player in the industry of Europe. Under previous presidents and together with the EU's green agenda aiming to become "carbon neutral" by 2050, the industry of not just France but the EU as a whole, was impaired from growing as much as it could have due to arbitrary taxes aiming to cut down on pollution. Now, coupled with a shaky energy sector in France due to France's reliance on Russian gas and oil in addition to massive protests by workers unhappy with the pension reform, companies are having second thoughts about investing in France are choosing the US as a better alternative.

🔗 To avoid the paywall: https://archive.ph/hj13v

@PatriotFrontUpdates » Patriot Front's demonstration posted by "Raws Alerts" on Twitter. The video has 24 Million views and counting right now.

https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1657466390545088512?s=12

@PatriotFrontUpdates » News reports of Patriot Front's demonstration sighted playing at a diner in Maryland. The comments of Joseph Biden regarding the "threat" of nationalism were referenced alongside the footage of the peaceful and orderly demonstration in Washington yesterday.