Europe

Paywall? https://archive.is/1rJkv

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41519082

Source in Italian.

The Italian engine manufacturing company, CMD, has completed a reverse buyout operation which has brought it back under 100% Italian control. The cousins Giorgio and Mariano Negri, who founded the company back in 1989, have bought back the 67% of shares that they themselves had sold to the Chinese multinational Loncin Motor Co. Ltd, which had bought CMD’s shares in 2017 to sustain its global expansion. The recent buyout operation costed the Negri cousins 17,4 million euros.

“Bringing back to Italy the decision and industrial centre of the company means reclaiming an identity built in over thirty years of history and it also means creating better conditions with which to face the technological and industrial challenges of the incoming years”, says Mariano Negri, president and CEO, who leads the new board of administrators. “In a complex transitional phase for the automotive industry – continues Mariano Negri – we continue to invest because we believe in the growth possibilities of the company”. We are talking about a technological champion of southern Italy, where the company has always been located: in Atella, province of Potenza, with four manufacturing plants, and in Campania, with its R&D centre and its administrative offices in the town of San Nicola La Strada.

“We chose to stay anchored to southern Italy, to our roots – continues the president - and in particular to the Basilicata region, which in a complex historical moment it’s proving itself to be a land capable of industrial rebirth”. The industrial pan is focused on three lines of action, cultivating the relationships with large clients (spanning from Lamborghini to Ferrari), continuing to invest on research and development focusing on hybrid engines, and continuing to diversify by investing in the aeronautical sector. CMD, with a 2025 yearly revenue of over 38 million euros and 200 employees, of which 60 temporaries, begins 2026 with a portfolio of orders worth 40 million euros per year for the next 10 years, thanks mostly to three big contracts with Lamborghini (worth 20 million euros per year) and with Asian and Austrian clients. The reverse buyout operation has also meant a significant increase of the share capital, which increased from 16,8 to 25,9 million. Founded in 1989 by the Negri family, for over 30 years the company has developed, prototyped and built engine and propulsion systems. In 2012 it entered the elite programme of the Italian stock market.

Written by Vera Viola, published by Il Sole 24 Ore 8/1/2026, manually translated by u/minos83 (reddit).

Also available in German

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/56844329

Authorities in the Landes region of south-west France said three people died and 15 were injured in road accidents on Tuesday, while two more were killed in accidents in the Paris area. One driver died in hospital on Monday night after veering into the Marne River and another was killed after a collision with a heavy goods vehicle in the east of the French capital.

In the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, a woman died on Monday after a snow-covered tree branch fell on her head.

Many flights will be cancelled from Paris’s two main airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, early on Wednesday to allow ground crews to clear snow from runways and de-ice planes. About 40% of flights at Charles de Gaulle were expected to be scrapped and 25% at Orly.

In the Netherlands, hundreds of flights were cancelled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport as staff worked to clear runways and de-ice planes. Rail travellers in the country faced chaos after domestic services were suspended early on Tuesday due to an IT outage, compounding the disruption caused by the weather.

Freezing temperatures have gripped much of Europe, with the thermometer plunging well below -10C (14F) in south and east Germany early on Tuesday. German meteorologists have forecast a storm in the country on Friday, with heavy snowfall expected in the north and east.

In Britain, temperatures fell to -12.5C overnight, with snow disrupting rail, road and air travel and forcing the closure of hundreds of schools across northern regions.

Temperatures in lowland areas of northern Italy have fallen below freezing, with snow expected in the medium- to low-altitude areas of Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Tuscany on Tuesday.

Heavy snow and heavy rain have swept through Balkan countries, swelling rivers and causing traffic problems and disrupting power and water supplies.

In Serbia, some local authorities in the country’s west introduced emergency measures due to the severe weather while warning drivers to take care as many set off toward skiing resorts or elsewhere for Orthodox Christmas on Wednesday and the upcoming weekend.

https://archive.is/zlIL0

This emerges from a draft law, which NDR, WDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung are reporting on again. The powers of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) are to be extended as if the Snowden revelations had never happened. The foreign intelligence service could thus act more independently

The plans are also explosive in the area of active cyber espionage. Under the heading "Computer Network Exploitation", the BND is to receive another official license to hack. If US tech giants like Google, Meta, or X do not cooperate with requests, the BND would be allowed to penetrate their systems secretly. This would even apply to IT infrastructures within Germany, provided it is necessary to defend against hostile cyberattacks. The line between domestic and foreign intelligence gathering would thus be difficult to maintain.

Archived version

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According to Kyiv Police, the ninth-grade student entered a classroom wearing a mask and helmet after preparing them in advance and attacked a 39-year-old teacher and a 14-year-old classmate with a knife. Both victims were hospitalized with stab and cut wounds, and doctors are assessing the severity of their injuries.

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Police said the student later locked himself in a restroom and inflicted knife wounds to his arm and abdomen. He was taken to hospital and is receiving medical care.

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During investigative actions, law enforcement officers found messages on the suspect’s phone indicating possible communication with hostile foreign intelligence services, police said, without providing further details.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/45366836

Britain is facing “post-modern total warfare” as intimidation of politicians intensifies before the next general election, while hostile states, Islamist groups and activist movements are accused of exploiting weaknesses in the country’s democratic system.

Senior parliamentarians said threats, abuse and organised campaigns had reached new levels and were undermining confidence in public life, adding that they feared unless the issue was confronted voters would increasingly turn to fringe political movements.

The comments came as a new cross-party parliamentary group announced an inquiry into election intimidation and the targeting of MPs, councillors and candidates.

Lord Walney, the government’s former anti-extremism tsar, and Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP, said the issue had slipped down the government’s agenda despite a sharp rise in the number of politicians requiring police protection.

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[Walney] said the scale of the problem remained largely hidden because many victims were too frightened to speak publicly.

“Many people have got really horrendous experiences that they’ve been reluctant to share,” he said.

The group will also examine the threats to democratic institutions from hostile states and Islamic extremism. Timothy said this had been brought into focus by the controversy over a decision to ban fans of an Israeli football team from attending a match in Birmingham.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, was urged by MPs and Jewish groups to sack the West Midlands police chief, Craig Guildford, after he was accused of concealing intelligence of local protesters threatening attacks if Israeli football fans were allowed to attend the Maccabi Tel Aviv Europa League match against Aston Villa in November.

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Walney and Timothy linked election intimidation to a wider pattern of pressure on public institutions. They said this took the form of attempts to influence universities, energy infrastructure and critical industries, often with backing from hostile foreign states.

Timothy said: “What we’re facing is not hybrid warfare, it’s a post-modern version of total warfare. We’re talking about having our values and our systems and our way of life challenged across pretty much every conceivable field.”

China and Russia were singled out as particular threats, alongside other states and organisations.

As well as state threats, Walney and Timothy highlighted activism from pro-Gaza campaigns, Extinction Rebellion and far-right groups. They argued that there were clear links and patterns across protest movements, including co-ordinated abuse during election campaigns.

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The all-party parliamentary group’s first inquiry will examine intimidation during recent elections and before local contests in England, Scotland and Wales. Walney said: “The local elections are going to be something of a window on to the culture that has now been created.”

He said that unless the political class addressed the problem with what they called “clear-eyed” leadership, the consequences would be severe.

“Either we own this and take the public with us, or the public are going to turn to other people on the fringes,” he said.

Timothy added: “People are very nervous about being divisive but guess what? We’re already divided.”

Archive link

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/56844128

The list of TOP-5 new electric vehicles on the market in 2025 is as follows:

VOLKSWAGEN ID.Unyx - 3162 units;
BYD Song Plus EV - 2948 units;
BYD Leopard 3 - 1623 units;
ZEEKR 7X - 1558 units;
BYD Sea Lion 07 - 1337 units. 

EU Defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius on Sunday floated the idea of creating a “powerful, standing ‘European military force’ of 100,000 troops,” lending his voice to a growing chorus of calls for a common continental defense as Russia threatens its neighbors.

“How will we replace the 100,000-strong American standing military force, which is the back-bone military force in Europe?” the former Lithuanian prime minister asked in a speech in Sweden

At the conference, Kubilius also laid out the case for the creation of a “European Security Council” that “could be composed of key permanent members, along with several rotational members.”

“In total, around 10 to 12 members,” he continued, “with the task to discuss the most important issues in defense,” adding that the power exerted by this type of unified voice could help tip the scales in Ukraine’s defense as it tries to hold off the Russian invasion.

Added: The new position " Commissioner of Defense & Space" exists since december 2024. And is being fulfilled by Andrius Kubilius He's a former PM of Lithuania

Dobrindt said Germany would for the first time join the leadership at the US-led Office of the Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (OSC) in Jerusalem.

Germany has supported the police in the Palestinian territories for many years to help stabilize the situation there. Dobrindt said Germany wanted to help guarantee Israel's security.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/56761758

Ofcom will soon have legal authority to compel encrypted messaging apps to scan all user content before it’s sent.

Archived version

Shortly before Christmas, the new chief of [Secret Intelligence Service ] MI6, Blaise Metreweli, made her first public speech since taking charge. She chose as her subject the multifaceted threat posed by Russia, warning of the growing danger from Vladimir Putin’s regime. “We are operating in a space between peace and war,” she said.

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The picture Metreweli paints is frightening: a scenario not of overt military strikes, but of covert “grey zone” assaults from every angle. The spy chief did not go into detail. We are all aware of the existence of planned sabotage, assassinations, hacking, cyber crime and drone attacks. Such concepts are well aired and are firmly embedded in the public consciousness. Less familiar, however, according to security experts, is the notion of economic warfare. Key to this, to use their parlance, are non-state actors – not Russian diplomats or entities formally associated with the Russian state, but private individuals, organisations, movements and companies who secretly act in Russia’s interest.

Some are ideologically motivated, while others do it for money, frequently being paid in untraceable cryptocurrency, like Jan Marsalek. Austrian-born Marsalek was COO of Wirecard, the German payment processing firm that collapsed in 2020 after announcing that €1.9bn (£1.65bn) it supposedly held in cash did not in fact exist.

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For almost a decade prior to its insolvency, Marsalek had been working for the Russian security agency, the GRU. His position at Wirecard gave him access to data and resources that were useful to the Russians. He used his seniority to develop pro-Russian links in Libya, and to encourage a flood of migration to Europe that was calculated to cause social and financial damage – all playing into Moscow’s hands.

After his exposure, following Wirecard’s collapse, Marsalek fled to Russia. In late 2023, Marsalek was named again as the coordinator of a Bulgarian spy ring operating in the UK.

Another example is petty criminal Dylan Earl, the ringleader in an arson attack on a warehouse in east London stocked with aid for Ukraine in March 2024. He was also recruited online by the Russian paramilitary organisation known as the Wagner Group.

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Harder to crack are the Russians or non-Russians working in the commercial field, in strategic industries critical to Europe’s defence and infrastructure, such as defence and energy, and acting in Russia’s interests, often under orders from the GRU or other Kremlin agencies. Security sources maintain that Moscow considers these actors useful as there is a degree of separation: deniability is fundamental to the strategy.

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The difficulty of tracking such activity can be seen in the case of Alexander Kirzhnev. The Russian is wanted by the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine, having been accused in absentia of organising a fraud against Ukraine by using a bogus US company to fulfil an order for ammunition.

The Ukraine state-owned firm Artem placed a multimillion-dollar order for 152mm and 155mm shells with a supplier based in Florida. Advance payment was made. All seemed well: a US firm was helping Ukraine’s war effort, no problem there. The trouble was, the Florida company had no ability to fulfil the order.

By diverting precious Ukrainian cash, taking up their time and effort, and making them think much-needed military supplies were coming when they were not, Kirzhnev’s alleged actions – whether under instruction or not – epitomise Russia’s goals in the “grey zone”: deniable private-sector activity that moves the Kremlin closer to its strategic objectives, sowing uncertainty along the way.

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The EU is reportedly demanding guarantees the UK will compensate the bloc if a future government reneges on the Brexit “reset” agreement Keir Starmer is currently negotiating.

The termination clause is a stark reminder of the painful and costly divorce in which the EU set up a colossal €5.4bn (£4.7bn) fund to help its member states cope with the disruption caused by the UK’s exit in 2020.

Anand Menon, the director of UK in a Changing Europe, said: “We shouldn’t be surprised that the EU is playing hardball. After all, they have decided that we need these agreements more than they do. As such, they will extract every last concession.”

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Another group of Ukrainian children and teenagers has been successfully returned from the temporarily occupied parts of southern Ukrainian Kherson region, Olexander Prokudin, Head of the Kherson Regional State Administration wrote on Telegram on January 8.

The group consists of children ranging in age from 3 to 17 years old.

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These children had endured threats, coercion, and forced exposure to propaganda. A three-year-old and a five-year-old in a daycare were compelled to draw the Russian flag and present handmade gifts to Russian soldiers during holidays, according to Prokudin.

The Russian forces have been indoctrinating Ukrainian children from a very young age and continue to do so in older grades.

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A 17-year-old boy, who had been attending a Russian school, was taught drill movements and how to handle military weapons. Additionally, he, along with his classmates, was registered for military service, which could lead to conscription into the occupying army once he turns 18.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/45326699

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Vladimir Putin’s war has upended security and defence across the continent, and as the European Union and Nato dig in for a fourth year of fighting, senior officials have a message for countries around the globe [...]: war in Europe has made conflict in the Indo-Pacific more likely – and countries including Australia need to be better prepared.

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The EU is working on plans for a “drone wall” defence system, something the 27-country bloc wants to stem growing incursions. Russia has persistently targeted Ukrainian regions using drones and missiles to take out energy and port infrastructure.

Andrius Kubilius, the former Lithuanian prime minister turned EU defence chief, says member states have been too slow to recognise the threat posed by drone warfare. Kubilius, who will help guide a new defence and security partnership between the EU and the Albanese government, has urged countries – including Australia – to rapidly scale up capability.

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“It’s very important for us to understand that what we now call provocations with drones can be a new type of warfare,” [Andrius Kubilius, the former Lithuanian prime minister turned EU defence chief] says.

“You don’t need always to send tanks or artillery through the border to occupy territory. But you can really terrorise neighbouring countries or countries further away with drones, disturbing strategic infrastructure and how it can operate or not operate.”

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“Russia is not the only source of negative things in the world. While close for us is Moscow, we see it in a much broader context and you cannot avoid naming China," says Australian Vice Admiral Justin Jones.

While Russia tests Nato’s collective defence clause, known as article five, through a diverse range of tactics, Poland's Lieutenant General Maciej Klisz says the weaponisation of maritime routes and targeting of strategic assets could be replicated by other countries, including in the Indo-Pacific. Defence officials in Australia last month tracked a Chinese flotilla which was headed towards Australia, less than a year after a naval task group sparked alarm when it unexpectedly circumnavigated the country. It has since left the region but the federal government expects more attention from Beijing.

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Poland could join the massive Talisman Sabre military exercise in Australia, designed to test and improve combat readiness and interoperability with overseas forces, including the United States. Both countries are also part of the F35 stealth fighter jet network of countries. Some of the planes, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, are due at Łask early this year.

Klisz welcomes Australia’s involvement in the coalition of the willing, countries pledging support for Ukraine during and after the war.

“This cooperation between Poland and Australia, even though we are far away by geography, is growing stronger,” he says.

China’s involvement in the war, along with North Korea and Iran, is concerning European leaders. Robert Kupiecki, Poland’s undersecretary of state and security advisor to the country’s prime minister, says international security is so closely connected that EU members should foster strong ties with Australia.

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[Marc Abensour, a career diplomat who leads France’s Indo-Pacific engagement] says managing tensions and avoiding conflict should be a key goal, including around Taiwan and the Korean peninsula. France’s explicit rejection of “spheres of influence” foreshadows a possible split with Trump, whose administration has cited protection of the Western hemisphere as part of its move to arrest Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a special forces operation this week.

“After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have all been confronted by increased strategic disinhibition,” Abensour says. “That has a global impact and it is not limited to the European theatre.”

Archive link

The EU is demanding that any future British government pays significant financial compensation if they quit a post-Brexit “reset” deal as part of negotiations with Sir Keir Starmer.

Brussels has included a termination clause that would require London to pay a high level of restitution if they chose to exit a proposed EU-UK “veterinary agreement” to remove Brexit red tape for British food and drink exporters, according to a draft text seen by the FT.

EU diplomats have dubbed the stipulation a “Farage clause” that they said was designed to insure the bloc against the risk of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage becoming prime minister and making good on his threat to reverse Starmer’s attempted move closer to Brussels.

The clause states that if either side pulls out, it must pay compensation that would include the costs of setting up “the infrastructure and equipment, initial recruitment and training, in order to set up the necessary border controls”.

One EU diplomat said that it was a “safety provision to provide stability and a deterrent for Farage and Co”, adding that Brussels was looking to sign a deal that would endure past the current UK parliamentary term, which ends in 2029.

“The EU wants an agreement long-term and not only until 2029, should a change happen at the next election,” they said.

Starmer has made a veterinary, or sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS), agreement a crucial element of his plans to improve trading arrangements with Brussels, alongside a deal to re-link the EU and UK carbon pricing schemes.

Trade and industry groups have strongly advocated for such a deal that would remove almost all Brexit red tape faced by exporters of agrifood products. A 2024 study estimated a deal could boost UK food and drink exports by 22 per cent.

With Reform UK significantly ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives in the polls, EU diplomats said Brussels was increasingly alive to the risk of its planned deals with Starmer unravelling.

The EU text said that the UK would pay a fee to join the veterinary agreement, based on a proportional share of the relevant agencies that administer the bloc’s border checks on plant and animal imports, plus an extra 4 per cent of that amount as an additional “participation fee”.

The draft text, which is subject to negotiation with the British government, also requires the UK to “dynamically align [with] and simultaneously apply” any rules governing animal and plant products that are introduced by EU lawmakers in Brussels.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, Starmer’s European relations minister, has said that legislation to enable dynamic alignment should be in place by the end of this year, with the deal operational by early to mid 2027.

However, both Reform UK and the Conservatives have promised to revoke such a deal, arguing that it diluted British legal independence and betrayed a vital part of honouring the result of the 2016 vote to leave the EU.

Reform UK told the FT that the party would reverse the SPS deal that Starmer was negotiating with the EU if they won power.

Speaking in London on Friday, Farage accused Starmer of “doing his best to give away our parliamentary sovereignty, to give away our rights as voters”.

Kemi Badenoch, Conservative leader, has promised to reverse Starmer’s “terrible deal”, saying she could not accept any agreement with Brussels that involved Britain being subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice.

The European Commission said it “remains fully committed to the implementation of the actions agreed with the United Kingdom at the Summit in May 2025.”

UK government officials said it was standard for agreements to have contingencies for termination and they would apply equally to both parties.

A senior Labour official said it was ironic that both Reform and the Conservatives, which styled themselves as parties of free markets, were promising to restore trade barriers if they won the next election.

“Nigel Farage is going to go into the next election saying he wants to bring back red tape, mountains of paperwork, and a greater bureaucratic burden,” they added