Europe

An analysis about how US money, X’s reach and ultraconservative religious legal expertise converge against EU platform regulation

A good article which covers a lot of aspects, including what happened technically, which software flaws were exploited, that the problem affected refrigerators which did not have updated firmware. It also mentions the EU cyber resiliency act, which has the specific goal to avoid such events.

https://archive.ph/20261016180353/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/10/16/musk-approached-trump-slow-down-starlink-help-ukraine/

The US pressured Lithuanian, Canadian and EU diplomats to withdraw their support for the Disinfo 2026 conference in Vilnius, which criticised Donald Trump and America’s interference in other countries’ politics. The pressure was first felt by the conference’s speakers and organisers.

The partnership between Lithuanian and Taiwanese researchers is being developed through a joint programme supported by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMT) and Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), as discussed at the Taiwan–Lithuania Laser Conference, held in Lithuania on 8–9 October.

Bulgaria has formally , asked NATO to deploy combat aircraft and anti-drone systems to bolster its defences after a series of drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Friday.

An undercover investigation revealed that multiple Chinese tech firms knowingly agreed to sell specialized drone components—including jamming-resistant fiber-optic cables, mesh modems, and AI targeting systems—to Russian military buyers despite Beijing’s official export bans. To evade international sanctions and customs tracking, these manufacturers use front companies, transit routes through third countries, and existing stock in Moscow warehouses. Financial transactions are conducted outside Western banking oversight by routing payments through Russia’s VTB Bank, domestic Chinese lenders, or cryptocurrency transfers. In conclusion, the findings provide direct evidence that Chinese commercial suppliers systematically use logistical and financial loopholes to sustain Russia’s frontline military drone capabilities

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The UK is sending Ukraine more long-range Storm Shadow missiles so it can disrupt Russian military operations targeting its civilian infrastructure before the winter, people familiar with the matter said.

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UK: “Successful engagement with China must always be framed by an understanding that China is an inherently hostile authoritarian state that does not share our values”, report says

Starlink rival Eutelsat OneWeb gains as investors bet it could benefit from geopolitical tensions

The EU is currently in talks with China to lift restrictions the country imposed on Sindlhauser Materials GmbH, a German company in ASML’s supply chain, as the sanctions risk putting the company out of business. In return, the EU would remove restrictions it placed on one unnamed Chinese firm accused of aiding Russia in the war with Ukraine, according to an Oct. 14 Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.

Lithuania expects to make progress toward restoring diplomatic representation with China by the end of the year, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said Wednesday, expressing confidence in Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys’ efforts to improve ties.

Saxony-Anhalt Gov. Sven Schulze of the Christian Democratic Union criticized the initiative. He noted that the resolution did not mention Russian aggression, even though Russia shells Ukrainian cities daily. Schulze said the AfD and BSW wanted to deprive Ukraine of the ability to defend itself. The state government will decide how to proceed after further discussion.

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Ukraine’s Tencore and Canada’s Dominion Dynamics will launch production of TerMIT unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in Canada for Ukraine and NATO partners.

The Insider’s correspondent in Ukraine examined a mesh modem — one made by China’s Xingkai Tech — that was found in a Russian Gerbera drone. Then, posing as a Russian military supplier, they obtained evidence that the Chinese company is knowingly willing to sell its modems to the Russian drone factory in Alabuga.

Judge Beatriz Biedma, responsible for the investigation into the hiring of David Sánchez in the Badajoz Provincial Council, brother of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has had a specific protection and escort device from the National Police since this Wednesday, which acts “applying the appropriate protocols.”

Ukraine confirmed on Wednesday that its military has been cut off from full access to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system , which reportedly interrupted some missions overnight.

cross-posted from : https://piefed.zip/c/technology@lemmy.world/p/1908525/yandex-outage-data-shows-that-instead-of-going-dark-malicious-bots-went-on-the-move

Prosecutors say Serhii Kuznetsov played a leading role in a team of saboteurs that destroyed the pipelines, accusing him of a war crime.

[Op-ed by Derrick Wyatt, KC, is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Oxford and a former practising lawyer who advised businesses and governments.]

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Bulgaria has suggested Russia was behind two attacks on cargo ships near its waters on Tuesday that left eleven sailors missing, calling the escalation of the war in the Black Sea “unacceptable”.

Over 215 NGOs expressed their solidarity with the European Network Against Racism after the organisation had its funding removed by an EU agency.

["Alice” - named in the headline - is a Russian generative AI chatbot and digital personal assistant.]

A first-ever agreement between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate - signed in September this years - raises eyebrows. Given the European Parliament’s repeated majority assessments on the risks of police and judicial cooperation with China, some tough questions ought to be asked of the European Chief Prosecutor and her successor.

Claims that Ukrainian strikes on Russian data centres reduced Kremlin-linked bot networks have spread widely online, but experts have told BBC Verify there is no evidence the attacks have significantly reduced them.

Jonathan Reynolds warned that the government would not bow to calls from other countries for the UK to hit Chinese vehicles with import taxes, despite political pressure to align with the EU in exchange for deeper future economic ties.

The European Union warned digital platforms on Monday against livestreaming the execution of Nidal Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist who is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3 for killing 13 people at a military base in 2009. Under EU rules, platforms have an obligation to moderate shocking and violent content, including capital punishment.

From March 2022 to July 2026, European Union countries paid Russia around €197 billion or approximately US$209 billion for fossil fuels.

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Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who spent five years in a Chinese prison, visited the European Parliament on Tuesday and called for closer cooperation between Taiwan and Europe on human rights.

The Kaaiman is an unarmored variant of the JLTV, the four-wheel-drive tactical vehicle Oshkosh designed to replace the Humvee in U.S. service, tailored to a Dutch requirement for a patrol vehicle that can operate along coastlines and in shallow water.

“If China stops their production to us … we are blinded,” said Andrii Taganskyi, an executive at Odd Systems, a Ukrainian weapons manufacturer that develops cameras for drones.

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Data harvested from mobile phones by the Polish authorities using Pegasus spyware were transmitted outside Poland and were accessible to the tool’s Israeli producer, Polish prosecutors have revealed as part of an investigation into the use of Pegasus under the former government.

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Germany’s Christian Democrats want their party colleague, Ursula von der Leyen, to propose even more deregulation vehicles, so-called ‘omnibuses’, according to a party note obtained by Rapporteur that will be sent to Brussels.

The pesticide industry and big farming lobby have succeeded in getting a string of their demands into the European Commission’s Food & Feed Omnibus and amendments tabled by European Parliament co-rapporteurs, a new investigation by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) reveals. Lobby demands from Bayer, BASF, CropLife Europe and Copa-Cogeca on unlimited pesticide approvals, longer grace periods and wider derogations made their way into the Omnibus proposals. Taken together, the changes would weaken key EU pesticide safeguards and keep harmful pesticides in use for longer, rather than accelerating the shift to safer alternatives.

If the European Commission and the EU Member States have their way, the so-called Digital Omnibus will result in a fundamental change to EU privacy laws. But what about the European Parliament? To find out more, noyb has analysed more than 1,000 amendments that Members of Parliament (MEPs) have tabled for the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive to shed a light on their actions. This shows that many MEPs are in favour of stripping people of their privacy rights – while others still push back.

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Spain has concluded this week a new legislature without yet addressing the recommendations of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) - a Council of Europe body that aims to improve its members’ capacity to fight corruption - regarding the regulation of the links between political leaders, especially parliamentarians, and the so-called interest groups. This is a requirement that this body of the Council of Europe has been raising since 2014 and which is also supported by the European Commission.

The belief that the country is on a downward slope fuels the appeal of radicalism.

Poland is probing what officials said was a “possible assassination” risk to Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the country’s defense minister, with a special meeting of the security services convened on Sunday after emailed threats were received.

China-linked company Integrity Technology Group has been exposed by the UK and international partners for enabling cyber actors to target organisations worldwide.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/73037191