Europe

More children are taking perilous routes to reach safety in Europe but rights groups warn the bloc is ill-equipped to help them

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/29427286

EU Commission tried to influence political views in the Netherlands. In the contentious fight over the heavily criticized chat control regulation (a proposed EU law that could undermine all encrypted online communication to allow authorities to read online chats), the European Commission has identified the Netherlands as a Member State that they wanted to influence politically. In an attempt to "flip" the views in the Netherlands, the Commission went to X/Twitter and made postings indirectly promoting this Regulation.

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Paywall? https://archive.is/h7NRK

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49576639

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49532810

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The UK and other European countries have said they will suspend the processing of asylum applications from Syrians after the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus, with Austria already preparing a “repatriation and deportation” programme to the country.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49421245

Tonight marks a truly historic moment for France – the reopening of its most iconic cathedral, and one of the world’s most renowned landmarks, Notre-Dame de Paris.

Hoping that this is well received here and that some people here will be sensitive to this! Please consider signing if you can and sharing with anyone you think might sympathise! Your support is greatly appreciated!

Summary

In Europe, Chinese dominance over this production — as well as in the extraction of critical resources required for the green transformation — has become a headache. On the one hand, windmills, solar panels and cheap plug-in cars are needed to meet decarbonization objectives but, at the same time, there’s a need to avoid excessive dependence and protect national industries from a Chinese sector that’s strongly subsidized by Beijing.

Paywall? https://archive.is/njhSK

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49233244

EU anti-fraud investigators probing the company of Viktor Orbán’s son-in-law were surveilled by Hungary’s foreign intelligence agency, which even created an entire department to spy on EU institutions. However, sensitive political information gathered by Hungarian intelligence sparked political and intelligence infighting.

Emergency services are responding to a devastating explosion early Saturday morning that partially destroyed a three-story apartment building on Tarwekamp in The Hague. A specialized Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team has been deployed to the site (...) Up to 20 people could be trapped underneath the rubble, according to a spokesperson from the regional safety authority.

Romania’s Constitutional Court ordered a complete re-run of the presidential elections after the country’s intelligence agency claimed there had been foreign interference on behalf of far-right front-runner Calin Georgescu.

Just crazy what is happening

Parliament’s lower house accepted amendments proposed by the upper house with several technical adjustments, including those related to privacy.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Palazzo Chigi for the second time in six months to discuss several issues, focusing on irregular migration and European cooperation.

While handing out billions in profits to misled responsible investors, asset managers greenwash environmental, health and social damage. A journey into the dark side of sustainable finance made in Europe, from murky meetings with financial brokers in the EU capital to Germany’s coal stronghold.

Michel Barnier has now become the shortest-serving prime minister in France's Fifth Republic and the first PM to be ousted by parliament in over six decades. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on the state of the European Union, following duelling political and economic crises gripping France and Germany, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen welcomes Dr. Marta Lorimer, Author, Lecturer in Politics in the School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University.

Cross post worldnews

Archived, if you prefer that: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/Bif16

Forced industrialisation and displacement from villages to cities: Denmark's political and industrial colonisation of Greenland marginalised Inuit culture, and now climate change threatens to make it melt away like the island's ice.

Decision to push through budget has led to censure motions from left and far-right that could trigger fresh political crisis

Addition: There is also a thread on this topic at https://feddit.org/post/5294871

The laws will focus on threat detection, incident response, and service certification.

When Robert Fico’s then-minister responsible for financial and economic affairs made critical decisions on government contracts, a series of offshore transfers funneled millions to his friend’s company, some of which were used by his partner to purchase a luxury villa on the French Riviera.

The Oct. 28 march was the first in a week of demonstrations across the United Kingdom held by Extinction Rebellion UK, the direct action activist organization, pressuring insurance companies to stop underwriting new oil, gas and coal projects. The demonstrations used costumes, songs, performances and demonstrations to paint a picture of the crises likely to ensue as global heating intensifies: disastrous global floods followed by widespread food shortages and ensuing civil unrest exacerbated by population growth and insufficient resources.

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Two days before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an elite Lithuanian military unit procured a total of six safes to store classified information. Now, a joint investigation by The Insider (Russia) and Siena (Lithuania) shows that the equipment was provided by a Russian-owned company with ties to the Russian military industry.

In a resolution adopted on Thursday (28 November), the European Parliament condemned Russia’s use of North Korean troops against the Ukrainian army and its testing of new ballistic missiles in Ukraine. These recent escalatory steps represent a new phase in the war and a new risk for Europe’s security as a whole, MEPs argue, calling on the EU and Ukraine’s other partners to respond accordingly.

Archived version

I recently found out about the party and their politics seem ok even though they seem to be a smaller party.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania announced on December 1, that the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania “jointly agreed to impose national sanctions against those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia.”

Key findings:

The UK House of Commons unanimously voted to reject China’s “distortion of the international law around Taiwan” to undermine its participation in international organizations, including the UN.

With the full-scale invasion’s third winter arriving, city streets are once again buzzing and roaring to the sound of generators small and large. The street lamps may be off, but shops and restaurants are brightly lit.

Germany is developing an app to help people locate the nearest bunker in the event of attack. Sweden is distributing a 32-page pamphlet titled If Crisis or War Comes. Half a million Finns have already downloaded an emergency preparedness guide.

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The ruling Georgian Dream party said on Thursday that the country would suspend talks on European Union accession until 2028, while also refusing budgetary grants from Brussels, effectively halting its application to join the bloc for the next four years.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/48588246

Paywall? https://archive.is/oqRVk

When the Paris Court of Appeal recently blocked four porn sites in France for not having a proper age verification system, the two online child protection nonprofits that had pushed for the blocks probably thought they’d scored a big victory. But in one case, it turned out to be a bit of a self-own.

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When a DHL cargo plane crashed while approaching Vilnius airport on Monday, killing one of the crew, it looked like technical failure, but given that Russia was believed to be behind a series of incendiary devices which ignited on DHL flights and in warehouses this summer, inevitably many feared Moscow’s hand. The suspicion is likely to be the point. In the past year, the Russians have stepped up their disruptive activities in Europe, from cyber-attacks to assassinations, with the apparent aim of generating chaos and a climate of fear as much as anything else.

Russia's acts of sabotage against Western targets may eventually prompt NATO to consider invoking the alliance's Article 5 mutual defence clause, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service said on Wednesday. Bundesnachrichtendienst chief Bruno Kahl said he expected Moscow to further step up its hybrid warfare.

Original WSJ article is behind a paywall.