Europe

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58118120

This would significantly exacerbate the situation for European network operators. And not just for them: mobile operators are by no means the only ones using products from these Chinese manufacturers. Products from these companies are also in use in other critical areas such as railways, the energy sector, or urban networks. Furthermore, Huawei is the global market leader in inverters for solar systems.

We warn against measures that would significantly weaken the very sector they are intended to protect," reads a statement from the association Connect Europe, which primarily represents formerly state-owned network operators such as Telekom, Orange, and Telefónica.

Blanket interventions in the supply chain would "significantly and adversely affect network expansion, operational continuity, and investment planning," the association warns and already calls for "mitigating measures such as cost reimbursement mechanisms" in advance. In principle, measures must be "risk-based, proportionate, and practicable."

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58122330

• Migration myths and ICE coming to Europe

“While EU leaders may not embrace — at least publicly — Trump’s narrative around civilisational erasure, EU migration policies increasingly treat migration and migrants as a threat,” he added.

• Minnesota Pretti killing

The European Commission did not condemn the killing and regarded it as a domestic issue — a sharp contrast with its approach in 2020, when the rhetoric from diplomats in response to George Floyd’s killing took a stronger stance against violence perpetrated by US authorities.

• Greenland and Rutte

Rutte did not criticise Trump or his threats, instead saying the US president “was right” to push the issue of Arctic security and had done “a lot of good stuff” for Nato.

• The ‘Board of Peace’

EU institutions, however, are seemingly open to participating, as long as it aligns with the UN’s requirements.

• US Big Tech and EU rules

the EU proposed changing its digital rules through its Data and AI omnibus proposals.

NGOs Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl also found many of the proposals’ major changes had been explicitly requested and lobbied for by US tech companies and their associations.

The core of the new regulation is a system of European surrender and seizure orders. Authorized authorities will be able to directly request content data such as emails and chat messages, connection and location data including IP addresses, as well as identification information from service providers like Google, Meta, or Microsoft. This also applies if these providers are based in another member state.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/58124149

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/videos/p/1720385/the-eu-and-india-just-signed-the-mother-of-all-deals

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6942923

Human rights groups say dozens of Bangladeshi workers employed at a Chinese-owned tire factory in northeastern Serbia were subjected to labor abuses that may amount to human trafficking, renewing scrutiny of a flagship Chinese investment that has faced years of controversy over its treatment of foreign workers.

Watchdog groups warned on January 30 that the Chinese tire factory Linglong has "tightened control and retaliation" against workers from Bangladesh, following reports earlier this week about the violations of their rights, including allegations of human trafficking and labor violations at the facility near the city of Zrenjanin.

"Workers report that their phones are sealed with red stickers, that photographing, recording, or taking notes is prohibited, and that factory entry passes are now being strictly enforced as a means of control," the Zrenjanin Social Forum, a local NGO focused on workers rights, said in a statement to RFE/RL.

The NGO, together with activists from the organization ASTRA, a Serbian watchdog group that supports victims of human trafficking, first reported suspicions of human trafficking and exploitation of several dozen workers from Bangladesh to Serbian state institutions.

...

The allegations are the latest in a series of claims of forced labor linked to the Linglong factory, a cornerstone of Serbia’s economic partnership with China. Similar accusations previously involved Vietnamese and Indian workers, which prompted warnings from international bodies, including the European Parliament and the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

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Since reaching Serbia, the workers [who migrated from Asia] were employed at Linglong’s production facilities, though the company does not appear as their employer in contracts reviewed by NGOs.

Instead, the documents list a Serbian intermediary company, Mega Green Plus [founded in late 2024 and owned by a Chinese national], based in the village of Basaid, about 30 kilometers from Zrenjanin.

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Photographs [of migrant workers] show cramped container housing near the factory, with multiple bunk beds crowded into single rooms. Activists said six to seven workers often shared a room, sleeping on beds without mattresses and using electric heaters near bedding during winter.

“They sleep, cook, and wash clothes in the same space,” Rukeci Milivojevic said, adding that workers complained of poor food, unhygienic toilets, and leaking pipes.

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Rights groups say the new allegations involving [the migrant] workers suggest that abusive labor practices at the Linglong factory are not isolated incidents but part of a recurring pattern.

“Inhumane conditions keep repeating,” Rukeci Milivojevic said. “And the state’s response remains inadequate.”

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6942484

Archive link

lmost every evening since November 2024, Giorgi Chanturia has walked from the headquarters of Georgia’s public broadcaster to the parliament, megaphone in hand. It’s a walk that is proving extremely expensive.

Chanturia, 36, is one of thousands of Georgians who have taken to the streets almost daily since the government in the South Caucasus country suspended talks on joining the European Union after EU parliamentarians rejected the results of Georgia’s October 2024 general election, won by the ruling Georgian Dream.

Police responded with tear gas, water cannon and pepper spray; more than 400 people were detained, but the protests continued, demanding new elections and the release of political prisoners.

The authorities didn’t respond only with force, however. They deployed ‘Big Brother’ too, in the form of 30 Chinese-made cameras equipped with facial recognition software, bought in December 2024 for roughly 85,000 lari, or 27,000 euros. Besides recognising faces, the cameras can also discern gender and age, analyse emotions from facial expressions, and upload high-resolution photographs.

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Chanturia has received 74 fines since February 2025, totalling 370,000 lari, or some 115,000 euros. He says he has no intention of paying.

“They might pause for a while and then suddenly 14 new fines arrive all at once, from the last two weeks,” Chanturia told BIRN. “We’d take those 14 fines and appeal against them in court, just to delay payment for as long as possible.”

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High-resolution surveillance systems capable of ‘remote biometric identification’, or RBI, “make it far easier for authorities to identify protesters, track activists, and therefore pressure any dissenting voices”, said Aljosa Ajanovic Andelic, a policy adviser at European Digital Rights, EDRi, a network of NGOs, experts, advocates and academics promoting digital rights in Europe.

While acknowledging the “legitimate fear” over the security of data collected by cameras procured from companies linked to authoritarian regimes such as China, Ajanovic Andelic said the fundamental risks remains “how Georgian and Serbian authorities use this infrastructure” – how the data is collected, how long it is stored for, whether biometric profiles are created, and who ultimately has access.

“Once a government installs infrastructure capable of tracking every face in public space, human-rights abuses become almost impossible to prevent, and the balance of power shifts decisively away from the public towards the authorities,” he said.

Like Georgia, Serbia under the Progressive Party and President Aleksandar Vucic has drifted from the path of EU accession; reforms have slowed almost to a halt, while Vucic has bristled at criticism of his handling of the protests and a general trend of democratic backsliding. Serbia also continues to reject EU pressure to join sanctions on Russia, its veto-wielding ally in the United Nations Security Council, while deepening its relationship with China in terms of surveillance technology and major infrastructure projects.

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Slovenian MEP Irena Joveva said that in both Georgia and Serbia, “the more autocratic regimes feel threatened by their people, the more repression is unleashed against peaceful protests”.

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[Edri expert] Ajanovic Andelic said that when governments buy RBI-capable surveillance systems “from vendors with a track record of enabling repression elsewhere, with ties to authoritarian governments that might have access to their collected data, and then operate them without transparency at home, the result is a perfect recipe for human rights violations”.

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Archive link

The investigation into January’s high-speed rail crash in southern Spain that killed at least 45 people and the emergence of new evidence are making it harder to determine what caused the disaster and are putting pressure on the government’s early insistence that infrastructure was not to blame.

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Multiple inspections had been conducted months prior to the accident. Dismissing harsh criticism that track inspections are not carried out frequently enough, the minister claimed “nothing would have been found” even if technicians had conducted a review the day before.

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The probe is unfolding as the transport ministry – one of the biggest spending departments and a major recipient of EU funds – has been rocked by allegations involving rigged tenders, kickbacks and influence peddling.

Former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos remains in pretrial detention alongside his former aide Koldo García. Both are accused of orchestrating a criminal network that allegedly expanded from the health sector into public works and infrastructure.

Senior transport officials, including former state railway, ADIF, President Isabel Pardo de Vera, and former Director-General of Roads Javier Herrero, are under investigation for allegedly facilitating contracts linked to the so-called “Koldo scheme” in exchange for kickbacks.

Other defendants in ongoing corruption cases include Jesús Manuel Gómez, former deputy secretary of state for transport, and Michaux Miranda, ADIF’s former chief of staff.

...

The German public broadcaster has been fined while filming a show in Greenland after a satirist sought to raise a US flag in public. The incident unfolded amid heightened sensitivity over statements from the US president.

A true facepalm idea...

The vast majority of events (talks, hacking sessions, open discussions) are held inside “developer rooms” (“devrooms”), which are mini-conferences organized and managed by open source projects themselves.

It’s also FREE !! 🥳

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