cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/67824979

German companies are continuing to move abroad — and that applies to businesses of every size. According to press reports

According to the data, around 1,300 German companies with more than 50 employees relocated business functions abroad between 2021 and 2023. That's equivalent to 2.2% of all companies of that size based in Germany in 2023.

The increase in the height of car bonnets on SUVs and other luxury models means that this risk has returned. Research carried out for Clean Cities shows that a 10cm increase in bonnet height from 80cm to 90cm results in a 27% greater chance of death for pedestrians run over. For children, the risk of death is increased threefold if they are hit by an SUV rather than a conventional vehicle. They are also more likely to be hit since the driving position is often too high to observe what is in front of the vehicle.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/euro@feddit.online/p/1824793/ukraines-prime-minister-yulia-svyrydenko-to-step-down-as-zelenskyy-announces-government

We discussed with the President the challenges facing our country and the changes needed to strengthen the Government’s work and our relations with international partners.

Today, it is vitally important to pool all our strengths and resources to strengthen Ukraine.

I am grateful to the President for his trust and high regard for our team’s work. I am proud to have had the honour of leading the Government during the most difficult period in Ukraine’s recent history.

I would like to thank every single person defending Ukrainian soil; our military are our strength and our independence.

I would like to thank the entire government team for their work for the good of the state during this time of great challenges. Together, we have visited every corner of our incredible country, paying particular attention to the frontline regions; we have taken extremely complex and urgent decisions; we have weathered the harshest winter; and not for a single second have we allowed the enemy to stop the heartbeat of our state — its economy.

I also discussed our next steps with the President.

I am ready to continue serving the Ukrainian state and carrying out tasks aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s position, protecting our national interests and bringing about a just peace.

Glory to Ukraine!🇺🇦

Source: Prime Minister Official Telegram Channel.

The plenary of the European Parliament has called this Tuesday to intensify efforts to deepen diplomatic relations and security cooperation with democracies such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, in the face of the advance of "authoritarian" models in East Asia in a context of high global geopolitical tension.

The resolution, approved with 542 votes in favor, 37 against, and 79 abstentions, underlines that the EU needs a more decisive approach to East Asia in order to reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen its economic security.

Faced with a regional dynamic increasingly conditioned by "coercive" economic practices and growing security tensions, MEPs advocate for intensifying collaboration with partners who share democratic values and high regulatory standards.

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MEPs also recall that East Asia not only constitutes an essential pillar of global trade, technological innovation, and critical supply chains, but is also a key player for international security in the face of challenges such as the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, China's influence on the geopolitical chessboard, or the growing cooperation between Russia and Pyongyang.

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At the same time, the European Parliament recognizes the leadership role of Japan and South Korea in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), defense technologies, and response to cyber and military threats. Therefore, it proposes promoting military-industrial cooperation focused on interoperability, joint development, and capability acquisition, particularly in aviation and drone technologies.

The resolution also advocates for consolidating strategic alliances with Japan and South Korea through closer cooperation in security and defense, including cybersecurity, the fight against terrorism, crisis management, and combating disinformation and foreign interference, in addition to strengthening economic ties.

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Likewise, the text advocates for creating a specific framework for cooperation between the EU and Taiwan with a marked economic and commercial dimension, focused on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity and maritime security.

Archived

The "Angry Birds Commando" group said they placed incendiary devices on a railroad between the two busy cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf. The group blamed industrial technology for the destruction of the environment.

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The "Angry Birds Commando" group, in a letter posted on German left-wing website indymedia.org, said it placed incendiary devices on the railway line between Cologne and Düsseldorf.

A fire was ignited in two places between the German city of Leverkusen and the town of Langenfeld on Friday morning, stopping train operations and causing disruption. Firefighters extinguished the flames but the damage on the track remained.

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Repair work on the train line is expected to continue through Saturday afternoon. The act of vandalism has caused cancellations and delays, and it's unclear when normal operations will resume.

German dpa news agency cited security sources who suspect the letter is genuine.

Meanwhile, Cologne police say an investigation has been launched and have put out a call for witnesses.

The "Angry Birds Commando" group has claimed responsbility for earlier sabotage, causing disruption on train line used by Deutsche Bahn between the cities of Düsseldorf and Duisdorf in 2025.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10077088

The United States, the United Kingdom and a dozen other Western and Asian countries reasserted on Sunday that China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea are illegal based on a 2016 arbitration ruling.

A joint statement issued by the 14 nations said they rejected “destabilizing” actions in the disputed waters that threaten regional stability. The 27-nation European Union released a separate statement, reaffirming the ruling as a “landmark decision in the peaceful settlement of disputes."

The statements commemorated a July 12, 2016, arbitration ruling by a tribunal established in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, saying the landmark decision is “is final and legally binding."

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China refused to join the arbitration initiated by the Philippines in 2013 after a tense standoff in the contested waters a year earlier that ended with Beijing effectively seizing a disputed shoal.

Beijing rejected the 2016 ruling and continues to defend its claims to virtually the entire sea passage, a key global trade route that has long been feared as one of Asia’s most active flashpoints. The areas has been the scene of repeated territorial standoffs involving China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

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In addition to the U.S. and Britain, the other countries listed in Sunday's statement were the Philippines, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.

“We reiterate our strong opposition to any destabilizing or unilateral actions including by force or coercion that threaten peace and stability in the region,” they said.

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Territorial confrontations in the disputed waters have become more prevalent in recent years, particularly between Chinese and Philippine and Vietnamese forces and fishing fleets.

Chinese coast guard ships and support vessels have used powerful water cannons, military-grade lasers and dangerous blocking maneuvers against Philippine forces and fishermen from rival claimant countries that have led to collisions in the high seas and high-risk encounters in the air.

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Archived

• Estonia, Luxembourg and UK are the top three in biennial Yale University index in tackling pollution and other issues
• US, China are falling further behind, the researchers say

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The biennial Yale University index again ranks Estonia as the best-performing of 177 assessed countries, after strong recent efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and protect its ecosystems. Luxembourg is second, and the UK is third, having moved up from fifth place in the 2024 index.

European countries dominate the top 20, with only Japan, in 16th, not situated in the continent. Australia is in 25th place, two places ahead of the US. Laos is the last-ranked nation, with the bottom three rounded out by India and Bangladesh.

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Despite this worsening situation, several countries, most notably the US under Donald Trump, have recently scaled back efforts to combat the climate crisis. The Yale index uses data up to 2024, capturing the last part of Joe Biden’s presidency rather than Trump’s, but still finds that even then the US’s emissions were falling far too slowly to reach net zero by 2050, as the science demands must be done to avoid disastrous climate breakdown.

China, now the world’s largest carbon emitter ahead of the US, has made huge progress in developing its clean energy sector, the Yale report finds, but still derives 56% of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, and performs relatively poorly on its marine conservation and biodiversity stewardship, the scorecard found.

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“Europe has really stepped out in front and is continuing to pursue climate change with not the full vigor it might have a few years back when the political circumstances were different, but they’re getting the payback for decades now of work on this issue at the cutting edge,” said Esty.

“The laggards in the US and China both are still lagging, seem to be falling further behind and are holding back the global community’s efforts to achieve the targets that have been agreed upon.”

China has climbed the table somewhat to 129th position, however, after previously being ranked near last due to the dangerous air pollution suffered by many of its major cities. It has since removed many of the coal-fired power plants near cities that caused such problems. The Yale index also marks India down for its tree cover loss, pesticide pollution risks and ocean conservation from the last index. “India’s performance is shockingly bad for a country that aspires to be a leader in global terms on the economy,” Esty said.

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Archived

Security researchers from the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) have exposed critical vulnerabilities in Hoymiles solar inverters that allow attackers to remotely control, manipulate, or destroy hundreds of thousands of solar installations across Europe. The Chinese manufacturer holds roughly 20 percent of the European microinverter market, making the security flaw a widespread threat to balcony power plants and small rooftop solar systems.

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During experimental tests, a modified handheld scanner located two dozen foreign inverters and their identification numbers within 20 minutes. In Augsburg, Hunz identified 42 hackable systems within just one hour. The radio signals can travel several hundred meters, making it feasible to mount attack equipment on drones for systematic scanning of residential areas.

Once attackers have the serial numbers, they can switch inverters on or off, alter power limits, and inject malware through an unprotected firmware update command. Tampering with sensitive network parameters or erasing bootloader memory could lead to fires, electrical accidents, or device destruction requiring physical repair.

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The CCC informed Hoymiles [which is headquartered in China] about the vulnerability in February but received no initial response. Only after the German Federal Office for Information Security contacted the Chinese authority CNCERT did Hoymiles react at the end of June. The company announced a security update for mid-October.

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Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10060855

• Rules would favour EU companies in strategic sectors
• Could reject bids with less than 50% EU content
• Proposal is expected to be published in September

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Public procurement accounts for around 15% of the EU's GDP, according to the draft proposal, ​equating to about €2.5 trillion ($2.86 trillion) based on the EU's 2025 GDP.

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The proposal increases the security role of public procurement in that it allows authorities to examine whether a bidder's ownership, control or financing structure creates a risk of foreign interference.

Buyers could also take into ​account whether companies are subject ​to third-country laws that ⁠may force disclosure of sensitive information or otherwise interfere with the contract's performance.

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Authorities would be encouraged, and in some cases required, to take account of risks linked to critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, supply-chain disruptions, strategic ⁠dependencies and ​foreign influence when awarding contracts.

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Director of the Security and Intelligence Service of Moldova, Alexandru Musteata, said that Russia has begun to use the video platform TikTok more actively to spread propaganda.

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He stated that Russia is already preparing to interfere in the upcoming elections in Moldova and has intensified its disinformation campaigns, as well as its attempts to influence public opinion.

He added that while the messaging app Telegram was previously the main channel for spreading Russian propaganda, the video platform TikTok has now become the primary tool.

In addition, campaigns to manipulate public opinion on Facebook have resumed, and temporary websites created specifically to spread false information have appeared.

According to Musteata, the goal of these campaigns is to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions.

“Campaigns are being carried out to discredit the army, the security sector, law enforcement agencies, and the justice system. The goal is to lower the level of trust so that by the next election cycle, citizens will begin to doubt whether state institutions are functioning effectively,” explained the director of the SIS.

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The European Commission ... has approved definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain tires from China used on passenger cars and light trucks and buses.

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The duties range from 4.3% to 45.3%, depending on the manufacturer. The Commission said the measures are intended to offset the effects of dumping and help ensure fair competition for tire makers operating within the EU.

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The measures were adopted under the European Union’s trade defense framework, which permits anti-dumping duties when imported goods are found to be priced below their normal value and to have caused harm to producers in the bloc.

The decision comes amid broader trade frictions between Brussels and Beijing, with both sides pursuing trade-related investigations and other measures affecting a range of industrial products.

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Archived

Heat now kills three times more Europeans than roads. A heat pump is a two-way air conditioner: cooling in July, heating in January, no imported gas.