Federico Ortino

But more to the point - offering asylum to people fleeing war or torture or persecution is what decent nations do. It's what defines us. Without that it's just a race to the bottom.

Exclusive: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break | CNN Politics The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes ...

NEWS: The UK is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...

EU and Ecuador launch negotiations for a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement Today, the European Union and Ecuador launched negotiations for a Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA).

EU and Ecuador launch negotiations for a Sustainable *Investment Facilitation* Agreement

policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-and-...

Remember the time Obama personally caught a fainting woman during his speech — rather than just blankly staring like a sociopath?

Character isn't something you tell people about.

It's something you live.

Dutch universities hope for change after far right falters D66 election victory encouraging, sector leaders say, but financial and demographic pressures remain

'D66 “have really embraced” universities’ call for the Netherlands to “grow towards a 3 per cent of GDP investment in research and innovation”, said van den Berg, while the party has pledged that “they won’t enter a government coalition that wants to cut back on the whole educational sector”.'

I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.

Legacy created for Italian couple who died in Grenfell Tower fire Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi moved into the tower months before they were killed in the fire.

BBC News - Italian couple's families seek to bring hope out of Grenfell tragedy
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Farage: epic grifter

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1

CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1

Trickle-down economics was always a sham.

Nothing has ever trickled down.

I recently sat down with three leaders who are part of the @obamafoundation.bsky.social's alumni network to hear more about their work to strengthen democracy in Hungary and Poland. They’re an example for us all. Take a look:

She was 15 — Anastasiia Hrytsiv. Killed by a Russian missile in Lviv overnight, along with her entire family.

They died together, in their own home — torn apart in seconds.

Just another Ukrainian family wiped out by Putin’s war.

Source: Kyiv Post

I think the politicisation is rampant. But what is worse is that the system seems to allow for this: if a President can nominate and fire federal prosecutors at will, does the system provide any remedies against any abuse? Congress, not sure... The ballot box may be the only remedy.

The radical right in Britain increasingly claims to represent "Christian values" & "Christian civilisation" - though its leaders rarely go to church or pretend to believe anything.

It's especially important that Christian leaders speak out against this, as it's their tradition that's being claimed.

WTO panel issues report regarding EU duties on imports of biodiesel from Indonesia On 22 August the WTO circulated the panel report in the case brought by Indonesia in “European Union — Countervailing Duties on Imports of Biodiesel from Indonesia” (DS618).

www.wto.org/english/news...

White House Announces Comprehensive Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions

You can't teach U.S. history without "divisive" narratives. Slavery wasn't "unifying." The Japanese incarceration wasn't "unifying." The anti-immigrant Operation Wetback (real name) wasn't "unifying."
It's history's job to tell the truth, not cover up past racism to pave the way for future racism.

Texas Democrats Leave the State to Block GOP Congressional Map Read more here.

🚨BREAKING: A group of Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state Sunday, activating their emergency plan to block a hastily-drawn Republican congressional map that’s poised to set off a national redistricting battle between red states and blue states. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

The British trade deal wasn't what they said it was, the Vietnamese are still yet to confirm Trump's announcement, and the Japanese say they're not signing a binding agreement. The White House has released the text of ZERO (0) deals, and maybe it's all just social media posts all the way down.

ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change:

Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy Outgoing president Dame Julia Black calls on ministers to overhaul their ‘confused’ approach to higher education

www.ft.com/content/3162...

Proud to be a signatory on this letter.

And, as if to prove the point, here’s the DOJ official responsible for ousting Jim Ryan and leading the “negotiations” with our Board of Visitors. It has nothing to do with protecting Jews; 100% with advancing a far-right partisan agenda.

The Army Was the Only Life She Knew. Trump’s Trans Ban Cast Her Out.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

Misogyny is an epidemic fuelled by social media, Amy Hunt tells BBC in first interview People “should be very concerned” about sexist, hateful content on social media and “every single one of us” needs to do something about it, she says.

BBC News - Misogyny is an epidemic fuelled by social media, Amy Hunt tells BBC in first interview
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Who will be next to join the MPIA? In my blog post I suggested Argentina, Indonesia, Panama, South Africa, and South Korea as candidates, but I really don't know.

Honestly I still can’t stop laughing 😂😅🤣

a sign on the back of a protester’s wheel chair that says “the word king and the name trump only go together as ‘fucking trump’”

personal favorite that i saw today

🚨🚨"It is hard to predict how this will end, other than badly. It will take years to rebuild America’s constitutional checks and balances, institutions, and international standing, but possibly decades to restore political trust." Excellent by @alexhh.bsky.social on the #LA military deployment:

Frightening

Just stunning at how quickly Greece has transformed it's energy mix.

In a decade, coal has been pretty much driven out from 50% to 6%

More to come as solar expands 👍

#energysky

Failing water sector needs stronger regulation, review says The Water Commission finds

Water privatisation was always stupid, wrong-headed, anti-public and destined to fail.

I knew it, you knew it, everybody knew it.

But the Tories cared more about allowing shareholders to gorge on our assets than any public good, economic, health or environmental.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Different country, but she speaks for me.