Russian missile shot down Azerbaijani passenger plane, preliminary findings suggest

A Russian surface-to-air missile was responsible for the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432, which killed 38 passengers, Azerbaijani media reported Thursday.

Unnamed Azerbaijani officials cited by the Baku-based news agency AnewZ said preliminary findings suggest the missile was fired from a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system as the plane approached Grozny in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya on Wednesday morning.

GPS jamming, previously reported by Flight Radar 24, caused the aircraft to lose communication with air traffic control while flying over Russian territory, the officials added.

Chechnya and surrounding North Caucasus regions were targeted by drone strikes early Wednesday. AnewZ said that, under such conditions, Russian authorities were required to close airspace to civilian aircraft, but for unknown reasons, this was not done.

Addition: NATO calls for full investigation of Azerbaijan Airlines crash

@InevitableList

I thought you might be familiar with Australia’s threats to ban tiktok whilst ignoring the crimes other tech companies commit and making no effort to protect Australians from them.

Are you sure you read the thelucky8’s comment?

removed by mod

@InevitableList

Your answer has nothing to do with my question.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

@InevitableList

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

@InevitableList

As AP reports on the same issue:

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

[Edit typo.]

@Kolanaki@yiffit.net

… the 14-year-old student was killed and another injured …

As AP reports on the same issue:

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

[Edit typo.]

It’s a good article, I have just one remark.

The article says:

Increased state spending is also driving a growing threat to Russia’s economy: inflation. Prices rose 8.9% in November 2024 compared to the previous year, more than twice the state’s 4% target.

This is the (likely) correct official inflation rate, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. I’d argue that things are worse.

In November, prices for food rose +9.9% (compared to +9% in October), most notably butter +34.1% (compared to +29.7% in October).

So the situation is much worse, especially for Russia’s poor described in the article (the poorer you are, the higher the proportion of your income spent for food).

The Russian research center ROMIR calculates the “Deflator Index,” which tracks real changes in prices for everyday goods (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, FMCG), describing it as “the average personal inflation rate for each consumer.”

ROMIR’s latest update for September 2024 puts annual inflation in Russia at 22.1% (Here again, this is much more important for people in the lower income groups which the article refers to.)

Although it is true that median salaries in Russia rose by 19.8% (Sberbank’s SberIndex latest data shows median salaries rose from 52,272 rubles in October 2023 to 62,632 rubles in October 2024), we must conclude that purchasing power in Russia continues to decline at a much faster pace than official data show us.

Putin’s recent statements that Russians’ “disposable incomes have also increased [and are outpacing inflation]”, and “the overall situation is stable and reliable,” is outright false.

Limesurvey appears to be good (among other sites, Switching Software is good to find alternatives).

The BBC has a footage (26 sec)

Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin’s shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won’t change the world for the better.

I disagree with this statement. Blockchain is only a technology, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use BTC and other coins, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.

@LukeZaz

There aren’t a lot of Chinese citizenry here. But there are a lot of Americans. It so follows that it makes sense to criticize the U.S. more, because many people on Beehaw can actually do something about it, especially in aggregate.

I agree that there are most likely more Americans (or other ‘Westerners’) here than Chinese, yet there are many tankies here with alt accounts on Beehaw. It is them who spread the Chinese propaganda, criticizing the West in general while being silent on China.

@thingsiplay

Because another countries takes away freedom and eliminates the free market, makes it a non argument if the US does the same? The US is doing the same what China does.

If so, why then haven’t you long been criticizing China the same way you do now the US? Where are these posts?

(Just to say that: The US, China, EU, and all the others can ban Tiktok, Twitter, FB, and all the centralized data collectors. I wouldn’t miss any of them, and I think it would be better for the world. But the hypocrisy here in this thread is very telling.)

I think Tiktok is much worse. It’s about a foreign country whose government is pursuing a dictatorial policy trying to interfere in foreign elections (again, look at Romania, for example).

The argument of FB collaborating with the US gov is true I guess, but isn’t valid here. China is doing the same, the Chinese government is banning the Western version of Tiktok, too, let alone all other non-Chinese apps. So the ‘free market’-argument doesn’t make any sense here, it’d be even hypocritical.

It helps to think before you type.

The free market is free if and when you play by the same -democratic- rules. Look at Romania, just to name an actual example. Tiktok is much worse than Facebook and (most) others, and being worse is not an easy task here.

Why isn’t a system in a hospital air-gapped? Or is there any reason why it must be connected that I don’t know?

@HatchetHaro

the post title makes it sound like china is making that demand, which doesn’t make sense.

Yeah, doesn’t make sense. The Chinese government fully supports free speech and rejects censorship. We all know that. Thanks. (/s, to be safe)

@technocrit

You could just read articles before commenting instead of posting always the same rant over and again.

I recently posted an article in another thread about Bluesky. It’s from 2023, but worth reading in case you don’t know it:

BlueSky is cosplaying decentralization