Europe

Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and allegedly passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.

The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information she obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said.

The information passed along in 2023 and 2024 included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, it added.

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Tensions have been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards de-risking Germany's economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/23729107

Jean-Marie Le Pen was serenaded by a group known to have ties to an international far-right organisation.

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Laying out key priorities for the EU's upcoming Clean Industrial Deal, German Economy State Secretary Sven Giegold said on Monday (30 September) he wants the Commission to prioritise renewable energy, taking a tough line on nuclear power and France’s renewable targets.

Alongside a quicker roll-out of renewable energy facilitated by “further exemptions from [environmental impact] assessments,” Giegold outlined several other German priorities for the EU’s upcoming strategy.

Based on the 2030 renewable energy targets, the EU should also set up a 2040 framework, complemented by new, more ambitious targets for energy efficiency, he said.

“It should include new heating standards, a heat pump action plan and a renovation initiative,” he explained, noting a heat pump action plan was last shelved in 2023.

Hydrogen, made from renewables, should be governed by a “a pragmatic framework,” the German politician stressed, reiterating calls from his boss, Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), to delay strict production rules into the late 2030s.

Two countries agree to modifications beneath Matterhorn peak, one of Europe’s highest summits

France's new Prime Minister Michel Barnier is considering a temporary increase in corporate tax on the country's biggest companies as well as a tax on share buybacks as part of efforts to plug a gaping hole in public finances, Le Monde newspaper reported on Sunday.

[...] For an increasing number of critics, Ireland being home to Chinese firms links the country to the human rights abuse allegations levelled against some such companies. These include Chinese clothing firm Shein, which since May 2023 has had its European headquarters in Dublin.

[...]

In May, Ireland’s Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Dara Calleary, welcomed a report celebrating how Huawei was contributing €800m ($889m; £668m) per year to the Irish economy. The firm has three research and development centres in Ireland.

This is the same Huawei whose telecoms network equipment the US has banned since 2022 due to concerns over national security. The UK has moved in the same direction, ordering phone networks to remove Huawei components. And mobile phone networks in many Western nations, including Ireland, no longer offer Huawei handsets.

Meanwhile, WuXi has, since 2018, invested more than €1bn in a facility in Dundalk, near the border with Northern Ireland.

Earlier this month the US House of Representatives passed a bill to restrict US firms’ ability to work with WuXi, again citing national security concerns. The bill now has to go to the US Senate.

[...]

Prominent critics of Ireland rolling out a “green carpet” to Chinse firms include Barry Andrews, one of Ireland's members of the European Parliament. “Human rights and environmental abuses should not be allowed in Irish shopping baskets,” says the Fianna Fáil MEP.

He points to a US Congress report from last year, which said there was “an extremely high risk that Temu’s supply chains are contaminated with forced labour”.

Temu had told the investigation that it had a “zero-tolerance policy” towards the practice.

“One person’s bargain is another’s back-breaking work for poverty wages,” adds Mr Andrews, whose party is part of the current Irish government coalition.

[...]

Some leading economists question whether Ireland even needs the few thousand jobs that the Chinese firms provide.

“Ireland’s economy has been running at near full employment for the best part of a decade," says Dan O'Brien, chief economist at Ireland's Institute of International and European Affairs.

[...]

Mr O’Brien says that Ireland’s level of FDI was already too high without the Chinese investment on top. “Given we are already overly dependent on FDI in a world that is at risk of deglobalisation, we don’t need another major source of FDI on top of that from the United States.”

He adds EU rules should be “actively used to discourage Chinese FDI” in Ireland.

[...]

Non-full membership in the Schengen area costs Bulgaria more than EUR 834 million per year. Romania loses EUR 2.32 billion in annual revenues from not participating fully in Europe’s border-free regime, with losses for its transport operators amounting to another 90 million annually due to delays at the country’s land borders.

The figures were presented at the conference The cost of non-membership of Schengen for the Single Market – impact on Bulgaria and Romania, which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria on 24 September. The event was jointly organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)and the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA).

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Estonia's Climate Minister Yoko Alender and Finland's Minister of the Environment and Climate Kai Mykkänen signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to ensure the resilience and security of critical undersea infrastructure, including through enhancing surveillance capabilities.

The purpose of the memorandum of understanding is to outline the structures within which Finland and Estonia can develop their cooperation on the monitoring and repair of underwater energy connections.

[...]

The Balticconnector gas pipeline damaged in October 2023 has been repaired. There are also two submarine power cables between the countries, Estlink 1 and Estlink 2, on the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. These transmission connections are an essential part of the energy markets and security of energy supply in Finland and Estonia. They also even out price fluctuations.

[...]

Following the parliamentary election in Austria, the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) will be the strongest faction in the parliament, beating the conservative ÖVP for the first time in history.

A senior government minister urged Moldovans on Sunday to shun "thieves, fugitives and bandits" after an exiled pro-Russian business magnate pledged to pay voters to vote "no" in a referendum on joining the European Union.

BRUSSELS (AP) — As the war in Ukraine enters a critical period, the European Union has decided it must take responsibility for what it sees as a security threat in its own neighborhood, and it’s preparing to tackle some of the financial burden, perhaps even without the United States.

PARIS (AP) — France’s new government is set to take a hardline approach to migration issues as key officials have pledged to significantly reduce the number of people entering and staying illegally in the country.

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday by doubling down on his traditional views on women and abortion and demanding that Catholic bishops stop covering up for predator priests — a scandal that has devastated the church’s credibility around the globe.

Francis revisited the key thorny topics of his trip to Belgium during his in-flight press conference coming home, praising Belgium’s late King Baudouin as a “saint” for having abdicated for a day in 1990 rather than sign legislation legalizing abortion.

Things must be hard if the EU can't keep a single Mastodon server up.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/43507472

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Openly defending one’s decision not to have children will be prosecuted in Russia. The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, is preparing a bill under which authorities will impose fines of up to €50,000 ($55,580) for supporting “the refusal to have children.” The measure affects all areas of life — from casual conversation to films and books — and is a serious threat to the Russian feminist movement.

The crackdown on what the Kremlin calls the “childfree” movement will result in fines of up to 400,000 rubles for individuals (around $4,300), 800,000 rubles for civil servants ($8,600), and up to five million rubles ($55,580) for companies or other legal entities. Foreigners will also be deported.

There are thousands of reasons why a person may decide not to have children, but the Cabinet of ministers has asked the State Duma to make only three exceptions to the law: religious reasons, medical reasons or in the case of rape. It also alleges that there is a mass-organized childfree movement, even though the websites on this subject are little more than a curiosity; Russian newspapers cite the existence of groups on VKontakte, the Russian Facebook, which barely have 5,000 members.

[...]

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Romania has once again scrambled fighter jets last night after Russian forces attacked several targets in Ukraine.

A drone reportedly briefly entered Romanian airspace near the Ukrainian border.

The attack last night targeted the town of Izmail in the southern Odesa region, where three people were killed and at least 11, including a child, were injured, according to Governor Oleh Kiper quoted by Kiev Independent.

The Ukrainian Air Forces confirm that a Russian drone "strayed" into Romanian territory. In total, 32 drones were launched last night, of which 24 were intercepted, according to the Ukrainians.

"For monitoring the situation, two F-16 aircraft of the Romanian Air Forces took off from the 86th Air Base in Borcea starting at 1:52 am and, later, starting at 3:22 am, two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air Forces from the Extended Air Policing Service at the 57th Air Base in Mihail Kogălniceanu."

[Edit typo.]

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Instead of spearheading China’s liberalisation, Western universities that benefit from Chinese money are increasingly vulnerable to pressure from its government.

[...]

Through a combination of pressure tactics – including a global censorship regime, the weaponisation of informal Chinese networks, questionable party-state funding, and dependencies on “official China” – students and researchers are silenced, and higher education institutions are influenced.

Within many universities outside China, academic freedom has been compromised by Chinese funding. Dependent on the large funds that have been allocated to them, they are more inclined to do research in line with the CCP’s programme. More recently, the much publicised Hong Kong National Security Law allows anyone to be charged who challenges China’s national unity, regardless of nationality or territory. The Hong Kong National Security Law purports to have extraterritorial effect and therefore it is not limited to Chinese citizens or even those physically in Hong Kong. This inevitably contributes to a climate of self-censorship among academics.

[...]

Unfortunately, rising authoritarianism, if not actual totalitarianism, in China has turned the tables on Western universities. Instead of spearheading the liberalisation of China, they have become vulnerable to Chinese pressure in the opposite direction. Their partnerships with Chinese universities have turned into potential liabilities as professors come under fire for not properly declaring Chinese funding, research grants are linked to human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and universities’ technology breakthroughs are being used to improve China’s system of mass surveillance.

[...]

The Irish Centre for Human Rights and the University of Galway showed courage in accepting this gift of memory to [Chinese human rights activist] Liu. Statements of support by the university’s president and the director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights are significant. It is our hope that this example will encourage other universities to resist the pressure from Chinese money that might compromise their academic freedom.

[...]

Dame Maggie Smith, star of the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89

A statement from Dame Maggie's sons says she died peacefully in hospital on Friday morning

Fellow Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville says she was a "true legend of her generation" with a "sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent"

A legend of British stage and screen, Dame Maggie won two Oscars during her career - for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979

The supermarket can’t pretend it’s offering a discount if it raises prices just to cut them back, the judges ruled in a case brought by consumer activists from Baden-Württemberg.

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On Saturday [September 21], Tibetan activists convened outside the Musée Guimet in Paris to protest the museum’s decision to replace exhibition materials that identify certain artifacts as Tibetan by replacing it with the Chinese name for the region. Activists claim the change to the language is problematic for deferring to a Chinese political narrative that’s historically aimed to erase Tibetan cultural identity from public spaces.

The mass protest, which some sources estimate attracted 800 demonstrators, followed a report in the French newspaper Le Monde alleging that Musée Guimet and the Musée du quai Branly, two prominent Parisian museums that house collections of Asian art, altered their exhibition materials cataloging Tibetan artifacts as deriving instead from then Chinese term “Xizang Autonomous Region.” According to the same report, the Musée Guimet renamed its Tibetan art galleries as deriving from the “Himalayan world.”

A handful of Tibetan cultural advocacy groups based in France penned letters to both museums, requesting formal meetings to discuss the reasons behind and implications of the terminology changes, a request that activists say was accepted by Musée du quai Branly, but not it’s peer Musée Guimet.