Europe

The European Union is looking into whether Hungary’s plan to deploy facial recognition technology to identify people attending LGBTQ+ Pride events is illegal.

https://archive.ph/qYlDB

https://archive.is/A4rQ7

Russia became increasingly aggressive and provocative toward European countries in 2024, employing espionage, cyberattacks, and covert disinformation campaigns to influence public debate, according to the annual report released by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). The agency described Russia’s actions as approaching the level of state terrorism aimed at spreading fear across Europe. The report also highlighted a rise in extremist threats within the Netherlands.

“The regime uses sabotage that borders on state terrorism to sow fear in Europe,” the AIVD stated in its report.

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On Tuesday [April 22], the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) disclosed that Russian hackers attacked a Dutch public facility in 2024. The specific facility was not identified. The incident was part of the agency’s annual report and signals a significant shift in how national security is viewed, with threats now considered the norm rather than the exception. “From uncertainty as the exception to uncertainty as the rule,” AIVD Director-General Erik Akerboom said in the report.

According to the AIVD, the Netherlands faced a “multitude of threats” in 2024. The agency issued 73 official intelligence reports to the Public Prosecution Service—17 more than in 2023. These classified communications typically alert authorities about individuals who may be involved in criminal activity and allow prosecutors to initiate investigations.

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Many of the AIVD’s investigations were linked to shifting global power dynamics and ongoing international conflicts. “The balance of power is changing, and the question is what the future world order will look like,” the report noted. “Anyone who assesses the threats to the Netherlands in 2024 will not only wonder what kind of world we live in, but also what we must do in response to this threat landscape.”

Alongside Russian threats, China also posed significant dangers. The Chinese government targeted a Dutch military research network with malicious software in a bid to spy on Dutch governmental and political targets. The AIVD report stated that China aimed to reduce Western influence worldwide through collaboration with Russia.

In addition to joint geopolitical efforts, China supplied military goods to Russia, including attack drones. These drones are frequently deployed in Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

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Paywall? https://archive.is/ZSHXV

Paywall? https://archive.is/NicVP

The plans, hatched by Sweden’s rightwing government with support of its far-right backers, made waves around the world. Politicians said they were working to strip citizenship from dual nationals who had been convicted of some crimes.

The concept also made a cameo in Germany’s February election after Friedrich Merz – whose centre-right CDU/CSU bloc emerged victorious in the ballot – told the newspaper Welt it should be possible to revoke German citizenship in the case of dual nationals who commit criminal offences.

The proposal was swiftly criticised, with one political commentator pointing out that it would result in some being “Germans on probation” for their entire lives. “They can never truly be German. One mistake, one crime – and their Germanness is gone,” the journalist and political commentator Gilda Sahebi wrote on social media. “It doesn’t matter if they were born here or if their family has lived in Germany for generations.”

Merz’s idea, she added, had laid bare the normalisation of “racist discrimination” in that, “in other words,” he was calling for remigration – the concept long-peddled by far-right, anti-immigrant parties and which, in Germany, calls for the mass deportation of migrants, including those with German citizenship.

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For Trump, Ukraine's southern peninsula was "lost years ago" and "is not even a part of discussion" in peace talks.

But for Zelensky to renounce Crimea as an indivisible part of Ukraine would be unconscionable.

In the words of opposition MP Iryna Gerashchenko "territorial integrity and sovereignty is a red line for Ukraine and Ukrainians".

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Putin later admitted hatching the land-grab [the attack on Crimea] in an all-night meeting with his officials days after Ukraine's pro-Russian leader was ousted in Kyiv.

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Zelensky was adamant that he has no power to give up Crimea: "There's nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution."

Article 2 of the constitution states that Ukraine's sovereignty "extends throughout its entire territory" which "within its present border is indivisible and inviolable".

Any change to Ukraine's territory has to go to a national referendum, which must be authorised by the Ukrainian parliament.

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Crimea along with the rest of Ukraine voted for independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991. It had the status of autonomous republic within and Kyiv allowed Russia to lease the port of Sevastopol as a base for the Black Sea Fleet.

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The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly expresses that minors have rights to freedom of expression and access to information online, as well as the right to privacy.

These rights would be steamrolled by age verification requirements.

Speaking to the BBC, she said: "I understand why there's so much focus on our trading relationship with the US but actually our trading relationship with Europe is arguably even more important, because they're our nearest neighbours and trading partners.

https://archive.ph/oxPY3

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62370804

they argued that the European Union (EU) should adjust its prices to better align with those in the United States.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33294557

Archived

In February 2025, a London neighborhood council and the London Metropolitan Police withdrew their opposition to the Chinese government’s plans to construct a huge “super embassy” on the grounds of the old Royal Mint, only days after thousands of people had participated in a protest against the project. Embassies and consulates are meant to provide useful services to citizens from the home country and promote comity and understanding between nations. However, the London authorities’ about-face in favor of construction of the 5.5-acre Chinese facility has sparked fears among United Kingdom residents from China—some of whom are the targets of bounties imposed by Beijing—that it could be used to enable acts of transnational repression. Their worries are not unfounded, especially considering the involvement of Chinese consul-general Zheng Xiyuan in the beating of a protester at the Manchester consulate in 2022. [...]

The Chinese government is just one of many authoritarian regimes that have employed diplomatic staff at embassies and consulates to spy on diaspora communities, threaten and harm exiled dissidents, and selectively deny them access to crucial services.

Watchful eyes

It is unsurprising that governments known for repressing citizens at home would use their diplomatic outposts to engage in similar efforts to silence dissent abroad, in contravention of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. One common transnational repression tactic made possible by these missions is the close monitoring of opposition movements. Throughout 2011, for example, Syrian and Libyan embassy officials tracked the participation of Syrian and Libyan nationals at Arab Spring rallies in the United States and Britain. They later shared this intelligence with officials back home, who put pressure on family members of the diaspora residents to rein in their activism overseas.

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Physical attacks and abductions

Diplomats and their associates may go beyond surveillance and interference, engaging in plots to physically harm or forcibly repatriate dissidents living abroad. The grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 is arguably the most infamous example of this practice.

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Access denied

In addition to carrying out espionage and physical intimidation, embassy and consulate staff representing authoritarian regimes often withhold access to key services and documents. As Freedom House has previously reported, the governments of at least 12 countries have denied consular services to their nationals abroad for political reasons. The diplomatic missions in question arbitrarily refuse to extend passports, certify birth or marriage certificates, or provide identity documents, leaving people trapped in limbo.

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While acknowledging the legitimate role played by embassies and consulates in assisting their nationals and strengthening relationships between governments, the authorities in host countries must make it clear that transnational repression is not a diplomatic privilege.

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Canada and the Netherlands have expelled Eritrean diplomats for imposing the diaspora tax on local Eritreans. Similarly, in 2024, the Canadian government banished six Indian diplomats for collecting information on alleged Sikh separatists in Canada.

As the British government nears a decision on the Chinese “super embassy” this summer, it should uphold its obligation to prioritize the safety and human rights of diaspora members and send a clear signal that no embassy in the United Kingdom will be allowed to serve as a hub for transnational repression.

“The one thing that we have to watch is to make sure we don’t see more countries in a similar boat as where we are with China. We’re watching the EU,” Boeing CEO and President Kelly Ortberg said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33259385

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will introduce an amendment to legislation to ensure there is no slavery in GB Energy's supply chains.

It comes after ministers rejected an amendment to a bill last month that would have prevented that state-owned GB Energy spending money on solar panels where supply chains had "credible evidence of modern slavery".

The production of solar panels in China's Xinjiang region has been linked to the alleged exploitation of Uyghur Muslims.

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A government source told the BBC since then "there has been an acknowledgement of the argument that GB Energy should be an industry leader".

There has already been praise from the international community for the U-turn. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, told the BBC: "I really salute the UK government's decision."

He said that the materials for green technology are important but "should really be produced in a socially and environmentally acceptable way".

Labour MPs who have been calling for the change are seeing it as a victory.

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Archived

Ireland increased its pledge to the International Development Association (IDA) by 33 percent to €141.4 million, reinforcing its commitment to improving lives in the world’s poorest countries.

IDA, the World Bank’s fund for low-income countries, supports projects that boost economic growth, build resilience, and provide opportunities in 78 countries around the world. Ireland’s new pledge, announced Thursday on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, augments its initial commitment to IDA’s 21st replenishment (IDA21).

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IDA’s 21st replenishment was a yearlong process that culminated in December, with a package of up to $100 billion for IDA countries. The Association supports a range of development activities, including job creation, pandemic preparedness, women’s economic empowerment, and more.