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Italian prosecutors have requested a six-year prison sentence for Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, for leaving 147 migrants at sea for weeks on a ship run by the Open Arms charity.

Salvini, a partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, is on trial for alleged deprivation of liberty and abuse of office after blocking them from disembarking at one of the country’s ports in 2019.

Members of Open Arms have testified that the physical and mental wellbeing of people on the ship reached a crisis point as sanitary conditions onboard became dire, including a scabies outbreak. The vessel had only two toilets.

Open Arms described it at the time as an “extreme humanitarian emergency”.

Some people who were on board went as far as jumping into the sea to try to escape the vessel and reach land but were rescued by crew members.

“The prosecution has asked for former interior minister Salvini to be sentenced to six years,” Open Arms’ lawyer Arturo Salerni told AFP, as the “long and difficult trial” nears an end.

A verdict in the trial, which began in October 2021, could come next month, he said.

Storm Boris causes four deaths in Romania and swells rivers in the Czech Republic and Poland, forcing thousands to abandon their homes.

All over the world, the far right comes to power through an alliance with the right and part of the business community

To win back the blue-collar vote, the left needs to make a strong case for reindustrialisation, and breaking with the great blindness of the 1990s and 2000s in favour of a factory-free economy. We need to radically transform the production model to make it environmentally sustainable. The same applies to agriculture and food. To respond to the mobilisation of farmers who are demanding to be able to make a living from their work, we need to attack the profit margins of agricultural giants instead of, as the French government has done, calling into question the environmental transition of the agricultural model.

A critical assessment of public services needs to be done. Austerity measures have considerably weakened the quality of care in public schools and hospitals. All those who can afford it are turning to the private sector. This pauperisation of public services is fuelling the “tax bowl”. The middle classes feel they are having to bleed to pay for public services from which they no longer benefit, while at the same time the richest pay no more tax.

At least this time it is taken more seriously than in 2002.

The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region.

The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait.

Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the one issued on Wednesday and another in April 2022.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine there have been regular reports of Russians reporting neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances to the police over alleged anti-war statements.

Denunciations have led to arrests, prosecutions and, in some cases, long prison sentences.

But why has snitching become commonplace? And what are the implications for Russian society?

[...]

Free speech in Russia was already under attack, but days after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vladimir Putin took it to a whole new level.

A few days after ordering Russian troops into Ukraine for what he called a “special military operation”, President Putin signed into law repressive legislation designed to silence or punish criticism.

Russians could now be prosecuted for “discrediting the use of the Russian armed forces” and receive long prison sentences for spreading “knowingly false information” about the army.

[...]

The authorities also signalled a hunt for internal enemies. President Putin declared:

“…any nation, and even more so the Russian people, will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like an insect in their mouth, spit them onto the pavement. I am convinced that a natural and necessary self-detoxification of society like this will strengthen our country, our solidarity and cohesion…”

In this atmosphere of “us” against “them”, reports started coming in of Russians snitching on Russians for opposing the war in Ukraine - of students informing on teachers, professors on students, work colleagues on each other.

[...]

This has revived memories of the Soviet past when denunciation was actively encouraged by the authorities. Under dictator Joseph Stalin, the prison camps, or Gulag, were full of victims who had been snitched on by their fellow citizens.

• Russia started producing new long-range attack drone last year, intelligence sources say
• More than 2,500 Garpiya drones were produced in the year to July, intelligence shows
• New Russian-made drone has Chinese engines and parts, documents indicate
• Garpiya would reduce Russian reliance on Iranian drones, expert says

Russia started producing a new long-range attack drone called the Garpiya-A1 last year using Chinese engines and parts, which it has deployed in the war in Ukraine, according to two sources from a European intelligence agency.

The intelligence – which included a production contract for the new drone, company correspondence on the manufacturing process and financial documents - indicated that IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons maker Almaz-Antey, produced more than 2,500 Garpiyas from July 2023 to July 2024.

The existence of the new Russian drone incorporating Chinese technology has not been previously reported. IEMZ Kupol and Almaz-Antey did not respond to requests for comment.

The two intelligence sources said that the Garpiya, which means Harpy in Russian, has been deployed against military and civilian targets in Ukraine, causing damage to critical infrastructure as well as both civilian and military casualties.

BEUC [the European Consumer Organisation] and 22 of its member organisations from 17 countries have filed a complaint on 12 September 2024 to the European Commission and the network of consumer protection Authorities (CPC-Network) to denounce several deceptive practices by leading video game companies (Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Mojang Studios, Roblox Corporation, Supercell and Ubisoft) marketing popular games (such as Fortnite, EA Sports FC 24, Minecraft, Clash of Clans and others) and affecting millions of European consumers.

The Norwegian Consumer Council's @finnmyrstad posted a thread about it on Mastodon:

2/ 🕹 According to our analysis, these companies are using misleading tactics that do not comply with the EU rules on unfair commercial practices. In particular we identified that:

🎰 Gamers cannot see the real cost of digital items, leading to overspending.

💵 Companies’ claims that gamers prefer in-game premium currencies are wrong.

⚖ Consumers are often denied their rights when using premium in-game currencies.

🚸 Children are vulnerable to these manipulative tactics.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2778064

Moscow has funnelled billions of dollars to its army, soldiers, their families and weapons makers to sustain its military campaign -- a spending splurge that helped it defy Western hopes that sanctions would push it into economic collapse.

But after warning for months that the economy was overheating, the country's Central Bank has lately started mentioning the possibility of another, possibly more challenging development: stagflation.

"The shortage of (labour) resources may lead to a situation where economic growth slows down, despite all the efforts to stimulate demand, with all that stimulus accelerating inflation," Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said over the summer.

"In essence, this is a stagflation scenario, which can only be stopped at the cost of a deep recession," she warned.

'De-modernising'

Stagflation -- a period of low or stagnant growth accompanied by high inflation -- would present a fresh headache for the Kremlin, which has until now navigated the economic fallout of its offensive on Ukraine better than most believed possible.

Moscow has increased government spending by almost 50 percent since sending troops into Ukraine, pushing up growth and wages.

Unemployment is at a record low and consumer confidence is its highest in 15 years.

But an exodus of both skilled and unskilled workers -- who fled mobilisation or joined the army -- has created millions of unfilled vacancies. Sanctions on Western technology have also hit productivity and damaged supply chains.

"In the long-term these demographic factors and technological issues will result in very low economic growth," Ruben Enikolopov, a Russian professor at the Barcelona School of Economics, says.

"There is a high probability of a stagflation scenario in 2025 and the years after. It's not a certainty, but high likelihood," he added.

New EU #ChatControl proposal leaked +++ Governments to position themselves by 23 September, will be very tight... +++ Will messenger services be blocked in Europe? https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/new-eu-push-for-chat-control-will-messenger-services-be-blocked-in-europe/

Help pressure your government now to defend privacy and secure encryption: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/take-action-to-stop-chat-control-now/

Archived link

** While the diesel, petrol and electricity used for rail and road transport is heavily taxed, airlines and maritime transport – from fishing boats to cruise ships – continue to enjoy a free ride – a situation that may encourage environmentally harmful travel choices.**

A leaked document suggests Budapest wants to abandon the idea of setting a minimum levy on the kerosene that powers the booming airline industry before mid-century, in an apparent bid to unblock a stalled reform of European energy taxation rules that has sparked outrage among environmentalists.

The European Commission proposed three years ago a reform to the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive as part of a package of measures to achieve the new target of a 55% cut in CO2 emissions by 2030, including a proposal to scrap the blanket exemption for aviation and maritime fuels.

But the bill has been subject to repeated delay, exacerbated by the fact that tax is one of a handful of policy areas where EU legislation can only be enacted if backed unanimously by all 27 member states.

In a compromise proposal seen by Euronews that looks to break a deadlock in intergovernmental talks, current EU Council presidency holder Hungary has suggested minimum tax rates for aviation and maritime fuels should be postponed until 2049.

Archived link

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has castigated fellow EU member states that do business with China, saying his own country is an example of surviving “without Russian gas and Chinese contracts”.

[...]

“As we see our partners and friends in Europe signing new contracts with China, we warn of the dangers of those contracts... We are an example that it is possible to survive without Russian gas and Chinese contracts,” the Lithuanian foreign minister told a press conference.

[...]

According to Landsbergis, the EU should have a common strategy towards China. “As is often the case in Europe, 27 states create 27 different interests. Our opponents are able to exploit this,” he insisted.

[...]

“Our team is carrying a message of concern to Europe about increasing partnership between China and Russia. China’s support for Russian defence industrial base, its efforts behind the scenes to support Russia in its battlefield aims in Ukraine have been devastating and concerning,” Campbell said.

[...]

Meanwhile, [United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt] Campbell said that Lithuania was the country that had come under the most pressure from China when it allowed Taipei to open a representative office under the name of “Taiwan”.

[...]

[Edit typo.]

Philippe Close tells Euronews that Brussels will not be 'held hostage' by Viktor Orbán’s government.

Loreto Gesualdo, the president of the Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies (Fism), has proposed legislation to suspend free access to medical care for three years for those who assault healthcare workers or damage health facilities.

Fism reported more than 16,000 verbal and physical attacks against doctors and nurses in Italian hospitals in 2023 alone.

Turns out Abbé Pierre was a creep... This is like learning Mohter Theresa was a sexual predator.