cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12244080

The Russian military suffered record casualties in Ukraine last month while also ceding some territory to Kyiv’s forces.

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More than 54,000 Russian troops were killed and heavily wounded in October, the most since the full-scale invasion began almost five years ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday. Ukraine uses drone footage to document casualty numbers, which have now exceeded Russia’s monthly recruitment rate.

European government assessments shared with Bloomberg show similar figures, with the proportion of troops killed also at a record.

For the second month running, Kyiv’s forces have also managed to regain more territory than Russia was able to seize, according to the Institute for the Study of War. Moscow’s troops are even losing territory in the key eastern Donbas region, which Vladimir Putin wants to control in full.

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Removepyawall.com

The Trump administration tries to micromanage the domestic politics of American allies.

Non paywalled

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/74310044

With the planned investment, BASF’s Electronic Materials business is expanding its site in Taoyuan, Taiwan, with additional production capacity for state-of-the-art semiconductor materials, improved quality analysis capabilities, and an expanded innovation center. The investment is intended to support the growing global demand for leading semiconductor manufacturing technologies, particularly the latest sub-2-nm technologies. At the same time, it strengthens supply chain resilience and customer proximity.

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Might be satire. It's the Danes at it again.

For Novaya Gazeta, a bastion of free press in Moscow, the end has come. “They killed us,” the editorial team of Dmitry Muratov, co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize (with Philippine journalist Maria Ressa), warned on Friday, October 30. “They” refers to the special services of the FSB (Federal Security Service, successor to the Soviet-era KGB). In a letter published by Le Monde, current editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov described the “coordinated operation” carried out over recent weeks against Russia’s last outspoken media outlet.

“Deprived of means of subsistence and under constant threat of repression,” Novaya Gazeta can no longer continue its work as it had managed to do over nearly five years of war. “On November 9, we will turn off the lights in our home, where we have lived for 30 years. We will shut down the servers and leave,” wrote Sokolov. “The newspaper no longer exists.”

‘They killed us’: The farewell letter by Russia’s free newspaper ‘Novaya Gazeta,’ forced by authorities to close In March 2022, blocked by authorities after its opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Novaya Gazeta (originally a thrice-weekly print publication) chose to halt all publication temporarily. Since then, it found other ways to operate. Exiled journalists founded Novaya Gazeta Europe to continue their reporting. This autonomous outlet will continue to exist. In Moscow, despite bans and threats, Muratov and his team persist publishing in other formats, mainly on the internet and through an occasional print version with fewer than 1,000 copies, the threshold above which registration as a media outlet is required.

In recent months, the pressure escalated against the Moscow newsroom, which, since the newspaper’s founding in 1993, had tirelessly investigated corruption, state violence and human rights violations. For five years, the team resisted from Potapovsky Lane, the newspaper’s historic headquarters. But on April 9, the police conducted a 13-hour search and seizure operation at those offices, confiscating computers, electronic devices and many important documents from Muratov’s safe. They arrested one journalist, Oleg Roldugin, who was placed under house arrest pending trial. Charged with “illegally collecting and disseminating computer information containing personal data,” he faces up to six years in prison.

‘Foreign agents’

Then, in September, the courts added Novaya Gazeta to its list of foreign agents. Muratov was already designated as such – number 665 in the register maintained by the Ministry of Justice, where around one hundred names, mostly journalists and contributors to the newspaper, have since been added. Unlike many other independent publications, Novaya Gazeta had so far avoided this classification, which, reminiscent of the Soviet-era label “enemies of the people,” imposes countless Kafkaesque formalities. On October 15, the noose tightened further. Sokolov, already arrested in 2024 and prosecuted for “discrediting the armed forces” over an article, was detained by police. After a search at his Moscow home, he was questioned for several hours by the Investigative Committee. Reporters Without Borders denounced “new escalation in the authorities’ relentless campaign against this emblematic independent Russian media outlet.”

Journalists in Russia: ‘It’s much more dangerous today than it was under perestroika’ Released, Sokolov immediately returned to the newspaper. But, in his own words, Novaya Gazeta has since found itself in a “killing zone,” with its journalists “surrounded on all sides by security services.” A special operation targeted the newsroom. The same day it received an eviction notice demanding its departure from its historic headquarters, the authorities simultaneously disabled the donation system that, for five years, had allowed the outlet to receive reader financial support.

“We can no longer exist,” Muratov warned as early as October 20, at an event in Paris organized by Le Monde and the Théâtre de la Ville in tribute to Anna Politkovskaya, murdered on October 7, 2006, outside her Moscow home and one of six Novaya Gazeta journalists killed under Putin’s regime. “Does Article 29 of the Russian Constitution, ‘Censorship is prohibited,’ not sound today like a grim joke?” the editorial team denounced in its farewell letter. “The real betrayal is when the state betrays its own Constitution. And that betrayal is a crime unfolding right now, before the entire world. The assassination of Novaya Gazeta is further proof.” In Russia, more than 30 journalists from various media outlets are currently in prison. Factual but cautious, meticulously complying with increasingly repressive laws and practicing growing self-censorship, Novaya Gazeta had managed to survive since 2022. This is no doubt thanks to the international stature of Muratov’s Nobel Peace Prize; he is one of the newspaper’s founders. For a long time, it was also due to the personality of one of its shareholders, Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader and architect of Perestroika, who died on August 30, 2022. These two moral guarantees, by October 2026, were not enough to save Novaya Gazeta from the FSB’s operation

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12238263

Czech manufacturers are interested in setting up drone assembly lines in Taiwan, former Czech Chamber of Deputies president Marketa Pekarova Adamova told a forum in Taipei.

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The Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology said the Czech Republic is the largest importer of Taiwanese drones and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) components.

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The Czech Republic is a significant contributor to Ukraine’s defense efforts, as the two countries are separated only by 300km, she said.

As a result, Czech industries have rich experience in developing battle-tested drones, software and navigation systems, compared with other manufacturers that can only test their platforms in labs, Adamova said.

Beyond warfighting, drones have many applications, such as critical infrastructure security, agriculture and logistics, she added.

Prosperity, democracy and livelihood lose all meaning if people cannot live in peace and security, which underscores the importance of Taiwan-Czech collaboration in drones, Adamova said.

Taiwan and the Czech Republic are like-minded countries with shared democratic values, and must work together to defend themselves against powerful foes, Adamova added.

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Archived

Thirty-five years after challenging Soviet rule in the name of democracy, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania now rely in part on volunteer citizen organizations that attract tens of thousands of members to help defend their countries.

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The Estonian Defense League and its affiliated organizations – a women's branch and two groups for children and teenagers – have 30,800 members, representing 2.2% of Estonia's population of 1.3 million. In Latvia, the National Guard counts around 10,000 volunteers. It is unique in that it is integrated into the country's armed forces, while the other two are civilian organizations, although they are partly guided by military personnel.

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Similar organizations exist in Estonia and Latvia, the other two Baltic states, where, as in Lithuania, membership numbers surged following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

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'The state is the citizens'

[Civil society] groups play similar roles in Baltic societies. Founded or re-established when the three countries gained independence, they are closely tied to the same spirit that made freedom possible: the uprising of long-oppressed populations. Massive demonstrations, intellectual, artistic, and social dissent culminated in the Baltic Way in August 1989, when more than two million people formed a human chain from Tallinn in Estonia to Vilnius in Lithuania. From the mid-1980s to 1990, these movements became known as the "Singing Revolutions," as crowds defiantly sang banned national anthems and traditional songs. They were experienced as a national "awakening" – or atmoda, as the movement is known in Latvia.

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But the head of the League further emphasized the diversity of tasks its members perform. "Everyone can be useful according to their abilities, talents and availability," he said. Are you good at cooking? Feeding refugees or soldiers can be crucial. Used to caring for the elderly? You can save lives. Some members monitor Russian propaganda, verify information and run communication campaigns to counter fake news. The population also attends evacuation training sessions; 1,000 women from the female branch have taken part and will be ready if war breaks out. The officer also mentioned "drone football" tournaments, which help develop essential skills. He spoke about the children's sections, camping, outdoor games, solidarity, and the sense of belonging to a team that these activities foster.

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He gestured toward the end of the garden: a fence, a stream, a vacant lot full of wild grass. Beyond that is Russia, always in plain sight for the people of Kybartai. "Who will help us," he added, "if we don't take care of it ourselves?"

Archived (removepaywall.com)

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The UK Government is “making up its China policy as it goes”, exposing the UK to both economic and national security risks, MPs have warned in a new report.

In a 102-page document (pdf) published on Monday, MPs sitting on the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee (Bist) accused the Labour government of failing to deliver on its 2024 promise to implement a “strategic, long-term, consistent” approach to China.

The Government has re-engaged with China without establishing the rules of the game required to protect British economic and national security, says the Bist report.

"Businesses are therefore navigating their relationship with one of the world’s most consequential economic actors without knowing where engagement is prohibited, where safeguards are required, and where the Government will actively support growth. This is not good enough."

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Successive governments have failed to reassure the security community, the public, or Parliament that they have taken adequate measures to defend UK national security and economic resilience, the report says.

The lack of predictability and clear guidance is hampering UK businesses’ ability to make commercial decisions about the Chinese market.

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Drawing on Britain’s strengths, it should provide targeted support for businesses in carefully selected sectors by negotiating better market access, increasing export finance, and enhancing guidance.

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The Government should pursue a new framework with three strategic objectives.

First, it should insist on fair trade, strengthening trade remedies and reforming procurement to enable British firms to compete on a level playing field. This should include preparation of tariffs to be deployed where China refuses to reform unfair competition practices.

Second, it should prevent the transfer of sensitive technologies and data to China by better resourcing the UK’s research security apparatus, strengthening the regulation of data traffic between connected vehicles in the UK and foreign entities, banning high risk connected tech from UK critical national infrastructure, and strengthening the Government’s powers of continuous review of foreign ownership of UK assets in strategic sectors.

Third, it should minimise the UK economy’s exposure to coercion, disruption and forced labour by developing a plan to secure UK supply chains and banning the import of products made using forced labour.

[The linked Bist report lists 42 measures.]

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Archived

Sales on Shein, Temu, and AliExpress have fallen sharply in Germany, while customs authorities across Europe report fewer small shipments. The early results suggest the charge is changing trade, although European retailers have yet to see clear benefits.

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In Germany, combined sales on Shein, Temu, and AliExpress dropped by 35.5 per cent year on year to €566m in the third quarter, according to e-commerce association BEVH. Their combined share of German online retail fell from 5.3 per cent in the second quarter to 3.1 per cent. The consumer survey measures spending, providing evidence of falling purchases beyond changes in customs declarations.

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Italy recorded a 39 per cent decline in low-value parcel imports in July–August compared with May–June, according to figures from Customs Agency Director Roberto Alesse cited in an Italian parliamentary research dossier.

In Poland, Finance Ministry figures supplied to PAP showed customs declarations falling from 4.24m in June to 2.11m in July, a monthly decline of 50.1 per cent.

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The pattern extends elsewhere. Belgian authorities reported 53 per cent fewer low-value declarations in July than a year earlier. Czech customs figures reported by ČTK showed declared items falling by 81 per cent between June and September, from 13.6m to 2.6m. The figures cover different periods and counting methods, so they illustrate the scale of the adjustment rather than a ranking of declining demand.

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The duty is also changing how goods reach customers. Dutch Customs reported a 46 per cent fall in average e-commerce declarations in its initial July–August comparison with the first-half average, while standard declarations rose by 20 per cent. Its August figures were provisional and covered only the period to 25 August. Retailers appeared to be importing more goods in bulk and storing them in European warehouses before dispatching orders to consumers.

That shift can help customs authorities inspect imports. Dutch Customs Director-General Nannette van Schelven said fewer individual parcels were arriving directly for consumers, “making it easier for us to check whether products are safe”.

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Product safety remains a concern: as EU Perspectives reported, the Commission has accepted Temu’s plan to strengthen safeguards after tests exposed unsafe toys and chargers on its platform.

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Tariffs alone are not enough

BEVH attributed the pressure on low-margin Asian products to higher import charges. However, weakening confidence and rising energy costs also weighed on spending, while domestic retailers had not benefited from their competitors’ decline. “Tariffs alone are not enough,” BEVH chief executive Alien Mulyk said, calling for stronger market surveillance and enforcement.

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Archived

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The collision occurred on 28 October near Urda, on the Madrid–Seville high-speed line, when a Renfe AVE train struck a stationary Iryo service.

It followed another fatal accident on the same railway corridor in January, when 46 people died near Adamuz in Córdoba province.

The latest disaster has raised questions about how Spain manages one of Europe’s largest high-speed railway networks and whether its safety systems have kept pace with expanding passenger traffic.

According to an updated report from Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE, 56 of the 69 confirmed fatalities had been identified by Saturday evening, 31 October.

Forty-one injured passengers remained in hospital, including 19 receiving intensive care. The authorities were continuing their investigation and identification work.

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The accident has exposed disagreements between the government and railway unions over the condition of Spain’s infrastructure.

[Transport Minister Óscar] Puente has highlighted the apparent decision taken by traffic controllers after the signalling failure.

Railway workers’ representatives argue that attention should also be directed towards equipment reliability, staffing levels and the pressures facing control-centre personnel.

As Reuters reported, the minister acknowledged that the LZB system experiences approximately 170 interruptions annually, describing this frequency as consistent with historical averages.

The Madrid–Seville route is undergoing an upgrade to the European Rail Traffic Management System, intended to improve interoperability and train protection across European railways.

The upgrade has been delayed.

A contract awarded in 2021 envisaged the installation of the newer system by early 2026. Following contractual changes, the equipment is now expected to enter operation in early 2027.

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Archived

The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), which was created to fund long-term conservation of tropical forests, recently received a $500-million pledge, over 10 years, from the Netherlands, a significant boost for forest conservation.

The Netherlands announced the pledge in an Oct 26 press release and estimated that the TFFF has the potential to protect 800 to 900 million hectares (2.0 to 2.2 billion acres) of tropical forest, an area roughly 200 times the size of the Netherlands.

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Contributing countries so far are France, UK, Germany, Indonesia, and Brazil, with Norway having pledged $3 billion under the condition that a $10 billion threshold is reached.

... The United States did not join the Fund when it was announced during the COP30. China, which signaled support and possible contributions, also held back on making an official announcement.

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The recent $500 million pledge came the day after Brazil’s runoff election in which incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has pledged to end deforestation by 2030, beat challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, a climate change denier who pledged to not demarcate any Indigenous land in Brazil.

Harstad noted concerns that governments can reverse their pledge to conserve TFFF-funded forests, “if someone like Bolsonaro should return to power in the future.”

Harstad recommends instead solutions like sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs), which have been used in Uruguay to lower bond interest rates, and attract investments, when deforestation rates are low.

Still, [the Netherlands'] recent TFFF investment has been praised by conservationists including Merijn van Leeuwen, director of Nature Conservation with WWF-Netherlands, who said it is a “major breakthrough for the protection of tropical forests worldwide.”

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Archived