Washington (United States) (AFP) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday expanded a US travel ban by barring nationals of seven more countries including Syria, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, from entering the United States.

Trump, who has long campaigned to restrict immigration and has spoken in increasingly strident terms, moved to ban foreigners who "intend to threaten" Americans, the White House said.

He also wants to prevent foreigners in the United States who would "undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions or founding principles," a White House proclamation said.

Trump's move comes days after two US troops and a civilian were killed in Syria, which Trump has moved to rehabilitate internationally since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian authorities said the perpetrator was a member of the security forces who was due to be dismissed for "extremist Islamist ideas."

The Trump administration had already informally barred travel from Palestinian Authority passport holders as it acts in solidarity with Israel against the recognition of a Palestinian state by other leading Western countries including France and Britain.

Other countries newly subjected to the full travel ban came from some of Africa's poorest countries -- Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan -- as well as Laos in southeast Asia.

In a series of new actions, the White House said that Trump was also imposing partial travel restrictions on citizens of other African countries including the most populous, Nigeria, as well as Black-majority Caribbean nations.

Trump in recent weeks has used increasingly loaded languages in denouncing African-origin immigrants.

At a rally last week he said that the United States was only taking people from "shithole countries" and instead should seek immigrants from Norway and Sweden.

He also recently described Somalis as "garbage" following a scandal in which Somali Americans allegedly bilked the government out of money for fictitious contracts in Minnesota.

Trump had already banned the entry of Somalis. Other countries remaining on the full travel ban are Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Sudan, and Yemen.

Trump last month made the ban even more sweeping against Afghans, severing a program that helped bring in Afghans who had fought alongside the United States against the Taliban, after an Afghan veteran who appeared to have post-traumatic stress shot two National Guards troops deployed by Trump in Washington.

The countries newly subject to partial restrictions, besides Nigeria, are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Angola, Senegal and Zambia have all been prominent US partners in Africa, with former president Joe Biden hailing the three for their commitment to democracy.

In the proclamation, the White House alleged high crime rates from some countries on the blacklist and problems with routine record-keeping for passports.

The White House acknowledged "significant progress" by one initially targeted country, Turkmenistan.

The Central Asian country's nations will once again be able to secure US visas, but only as non-immigrants.

Our project to preserve the history of Sega Channel — including over 100 new Sega Channel ROMs.

By Phil Salvador

December 15, 2025

Sega broke ground in the late 90s with one of the first digital game distribution systems for consoles. Sega Channel offered access to a rotating library of Sega Genesis titles, along with game tips, demos, and even a few exclusive games that never came out in the United States in any other format. In an era of dial-up internet, Sega Channel delivered game data over television cable — a novel approach that gave the service its name.

...

https://gamehistory.org/segachannel/

The bao was the best part!

I-Ro in Lima

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/56994590

See also: https://www.canadianarchitect.com/ontario-science-centre-opening-interim-location-at-harbourfront-centre-by-summer-2026/

You can also submit comments on a motion to save the original Science Centre building: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda-item.do?item=2025.MM35.4

I mean like, actually understand beyond just exchanging a few words a day. Like knowing hobbies, favorite foods, political opinions, favorite tv/movie/youtube channels/music/genre of entertainment, etc... overall likes and dislikes... you know what I mean...

As to why I'm asking: I feel like my family is just a bunch of strangers sometimes...

I feel like nobody really understands me.

Nami The Low-fi Cat - Stream, Study, and Chill

Quote from Reddit (as it is not an open media aymore):

I genuinely love Firefox, both as a developer and as an everyday user, and I appreciate the work that goes into it. That being said, Firefox dropped the ball on the new profile management system in about as big a way as possible, and I'm curious if there are other users out there who have developed any workarounds for the issues I've been facing.

The core issue is that Firefox now effectively has two profile systems with overlapping goals and zero interoperability. Profiles created via the new toolbar-based manager don't integrate with about:profiles or the -P switcher. Profiles created via the old system do not appear in the new manager. They coexist but do not talk to each other. Most confusing of all is why Firefox removed the ability to use custom profile directories. As I explain below, this in particular significantly impacts developers.

For power users, this new manager is frustrating. The old profile manager allowed custom directories and could be controlled via profiles.ini and command-line flags. Instead of extending the existing system, Firefox introduced a parallel one with fewer configuration options and no supported way to reconcile the two.

Developers, however, are affected the most. A pretty normal dev workflow involves multiple isolated Firefox profiles, each with different extensions, preferences, and devtools settings, stored in predictable custom directories so they can be launched from VS Code or other editors. It is also very common to open dev profiles side by side with a normal browsing profile for instant comparison. The old system supports this. The new one does not.

What makes this especially frustrating is that I can almost make it work, but it feels like Firefox intentionally designed it not to. The new profile manager uses an SQLite database under the Profile Groups directory. By manually inserting rows into the Profiles table, I was able to import profiles created with the old system:

INSERT INTO "Profiles" VALUES (4,'Profiles\qnx7k4eh.test', 'profile',  'briefcase', 'firefox-compact-dark@mozilla.org', 'rgb(251, 251, 254)',  'rgb(43,42,51)');

At first glance, it works. Profiles created with the old system show up in the new manager, it bypasses the issues with profiles.ini, etc. However, it only works if the profile lives under Firefox’s default profile directory. As soon as the profile exists in a custom path, the new manager refuses to recognize it. Absolute paths and relative traversal paths fail. The database even stores external paths in traversal form like ..\..\..\..\custom\path\profile.default, which strongly suggests the path field is validated and constrained to remain inside a managed root.

This is where the design completely loses me. The new system appears to intentionally restrict all profiles to a single directory with no supported override. The single most important feature for many power users and developers, choosing where their data lives, was deliberately removed.

Developer Edition makes this even worse. The new profile manager forces Developer Edition and Stable to share the same default profile root unless you use the old profile manager. Users cannot cleanly separate everyday browsing profiles from development profiles unless they commit to using two different, incompatible profile management systems. Firefox developers, of all people, should have anticipated that users running Developer Edition do not want profiles mixed with daily browsing, expect separate or at least configurable roots, and are more likely to need automation and custom directory layouts.

The only partial workaround I have found in Windows is using a directory junction. This preserves compatibility with the new manager while allowing a custom directory layout, but it only works on NTFS. If you need cross-platform portability, for example a profile on an exFAT drive shared between Windows and Linux, you're still out of luck.

This is not a case where Firefox made a tradeoff to serve one portion of the user base at the expense of another. If there were a fundamental conflict between a simple system for casual users and a flexible system for developers, that would be understandable. But introducing a new profile management system that cannot see profiles created by the existing one, does not interoperate with -P or about:profiles, cannot support custom directories, and actively blocks common developer workflows makes no sense. Users are forced to choose between control and convenience, and developers get neither.

Wondering if anyone with more insight can explain the reasoning behind this design, and whether there are any plans to unify the legacy and new systems or support custom profile paths in the new manager.

Also curious if anyone has developed a good workaround for the issues?

https://archive.ph/DF3eh

Dec. 14, 2025

Today, billionaires are still flooding politics with their money and still reaping the benefits, but they won’t stop yapping about it.

Elon Musk bragged about his support for President Trump, to whose campaign and allied groups he donated more than $250 million. He loudly attempted to buy votes in Pennsylvania. Then he leveraged it all into a cruel and chaotic effort to dismantle federal agencies. Marc Andreessen’s tech-heavy venture capital firm publicly pledged $100 million to target lawmakers who attempt to regulate artificial intelligence; Mr. Andreessen then mocked the pope for suggesting some ethical guardrails around the technology. Bill Ackman announced that he and his pals were prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat Zohran Mamdani, and urged Mr. Trump to call in the National Guard if that effort failed and Mr. Mamdani’s mayoralty met his worst expectations.

Reading by Tim Foley:

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Looks like some kind of memo went out or something, because pro-Israel outlets and individuals are all loudly amplifying one specific talking point about the Bondi Beach shooting.

Here are some examples:

“Bondi Beach Is What ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Looks Like”
~ Bret Stephens, New York Times

“The Intifada Comes to Bondi Beach”
~ David Frum, The Atlantic

“The Intifada Comes to Australia”
~ Walter Russell Mead, Wall Street Journal

“Shooting at Bondi Beach is what a globalized intifada looks like”
~ Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post

“The Intifada Comes to Australia”
~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Free Press

“Welcome to the global intifada”
~ David Harsanyi, Washington Examiner

“Palestinian propaganda has globalized the intifada”
~ Zachary Faria, Washington Examiner

“Bondi Beach massacre is what globalizing the intifada looks like”
~ Vivian Bercovici, National Post

“Chanting ‘globalise the intifada’ leads to Bondi Beach”
~ Danny Cohen, The Telegraph

“I have a simple question for leftists after the antisemitic shooting in Australia. What do you think ‘globalize the intifada’ means?”
~ US Senator Ted Cruz

“That attack in Sydney is exactly what it means to ‘globalize intifada.’ We saw the actual application of the globalization of intifada in Sydney.”
~ New York City Mayor Eric Adams

https://x.com/AshAgony/status/2000345692699820243

“These are the results of the anti-Semitic rampage in the streets of Australia over the past two years, with the anti-Semitic and inciting calls of ‘Globalise the Intifada’ that were realized today.”
~ Gideon Sa’ar, Foreign Minister of Israel

“When you refuse to condemn and only ‘discourage’ use of the term ‘Globalize the Intifada,’ you help facilitate (not cause) the thinking that leads to Bondi Beach.”
~ Former US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt (addressing New York City Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani)

“What on earth do you think globalise the intifada means? And can’t people see the link between that kind of rhetoric and attacks on Jewish people as Jewish people? Because that’s what really struck at the heart of Jewish people in our country today — an attack on Jewish people organising around Hannukah, coming together as Jewish people.”
~ UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting

“Why is it still allowed? What is the meaning of globalise the intifada? I’ll tell you the meaning… it’s what happened on Bondi Beach yesterday.”
~ Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom

“Calls to ‘globalise the intifada’ and chants of ‘from the river to the sea’ are not abstract or rhetorical slogans. They are explicit calls for violence, and they carry deadly consequences. What we are witnessing is the inevitable outcome of sustained radicalisation that has been allowed to fester under the guise of protest.”
~ Israeli embassy in the UK

“This is what happens when you ‘globalize the intifada.’”
~ Newsweek editors

“This was not an isolated act of violence — it was the culmination of ‘globalise the intifada’ rhetoric that has been building around the world since October 7.”
~ Yoni Bashan, The Times

“For those who’ve been marching these past few years demanding to ‘globalise the intifada’ this is a barbarous anti-Semitic consequence of their pro-Islamist stupidity.”
~ Former BBC anchor Andrew Neil

“When people call to ‘globalise the intifada’, this is what they are calling for: dead Jews, terrorism and families shattered forever.”
~ Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesperson

“Taking a stand against antisemitism after Bondi Beach should begin with an unequivocal recognition that ‘intifada’ rhetoric is hate speech.”
~ The Bulwark’s Cathy Young

“It would be great if those who have been shouting ‘Global Intifada’ would revisit that phrase right now. It is not a ‘harmless left wing slogan.’ It is a call to blame — and kill — Jews who have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the actions of the Israeli government.”
~ Spiritual guru and former US presidential candidate Marianne Williamson

https://x.com/NickRiemer1/status/2000869047244874088

Of course, these outlets and individuals do not actually care about the phrase “globalize the intifada”. If pro-Palestine activists had never chanted that slogan, pro-Israel spinmeisters would be focusing on a different line today. They are not trying to stop chants which they perceive as dangerous, they are trying to stomp out criticism of Israel’s genocidal atrocities.

As The Intercept’s Natasha Lennard wrote regarding the aforementioned Bret Stephens piece, “It’s all done in the name of fighting antisemitism by conflating the worst kinds of violent anti-Jewish bigotry, like what we saw in Bondi Beach, with any criticisms of Israel and its actions. To so much as say Palestinians ought to have basic human rights, in this view, becomes a deadly attack on Jewish safety.”

The term “intifada” means to “shake off” and “rise up”, and as Middle East Eye’s Craig Birckhead-Morton and Yasmin Zainab Bergemann explained last year, intifadas have historically included nonviolent resistance. Saying “globalize the intifada” isn’t calling for people to massacre Jewish civilians around the world, it’s advocating resistance to the power structure which incinerated Gaza and continues to inflict abuse upon Palestinians and any other population which doesn’t bow to the interests of the empire.

And the people scaremongering about this phrase know this. They’re fully aware that they’re using a tragic mass shooting as a political cudgel against people who believe Palestinians are human beings. This is just one more cynical manipulation aimed at protecting Israel from criticism so that it can inflict more violence and suffering upon the world.

As Em Hilton wrote for the Israeli outlet +972, “It is obscene how quickly the right has seized on this horror to advance an Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian agenda. And it is disgusting to see Israel’s politicians almost gleeful at the opportunity to distract from their genocidal onslaught in Gaza by using our pain and grief as a political weapon.”

_________________

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From Caitlin’s Newsletter via This RSS Feed.

President Donald Trump’s administration warned on Tuesday that the United States could impose fees or restrictions on European service providers in response to what it called “discriminatory” actions against US firms.

Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Organisers of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics said Tuesday they had "a technical problem" with the production of artificial snow which will play a key role in the Games in Italy next February.

The issue relates to the site in Livigno in the Italian Alps which will host snowboard and freestyle skiing events.

"In recent days, there has been a technical problem with the water supply system (for the snow cannons)," organisers told AFP.

"In 72 hours, we immediately resolved the issue and testing is currently underway to restart the system, and we will resume snow production in the coming days."

To be able to cover the Livigno Snowpark with snow and create the features, jumps, and halfpipes for the snowboard and freestyle skiing events, organisers need to produce large quantities of artificial snow.

Their snow cannons are supplied with water from the purpose-built Monte Sponda reservoir, which has a capacity of 203,000 cubic meters.

Construction of the reservoir, costing 21.7 million euros (25.5 million dollars), was completed at the end of November.

Artificial snow production was initially scheduled to begin last week.

Contacted by AFP, SiMiCo, the company responsible for delivering the Olympic venues and in charge of building the reservoir, declined to comment.

Even before this setback, International Ski Federation (FIS) secretary general Michel Vion had voiced his concern to AFP in early December about delays at the Livigno venue.

"There are significant delays with the artificial snow system, which is still not finalised," Vion said.

"We are still a bit concerned because the need for snow is significant for these disciplines.

"If we want to guarantee that the Games will be held properly, we need more than just natural snow, we also need artificial snow to consolidate the more compact, wetter snow."

Artificial snow is made using snow cannons which spray water into the cold air where it turns into fine snow.

Environmentalists condemn the energy consumption and the vast quantities of water needed.

President Trump on Tuesday issued a post on Truth Social where he declared a “total and complete blockade” of all “sanctioned oil tankers” going into or out of Venezuela, as he continues to take aggressive action against the country with the aim of ousting President Nicolas Maduro. “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada […]

From News From Antiwar.com via This RSS Feed.

The government is cutting transport subsidies for elderly and disabled people for elderly and disabled people from 75 percent to 65 percent.

The Total Mobility scheme provides discounted taxis and public transport fares for those with long-term impairments.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop and Disability Minister Louise Upston said when the previous Labour government boosted the scheme from a 50 percent subsidy in 2022, it did not account for increased demand.

The number of registered users had increased from 108,000 to 120,000 between 2022 and 2024/25, and the number of trips increased from 1.8 million in 2018 to 3 million in 2024/25.

"This is yet another fiscal cliff left to us that we are having to correct and fix. Today, the government is announcing decisions to stabilise the Total Mobility scheme so that the disability community is supported in a financially sustainable way, by all funding partners."

Montreal (AFP) – Six members of Canada's parliament travelling from Jordan were denied entry to the occupied West Bank on Tuesday by Israeli authorities who accused the delegation of being sponsored by "a terror entity."

Jenny Kwan, an opposition lawmaker with Canada's left-wing New Democratic Party, told AFP that one MP, Iqra Khalid of Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party, was "pushed multiple times" by an Israeli border officer.

The lawmakers were on a trip sponsored by Canadian-Muslim Vote, a charity group.

Israel's embassy in Canada told AFP in a statement that the charity receives funding from Islamic Relief Canada, a subsidiary of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), which has been "listed as a terror entity by the State of Israel."

IRW has rejected Israel's long-standing charge that it is a terrorist group with ties to Hamas.

Kwan said the delegation gave Israeli authorities prior warning about their trip, which included a range of planned meetings with aid groups, as well as Palestinian and Jewish civil society leaders.

"The Government of Canada formally notified the Government of Israel ahead of the delegation's travel," she said in a statement.

"Electronic travel authorizations to enter the West Bank were initially approved," but on arrival at the Allenby Bridge crossing on Tuesday "the entire delegation was denied entry to the West Bank."

Kwan told AFP that before leaving Canada she considered the prospect that the group would encounter difficulties because of Carney's decision to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

"I wondered whether or not this would be an issue," she said, but ultimately put it out of her mind after the trip was approved.

Kwan said the delegation had returned to Jordan's capital Amman.

Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on social media that Ottawa "has expressed Canada’s objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians."