Victoria Fox's Blog, page 68

Hitler decided to take matters into his own hands. He tried to come to Warsaw three times.

Read also: Drunkard, joker, man of honor. Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski was president of Poland for several days

It is hard to imagine more nonsense. Eight months earlier, Hitler had no dilemmas. As soon as he was sure that Poland’s fate was sealed, he ordered all the bells in Germany to ring for a week in victory. Then he himself set off for the Vistula River.

Führer with binoculars

He had already managed to get to know the Polish capital well, albeit from a distance. When the Wehrmacht approached Warsaw on September 8, the commanders were so confident that it was officially announced that the city had been captured. The Italians expressed admiration, Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s chief diplomat, congratulated the success and hailed the victorious government of the Third Reich.

In fact, the fighting for the city was just beginning. The defense was so fierce that Hitler decided to go to the siege line himself and make sure that his own soldiers were involved. It is assumed that during the entire September campaign the Führer made about ten visits to the front. Of these, he tried to come to Warsaw three times.

The Polish air force was destroyed, so the dictator no longer had to travel in an armored train, as he had in the early days of the war. On September 22, he left Sopot and landed on the outskirts of Prague. From the tower of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland in Marysin Wawerski, he observed the city through binoculars, as can be seen in one of the surviving photographs. Another taken from the same spot shows his closest acolytes and most important commanders.

The bombing did not bring the desired results. The attackers did not avoid losses. Hitler was informed that Generaloberst Werner von Fritsch had just died, not far from a sniper’s bullet or a stray machine-gun bullet. The second German general killed in this war. The Führer received the report, then returned to the airport and from there to Sopot.

Three days later, on September 25, he flew again. The resistance in the capital was dying, but it had not yet been crushed. From Grodzisk Mazowiecki, where the commanders of the 8th and 10th Armies attacking Warsaw were located, Hitler watched the massive bombing of the capital. After reveling in the fires that consumed the city, he flew to Lębork.

Despite the enemy’s overwhelming advantage, the Poles fought for three more days. Only on September 28 was the capitulation announced.

Hysterical tired

It was October 5, 11:30 a.m. This time, the commander’s plane landed not at the peripheral military airstrip, but at Okęcie itself. Hitler was greeted with pomp and humble respect. Waiting at the airport were Gerd von Rundstedt (Chief of the Supreme Command in the East), Walther von Brauchitsch (Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces), Johannes Blaskowitz (8th Army) and Walther von Reichenau (10th Army).

After a hurried greeting, the dictator got into a six-wheeled Mercedes and, with a large escort, headed towards the city center.

“A large column of motorcycles with trailers came out,” witness Ksawery Świerkowski, a teacher, reported. “German policemen in huge helmets, dressed in navy blue coats, were sitting on saddles. On the trailers, the policemen were half-lying on their left sides, facing backwards, with rifles in their hands and their fingers on the trigger. Behind the column was a huge old-fashioned armored car with a hatch above the deck, and a soldier also facing backwards with his finger on the trigger of a machine gun.

Next came three open cars. First, a car with officers, with an anti-aircraft gun attached. Behind it is a limousine carrying a group of generals. Finally: the most important and unwelcome guest. “In the third [samochodzie] “Suddenly I saw Hitler,” Świerkowski recalled. “He was wearing a politischer leiter coat and had a young aide to his right. Pale, with his lips tightly bitten, he struck me as hysterical, tired and completely indifferent to everything.

A city doomed to destruction

In fact, in the photographs taken in Warsaw in October, the Führer appears gloomy, exhausted and, ultimately, angry. No mementos of his visit have survived, so it is impossible to say what impression the city made on him. On the way, he saw mostly ruins. A German soldier passing through Warsaw that same day remarked: “I have not seen a single house that has not been at least partially destroyed.” “Who has the money to install new windows, to pay for the wires, to repair the roofs? Nobody! Warsaw is a city and its population is doomed to extermination,” one of the Wehrmacht generals agreed with him.

The cavalcade passed through several neighborhoods, only to stop in front of the Saxon Palace, in a square that could no longer bear Piłsudski’s name, but which only a year later would be called Adolf-Hitler-Platz. The dictator greeted the members of the selected troops standing up, then sat back in the carriage and drove off in a cloud of dust.

The actual celebrations were planned 2km away, at Aleje Ujazdowskie. “A podium was built among the ruins of once elegant villas and former embassies,” explains British historian Roger Moorhouse. “Behind it, among the golden trees, fluttered a large German war flag.”

The parade began as soon as the leader took his assigned place. Infantry, cavalry, motorized artillery… In the available films, Aleje Ujazdowskie is drowning in a sea of ​​helmets and uniforms. One by one, the regiments rapidly advance in front of the Führer. The stream of people, machines and horses seems endless. The leader admires clean-shaven guys, trucks, heavy machine guns, tankettes. The cameramen take close-ups of the fierce faces of the soldiers. But especially against Hitler himself, who repeatedly raised his hand in the Nazi salute.

Forbidden magazine

The organizers were keen to immortalize every aspect of the propaganda spectacle. Photos were taken from the grandstand, from the sidewalks and, finally, from the upper floors of the buildings that survived the siege. Several film crews were at work. The parade was filmed from the ground, but also by a camera mounted on the back of a car that passed parallel to the marching soldiers. Plans were already underway to release albums, produce propaganda films and hastily broadcast a chronicle of the war.

Only one is not visible in the photographs. Any spectators. There is a tangle of uniform caps on the stands. The sidewalks were alternately empty or filled with… soldiers celebrating other soldiers. Here and there, single Germans in civilian clothes watch military displays. However, it is in vain to look for ordinary Warsaw residents.

“The inhabitants were forbidden, under threat of being shot at, from approaching the marching soldiers,” explains German historian Jochen Böhler. “The entire city was put on hold,” adds Moorhouse. The center of the capital was sealed off and all residents were temporarily displaced from several streets in the city center. Every corner was manned by patrols.

Along the march route, guards were stationed every two meters. Even approaching a window could result in death. The chronicler of occupied Warsaw, Władysław Bartoszewski, wrote about preventive raids. Moorhouse specifies that in particular “important people were taken hostage to ensure the proper behavior of others.” About four hundred people were taken prisoner, including representatives of the city government, headed by Mayor Stefan Starzyński. Ordinary Warsaw residents were terrified by the sudden hardening of the regime. Mainly because they did not know its causes.

The Chancellor of the Third Reich felt so confident that after leaving the podium he got back into his open-top car. He visited the Belvedere Palace and the office of Józef Piłsudski. The German dictator’s biographer, Peter Longerich, states that in this way Hitler “paid homage to a statesman he admired”.

The generals wanted to show the leader the rest of the city at his feet and, above all, to offer a banquet in his honor, but the Führer no longer intended to honor them with his presence.

The Chancellor hurried to the airport. The high-speed cavalcade passed through Nowy Świat towards the intersection with Aleje Jerozolimskie. This is the place where Adolf Hitler was supposed to die.

A second of hesitation

The decision was made a few days earlier. The city had not yet capitulated, and the emerging Polish Victory Conspiracy Service had already begun planning an attack on the German leader. The orders were given by General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski. Sapper Major Franciszek Niepokólczycki and a group of his subordinates were directly involved. They were brave, even daring people, although many would say they were a bit crazy.

Read also: The Man Who Knew Everything

On September 25th – when the Luftwaffe, to the delight of Hitler stationed in Grodzisk, dropped hundreds of tons of incendiary and high-explosive bombs on the dying metropolis – a group of soldiers were ordered to transport a huge load of TNT across the city center. A total of 500 kilograms of explosives were loaded onto the trucks. The transport traveled 5 km through ash and rubble-strewn streets before reaching its designated destination. The TNT was buried in two trenches in Nowy Świat – 250 kilograms on one side of the street, the same amount on the other. The charges were connected with cables, and the detonator was hidden under a nearby café. By October 4th, everything was ready for the assassination attempt on Hitler.

The soldiers knew their task and were ready to sacrifice their lives just to kill the dictator. However, they did not know the Führer’s route and were not convinced that he would reach the city on October 5. The obsessive security measures paid off. Faced with blockades and patrols, Major Niepokólczycki was unable to reach the scene of the action. And the sapper who was on duty at the station… did not press the detonator. Although he heard the column passing by, he was not sure whether it was carrying Hitler himself. And he preferred not to take the risk. “Today it is difficult to guess what the war would have been like if it had not been for that second of hesitation,” Jan Nowak-Jeziorański commented years later.

Soup instead of a feast

The visit lasted only a few hours. Adam Czerniaków, chairman of the Jewish community and president of the newly created Judenrat, noted that on the morning of October 5 it was impossible to pass through Aleje Jerozolimskie. According to his notes, the blockade lasted until 1 pm. Similar news was published in the newspapers the following day. Only from them did the people of Warsaw officially learn about the “great review of German troops”. And that the last restrictions were lifted around 3 pm.

Read also: Soviet cities were full of invalids. Until suddenly they simply disappeared… What happened to them?

By then Hitler was already in Okęcie and his plane was preparing to take off. Andrew Nagorski, an American journalist of Polish origin, claims that before his departure, the Führer managed to insult his own generals in his typical way. The army leadership was waiting for him in the hangar, at a table covered with a white tablecloth and decorated with flowers. Hitler did not sit with them, but went outside the building and had soup with ordinary soldiers, chatting with them. And when he was sure that the propaganda goal had been achieved, he headed for the runway. He was in a hurry to get to Berlin, where the next day he would give an important speech in the Reichstag. In it, he called on the Western powers to end the “unnecessary war”.

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Bitcoin ATM Fraud Skyrockets to $110 Million. These Are the Risks!

As Bitcoin ATM fraud continues to rise, seniors are being hit the hardest. Losses related to these scams are set to reach over $110 million by 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is almost ten times the amount reported in 2020. This is quite disturbing as it shows how exposed seniors are to Cryptocurrency fraud in the modern world.

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These kiosks, which can be used to buy Bitcoin instantly, have now become a new gateway for fraudsters. Such cryptocurrency-powered ATMs are now standard in locations such as convenience stores or gas stations across the United States. However, it has also made cryptocurrency services accessible to the public through these platforms and, unfortunately, has also led to the creation of a gateway for fraudsters.

How Scams Target Seniors

Most hackers impersonate employees of a particular company, government agency, or tech gurus at companies like Apple or Microsoft. They do this by calling victims, informing them that there has been an attempt to steal their identity or that their accounts have been compromised, and that they need to deposit money into a Bitcoin ATM.

The deposited funds are quickly converted into Bitcoin and the money is transferred directly to the scammer’s Bitcoin wallet, leaving the victim helpless.

The research services found that people over 60 are three times more likely to be scammed with such scams than younger people. The demands seem very urgent and the schemes used are so subtle that it is almost impossible for many people to avoid falling victim to the scam before it is too late.

Efforts to combat the scam

Even in the presence of such fraud, there are challenges in the fight against Bitcoin ATM fraud. In their defense, companies that operate Bitcoin ATMs, such as Bitcoin Depot, claim to have taken several measures, such as scam warnings and live chat support. This is a problem that cannot be completely combated, according to Scott Buchanan, the company’s chief operating officer.

The FTC suggests that potential victims take a moment to check all requests to transfer money via Bitcoin. It should be emphasized how important it is to take it slow and check the legitimacy of such requests, as these scams are becoming more common.

Also Watch: Crypto Hack Update: 40+ Countries Unite Against North Korea’s Billion-Dollar Crimes!

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After Nagarjuna, Shruti Haasan joins Rajinikanth’s Coolie

New Delhi:

Authors Coolie have made successive announcements about the brilliant cast of the film. The film stars Rajinikanth in the lead role. Earlier this week, the makers announced that Soubin Shahir has joined the cast. On Nagarjuna’s 69th birthday, his joining the project was announced. The latest addition to the film is Shruti Haasan. Director Lokesh Kanagaraj shared a poster featuring Shruti Haasan and wrote on X (earlier on Twitter), “Pipe of Shruti Haasan joining the cast. Coolie like Preethi. Welcome aboard.”

Check out the post shared by Lokesh Kanagaraj here:

Kicks to get @shrutihaasan joins the cast #Coolie as #Preethi

Welcome aboard @rajinikanth sir @anirudhofficial @anbariv @girishganges @philoedit @Dir_Chandhru @aurinkokuvat @PraveenRaja_Off pic.twitter.com/nYgZIFCJcK

– Lokesh Kanagaraj (@Dir_Lokesh) 30 August 2024

On Nagarjuna’s 69th birthday, the makers shared his official poster from the film and introduced his character, wrote, “So pumped to have King Nagarjuna Sir join the cast. Coolie like Simon. Welcome aboard and Happy Birthday Sir.”

Kicked to get King @iamnagarjuna Mr. joins the cast #Coolie as #Simon

Welcome aboard and I wish you a very happy birthday@rajinikanth sir @anirudhofficial @anbariv @girishganges @philoedit @Dir_Chandhru @aurinkokuvat @PraveenRaja_Off pic.twitter.com/Vv7wqA25VA

– Lokesh Kanagaraj (@Dir_Lokesh) August 29, 2024

Before that, Lokesh Kanagaraj welcomed Soubin Shahir on board and wrote on X, “It was good that Soubin Shahir sir joined the cast of Coolie as Dayal. Welcome on board sir.”

Kicks to get #SoubinShahir Mr. joins the cast #Coolie as #Day

Welcome aboard sir @rajinikanth sir @anirudhofficial @anbariv @girishganges @philoedit @Dir_Chandhru @aurinkokuvat pic.twitter.com/Cl9eFOpJMO

– Lokesh Kanagaraj (@Dir_Lokesh) August 28, 2024

Coolie has been backed by Kalanidhi Maran’s Sun Pictures.

On the work front, Shruti Haasan was last seen hitting the road Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefirestarring Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran. We’ll see him next The story of Chennai and Dacoit: A Love Story. He also appeared in a web series Bestseller. He has acted in several Tamil and Bollywood films. She entered Bollywood in the 2009 film Good luckfeaturing Imran Khan. The actor has also been involved in films, e.g Welcome back, Ramaiya Vastavaiya, Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji and D-Day among others.

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The second edition of the Traitors in Autumn photos by Malwina Wędzikowska

Based on the Dutch format, the program “The Traitors. “Zdrajcy” was one of the hits of TVN’s spring programming. Broadcast from the end of February to the end of May, on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m., the program was watched on average by 708,000 people, which translated into 7.35 percent of the station’s share among all viewers. (Nielsen audience measurement data). The format performed equally well on Player, where it was among the most-watched programs last season. TVN’s decision to continue “Os Traidores”, announced at the end of the first season, was not a surprise. Recruitment for the second edition began shortly after the May weekend.

As we managed to find out unofficially, The scale of interest in participating in the second edition exceeded the expectations of the program’s creators. In the first hour since the start of the recruitment process, almost 500 applications were received from potential candidates. Preparations are currently underway for filming, which, unlike the previous installment, is scheduled for autumn rather than mid-summer. All this to further enhance the dark aura of the game, which pleased viewers.

The second season of “The Traitors. “Traitors” even darker

According to our findings, the second edition of “The Traitors” will be even more demonic, which will be reflected primarily in the scenography, style and behavior of the presenter Malwina Wędzikowska.

– I drew conclusions from the first edition, as I was not prepared to be so observed and polished. In the new season, I will step up my game and be more unpredictable. I am preparing some surprises, the tasks will be much more difficult and the gameplay will be more dynamic and aggressive. – Malwina Wędzikowska revealed in an interview with Wirtualnemedia.pl. What else can we expect from the new version of the program?

– I think that in the second edition no one will waste time in silence, the participants will immediately act, start playing and at the same time better control their emotions. And this is the essence of this program – says the TVN star.

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American edition of “The Traitors” on Metro

We would like to remind you that from August 10th, fans of “The Traitors” can watch the American edition of the show hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming on the Metro channel. The 11-episode show airs on Saturdays at 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm.

What is the program “The Traitors”? “Traitors”?

The format of “The Traitors” is inspired by the game Mafia, in which participants are divided into “loyals” and “traitors”. Together they complete tasks, raising money, which may end up in the hands of one or the other “traitor” or “loyal”. The task of the latter is to eliminate the “loyals”, while the latter aim to expose their opponents.

24 participants took part in the first edition of the TVN program: Stanley Ayomo, Agnieszka Bodziachowska, Teo Daeyeong Chung, Aleksander Cichosz, Tadeusz Dębski, Renata Hartle, Mikołaj Jaworski, Justyna Kąkol, Olga Kelm, Monika Kosowska, Adam Kossut, Dominika Michałowska, Mikołaj Milcke, Joanna Narojczyk, Maciej Paszek, Klaudia Piłat, Sandra Plajzer, Manae Shimizu-Kaczmarczyk, Piotr Sinicki, Bartosz Skrobisz, Patryk Szczypka, Dorota Świętoniowska, Robert Trempski, Julia Tychoniewicz.

The winners were the loyalists – Justyna Kąkol and Stanley Ayomo, who shared the amount of PLN 326,000. The program was implemented by Jake Vision.

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Holidays during the school year? Dr. Kuzior: Polish schools have a reputation for being oppressive

Is the Ministry of National Education “investigating” the implementation of compulsory schooling?

In July, Polish media were shocked by the ban on children going on vacation during the school year. All thanks to the statement by Deputy Minister of Education Katarzyna Lubnauer, who, as a guest on Radio ZET, stated that the ministry was “looking” for possible ways to better enforce compulsory education.

– We often hear from teachers and principals that parents treat school as a place where their child may or may not attend. – said the minister, adding that this was detrimental to students and that the ministry would “analyze” the matter to decide which solutions to adopt.

On July 12, the Ministry of National Education published a post on the X platform with a quote from Deputy Minister Lubnauer, who said on Wirtualna Polska’s “#Tłit” program that “At the moment, there is no legislative work underway to introduce restrictions on children’s travel during the school year. We never planned to introduce in Poland the kind of restrictions that exist in other countries.”

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Expert: “This is a terrible idea”

Therefore, legislative work is not currently underway. This does not mean, however, that the Ministry of National Education has stopped “investigating” this issue. According to the expert, emerging ideas include: considering a child’s departure during the school year as an unjustified absence will only confirm the oppressive nature Polish school.

– The idea of ​​a top-down recognition that a child’s absence during the school year is an unjustified absence is, to say the least, very regrettable. Today, we can already hear opinions that Polish schools are oppressive, that they encroach too much on the sphere of freedom and violate the right of parents to raise their children according to their own beliefs. – notes Dr. Patryk Kuzior, assistant professor at WSB University, in an interview with Gazeta Prawna.

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Compulsory schooling and the number of children in education

According to Dr. Patryk Kuzior, the introduction of restrictions in this area can only increase the number of children being homeschooled.

–It is for these reasons, among others, that many parents are looking for ways to remove their children from the system, as can be seen in the rapidly increasing number of children being home-schooled. I believe that the issue of justifying a student’s absence should be a matter for agreement between the parents and the school, or more precisely, between the parents and the teacher.– says Dr. Patryk Kuzior and adds that there is no real problem.

– Of course, abuse and distortion can always occur, but this must be subject to individual assessment and existing regulations allow for an appropriate response. However, I have difficulty accepting that the departure of the child with the parents is in progress. school year for a few days, especially when the child recovers later, this is a real problem that requires special solutions. I think the Ministry of Education should instead focus on other problems related to the implementation compulsory education– says Dr.

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I ditched my £10 mop for a £600 Dyson wet cleaner – will it sink or swim?

Like most people, when I notice the kitchen floor is a little dirty, I walk into the hall closet and dig out my mop and bucket. These were of course the cheapest mop and bucket I could find. I then proceed to mop the floor with dish soap because I never figured out where to buy floor cleaner.

Okay, so maybe you’re not as stupid as this. But living in an apartment with lino in the kitchen, tiles in the bathroom and wood in the hallways, I have more hard floors than carpet. Keeping them clean can be a little tedious, but when I wash it, I notice how much dirt builds up that our vacuum simply can’t handle.

So when Dyson asked if I wanted to test its new WashG1 – its new high-tech wet floor cleaner – I wondered if it would make me realize that mopping floors is an art that we need the latest equipment to master. I was a lazy millennial who had to clean my apartment more often than basically never.

I think the truth is somewhere in between.

The WashG1 is a heavy duty vacuum cleaner-like device, but it doesn’t pick up any debris at all. Instead, you pour a liter of water from the tap into one tank and leave the other empty. Detach the G1 from the charging unit and click it, and the two microfiber rollers go into action, creating a nice film of water as you roll the unit across floors.

There are three sensitivity levels, the highest of which uses the strongest rotation and water volume. You can use the G1 to clean up drinks, food and other household spills, but I mainly used it to keep the parquet floors or my hallway and living room clean of dirt and shoe prints, and to keep the kitchen floor shiny. I have cut, crushed and chopped the preparation of the meal.

You don’t need to apply pressure to make it work, and when the dirty water drains into the empty tank, there’s a reassuring sense of satisfaction that the G1 is doing what it’s supposed to do. The color of the water is slightly appalling, but there is no garbage in that water.

After cleaning the removable litter tray, which is first assigned via the Dyson app. All kinds of hair, dirt and grime collect here – if you think you have clean floors, the carnage collected in this tray might convince you otherwise. The fine mesh grates keep the dirty water separate from the garbage.

Otherwise, the G1 can completely self-clean. The mini display on the handle of the unit reminds you, but you have to manually drain the dirty water from the tank and refill the clean tank completely to make it through the cycle.

The £599.99 cleaning machine involves a lot of unplugging and filling tanks, emptying bins and docking charging stations. We’re used to a lazy automated lifestyle, even with Dyson’s set-and-forget vacuum cleaners, but setup rituals are unavoidable here. That said, the WashG1 is great for cleaning floors and does a better job than my old mop, but it’s still a faff. No technology can get around it here.

Floors dry very quickly, even with the highest water setting, because the microfiber rolls don’t leave blinding puddles everywhere. My floors were dry in about ten minutes each time. A full tank lasts about long even when cleaning, but a fully charged G1 lasts about 35 minutes without a charger.

Overall, I’m satisfied that my floors are clean. I thought them before. How wrong I was. But I’m not sure I’d recommend everyone spend £599.99 just to upgrade their mop.

The WashG1 does a much better job of wet cleaning than a traditional mop, mainly because it’s able to pick up all the dirt and debris and sort it out – mopping usually just moves all the dirt around. It means I don’t necessarily need to vacuum my hard floors before cleaning them, but this method isn’t for everyone.

It’s also worth confirming that this is an expensive electric mop that can clean surface level dirt and spills, but can’t get rid of grout or truly embedded stains. It is not a product to buy to deep clean the hardwood floors of your new house, but a luxury mop that makes cleaning a little easier. Whether it’s worth the £599.99 is entirely up to you.

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Brazil’s telecoms regulator moves to block access to Elon Musk’s X after court order

Brazil’s telecoms regulator said Friday it was suspending access to Elon Musk’s social media site X in the country to comply with an order from a judge who has been in a months-long dispute with the billionaire investor.

The popular social media platform missed a court deadline on Thursday evening to appoint a legal representative in Brazil, prompting the suspension of the service.

Musk argued that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was trying to enforce unjustified censorship, while the judge insisted that social media needed hate speech regulations.

“They are shutting down the #1 source of truth in Brazil,” Musk said in a post on X on Friday.

The judge’s decision could cause X to lose one of its largest and most coveted markets at a time when Musk is grappling with financial troubles over advertising revenue on the platform.

X remained available in Brazil late Friday, although some Brazilians posted on other platforms that their access to X had already been blocked. The country’s three largest telecoms operators said they would begin blocking access from midnight (03:00 GMT Saturday), according to a report by local news agency UOL.

The conflict led to the freezing this week of bank accounts in Brazil of satellite internet provider Starlink. Starlink is a unit of Musk’s SpaceX rocket company.

In his ruling, Moraes ordered the suspension of X, formerly Twitter, in Brazil until it complies with all applicable court orders, including paying a fine of more than $3 million, as well as appointing a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.

Moraes also ordered telecoms regulator Anatel to execute the suspension order.

The agency told Reuters it was taking steps to comply but did not provide a timeline.

To effectively shut down the X domain in Brazil, telecommunications companies will have to stop transmitting network traffic and also prevent users from bypassing it by hiding their location using virtual private networks, or VPNs.

Moraes ordered that people who continued to access website X through a VPN would be fined up to 50,000 reais ($9,000) per day.

Tech giants Apple and Alphabet’s Google were initially ordered to remove X apps from their app stores and implement so-called anti-VPN hurdles that would make it harder for users of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems to open X apps on their phones and tablets.

However, Moraes later changed that part of the order, saying it would not be needed.

Apple and Google’s press offices declined to comment.

Couch potatoes and dictators?

Unlike many other countries, Brazilian Supreme Court judges have broad powers to make unilateral decisions. But in the X dispute, Moraes won the support of a majority of the 11-member court, including Supreme Court President Roberto Barroso.

Musk, in addition to owning X and a 40% stake in SpaceX, is also the CEO of electric car giant Tesla.

The dispute over Platform X has its roots in an order by Moraes earlier this year that required the platform to block accounts implicated in investigations into alleged dissemination of distorted information and hate.

Musk has denounced the order as censorship. He responded by closing the company’s offices in Brazil but said the platform was still available in the country.

He said Starlink will continue to provide its service free of charge to Brazilians, including the military, “until this matter is resolved.”

Earlier on Friday, Starlink asked the Supreme Court to stay the freezing of local bank accounts, arguing that it had complied with all court orders. That request was rejected on Friday evening.

Asked for comment, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stressed that all companies operating in the country must comply with their legal obligations.

“Just because someone has a lot of money doesn’t mean they can break” the law, the leftist leader told local radio on Friday.

In a tweet on Thursday, Musk mocked the president, calling him Moraes’ “lapdog” and called the judge a “dictator.”

During Friday’s event, Moraes showed no signs of backing down.

“Those who violate democracy and fundamental human rights, whether in person or through social media, must be held accountable,” he said.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a feed.)

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33,000 kilometers in 12 days. The Pope begins a record-breaking journey

Pope Francis is heading to Asia and Oceania. During the pilgrimage, which will last until September 13, he will visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. This will be a record-breaking and long journey. He will cover approximately 33,000 kilometers in 12 days.

Pope Francis

/RICCARDO ANTIMIANI /PAP

On the plane pilgrimages AND seven plane tripslasting 43 hours. The Pope will deliver 16 speeches. This is one of the longest journeys in the history of all papal pilgrimages.

Never before has Francis visited four countries in one trip – emphasized the director of the Holy See press office, Matteo Bruni, during a meeting with journalists. Among Vaticans There are many doubts as to whether this tiring expedition is really beyond our strength. The 87-year-old pope.

One of the oldest popes in the history of the Church is embarking on this extremely long journey; the oldest pilgrim. This will therefore be the greatest test of his strength to date. This effort is made despite the difficulty in moving around. He has been using a wheelchair for several years.

The Vatican announced that there would be a medical team on board the plane, as always: Francis’ doctor and two nurses.

That 45th trip abroad the current pope. This will happen in the footsteps of Saint John Paul IIwho was in these four countries: in East Timor before it became independent. Francisco intended to visit this region of the world, including Indonesia, in 2020, but this ended up being impossible due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Pope is resuming his foreign trips after almost a year. At the end of September last year he was in Marseille, in the south of France. He had to cancel his December visit to Dubai for the climate conference due to illness.

The first leg of the current pilgrimage will be the Indonesian capital Jakarta, where the Pope will arrive on Tuesday after a 13-hour overnight flight before noon local time. Franciszek will spend the rest of the day resting.

It will happen on Wednesday morning official welcoming ceremony of the Pope in front of the Istana Merdeka Presidential Palace by Head of State Joko Widodo. There, Francis will meet with representatives of the Indonesian authorities and society and, later, with the clergy at the local cathedral.

At the end of the day, you will be invited by the young people of the Scholas Occurentes educational foundation.

On Thursday, the pope will take part in an interfaith meeting at the capital’s Independence Mosque (Masjid Istiqlal), one of the largest Islamic temples, built in 1978 and able to accommodate 120,000 people. Francis will sign a document there with the mosque’s grand imam.

Francis will also visit a charity center and celebrate a mass at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium attended by tens of thousands of people.

On Friday, the Pope will Papua New Guinea. He will come to the country’s capital, Port Moresbywhere you will also spend the next day.

On Sunday Francis will celebrate mass in the capitaland then fly to Vanimo – a city near the border with Indonesia. There he will meet with the faithful and a group of missionaries, and the next day with the young people at the stadium in Port Moresby.

The afternoon pope will begin a two-day visit to East Timor’s capital, Dili. More than 95 percent of the population of the country, which has been independent for 22 years, is Catholic.

It is worth noting that the arrival of Francis, following the historic visit of St. John Paul II in 1989, is of great significance to the Timorese. They believe that the arrival and words of the Polish Pope played a key role in highlighting their difficult situation when East Timor belonged to Indonesia and the local population was being persecuted there.

Francis will meet with young people and clergy and celebrate Mass on the grounds of Tasi Tolu, where Saint Francis presided over John Paul II 35 years ago.

On September 11th, the last stage of the Pope’s exhausting pilgrimage will begin: visit to Singapore. He will celebrate mass there at the national stadium.

To Rome Francisco will return on September 13.

Due to the specific nature of the continents visited – Asia and Oceania – it is expected that the Pope will also refer in his speeches to important issues of environmental protection and threats to it.

Pope: It is a scandal that weapons are being produced in the world

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Georgia Democrat tries to remove indicted Trump voter who says he only did what he was told

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) – A young Georgia Democrat is raising big money from voters across the country by branding a suburban Atlanta Senate race as an opportunity to unseat the Republican nominee.

Although incumbent Shawn Still was one of 18 people indicted alongside Donald Trump in Fulton County, Georgia in 2023, Still says first-time candidate Ashwin Ramaswami is wrong to label him a partisan plotter.

The race won’t bother Georgia’s 33-22 Republican majority. But as Democrats try to oust Republican voters in suburban Atlanta who were abandoned by Trump and his crusade against the 2020 election results, the race will test whether they can repeat gains from statewide races in local elections.

While Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t made fighting voter denial a priority in her campaign like President Joe Biden did, Democrats continue to position themselves as defenders of democracy against Republican attacks.

Still was one of three Trump voters charged with crimes in Fulton County, along with Trump, Rudy Giuliani and 14 other Trump associates. Prosecutors are calling the 16 Republicans who gathered in Georgia’s capital in December 2020 “fake voters.”

Ramaswami, 25, who studied computer science at Stanford University, was still in law school last year when he learned of Still’s role. The Democrat was working on a similar case in Wisconsin, he said, identifying the hometown senator’s name when he testified Jan. 6 before a House committee.

“Shawn Still is really trying to undermine our votes, both Democrats and Republicans,” Ramaswami said.

Still says Ramaswami is wrongly characterizing him as an anti-democratic extremist.

“I think that’s all he has to run. So he’s going to hit me in the face with this unique thing,” Still said. “It has no merit.”

The district is drawn Republican and spans northern Atlanta suburbs in Fulton, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties. But two years ago, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won the district over Trump supporter Herschel Walker, even as voters backed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, and Still beat his Democratic opponent by 14 points. Ramaswami is hoping to emulate Warnock’s win by swaying voters Trump is uneasy about and believes he can connect with the district’s Native American population. More than 30% of the region’s population is Asian, the highest proportion in Georgia.

Ramaswami’s campaign has raised more than $460,000, a lot in a legislative race, and has attracted many outside donors. Still has raised just over $145,000, but Republican groups could potentially pump in more money if they believe Still is under threat.

There was also the secretary of the 2020 Trump caucus who signed and filed documents that prosecutors say were false. He says he acted on the advice of party officials and lawyers to preserve Trump’s legal options after the lawsuit challenged the Georgia election results.

“I would frame my involvement as a good soldier who did what he was told to do and followed the advice of attorneys who do this for a living,” Still said.

Still said his participation ended when he left the meeting.

“I build pools for a living,” he said. “I don’t think anyone really thought for half a second that I was some political mastermind who planned something that led to what happened.”

To Ramaswami, Still’s willingness to go along with his colleague’s illegal behavior made him “a useful idiot for the Republican Party.”

Ramaswami points to other actions Still took after the 2020 election, including a lawsuit he filed over the results in Coffee County, Georgia, the day before the voters met. Ramawsami also says Still did not take enough responsibility in his statement to the January 6 committee.

If elected, the Democrat said he would seek “common sense” solutions to issues such as gun violence, health care and abortion rights. One of his main goals would be investing in education.

“We as a community need to look at investing in the future, not squabbling over the past,” Ramaswami said.

His cyber security training under leaders from both sides would help him build mutual relationships, Ramaswami said. He has worked in the office of Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and as an intern and part-time employee at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where he said he helps protect local election officials and small businesses from cyberattacks.

Still, the 51-year-old has been a reliable Republican vote in his first two years, but he says he’s worked with Democrats and shown a “willingness and willingness to work on both sides of the aisle.” He has been low-key as a legislator, rarely taking the microphone to score partisan points.

Still said his crowning achievement is legislation that would allow students to transfer to another public school district without permission from the one they’re leaving. That measure was hidden in a bill whose headline achievement was the creation of a $6,500 voucher for private school tuition and homeschooling. The first-term senator said he wants more time in office, in part to work on human trafficking issues.

Ramaswami said he is still “not remotely” qualified to be a state senator.

“He hasn’t lived in the area since he graduated from high school. He has no life experience. He hasn’t done anything. His only jobs have been training. He has achieved nothing for himself.”

Even with Still’s experience, conservative voters have reservations. Bisvas Pokala, who works in information technology, leans on the Republicans. However, Still’s charges leave him undecided, and Pokala said he is “very concerned about that.”

Pokala worked at the booth in July at the Festival of India event in suburban Duluth. Ramaswami got through and talked to sellers and buyers. Many recognized Ramaswami and waved.

Salesman Ram Raju is a Democrat, but said many Indians in the business community are lean Republicans and predicted Still won’t be controversial enough to alienate party loyalists.

But Ramaswami says he can help voters of all backgrounds see through Still.

“The fact that Shawn Still is now trying to portray himself as a moderate and really distance himself from what’s going on is proof that he wants to stay away, and that’s something that voters won’t accept,” Ramaswami. quoth.

But still has made many connections. Dilip Mehra, a festival vendor and Still supporter, remembers performing at an event organized by his small company.

“He said, ‘If you have a problem, if your community has a problem, if you want our help, come to me,'” Mehra said. “He seemed like a very nice person.”

___

Charlotte Kramon is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on classified issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon

Amy reports from Atlanta.

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The used car seller recommends three spacious but affordable apartments

A well-known used car dealer has recommended three practical estate cars that look expensive but cost just over £5,000.

Matt Goodwin runs the YouTube channel High Peak Autos and often features videos where he recommends the best used cars to buy and shares the latest models he’s bought for his front yard.

In one of his latest videos, Matt takes a look at affordable yet luxurious estate cars and recommends that drivers on a £5,000 budget consider the Audi A6 Avant.

He advised, “If you seek [Audi] A6 Avant, I recommend the 3.0 liter, so let’s change the engine size to that. So, for example, this is a 2011 facelift, so nice LED lights and nicer wheels. It’s an automatic, it’s a 3.0-litre diesel, that’s 240bhp, it’s got 111,000 miles and costs £5,250.

“It’s a good-looking thing. I know it’s a 13-year-old car now, but you’ll get many more years out of it, and for just over £5,000, it’s an awful lot of car. It’s a Quattro, so it’s four-wheel drive, and I know exactly how it will be smooth, efficient and fast.”

Part of the Audi range since 1994, motorists with a £5,000 budget can easily pick up a later-generation example of the C6, built between 2004 and 2011.

Although these cars are quite long, their premium status means that many examples come with plenty of standard equipment, including Bluetooth connectivity, sat-nav and a 10-speaker sound system.

Powered by a 3.0-liter diesel engine, the Audi A6 Avant Quattro is equipped with an all-wheel drive transmission that achieves around 40 mpg and accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in just seven seconds.

Later in the video, Matt suggested that drivers looking for a cheap estate car that’s surprisingly reliable should look at the Jaguar X-Type with the 3.0 V6 engine, and said he hopes to keep his own.

He added: “I did a video with a gold 3.0-litre V6 all-wheel drive Sovereign. I wish I’d kept that car – it had a beige leather interior and a wooden steering wheel.

“Anyway, here’s something similar, it’s a 2006 model for £4,995. Doesn’t seem like great value when you could buy a 2011 Audi A6 for the same money, but they’re very rare and the 3.0-litre The V6 is a very reliable chain driven engine that sounds great and is manual.

Finally, drivers were also advised that a budget of £5,000 could also get them a top-spec Vauxhall Insignia Estate, although Matt warned viewers to check carefully any model they are interested in buying.

He continued: “A Vauxhall Insignia Estate wouldn’t be a bad idea. The road tax is cheap, but I worry that people will buy them because they’re cheap and they can’t afford to fix them or they won’t bother to maintain them. .

“So when they come in, they’re usually at the end of their life. If you can find one that’s been well maintained, go for it.”

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