Omair Babar

Biodegradable Pakhtun, lord of lego building, and a road etiquette enforcer. Living in the land of Brexit

[Longevity @longevitymediaa]

David Sinclair has spent decades reverse-engineering aging inside his Harvard lab. He proved aging is a disease, not an inevitability.

He revealed 10 "normal" habits that are secretly speeding up how fast you age:

1. Eating breakfast every single day

[Salman Javed @M_EssJay]

A midnight tweet, a Saudi guarantee, and a 'Corridor of assurance', inside the high-stakes gamble where Pakistan’s Air Force defied a no-fly zone to shield the architects of peace. It wasn't a coincidence that a Saudi Finance Minister was on the ground as Iranian jets entered Pakistani airspace, it was a masterclass in kinetic diplomacy.

[Kevork Almassian @KevorkAlmassian]

https://t.co/8I7y4vxWav

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

When your crimes are so bad, even Switzerland stops being neutral.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is extraordinary and profoundly symbolic: Ai Weiwei has returned to China for the first time in 10 years and says he concluded that Beijing is "more humane" than Germany which he describes as "insecure and unfree".

He gave an interview to Germany's Berliner Zeitung after his trip (https://t.co/P0NBgnCTTH) and here is what he said:

- He described feeling that Beijing had become like "a broken jade being perfectly reassembled" and said he felt no fear returning to the country.

- He complained that daily life difficulties in Europe (where he's lived for the past 10 years) are "at least ten times" what they are in China, criticizing European bureaucracy.

- For instance he said he reactivated his dormant Chinese bank account in mere minutes (with "still had a considerable sum of money in it"). He contrasts this with his experience in Europe: "In Germany, my bank accounts were closed twice. And not just mine, but my girlfriend's as well. In Switzerland, I was refused an account at the country's largest bank, and another bank later closed my account there as well. There were other similar incidents, which I won't go into detail about here. These processes are extraordinarily complicated and often irrational."

- He says that "with regard to the political climate, daily life for ordinary people in Beijing feels more natural and humane" than in Germany which "feels cold, rational, and deeply bureaucratic. As an individual, one feels confined and precarious there."

- Stunningly he says that in Germany, over ten years, "almost no one has ever invited me to their home. Neighbors from above or below exchange at most a brief nod." He contrasts this with China where, immediately upon his return, "perfectly ordinary people from at least five different professions lined up, hoping to meet me."

- He concludes that Germany now "plays the role of an insecure and unfree country, struggling to find its position between history and future."

As a European who's lived 8 years in China, I couldn't agree more: life in China is an order of magnitude less cumbersome than in Europe and daily life feels much more humane and warm, contrary to popular belief.

But it's one thing for me to say it, and something else entirely for China's most famous dissident. The man once celebrated throughout the West as the very embodiment of opposition to his country has now concluded that it is in fact Europe that's inhumane and "unfree".

[Ed Conway @EdConwaySky]

📽️Donald Trump wants you to know he's targeting Venezuela because of illegal drugs.
But what if this were really about something else altogether...?
Dig into the murky world of crude oil refining and you find another, even more intriguing explanation...
Full primer 👇

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Absolutely extraordinary exchange between Israel and China 👇 I've never seen such a heated exchange come out of top-level forum in China (this is from the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum that started yesterday), this normally never happens.

The guy speaking is Yan Xuetong, the dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, the most prestigious university in China.

Speaking for Israel is a military officer apparently called Elad Shoshan.

Yan Xuetong truly doesn't hold back:
- When the Israeli officer tries to bullshit him around how Israel supposedly protects civilians in Gaza, he replies: "You killed more than 70,000 civilians!... The fact is not decided by you... It is not decided by your government. Your government has no legitimacy or the right to decide or defend what is fact"
- And when told that the war will end when Hamas release hostages he replies: "No, this kind of propaganda have too many. No one believe it! Too many! Too much! No one believe it, except a few Israelis"

[Amit @HeyAmit_]

The internet hides over 2 billion websites from you.

Here are 12 hidden gems you probably didn’t know existed.

Save this for later, you’ll thank me 🔖

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

My God

Green Beret Anthony Agular recounts how a 5-year-old Palestinian kissed his hands to thank him for the food Agular gave him

Seconds later, Israeli soldiers shot and killed the starving child

ISIS prisoners were treated with more dignity than these children, Agular says

[Marc Owen Jones @marcowenjones]

How hard is it to say "Israel violates ceasefire"?

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

The reason Ireland is taking its stance on Israel/Palestine is straightforward:

Ireland was conquered, colonised, murderously subjugated, starved by the British.

That breeds a level of empathy and solidarity beyond most other European nations, many of which were colonisers.

[M. Jibran Nasir 🇵🇸 @MJibranNasir]

Non-chaotic means of engagements for PTI:
1. Elections. But the Establishment provided no freedom of assembly or association to PTI to campaign and on top of that stole and rigged the elections.
2. Parliament. But even post rigging, the Establishment ensured PTI is not recognized as a party nor given reserve seats. On top of it legislation is done through abducting and intimidating parliamentarians.
3. Judiciary. But as soon as the Establishment saw that Judges with opposing views might lead the Supreme Court and act independent of any pressure, it fractured judicial autonomy and cherry picked judges to get predetermined outcomes.
4. Legacy and Social Media. But the Establishment made sure that through censorship, intimidation, restrictions and bans only that is aired/published/shared what is allowed and if somone till manages to speak their minds then persecute and prosecute them.
PTI has had a history of protests, seeking confrontation and having a my way or the highway approach. But today it is the Establishment itself that has pushed PTI towards protest and the country towards chaos by not allowing any breathing space and not even trying to build any illusion of democracy. This arrogance of the Establishment is not rooted in any popularity and acceptance amongst the masses but on its ability to control and terrorise the masses. This is not sustainable and change is inevitable. Whether change comes through chaos or peaceful transition is in the hands of Establishment. We must not be confused where the actual blame lies.

[Marc Owen Jones @marcowenjones]

🧵🚨1/ This is nuts. After mysteriously deleting a package covering the Amsterdam protests, Sky News have put up a new version. The new version completely changes the thrust to emphasise that the violence was antisemitic. See the opening screenshot change below

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

The Israeli state just bombed a crowded cafe - in the West Bank

Body parts of the slaughtered Palestinians were collected in a box

Israel has been told clearly by Western politicians and media outlets that no threshold exists when it comes to its atrocities

This is the result.

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

Thread of cool maps you've (probably) never seen before 🧵

1. All roads lead to Rome

[Omair Babar @Obabar]

@gabefollower @CounterStrike Changed the dynamics of A on dust 2. Lurk smoke would allow you to take sneak in with contact short and long.

[Roger Gall @Shambles151]

Anneliese Dodds MP for - Oxford East -did not vote to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Ghetto.

Please don't vote to return this Genocide Sympathiser to Parliament.

[Kris Griffiths @KrisGriffiths]

I followed Nigel Farage on and off for 10 years.

When all's said and done about his standing in Clacton, milkshake incident etc, he remains at the end of the day one of the most repugnant shameless liars in UK history.

Some of his standout lesser-known lies I've compiled FTR 🧵