About one sixth of global cropland is contaminated by toxic heavy metals, researchers have estimated, with as many as 1.4 billion people living in high-risk areas worldwide.

Approximately 14 to 17% of cropland globally – roughly 242m hectares – is contaminated by at least one toxic metal such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel or lead, at levels that exceed agricultural and human health safety thresholds.

The analysis collected data from more than 1,000 regional studies across the globe, as well as using machine learning technology.

Dr Liz Rylott, a senior lecturer in the department of biology at the University of York, who was not involved in the research, said: “These findings reveal the deeply worrying extent to which these natural poisons are polluting our soils, entering our food and water, and affecting our health and our environment.

We just had this happen and NBC broke this about an outbreak from Nov 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ecoli-bacteria-lettuce-outbreak-rcna200236 and you have the lead in baby food https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2025/04/15/target-recall-baby-food-lead/83105523007/

Good luck everyone

🧮 Decentralization Scoring System (v1.0)

This scoring system evaluates how decentralized and self-hostable a platform is, based on four core metrics.

📊 Scoring Metrics (Total: 100 Points)

Top Provider User Share (30 points): Measures how many users are on the largest instance. Full points if <10%; 0 if >80%.
Top Provider Content Share (30 points): Measures how much content is hosted by the largest instance. Full points if <10%; 0 if >80%.
Ease of Self-Hosting: Server (20 points): Technical ease of running your own backend. Full points for Docker/simple setup with good docs.
Ease of Self-Hosting: User Interface (20 points): Availability and usability of clients. Full points for accessible, FOSS, multi-platform clients.

📋 Example Breakdown (Estimates)

📧 Email (2025)

• Top Provider User Share: Apple ≈ 53.67% → Score: 4.5/30
• Top Provider Content Share: Apple likely handles >50% of mail → Score: 4.5/30
• Self-Hosting: Server: Easy (Leverage email hosting services) → Score: 18/20
• Self-Hosting: Client: Easy (Thunderbird, K-9, etc.) → Score: 18/20

Total: 45/100

🐹 Lemmy (2025)

• Top Provider User Share: lemmy.world ≈ 37.17% → Score: 12/30
• Top Provider Content Share: lemmy.world likely hosts ~37% content → Score: 12/30
• Self-Hosting: Server: Easy (Docker, low resource) → Score: 18/20
• Self-Hosting: Client: Good FOSS apps, web UI → Score: 18/20

Total: 60/100

🐘 Mastodon (2025)

• Top Provider User Share: mastodon.social ≈ 42.7% → Score: 11/30
• Top Provider Content Share: mastodon.social ≈ 45–50% content → Score: 10/30
• Self-Hosting: Server: Docker setup, moderate difficulty → Score: 15/20
• Self-Hosting: Client: Strong ecosystem (Tusky, web, etc.) → Score: 19/20

Total: 55/100

🔵 Bluesky (2025)

• Top Provider User Share: bsky.social ≈ ~90%+ (very centralized) → Score: 0/30
• Top Provider Content Share: Nearly all content on bsky.social → Score: 0/30
• Self-Hosting: Server: PDS hosting possible but very niche → Score: 4/20
• Self-Hosting: Client: Mostly official client; some 3rd party → Score: 10/20

Total: 14/100

🟥 Reddit (2025)

• Top Provider User Share: Reddit ≈ 48.4% → Score: 0/30
• Top Provider Content Share: Reddit hosts a significant portion of user-generated content → Score: 0/30
• Self-Hosting: Server: Not self-hostable (proprietary platform) → Score: 0/20
• Self-Hosting: Client: Some unofficial clients available → Score: 3/20

Total: 3/100

How Scores are Calculated

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 How User/Content Share Scores Work

This measures how many users are on the largest provider (or instance).

• 100% (one provider): If one provider has all the users, it gets 0 points.
• No provider > 10%: If no provider has more than 10%, it gets full 30 points.
• Between 10% and 80%: Anything in between is scored on a linear scale.
• > 80%: If a provider has more than 80%, it gets 0 points.

📊 Formula:

Score = 30 × (1 - (TopProviderShare - 10%) / 70%)
…but only if TopProviderShare is between 10% and 80%.
If below 10%, full 30. If above 80%, zero.

📌 Example:

If one provider has 40% of all users:
→ Score = 30 × (1 - (40 - 10) / 70) = 30 × (1 - 0.43) = 17.1 points

🖥️ How Ease of Self-Hosting Scores Work

These scores measure how easy it is for individuals or communities to run their own servers or use clients.

This looks at how technically easy it is to run your own backend (e.g., email server, Mastodon server) or User Interface (e.g., web-interface or mobile-app)

• Very Easy: One-command Docker, low resources, great documentation → 18–20 points
• Moderate: Docker or manual setup, some config, active community support → 13–17 points
• Hard: Complex setup, needs regular updates or custom config (e.g. DNS, spam) → 6–12 points
• Very Hard or Proprietary: Little to no self-hosting support, undocumented → 0–5 points

PS.

This is Version 1.0 so there are likely flaws and mistakes in it, feel free to help create the best version we can I've put it on https://github.com/NoBadDays/decentralization-score

We do not, and for the most part cannot, know precisely who is under the executioner’s hood. State secrecy statutes put the equivalent of a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility over these state-sanctioned killers. But litigation files and investigative journalism have revealed a number of executioners’ identities, allowing us to peek behind the veil of secrecy for a glimpse of who these people are.

Consider Missouri’s chief executioner from 1995-2006, Dr Alan Doerhoff, who was responsible for 54 of Missouri’s 65 executions between 1976 and 2006. He didn’t push the syringes – shockingly, non-medical prison guards did that – but he did most everything else. “Nobody will ever do as many [executions] as I have,” he would later boast.

Doerhoff’s identity was revealed when a lawyer for a condemned prisoner checked the prison’s chemical dispensary logs and discovered that 2.5 grams of sodium thiopental (the drug used to anesthetize the prisoner) had been used in previous executions. The state’s protocol called for 5 grams, double that amount. The prisoner sued.

Missouri doubled down on its executioner, telling the court that it was confident in his competence and planned to continue to use him in future executions. But the court rejected the state’s assurances, writing that it was “gravely concerned that a physician who is solely responsible for correctly mixing the drugs which will be responsible for humanely ending the life of condemned inmates has a condition which causes him confusion with regard to numbers”.

The state appealed, but soon thereafter, investigative journalism discovered Doerhoff’s identity. Jeremy Kohler with the St Louis Post-Dispatch broke the story in January 2008, and with it came another shocking revelation: Doerhoff had been sued for medical malpractice more than 20 times, and his hospital privileges had been revoked at two hospitals. Doerhoff had also been publicly reprimanded by the state medical board for hiding his malpractice suits from the hospitals where he practiced.

The facility in Hudaydah governorate was hit at least two times on Thursday night, with the second strike coming as civil defense and rescue teams were extinguishing fires and recovering victims. The second attack killed at least five paramedics.

The Yemeni government slammed the attack as a clear war crime aimed at supporting the Zionist regime and enabling it to continue the Gaza genocide.

It said the strikes prove that the US deliberately attacks civilian infrastructure in Yemen with false justifications.

works every time

[...]

Before Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it seized Crimea in 2014 and annexed the peninsula, triggering sanctions from Western governments.

Two years ago in April 2023, Naftogaz said the arbitration court in The Hague ordered Russia to pay $5 billion in compensation for unlawfully expropriating its assets in Russian-annexed Crimea in 2014.

Paris's main civil law court has recognised The Hague ruling, Naftogaz said in a statement, describing it as "a key legal victory in its global enforcement campaign".

[...]

Naftogaz's CEO Roman Chumak said the company continued to coordinate enforcement efforts across multiple jurisdictions, with successful actions already underway in the United Kingdom and Finland.

"The company remains resolute in its efforts to recover the full value of the award and defend the rights of Ukraine’s state-owned enterprises on the international stage," Chumak said.

The Trump administration on Thursday finalised port fees on Chinese vessels docking in the US, a move that is likely to threaten the global shipping industry and trade.

The decision has prompted Chinese shippers to rush to review the 42-page document released by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The phased plan targets Chinese-owned, operated and built ships, and fees will be incrementally raised. Initial assessments suggest it could lead to higher fees per port call than an earlier proposal.

The revised plan unveiled on the USTR website offered a 180-day grace period and shields domestic exporters. But it remains stringent for Chinese operators and vessels.

Chinese operators and shipowners have to pay US$50 per net ton for vessels entering US ports from October 14. The fee will increase annually to US$140 by April 2028 and apply regardless of where the vessels are built.

The port fee is lower for Chinese-built vessels – starting at US$18 per net ton or US$120 per container from October 14. This will gradually increase to US$33 per net ton or US$250 per container by April 2028.

Chinese carriers China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) “will be hit harder than others”, said Lars Jensen, founder and chief executive of container shipping consultancy Vespucci Maritime.

In addition, USTR has proposed up to a 100 per cent tariff on ship-to-shore cranes and cargo handling equipment from China.

Clarksons Research has revised down its forecast for new ship orders in 2025, with a sharp year-on-year decrease of 30 per cent as investors hold back due to concerns over evolving US trade policies.

Archive link

Cross-posted from "Ukraine President Zelenskiy accuses China of supplying Russia with weapons" by @Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org in !europe@feddit.org

• Ukraine president says China providing artillery and gunpowder
• Zelenskiy also says Beijing helping make weapons in Russia
• Beijing accused of direct military aid for Russia for first time
• Russia waging a more than three-year-old invasion of Ukraine

.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28376200

In the past, Tesla lawyers even initiated lawsuits against customers who dared to criticize the quality of their cars or services. Such cases are documented and therefore not fake news. Last week, moreover, DOGE dismantled the department responsible for safety control and approval of new cars entering the market. Tesla experienced too many problems with this department in the past and now, through DOGE, took the opportunity to simply dismantle it. Moral of the story... buy a Tesla, a “safe” decision.

The growing campaign, which accuses the government of perpetuating the war for political reasons and failing to bring home the remaining hostages, has laid bare the deep division and disillusionment over Israel’s fighting in Gaza.

By spilling over into the military, it has threatened national unity and raised questions about the army’s ability to continue fighting at full force. It also resembles the bitter divisions that erupted in early 2023 over the government’s attempts to overhaul Israel’s legal system, which many say weakened the country and encouraged Hamas’ attack later that year that triggered the war.

“It’s crystal clear that the renewal of the war is for political reasons and not for security reasons,” Guy Poran, a retired pilot who was one of the initiators of the air force letter, told The Associated Press.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/28786830