Also according to Guardian

Daniel Fiott, head of the defence and statecraft programme at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy, has summarised the main points in X

90 references to “defence”. Key points:

👉🏻 defence industry too fragmented 👉🏻 too many capability duplicates 👉🏻 not investing in EU suppliers 👉🏻 common procurement needed 👉🏻 defence fuels growth 👉🏻 need more investment 👉🏻 integrate AI into defence 👉🏻 private finance And more.

RIP " Moonfish" 🙏🏻

Colonel Oleksiy “Moonfish” Mes was a fervent advocate of giving Ukraine the advanced fighters.

KYIV — Ukraine lost the first of its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets during Monday's massive missile and drone attack by Russia, killing the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Mes, one of the country's first to be qualified to fly the advanced fighters.

link

And this just came in : "opposition candidate Edmundo González on Monday announced that his campaign has the proof it needs to show he won the country’s disputed election "

ap link

In a way I don't fancy giving guys like Trump and Orbán any platform, considering that we all know what they stand for, and what they have been doing. On the otherhand, we still need to deal with the consequences of their actions. So, here we are.

I saw that vid some while ago. Finally a good explanation. Also maybe, without giving too much away, the European diversity is really quite inspiring.

For those who have missed it, UK had elections and the Labour Party won.

" So far Labour has won 412 seats, while the Conservatives have slumped to just 121 and centrist Liberal Democrats have taken 71. Reform UK, a successor to the Brexit Party, is set to pick up four seats, as is the left-wing Green Party " (link BBC)

The Danish People’s party and the Flemish nationalist pro-independence Vlaams Belang announced on Saturday that they would join, giving Patriots for Europe 23 MEPs – enough to meet the EU parliament’s threshold for formal recognition.

Other parties involved are the Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), the centrist ANO of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis, the Party for Freedom (PVV) of Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, Portugal’s far-right Chega party and Spain’s Vox.

Disturbing trends..

"The son of Italian immigrants with Algerian roots on the father's side, Bardella was born and raised in the diverse, largely working-class Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.

"I came from elsewhere, but I became who I am here. I married French history," is the way he describes his background on Tiktok, a social media platform popular with a young demographic, where he boasts 1.8 million followers. "

I saw a 50 min. documentary by DW about slave labour in China. It seems it's worse than I imagined. They sort of mentioned like two or three other minorities iirc , that were being detained, and ofcourse, everybody who disagrees with the policy of the supreme leader as well.

linked is really short

Yes, really short, did a little check and she's more on the " right of the political spectrum " than Borrel was; If I got her info correctly.

Found this interview 2024

Seems a capable leader and tough negotiatior, afaik. Also quite a bit younger that the usual old farts.

ed.

Wasn't expecting it to be that fast. Anyhow, seems we're migrating, check.

"Russian-based companies make up about half of the 61 entities added to the EU's list Monday. In addition to the 19 Chinese companies, it also added nine from Turkey, two in Kyrgyzstan, one in India, one in Kazakhstan, and one in the United Arab Emirates.

" Russian-based companies make up about half of the 61 entities added to the EU's list Monday. In addition to the 19 Chinese companies, it also added nine from Turkey, two in Kyrgyzstan, one in India, one in Kazakhstan, and one in the United Arab Emirates."

To be clear: "NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that 23 of its 32 member states were expected to meet the alliance's defense spending commitments this year. That is 13 countries more compared to last year's data, and five more than an earlier estimate in February."

"According to the commission's economic forecast, France is at -5.5%, Italy is at -4.4% and Belgium is at -4.4% and will breach this deficit limit in 2024.

Spain is at exactly -3.0%. Austria, Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia also have deficits that are too high according to the rules."

Ed:

The department said it made its finding based on the group’s history of violence rooted in “its openly racist, anti-immigrant, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQI+ platform”. The United States remains deeply concerned about the racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist threat worldwide and is committed to countering the transnational components of violent white supremacy,” a department statement said.

Thx alot, it's way more complex than I thought. So getting a stream will be difficult too, as it's not public anymore. Will try check and see what can be found. Sounds interesting

Before checking this doc out; could you pls give more context?

Under the plan, the EU will apply five levels of tariffs. EV manufacturers that cooperated with Brussels investigators will face a tariff of 21%, while those who did not will be hit with the top tier of 38.1%.

SAIC faces the top tariff, Geely faces a tariff of 20%, while a 17.4% duty will be applied to BYD brands, which include the Dolphin and Seal cars launched in the EU last year.

It is understood that Tesla cooperated with the EU and may initially face the 21% tariff. The EU indicated this could be revised next month to its own individually calculated duty rate after assessing evidence submitted by the US company.

Explainer abbreviation: NCSC (Dutch) National Cyber Security Centre

" Thousands of people rallied in Budapest on Saturday as a political newcomer led a push to mobilise voters against Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, ahead of European elections on Sunday.

“We defeated apathy,” declared Péter Magyar, a former government insider who switched sides and launched an opposition movement, as he stood in front of a vast crowd which filled the capital’s Heroes’ Square."

"Thousands of people rallied in Budapest on Saturday as a political newcomer led a push to mobilise voters against Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, ahead of European elections on Sunday.

“We defeated apathy,” declared Péter Magyar, a former government insider who switched sides and launched an opposition movement, as he stood in front of a vast crowd which filled the capital’s Heroes’ Square.

"Recently, the challenges and risks related to the rise of China as a dominant actor in many economy and technology areas have become more and more apparent in Latin America as well," Christian Hauser, an expert on Latin America at the University of Applied Sciences in Graubünden, Switzerland, told DW.

Various Latin American societies are increasingly feeling that it's predominantly Beijing which has profited from the region's economic relations with China, said Hauser. Therefore, he said, current criticism of China's trade practices could become even more pronounced."

According to national polls, the PVV would have now ca. 48 out a total of 150 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives; so a 32%.

In this exit poll, PVV won 7 out of a total of 31 European Parliament seats, or 22,5%.

On the other hand PVV went from 1 to 7 seats in the EP. A huge far-right surge was/ is expected for the EP election. But in the Netherlands, it didn't turn out as high as was predicted.

Their basis for holding back was Ukraine might use them to strike targets in Russia, and that cannot be allowed..

That was one argument, the other one was that a (German) ground force maintainance crew & training & encoding experts and stuff would be needed. Regarding sending maintainance crews, the opinions seem more and more positive of late. I'll reckon we'll might see Taurus , and hopefully more of it's friends, being send. Then again, it will also depend on the outcome of the ( EU) elections this year.

Ofc Ukraine may defend itself! Anyway, here their quote:

"We think that we should allow them to neutralize military sites where missiles are fired, from where ... Ukraine is attacked," Macron said at a joint press conference alongside the German chancellor following talks at Schloss Meseberg near Berlin, the official state guest house of the German Federal Republic.

At the same time, he stressed that "we should not allow them to touch other targets in Russia, and obviously civilian capacities."

TLDR(Long article);

Now, an investigation by the Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines +972 and Local Call can reveal how Israel has run an almost decade-long secret “war” against the court. The country deployed its intelligence agencies to surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff in an effort to derail the court’s inquiries.

Israeli intelligence captured the communications of numerous ICC officials, including Khan and his predecessor as prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, intercepting phone calls, messages, emails and documents.

The joint investigation draws on interviews with more than two dozen current and former Israeli intelligence officers and government officials, senior ICC figures, diplomats and lawyers familiar with the ICC case and Israel’s efforts to undermine it.

Unlike the international court of justice (ICJ), a UN body that deals with the legal responsibility of nation states, the ICC is a criminal court that prosecutes individuals, targeting those deemed most responsible for atrocities.

Probably, but that's the problem right? Even if you could, it's about sustainability. But also that's there isnt very much . And, it's a complete inventory chaos, because of different specs. And ofc, there's always political reasons and what nots. Generally, that's what's being said anyway.

This deal will allow Ukraine to boost its capabilities, including its essential air defence systems to protect its civilians, cities and infrastructure, which are still suffering indiscriminate attacks as seen this weekend in Kharkiv,” Sánchez told a press conference after the signing.

He said Spain had already pledged to supply Patriot missiles and said it would also send “another batch of Leopard tanks and above all ammunition”.

The Spanish government said the agreement would also include other areas, such as intelligence, training, de-mining, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.

This deal will allow Ukraine to boost its capabilities, including its essential air defence systems to protect its civilians, cities and infrastructure, which are still suffering indiscriminate attacks as seen this weekend in Kharkiv,” Sánchez told a press conference after the signing.

He said Spain had already pledged to supply Patriot missiles and said it would also send “another batch of Leopard tanks and above all ammunition”.

The Spanish government said the agreement would also include other areas, such as intelligence, training, de-mining, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.

That would be great if economies would chip in. Idk, USA, EU has some plans iirc, Saudi, Chinese , India etc.

And the Billionaires worldwide as well , they pack a wallet the size of some countries.

If this quote is still true, then there are still no ( longterm structural) procurement contracts. What are we doing, and when are memberstates/Council going to do it, wtf. He said:

“Companies were telling me, ‘We read in the newspapers that there is all this demand for armaments but we are not getting the long-term contracts. And if we don’t have a 10-year contract, we are responsible to our shareholders. We can’t make the investments.’ So it’s about guaranteeing them that this is not just for tomorrow, but this is a long-term rearmament and change in security.”

Well, I found Berlin some decades ago quite impressive, culturally. Don't know how it is now, but via via I was told it's less relaxed. Prague for was then very nice, and not too touristic.

But, like Bruges ( and Gent) in Belgium, are so, I don't know, nice, relaxed and pittoreske 2b at.

Bruxxelles, London and Paris are just street & metrowise a mess. If you are OK with that though, and know the places to be, and you can find your way, your experience can be very special. What really helps in those big cities is to have the company of some locals (friends,). That would definitely amp up your experience in some of the "bigger" European cities, imo.

Citing the January ruling by the international court of justice that suggested a credible risk to Palestinians under the genocide convention, the letter warns that the EU’s “continued apathy to the plight of Palestinians” risks normalising a world order where the sheer use of force, rather than a rule-based system, determines state security, territorial integrity and political independence.

“It was precisely to avert such a grim world order that our grandparents, witnesses of the horrors of World War II, created Europe,” the letter reads. “To stand idly by in the face of such an erosion of the international rule of law would mean failing the European project as envisaged by them. This cannot happen in our name.”

It urges the EU to officially call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, adding this to a list of requests that include officially calling for the release of all hostages and to ensure that member states halt direct and indirect arms exports to Israel.

Benetti emphasised that the initiative was not meant to be pro-Palestinian, nor was it aimed at taking a partisan stance on the conflict. “Rather, we signed because we think that what’s happening is jeopardising principles of international law that we deem important and that we take for granted,” he said.

The banks were among the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany's Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.

Three weeks after one of Brazil’s worst-ever floods hit its southernmost state, killing 155 people and forcing 540,000 from their homes, experts have warned that water levels will take at least another two weeks to drop.

The death toll across Rio Grande do Sul is still increasing daily, and more than 77,000 displaced people remain in public shelters, prompting the state government to announce plans to build four temporary “tent cities” to accommodate them.

Thx, always good to have some more context.

This incident wasn't a terrorist attack though.

apparent mental health issues

Well, both statements would be an or your opinion. But, as the court specifically investigated, these are the only facts we have atm, quote:

"She told Alid that psychiatric reports found no evidence of psychosis “or any other serious mental illness”

"Also The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, told Alid he had “hoped to frighten the people of Britain and undermine the freedoms they enjoy” when he murdered Carney in a terrorist attack.

Also I'd put all kind of atacks as terroristic using a broader definition because a so called " political motivation".

Generally, I'd consider extreme right atacks equally terroristic. So, you mention thousands of atacks by right winged extremist, I know they've been raising. Happen to have some info on that, for comparison?

I don't see the need to downplay any kind of terroristic atack, by whatever political motivation they might have, whether , right/ left/anarchist or whatever. It's the killing of innocents that has me worried.

This atack , but also some other events like in Paris, Switserland, Belgium, made me more aware of the risen terrorist theat levels, issued by a.o. Europol. Some years after 9/11 USA, I just got desensitised to it, or maybe I already was.

Anyhow, fyi Jihadist terrorism in numbers was the most recent and comprehensive info I found. The numbers now are probably much higher.

The results showed that between 2004 and 2022, a total of 208 terrorist attacks occurred in the EU, with the majority of these attacks (118) occurring in just three countries: France, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Edit: added " jihadist" to link description , incase it was unclear. For more context, see also other's comments section.