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5
Lithuania sees China disinfo threat in Philippines as mirror of Russia's information war in Europe (www.philstar.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38016051

Archived

From thousands of miles away, Lithuania is offering to help the Philippines confront a rising tide of cyber threats and disinformation on the West Philippine Sea — warning that tactics used in favor of Beijing mirror the same information warfare Russia has waged in Europe.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakaliene, concluding the first-ever visit by a Lithuanian defense chief to the Philippines, warned Wednesday, July 2, that the hybrid threats both nations face from their larger neighbors are increasingly sophisticated and coordinated.

"It seems that Russia and China sometimes are piloting certain methods in one region and then applying them in another region," Šakaliene told reporters at a press conference.

The Baltic nation has long grappled with hybrid threats from Moscow and sees parallels in the Philippines’ experience countering the distortion of incidents of Beijing’s aggression toward Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, Šakaliene said.

“From what we hear, the Philippines (deals) with Chinese informational activity in the region, and pressure, for example, this gaslighting about the incidents in the West Philippine Sea,” Šakaliene said. “So you also see a lot of disinformation and propaganda.”

[...]

Lithuania has invited the Philippines to upgrade from observer status to full participant in its annual "Amber Mist" cybersecurity exercise this November. Last year, the Philippines only observed the exercise.

"This year, we invited the Philippines to send their team as participants in this exercise. We are hoping that we will have five countries from the region: the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Taiwan," Šakaliene said.

"We are going to share quite practical information because certain cyber attacks that we are facing are quite similar," Šakaliene said. "In certain cases, (this is) a combination of cyber incidents and informational incidents."

Lithuania has also invited the Philippines to participate in the Vilnius Strategic Communications Conference in October 2025, which focuses on information integrity and security.

[...]

Beyond cybersecurity, Šakaliene also pointed to possible cooperation in maritime security. Šakaliene noted that UNCLOS, the international convention covering the world's oceans and seas, falls short in addressing today’s challenges, particularly in protecting critical underwater infrastructure.

"What is happening in the Baltic Sea with critical underwater infrastructure and what is happening with critical underwater infrastructure in your region is quite similar," Šakaliene said.

[...]

4
Lithuania sees China disinfo threat in Philippines as mirror of Russia's information war in Europe (www.philstar.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38016051

Archived

From thousands of miles away, Lithuania is offering to help the Philippines confront a rising tide of cyber threats and disinformation on the West Philippine Sea — warning that tactics used in favor of Beijing mirror the same information warfare Russia has waged in Europe.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakaliene, concluding the first-ever visit by a Lithuanian defense chief to the Philippines, warned Wednesday, July 2, that the hybrid threats both nations face from their larger neighbors are increasingly sophisticated and coordinated.

"It seems that Russia and China sometimes are piloting certain methods in one region and then applying them in another region," Šakaliene told reporters at a press conference.

The Baltic nation has long grappled with hybrid threats from Moscow and sees parallels in the Philippines’ experience countering the distortion of incidents of Beijing’s aggression toward Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, Šakaliene said.

“From what we hear, the Philippines (deals) with Chinese informational activity in the region, and pressure, for example, this gaslighting about the incidents in the West Philippine Sea,” Šakaliene said. “So you also see a lot of disinformation and propaganda.”

[...]

Lithuania has invited the Philippines to upgrade from observer status to full participant in its annual "Amber Mist" cybersecurity exercise this November. Last year, the Philippines only observed the exercise.

"This year, we invited the Philippines to send their team as participants in this exercise. We are hoping that we will have five countries from the region: the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Taiwan," Šakaliene said.

"We are going to share quite practical information because certain cyber attacks that we are facing are quite similar," Šakaliene said. "In certain cases, (this is) a combination of cyber incidents and informational incidents."

Lithuania has also invited the Philippines to participate in the Vilnius Strategic Communications Conference in October 2025, which focuses on information integrity and security.

[...]

Beyond cybersecurity, Šakaliene also pointed to possible cooperation in maritime security. Šakaliene noted that UNCLOS, the international convention covering the world's oceans and seas, falls short in addressing today’s challenges, particularly in protecting critical underwater infrastructure.

"What is happening in the Baltic Sea with critical underwater infrastructure and what is happening with critical underwater infrastructure in your region is quite similar," Šakaliene said.

[...]

28
Lithuania sees China disinfo threat in Philippines as mirror of Russia's information war in Europe (www.philstar.com)
 

Archived

From thousands of miles away, Lithuania is offering to help the Philippines confront a rising tide of cyber threats and disinformation on the West Philippine Sea — warning that tactics used in favor of Beijing mirror the same information warfare Russia has waged in Europe.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Šakaliene, concluding the first-ever visit by a Lithuanian defense chief to the Philippines, warned Wednesday, July 2, that the hybrid threats both nations face from their larger neighbors are increasingly sophisticated and coordinated.

"It seems that Russia and China sometimes are piloting certain methods in one region and then applying them in another region," Šakaliene told reporters at a press conference.

The Baltic nation has long grappled with hybrid threats from Moscow and sees parallels in the Philippines’ experience countering the distortion of incidents of Beijing’s aggression toward Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, Šakaliene said.

“From what we hear, the Philippines (deals) with Chinese informational activity in the region, and pressure, for example, this gaslighting about the incidents in the West Philippine Sea,” Šakaliene said. “So you also see a lot of disinformation and propaganda.”

[...]

Lithuania has invited the Philippines to upgrade from observer status to full participant in its annual "Amber Mist" cybersecurity exercise this November. Last year, the Philippines only observed the exercise.

"This year, we invited the Philippines to send their team as participants in this exercise. We are hoping that we will have five countries from the region: the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Australia, and Taiwan," Šakaliene said.

"We are going to share quite practical information because certain cyber attacks that we are facing are quite similar," Šakaliene said. "In certain cases, (this is) a combination of cyber incidents and informational incidents."

Lithuania has also invited the Philippines to participate in the Vilnius Strategic Communications Conference in October 2025, which focuses on information integrity and security.

[...]

Beyond cybersecurity, Šakaliene also pointed to possible cooperation in maritime security. Šakaliene noted that UNCLOS, the international convention covering the world's oceans and seas, falls short in addressing today’s challenges, particularly in protecting critical underwater infrastructure.

"What is happening in the Baltic Sea with critical underwater infrastructure and what is happening with critical underwater infrastructure in your region is quite similar," Šakaliene said.

[...]

1
Russia Sells Off More Foreign Currency from Wealth Fund to Bridge Budget Gap (www.themoscowtimes.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/38014283

Archived

Russia is increasing foreign-currency sales from the National Wealth Fund [NWF] to address a growing budget deficit after oil and gas revenues plunged to their lowest level since January 2023.

Russia’s Central Bank, acting on Finance Ministry instructions, will sell yuan on the Moscow Exchange at a rate of 9.8 billion rubles ($124 million) per day from July 7 to Aug. 6, an increase of 2.5 billion rubles ($31 million) per day compared to June.

This marks the second time in 2025 that the Kremlin has dipped into the NWF a sovereign reserve built largely from oil and gas revenues, to manage fiscal shortfalls.

But the fund's remaining liquidity is shrinking fast.

At the start of July, the NWF’s liquid assets stood at 4.1 trillion rubles ($52.6 billion), including 1.3 trillion rubles in yuan and gold acquired during last year’s oil-price windfall.

[The fund's main responsibiliy is to support the Russian pension system, but it is also used to fund budget deficits.]

[...]

24
Russia Sells Off More Foreign Currency from Wealth Fund to Bridge Budget Gap (www.themoscowtimes.com)
 

Archived

Russia is increasing foreign-currency sales from the National Wealth Fund [NWF] to address a growing budget deficit after oil and gas revenues plunged to their lowest level since January 2023.

Russia’s Central Bank, acting on Finance Ministry instructions, will sell yuan on the Moscow Exchange at a rate of 9.8 billion rubles ($124 million) per day from July 7 to Aug. 6, an increase of 2.5 billion rubles ($31 million) per day compared to June.

This marks the second time in 2025 that the Kremlin has dipped into the NWF a sovereign reserve built largely from oil and gas revenues, to manage fiscal shortfalls.

But the fund's remaining liquidity is shrinking fast.

At the start of July, the NWF’s liquid assets stood at 4.1 trillion rubles ($52.6 billion), including 1.3 trillion rubles in yuan and gold acquired during last year’s oil-price windfall.

[The fund's main responsibiliy is to support the Russian pension system, but it is also used to fund budget deficits.]

[...]

46
Polish researchers trace Baltic GPS disruptions to Russian military sites in Kaliningrad (theins.ru)
 

Archived

Polish researchers have gathered detailed evidence indicating that GPS signal disruptions over the Baltic Sea, ongoing since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, are originating from two military installations in Kaliningrad, according to a report by Defense News.

Since the war began, thousands of aircraft and ships have experienced navigational system failures, leading to flight diversions and cancellations. The disruptions to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) include both jamming and spoofing of coordinates. The interference is detected almost daily in a variety of locations — from Gdańsk Airport to Baltic Sea shipping lanes to the airspace over Estonia and Finland.

Authorities in the Baltic states — Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia — have directly accused Russia of being responsible. In March, eight European countries filed a formal complaint with the United Nations regarding the practice.

An international research team led by Jarosław Cydejko from Gdynia Maritime University set up monitoring stations around the Gulf of Gdańsk to track and triangulate the sources of interference. Their findings, published this spring, point to two coastal locations in Kaliningrad, accurate to within one kilometer. Both sites are located near known Russian electronic warfare units and military antenna complexes.

The signals originated from the area of the Okunevo antenna complex on Kaliningrad’s central coast, a site that hosts Russian electronic warfare units. Satellite imagery from 2018 shows the presence of the Murmansk-BN GT-01 system there, a truck-mounted array equipped with powerful 32-meter antennas.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and Germany have officially declared Russia’s GNSS interference to be a form of hybrid warfare. Estonian Defense Forces Commander Martin Herem has claimed Russia is preparing for a war with the Baltic states. However, Defense News notes that not all experts agree with this interpretation. Some believe the interference might be an unintended byproduct of defensive measures taken in the area of sensitive Russian military infrastructure.

To combat the effects of Russian electronic interference, several countries are working to develop alternative ground-based navigation systems. Such efforts include the R-Mode Baltic project, which is expected to launch by 2026.

Europe Puts Social Programs on Chopping Block to Appease Trump on NATO Funding in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

Defence or Welfare? Europe Can Afford Both, and Must

This is a highly biased article with little content. The article links to a couple of other media reports, but the author admits that increased military spending will "likely" result in a further erosion of the decades-old European social compact. I very much doubt that the author has had a look into the budget plan of a single EU member. They mention not a single number in the whole article, no research, it's just a rant with a bold headline that serves a particular narrative.

What makes the whole thing worse is the sentence:

Europe’s leaders have decided to embrace the sort of massive ramp-up in military spending that so often serves as the prelude to war.

No, the current 'ramp-up' of military spending is certainly not 'the prelude of war' - simply because the war is already here. It has been happening for more than three years with military attacks on Ukraine and what is sometimes called a 'hybrid war' against European countries such as a recent arson attack on a restaurant in Estonia ordered by Russian intelligence .

I don't see what's wrong if the European countries spend "3.5 percent of their respective GDPs on core military spending, and another 1.5 percent on security and miscellaneous other expenditures designed to harden economies and infrastructure against cyberattacks, people trafficking, and additional risks and perceived risks to NATO economies."

Estonia, for example, has been spending more than 5% of its GDP for defense already before the Nato summit, and I argue that this has not so much to do with 'appeasing' Trump than with its common border with Russia.

Young Europeans losing faith in democracy, poll finds in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Unfortunately there is only a German version of the study, I don't know whether you speak German or you may manage to get a automated translation.

Study: Junges Europe 2025 / Young Europe 2025 - (PDF)

In the study (85 pages) you see each question and the response.

Last year the study was also available in English (Young Europe 2024 - pdf)

I hope this helps somehow.

Young Europeans losing faith in democracy, poll finds in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Done :-)

Young Europeans losing faith in democracy, poll finds in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 day ago (3 children)

This is a very weird framing of this study. The original study (which is linked in the article) is in German. Those who don't speak German will find a useful translation provider, I provide the study's summary literal translation:

>Young people: EU and democracy are good, but reforms are needed

  • 57% prefer democracy to any other form of government - 39% think that the EU does not function particularly democratically
  • Young Europeans want change - 53% criticize the EU for being too preoccupied with trivialities instead of focusing on the essentials
  • Cost of living, defense against external threats and better conditions for businesses should be priorities for the EU
  • Only 42% think that the EU is one of the three most powerful global political players

Among others, the study also says (again, a direct translation, I am not paraphrasing):

48% of young Europeans believe that democracy in their country is under threat, compared to 61% in Germany. Two thirds rate their country's membership of the EU as positive. At the same time, 53% of young people criticize the fact that the EU is too often concerned with minor issues. Half of 16 to 26-year-olds think the EU is a good idea, but very poorly implemented.

I don't say that everything is perfect, but the whole study paints a completely different picture than this article - and especially its headline - appears to suggest.

[Edit my comments for clarity, translation has not been edited.]

Young Europeans losing faith in democracy, poll finds in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is a very weird framing of this study. The original study (which is linked in the article) is in German. Those who don't speak German will find a useful translation provider, I provide the study's summary literal translation:

>Young people: EU and democracy are good, but reforms are needed

  • 57% prefer democracy to any other form of government - 39% think that the EU does not function particularly democratically
  • Young Europeans want change - 53% criticize the EU for being too preoccupied with trivialities instead of focusing on the essentials
  • Cost of living, defense against external threats and better conditions for businesses should be priorities for the EU
  • Only 42% think that the EU is one of the three most powerful global political players

Among others, the study also says (again, a direct translation, I am not paraphrasing):

48% of young Europeans believe that democracy in their country is under threat, compared to 61% in Germany. Two thirds rate their country's membership of the EU as positive. At the same time, 53% of young people criticize the fact that the EU is too often concerned with minor issues. Half of 16 to 26-year-olds think the EU is a good idea, but very poorly implemented.

I don't say that everything is perfect, but the whole study paints a completely different picture than this article - and especially its headline - appears to suggest.

[Edit my comments for clarity, translation has not been edited.]

Young Europeans losing faith in democracy, poll finds in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

This is a very weird framing of this study. The original study (which is linked in the article) is in German. Those who don't speak German will find a useful translation provider, I provide the study's summary literal translation:

>Young people: EU and democracy are good, but reforms are needed

  • 57% prefer democracy to any other form of government - 39% think that the EU does not function particularly democratically
  • Young Europeans want change - 53% criticize the EU for being too preoccupied with trivialities instead of focusing on the essentials
  • Cost of living, defense against external threats and better conditions for businesses should be priorities for the EU
  • Only 42% think that the EU is one of the three most powerful global political players

Among others, the study also says (again, a direct translation, I am not paraphrasing):

48% of young Europeans believe that democracy in their country is under threat, compared to 61% in Germany. Two thirds rate their country's membership of the EU as positive. At the same time, 53% of young people criticize the fact that the EU is too often concerned with minor issues. Half of 16 to 26-year-olds think the EU is a good idea, but very poorly implemented.

I don't say that everything is perfect, but the whole study paints a completely different picture than this article - and especially its headline - appears to suggest.

[Edit my comments for clarity, translation has not been edited.]

China tells EU it does not want to see Russia lose its war in Ukraine, Chinese state-controlled media reports in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@[email protected]

Your remarks regarding "lessons in realpolitik" and the alleged U.S. policy and the rest is all mentioned in the linked article. Just read it.

But your comment:

If the economic development continues, Taiwan will want to join China.

is pure Chinese propaganda as you know. Taiwan has said the exact opposite multiple times.

14
Russian Tycoons Earn Record $20 Billion in Dividends Amid Recession Worries (www.themoscowtimes.com)
 

Archived

Russia’s wealthiest business magnates pulled a record amount of cash from their companies in the form of dividends in 2024, Forbes Russia has said in a new report.

The news comes as the country’s economy teeters on the edge of recession.

[...]

Total payouts from major Russian corporations to 50 of the wealthiest businessmen in the country reached a historic high of 1.769 trillion rubles ($20 billion) in 2024. In comparison, these figures had remained under 1.4 trillion rubles ($18.2 billion) in both 2022 and 2023.

At least 11 individuals received over 50 billion rubles ($650 million) each in dividends last year.

The top recipient was Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of steel giant Severstal, who, along with affiliated entities, received 201.8 billion rubles ($2.62 billion).

Close behind was Lukoil co-owner Vagit Alekperov, who took home 201 billion rubles ($2.61 billion).

Steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin, who rejoined the billionaire rankings this year, claimed third place with nearly 152 billion rubles ($1.98 billion), most of it in dividends from his company NLMK.

Rounding out the top five were Leonid Mikhelson, a key shareholder in gas and petrochemical firms Novatek and Sibur (104 billion rubles, or $1.35 billion), and Alisher Usmanov, the head of holding company USM (96.2 billion rubles, or $1.25 billion).

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a lobbying group representing the country’s largest corporations, including many of the individuals named, has been voicing concern about the state of the economy for the past two years. It warned that borrowing costs are now unsustainable due to the Central Bank’s key interest rate, with many companies approaching technical default.

The RSPP said that the Russian economy has exhibited clear signs of recession, particularly in the civilian sectors still reeling from Western sanctions, since late 2024.

Meanwhile, more than 50 firms opted to retain earnings in 2024. According to Igor Danilenko, director of investments at Renaissance Capital, these companies maintained liquidity and directed profits to operational goals and investments.

But the country’s richest individuals appear to have chosen to prioritize personal payouts over corporate stability.

Severstal CEO Alexander Shevelev even warned that if current financial pressures persist, steel companies may be forced to halt production entirely.

8
Former UK civil service chief calls China's Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ over Taiwan threats, raises threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe beyond Ukraine (www.theguardian.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

19
Former UK civil service chief calls China's Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ over Taiwan threats, raises threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe beyond Ukraine (www.theguardian.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

3
Former UK civil service chief calls China's Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ over Taiwan threats, raises threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe beyond Ukraine (www.theguardian.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

53
Former UK civil service chief calls China's Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ over Taiwan threats, raises threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe beyond Ukraine (www.theguardian.com)
 

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

6
New Chinese Fake Marketplace e-Commerce Phishing Campaign Spoofs Thousands of Websites of Popular Retail Brands, Abuses Online Payment Services, Security Firm Finds (www.silentpush.com)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950350

Archived

  • [Security firm] Silent Push Threat Analysts followed a tip from Mexican journalist Ignacio Gómez Villaseñor about a threat actor targeting “Hot Sale 2025,” an annual sales event similar to “Black Friday” in the U.S.
  • The team pivoted from that Mexico-centric campaign into thousands of websites that broadly targeted a more global audience with abundant waves of fake marketplace scams.
  • We identified a private technical fingerprint associated with this infrastructure, which contains Chinese words and characters to strongly indicate that the developers of this network are from China.
  • Our analysts observed this threat actor group building multiple phishing websites with pages spoofing well-known retailers, including Apple, Harbor Freight Tools, Michael Kors, REI, Wayfair, and Wrangler Jeans.
  • The threat actor has also been caught abusing online payment services, including MasterCard, PayPal, and Visa, as well as payment security techniques such as Google Pay, across the campaign’s network of scam websites.

[...]

Every year for the last 40 years, France has built more homes per person than England. in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I don't want to defend nor attack England, France or anyone else, but we should never look at one metric when assessing a market. The EU provides some useful insights on its website about the bloc's housing market (unfortunately without the England or UK data ...).

When measured by the gross value added (GVA) of a country's construction sector as a share of total GVA, France is persistently below the EU average. In 2023, the EU countries with the largest shares were Slovakia (8.4%), Romania (8.3%) and Lithuania (7.3%), and with smallest Greece (2.1%), Ireland (2.6%) and Malta (4.2%).

Regarding the number of dwellings approved for construction between 2010 and 2023, France saw the largest decrease (-27%), followed by Finland and Italy (-36% and -50%, respectively). The largest increases were in Bulgaria (+269%), followed by Ireland (+123%) and Estonia (+117%).

We must also look at how affordable housing is. According to the EU data, Greece, Denmark, and Germany appear to have he least affordable housing in the EU.

You'll find a lot of interesting data on the site: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/housing-2024

Dancing with Putin: how Austria’s former foreign minister [from the far-right party] found a new home in Russia in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

There is a book (free download available) on Russia and the Far-Right: Insights From Ten European Countries

It describes Russia's "patterns of influence over the far-right [...] milieu in Europe".

Germany updates: Berlin seeks deportation deal with Taliban in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Russia removes Taliban from list of banned terrorist groups

Just an example, there are more on the web.

Germany updates: Berlin seeks deportation deal with Taliban in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

@[email protected]

Germany does not intend to resume diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, so this part of your statement is false.

The rest of your statement may occur from the fact that you have (intentionally?) misunderstood my comment.

Adhering to bans on mines only in peace time will not work: UN rights chief in c/[email protected]
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

As much as I agree with Mr. Türk, it unfortunately is a “logical and consistent step” as Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. We must not forget that Russia didn't even adhere to bans on mines in peace time: Moscow has never signed the Ottawa Treaty and has used anti-personnel mines in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Maybe I am wrong, but if I lived in one of these countries bordering Russia, I would even better understand this decision I guess.

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