cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/40232005

Thu 11 Dec 2025 00.00 EST

I had not planned to write anything about my trip to the West Bank last month. But I changed my mind when I witnessed how much daily life for Palestinians had deteriorated, how dispirited they have become and how much control Israel and its settlers now exercise over the Palestinian population. I had expected conditions for Palestinians would be worse, but not this much worse.

At the end of the second intifada, there were, according to the UN, 376 checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank. Today there are an estimated 849, many of them erected in the last two years.

https://www.oglaf.com/outreach/2/

fuck lee

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/27569122

Most of the threads I've found on other sites (both Reddit and the Synology forums) have basically said "go with Docker". But what do you actually gain from this?

People suggest it's more up-to-date, and maybe for some packages that's true? But for Nextcloud specifically it looks pretty good. 32.0.3 came out 1 day ago and isn't yet supported, but the version immediately preceding that, from 3 weeks ago, is.

I've never done Nextcloud before, but I would assume installing it via the Package Center would be way easier to install and to keep up-to-date than Docker. So what's the reason everyone recommends Docker? Is it easier to extend?

Most of the threads I've found on other sites (both Reddit and the Synology forums) have basically said "go with Docker". But what do you actually gain from this?

People suggest it's more up-to-date, and maybe for some packages that's true? But for Nextcloud specifically it looks pretty good. 32.0.3 came out 1 day ago and isn't yet supported, but the version immediately preceding that, from 3 weeks ago, is.

I've never done Nextcloud before, but I would assume installing it via the Package Center would be way easier to install and to keep up-to-date than Docker. So what's the reason everyone recommends Docker? Is it easier to extend?

EDIT: Oh my god, sorry, I'm an idiot who forgot that the Jellyfin subtitles setting menu had a save button you needed to press. ALSO, Simultaneously, I posted this earlier than I intended; I thought to myself "OK I'll try this one last thing and if that doesn't work then I'll give up and ask for help", and then went and wrote this post while I waited for the DVD to rip - and then I went and posted it as soon as I was done writing, without waiting for the one last attempt to finish. It turns out that removing the --subtitle scan flag fixes the problem. So I double shouldn't have posted this. Sorry for taking up your time, I saw an option to hide this post so I think I'll be doing that now.

First, this doesn't seem like quite the right community to post this in, but I couldn't find a better fitting one on Lemmy, and I'd prefer not to dust off my Reddit account if I don't have to. If you know of somewhere better for me to post this please let me know

I'm trying to use Automatic Ripping Machine (ARM) to copy my DVD collection onto my home server for playback with Jellyfin. I want the subtitles on the Jellyfin versions of my shows to work the same as playing the DVDs on my blu-ray player: Off by default, available when desired. After some googling I found that in order to have the subtitles on the disc to be retained in the files output by ARM (and thus be displayable in Jellyfin) I needed to put the --all-subtitles flag in the HB_ARGS_DVD section of the config file, so that it'd be passed to HandBrakeCLI in the transcoding stage. That worked, the subtitle selector appeared in Jellyfin and had all the options as the DVD does in my blu-ray player, but it introduced a new problem: The first subtitle track gets incorrectly marked as "Forced", and is selected by default in Jellyfin even when I set my Jellyfin user's subtitle settings to "None".

I have tried and tried and tried but no search term I've come up with has found me somebody who had this same problem. I found that the -F option that was included in HB_ARGS_DVD by default is short for --subtitle-forced, which marks the first subtitle track as forced when given without an argument, but removing the -F from the config file and recreating the ARM docker container did nothing to fix the issue. Replacing the -F with --subtitle-forced='none' or --subtitle-forced=none also didn't work, and neither did adding --subtitle-default=none or --subtitle-default='none'

My current setting for HB_ARGS_DVD is --subtitle scan --all-subtitles --subtitle-burned=none --subtitle-default=none, which still has the issue. The only lead I have left is to use an external program called "MKVToolNix" to manually set the subtitle track as not forced for every single video file, but

1. I'd rather fix the tool I'm already using than add an extra step to the DVD ripping process if possible
2. I tried using MKVToolNix earlier and couldn't get it to do what I wanted

A way to make Jellyfin disregard the "Forced" flag and treat the subtitle track normally would also work in my case but that seems less likely to exist than a way to fix HandBrake.

European Union finance ministers agreed on Friday to set a 3 euro ($3.52) customs duty on low-value parcels arriving in the bloc, part of efforts to crack down on cheap Chinese e-commerce imports such as from online retailers Shein and Temu.

The duty will apply from July 1, 2026, and will be in place until a permanent solution is found to eliminate the "de minimis" duties exemption for online purchases below 150 euros, the EU's Council of its 27 governments said in a statement.

...

The bloc was due to remove the exemption in 2028 as part of an overhaul of its customs system, but pressure to act faster has grown amid concerns about Chinese goods being dumped in Europe.

...

The number of low-value e-commerce packages arriving in the bloc doubled last year to 4.6 billion, over 90% of them from China. Imports this year are set to be even higher.

The EU is also considering a separate handling fee, which the European Commission has proposed should be set at 2 euros per parcel. It is not clear when it would be imposed.

...

Didn't play much this week.

Spent few hours on Dark Souls Remastered !

Last week I talked about how I haven't gotten stuck anywhere, and that's when I got stuck on the next boss. It was another 2 Boss at once, and that's kind of my weakness. Don't know how many times I died there, had to quit the game.

Fortunately, the solution to most such issues in Dark Souls is to just relax and play without panicking. Came back next day and defeated the boss in 2nd or 3rd try.

I should in the latter half of the game, but no idea how much is left. I know of at least 3 bosses that I have kill (narrative reasons), reached the first one and it's too strong. Checked an online guide and it suggests to come back there later, there are some other unexplored areas and I should go there first. So, doing that now, killing monsters, earning tons of souls and leveling up!

We played some Killing Floor 3 and it was okay. It wasn't great but not too bad either, but since I don't play these kind of games I have no idea what the standard is. Overall the consensus was that we won't be playing it again, so that's over now.

What about all of you? What have you been playing and/or plan to play?

BALTIMORE (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia walked away after a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on Friday to the cheers of a crowd assembled outside. A federal judge had ordered that immigration officials could not detain him.

Abrego Garcia appeared for the appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, some 14 hours after he was released from detention on a judge’s orders. His lawyers had asked the judge to block authorities from detaining him again and he walked out of the building surrounded by cheering supporters after the appearance, then left without commenting.

The German Foreign Office said Friday it summoned the Russian ambassador, Sergei Nechayev, over allegations of repeated hybrid attacks on Germany.

The move followed what officials described as mounting evidence of coordinated Russian activity aimed at undermining Germany's internal stability.

"The goal of these Russian cyber and disinformation attacks is clear: It is to divide society, stir up mistrust, provoke rejection, and weaken confidence in democratic institutions," Foreign Office spokesperson Martin Giese said.

...

The Foreign Office listed some cases that it said were perpetrated by Moscow.

In one instance, Giese said, a cyberattack against Germany's air traffic control authority in August 2024 could be clearly attributed to the Russian hacker group "Fancy Bear."

...

In another case, Berlin claimed it was now certain that Russia attempted to influence the most recent general election. According to Germany, this was done through the propagandist group "Storm 1516,” which creates and spreads online disinformation to further the interests of the Russian government.

...

Two days before the early federal election in February, the government said security agencies had identified fake videos alleging ballot manipulation as part of a Russian disinformation effort.

...

Russia is accused of various acts of hybrid warfare — actions that fall below the threshold of open military conflict but are designed to weaken states politically. They include:

• Hacking government ministries, parliaments, and defense institutions
• Targeting critical infrastructure such as energy grids, transport systems and air traffic control
• Spreading disinformation during election campaigns
• Amplifying fake stories or manipulated content via social media
• Using bot networks and troll farms to influence voter sentiment
• Targeting specific candidates seen as unfavorable to Moscow
• Acts of sabotage against railways, cables, pipelines, or military logistics
• Surveillance or targeting of infrastructure linked to Ukraine support
• Encouraging or facilitating irregular migration toward EU border

...

Cross posted from: https://lemmy.nocturnal.garden/post/407947

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43508884

Web archive link

A high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in the UK has been the target of a harassment campaign involving letters containing fake, sexually explicit images of her sent to her neighbours.

Carmen Lau, 30, told the BBC she was "shocked" as the letters, delivered to addresses in Maidenhead from China, included her name and images made to look like she was either naked or in underwear and offering sexual services.

"The letters had a couple of very unpleasant images, AI-generated or photo-shopped... portraying me as a sex worker," she said.

Ms Lau is among thousands of Hong Kong residents to seek sanctuary in the UK following the imposition of a controversial new national security law.

The city had been a British colony until 1997, when it was handed to China on the proviso it retained its democratic autonomy for the following 50 years.

...

Ms Lau moved to the UK in 2021 and has continued her advocacy work, frequently criticising China's Communist leadership and speaking out about China's controversial plans to build a "mega embassy" in London, warning that it could become a base for trans-national repression of China's critics abroad.

...

"When I was in Hong Kong, pro-Beijing agents were trained to use gender-based harassment targeting pro-democracy activists," she said.

"But AI technology has enhanced this sort of intimidation. It is beyond just transnational repression - as a woman, it is very worrying."

Last year, up to a dozen of the same neighbours in Berkshire had received letters sent from Hong Kong, purporting to come from the police, offering a bounty payment of £95,000 to anyone who would hand Ms Lau over to the Chinese embassy in London.

The new letters - the existence of which was first reported by the Guardian - were sent last month from the Chinese territory of Macau, close to Hong Kong.

Another activist, Ted Hui, and his wife, who now live in Australia, have also been targeted with similar letters, the newspaper reports.

...

Reynolds told the BBC that the government needed "to be very clear that this is not acceptable, we cannot have these letters sent to UK residents".

"We need to find out who sent these letters," he said, adding: "Officials in Beijing need to be held accountable."

Reynolds said he had raised the issue with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

A government spokesperson said: "The safety and security of Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance."

Thames Valley Police, meanwhile, said it was investigating reports of a malicious communications offence involving digitally altered images.

"We are engaging with the victim and, at this time, no arrests have been made," a spokesperson said.

...

The UK government has previously insisted that any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities would not be tolerated.

It has said the UK continues to raise concerns about transnational repression directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, and has publicly condemned the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong Police Force.

...

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43508884

Web archive link

A high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activist living in the UK has been the target of a harassment campaign involving letters containing fake, sexually explicit images of her sent to her neighbours.

Carmen Lau, 30, told the BBC she was "shocked" as the letters, delivered to addresses in Maidenhead from China, included her name and images made to look like she was either naked or in underwear and offering sexual services.

"The letters had a couple of very unpleasant images, AI-generated or photo-shopped... portraying me as a sex worker," she said.

Ms Lau is among thousands of Hong Kong residents to seek sanctuary in the UK following the imposition of a controversial new national security law.

The city had been a British colony until 1997, when it was handed to China on the proviso it retained its democratic autonomy for the following 50 years.

...

Ms Lau moved to the UK in 2021 and has continued her advocacy work, frequently criticising China's Communist leadership and speaking out about China's controversial plans to build a "mega embassy" in London, warning that it could become a base for trans-national repression of China's critics abroad.

...

"When I was in Hong Kong, pro-Beijing agents were trained to use gender-based harassment targeting pro-democracy activists," she said.

"But AI technology has enhanced this sort of intimidation. It is beyond just transnational repression - as a woman, it is very worrying."

Last year, up to a dozen of the same neighbours in Berkshire had received letters sent from Hong Kong, purporting to come from the police, offering a bounty payment of £95,000 to anyone who would hand Ms Lau over to the Chinese embassy in London.

The new letters - the existence of which was first reported by the Guardian - were sent last month from the Chinese territory of Macau, close to Hong Kong.

Another activist, Ted Hui, and his wife, who now live in Australia, have also been targeted with similar letters, the newspaper reports.

...

Reynolds told the BBC that the government needed "to be very clear that this is not acceptable, we cannot have these letters sent to UK residents".

"We need to find out who sent these letters," he said, adding: "Officials in Beijing need to be held accountable."

Reynolds said he had raised the issue with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

A government spokesperson said: "The safety and security of Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance."

Thames Valley Police, meanwhile, said it was investigating reports of a malicious communications offence involving digitally altered images.

"We are engaging with the victim and, at this time, no arrests have been made," a spokesperson said.

...

The UK government has previously insisted that any attempt by a foreign power to intimidate, harass or harm individuals or communities would not be tolerated.

It has said the UK continues to raise concerns about transnational repression directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, and has publicly condemned the issuing of arrest warrants and bounties by the Hong Kong Police Force.

...

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43508565

Archive link

...

The scale of the imbalances with the European Union was thrown into stark relief days ago when Beijing disclosed its trade surplus with the bloc had widened to a record approaching $300 billion in 2025. The value of China’s exports to the EU is now more than double its imports, as Chinese sellers divert goods facing levies in the US.

...

“The China shock in Europe is really starting to hit,” said Andrew Small, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “What you’ve now had in recent months has been much greater levels of urgency, not all of it playing out in public, but serious crisis meetings taking place.”

The result could be the biggest rethink of EU policy toward Beijing in at least a decade, according to Small, who previously advised von der Leyen on China. Sidetracked for years by the war in Ukraine and, more recently, by Donald Trump’s tariffs, the EU is finally focusing on China, preparing what Small describes as a “pent-up” mix of measures.

...

The bloc unveiled a plan earlier this month to ensure its industries aren’t overtaken by global rivals, as competition intensifies with the US and China. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has also proposed setting up an economic security hub to better navigate trade tensions and counter the threat of cheap products flooding the bloc’s single market.

...

Time is short for Europe. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc estimate competition from Chinese exports will cut gains in German, Spanish and Italian gross domestic product by 0.2 percentage point or more from next year through 2029.

The fallout from China’s exports might extend to almost a third of euro-area employment, according to economists at the European Central Bank, meaning it could possibly affect more than 50 million jobs.

...

“External hostility toward goods exported by China will escalate, particularly in Europe,” said Stephen Jen, chief executive of London-based hedge fund Eurizon SLJ Capital. “This configuration of explosive trade and a cheap renminbi cannot be sustained.”

For China, there is little alternative. The EU’s $20 trillion economy is among the few markets big enough to absorb the goods it used to ship to the US.

...

Propelling its exports is a currency undervalued in the view of many economists, making exports cheaper and imports more expensive. The yuan hit a decade low against the euro earlier this year.

“One of the real reasons that Chinese exports are going so fast is that the renminbi is very significantly undervalued relative to the euro,” said EU Chamber of Commerce in China President Jens Eskelund, using an alternative name for the currency. This acts as a “subsidy” for exports and suppresses Chinese consumers’ purchasing power, he said.

...

China is now taking 7% of EU exports but supplying almost a quarter of all imports from outside the bloc. China’s deficit with the EU and the UK now accounts for nearly a third of its total trade differential with the world, which exceeded $1 trillion for the first time.

...

In 2019, China ran a $25 billion deficit with Europe’s biggest economy. In the first 11 months of this year, that’s flipped to a $23 billion surplus due to the collapse in imports.

...

As pressure builds to mount a response, countries could “not only use existing trade tools, like anti-dumping duties, but also develop new tools and approaches for addressing what is turning into a serious and unsustainable situation,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade negotiator now at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“We could see the EU and others take further measures to limit Chinese imports during the coming year,” she said.

Archive link

...

The scale of the imbalances with the European Union was thrown into stark relief days ago when Beijing disclosed its trade surplus with the bloc had widened to a record approaching $300 billion in 2025. The value of China’s exports to the EU is now more than double its imports, as Chinese sellers divert goods facing levies in the US.

...

“The China shock in Europe is really starting to hit,” said Andrew Small, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “What you’ve now had in recent months has been much greater levels of urgency, not all of it playing out in public, but serious crisis meetings taking place.”

The result could be the biggest rethink of EU policy toward Beijing in at least a decade, according to Small, who previously advised von der Leyen on China. Sidetracked for years by the war in Ukraine and, more recently, by Donald Trump’s tariffs, the EU is finally focusing on China, preparing what Small describes as a “pent-up” mix of measures.

...

The bloc unveiled a plan earlier this month to ensure its industries aren’t overtaken by global rivals, as competition intensifies with the US and China. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has also proposed setting up an economic security hub to better navigate trade tensions and counter the threat of cheap products flooding the bloc’s single market.

...

Time is short for Europe. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc estimate competition from Chinese exports will cut gains in German, Spanish and Italian gross domestic product by 0.2 percentage point or more from next year through 2029.

The fallout from China’s exports might extend to almost a third of euro-area employment, according to economists at the European Central Bank, meaning it could possibly affect more than 50 million jobs.

...

“External hostility toward goods exported by China will escalate, particularly in Europe,” said Stephen Jen, chief executive of London-based hedge fund Eurizon SLJ Capital. “This configuration of explosive trade and a cheap renminbi cannot be sustained.”

For China, there is little alternative. The EU’s $20 trillion economy is among the few markets big enough to absorb the goods it used to ship to the US.

...

Propelling its exports is a currency undervalued in the view of many economists, making exports cheaper and imports more expensive. The yuan hit a decade low against the euro earlier this year.

“One of the real reasons that Chinese exports are going so fast is that the renminbi is very significantly undervalued relative to the euro,” said EU Chamber of Commerce in China President Jens Eskelund, using an alternative name for the currency. This acts as a “subsidy” for exports and suppresses Chinese consumers’ purchasing power, he said.

...

China is now taking 7% of EU exports but supplying almost a quarter of all imports from outside the bloc. China’s deficit with the EU and the UK now accounts for nearly a third of its total trade differential with the world, which exceeded $1 trillion for the first time.

...

In 2019, China ran a $25 billion deficit with Europe’s biggest economy. In the first 11 months of this year, that’s flipped to a $23 billion surplus due to the collapse in imports.

...

As pressure builds to mount a response, countries could “not only use existing trade tools, like anti-dumping duties, but also develop new tools and approaches for addressing what is turning into a serious and unsustainable situation,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade negotiator now at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“We could see the EU and others take further measures to limit Chinese imports during the coming year,” she said.