The American weapons maker Anduril says its founding purpose is to arm democratic governments to safeguard the Western way of life. The company’s official mission document, titled “Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy,” contains 14 separate references to democracy, two more than the name of the company. Building weapons isn’t simply a matter of national security, the company argues, but a moral imperative to protect the democratic tradition. “The challenge ahead is gigantic,” the manifesto says, “but so are the rewards of success: continued peace and prosperity in the democratic world.”

Mentions of democracy are noticeably absent, however, from Anduril’s recent announcement of a new joint venture with a state-run bomb maker from an authoritarian monarchy that is facilitating a genocide.

Anduril is partnering with EDGE Group, a weapons conglomerate controlled by the United Arab Emirates, a nation run entirely by the royal families of its seven emirates that permits virtually none of the activities typically associated with democratic societies. In the UAE, free expression and association are outlawed, and dissident speech is routinely and brutally punished without due process. A 2024 assessment of political rights and civil liberties by Freedom House, a U.S. State Department-backed think tank, gave the UAE a score of 18 out of 100.

"Three-year deal lets users create AI videos of Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, and more."

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/disney-invests-1-billion-in-openai-licenses-200-characters-for-ai-video-app-sora/

I'm sure that's going to take about 30 minutes before they begin to regret the videos coming out of it...

More than 110 Palestinian prisoners have died from torture and mistreatment since Itamar Ben-Gvir became Israel’s security minister. Now he wants the power to hang them.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/59384895

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/31997776

Join in on the DURP Challenge, where you finish a project you are otherwise ignoring for the Winter season. Putting this out as part of Linux Prepper podcast, which is a DIY and technology-focused show on struggling to accomplish things while still enjoying life.

Keep in mind you are welcome to submit any sort of project you are otherwise putting off! I'll be happy to share them on the show once we hit Spring. This gives you a solid three month window to get it together! 100% completion is not required, but you'll share whatever progress you have made.

The challenge is simply about clout, and sharing in what we've accomplished, over any actual prizes. If you've already finished a project in the recent past and want to proudly share it, that is fine!

Join in on the DURP Challenge, where you finish a project you are otherwise ignoring for the Winter season. Putting this out as part of Linux Prepper podcast, which is a DIY and technology-focused show on struggling to accomplish things while still enjoying life.

Keep in mind you are welcome to submit any sort of project you are otherwise putting off! I'll be happy to share them on the show once we hit Spring. This gives you a solid three month window to get it together! 100% completion is not required, but you'll share whatever progress you have made.

The challenge is simply about clout, and sharing in what we've accomplished, over any actual prizes. If you've already finished a project in the recent past and want to proudly share it, that is fine!

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6061854

Archived version

• Italy's landmark China Truck mafia trial stalled for years
• Missing interpreters, lost files fuel sabotage suspicions
• "Coat hanger wars" spread violence across Europe's fashion hub
• Weak China cooperation hobbles probes, Italian prosecutors say

A landmark trial in Italy of Chinese crime gangs has suffered so many mishaps - from the disappearance of documents to the resignation of interpreters - that a senior prosecutor suspects it's being sabotaged to protect the criminals' grip on Europe's fashion industry.

The case, launched after two Chinese men were hacked to death with machetes in 2010, is aimed at dismantling an illicit network accused of controlling the logistics of the continent's multi-billion-euro garments sector from the city of Prato in Tuscany.

...

"The suspicion is that there is interference from the Chinese community and Chinese authorities in this matter," said Luca Tescaroli, a veteran of Italy's war against the mafia who is now Prato's chief prosecutor and leading the charge against Chinese crime gangs.

The Chinese embassy in Rome did not reply to emails requesting comment on Tescaroli's remarks.

...

When the latest court interpreter failed to show up to a hearing at the end of September, a quick check revealed she had returned to China and her transcripts were "incomprehensible and unusable", Tescaroli said.

The translator was the second to walk off the job and no other Chinese interpreter in Tuscany has agreed to take over. Tescaroli has opened an investigation into the possibility that someone is looking to sink the trial.

The violence prosecutors hoped to curb has only intensified as the trial flounders, with the battle for control of coat hanger production and fast-fashion freight spawning a string of bomb and arson attacks in Italy, France and Spain.

...

The Prato prosecutor and his colleagues are pressing the judges in the so-called China Truck trial to define the Chinese gangs legally as mafia groups – a designation that would unlock sweeping powers, asset seizures and stiffer sentence.

However, in Italy that label is difficult to secure, even more so if the organisations are rooted abroad, making them harder to penetrate than home-grown crime groups such as Sicily's Cosa Nostra.

...

Wedged in the hills northwest of Florence, Prato is billed as Europe's largest textile manufacturing hub, hosting more than 7,000 textile and garment companies that register some 2.3 billion euros ($2.68 billion) in official annual exports. Over 4,400 of firms are Chinese owned, local authorities say.

Almost a quarter of its residents are foreigners, the largest ratio in Italy, but the percentage is likely much higher as many newcomers are illegal immigrants without work permits.

Prato's streets are lined with Chinese-owned workshops, warehouses, and businesses that have transformed the city into a global fast-fashion production centre, and a flashpoint for violence linked to criminal networks.

The China Truck investigation closed in 2018 with prosecutors alleging that the 58 suspects had formed "a criminal association equipped with very significant financial means ... with support and resources abroad".

Seven years on, not a single defendant or witness has been called to testify.

Meanwhile, the alleged mastermind Zhang Naizhong, described by investigators as a "boss of bosses", slipped back to China in 2018 after he was released from pre-trail custody and prosecutors doubt he will ever return to Italy.

...

Chinese businesses in the textile district have long operated within what investigators call the "Prato system", marked by corruption and irregular practices, including labour and safety abuses as well as tax and customs fraud.

These companies can appear and disappear overnight, engaging in a cat-and-mouse game with authorities to dodge taxes and avoid having to give workers proper contracts, according to Arturo Gambassi, a representative from the Sudd Cobas union, which defends workers' rights in the textile sector.

"In all the firms where we have initiated labour disputes, we saw that their business name had changed in the previous two years," he told Reuters.

Police say fabrics are often smuggled in from China to avoid customs duties, while profits are sent back through illicit money-transfer channels, with up to 4 million euros shipped out of Rome's Fiumicino airport each week, according to prosecutors and police.

To maintain their competitive edge, the industry depends on cheap, round-the-clock labour, largely from China and Pakistan, with workers facing a backlash if they seek legal contracts.

On November 17, more than 15 Chinese citizens assaulted a union demonstration in Prato. Plain clothes police who were observing the protest were also attacked, with two officers needing hospital treatment, a police statement said.

...

Without the mafia designation or Chinese cooperation, Tescaroli's case in the China Truck trial relies on the fragile scaffolding of Italian procedure, and the willingness of translators to show up.

...

Archived version

• Italy's landmark China Truck mafia trial stalled for years
• Missing interpreters, lost files fuel sabotage suspicions
• "Coat hanger wars" spread violence across Europe's fashion hub
• Weak China cooperation hobbles probes, Italian prosecutors say

A landmark trial in Italy of Chinese crime gangs has suffered so many mishaps - from the disappearance of documents to the resignation of interpreters - that a senior prosecutor suspects it's being sabotaged to protect the criminals' grip on Europe's fashion industry.

The case, launched after two Chinese men were hacked to death with machetes in 2010, is aimed at dismantling an illicit network accused of controlling the logistics of the continent's multi-billion-euro garments sector from the city of Prato in Tuscany.

...

"The suspicion is that there is interference from the Chinese community and Chinese authorities in this matter," said Luca Tescaroli, a veteran of Italy's war against the mafia who is now Prato's chief prosecutor and leading the charge against Chinese crime gangs.

The Chinese embassy in Rome did not reply to emails requesting comment on Tescaroli's remarks.

...

When the latest court interpreter failed to show up to a hearing at the end of September, a quick check revealed she had returned to China and her transcripts were "incomprehensible and unusable", Tescaroli said.

The translator was the second to walk off the job and no other Chinese interpreter in Tuscany has agreed to take over. Tescaroli has opened an investigation into the possibility that someone is looking to sink the trial.

The violence prosecutors hoped to curb has only intensified as the trial flounders, with the battle for control of coat hanger production and fast-fashion freight spawning a string of bomb and arson attacks in Italy, France and Spain.

...

The Prato prosecutor and his colleagues are pressing the judges in the so-called China Truck trial to define the Chinese gangs legally as mafia groups – a designation that would unlock sweeping powers, asset seizures and stiffer sentence.

However, in Italy that label is difficult to secure, even more so if the organisations are rooted abroad, making them harder to penetrate than home-grown crime groups such as Sicily's Cosa Nostra.

...

Wedged in the hills northwest of Florence, Prato is billed as Europe's largest textile manufacturing hub, hosting more than 7,000 textile and garment companies that register some 2.3 billion euros ($2.68 billion) in official annual exports. Over 4,400 of firms are Chinese owned, local authorities say.

Almost a quarter of its residents are foreigners, the largest ratio in Italy, but the percentage is likely much higher as many newcomers are illegal immigrants without work permits.

Prato's streets are lined with Chinese-owned workshops, warehouses, and businesses that have transformed the city into a global fast-fashion production centre, and a flashpoint for violence linked to criminal networks.

The China Truck investigation closed in 2018 with prosecutors alleging that the 58 suspects had formed "a criminal association equipped with very significant financial means ... with support and resources abroad".

Seven years on, not a single defendant or witness has been called to testify.

Meanwhile, the alleged mastermind Zhang Naizhong, described by investigators as a "boss of bosses", slipped back to China in 2018 after he was released from pre-trail custody and prosecutors doubt he will ever return to Italy.

...

Chinese businesses in the textile district have long operated within what investigators call the "Prato system", marked by corruption and irregular practices, including labour and safety abuses as well as tax and customs fraud.

These companies can appear and disappear overnight, engaging in a cat-and-mouse game with authorities to dodge taxes and avoid having to give workers proper contracts, according to Arturo Gambassi, a representative from the Sudd Cobas union, which defends workers' rights in the textile sector.

"In all the firms where we have initiated labour disputes, we saw that their business name had changed in the previous two years," he told Reuters.

Police say fabrics are often smuggled in from China to avoid customs duties, while profits are sent back through illicit money-transfer channels, with up to 4 million euros shipped out of Rome's Fiumicino airport each week, according to prosecutors and police.

To maintain their competitive edge, the industry depends on cheap, round-the-clock labour, largely from China and Pakistan, with workers facing a backlash if they seek legal contracts.

On November 17, more than 15 Chinese citizens assaulted a union demonstration in Prato. Plain clothes police who were observing the protest were also attacked, with two officers needing hospital treatment, a police statement said.

...

Without the mafia designation or Chinese cooperation, Tescaroli's case in the China Truck trial relies on the fragile scaffolding of Italian procedure, and the willingness of translators to show up.

...

About a month ago the Zionist censorship machine led by depraved scumbag Liora Rez and her “StopAntiSemitism” account that trawls random people’s social media, found an Instagram account of a neurologist who had shared one of my posts. This led to a Zionist mass doxing and smear campaign to have her fired, and soon she was forced to resign. A deluge of death threats by Zionists went along with this of course.

Recently I got an email from a local reporter doing a story on this, asking me for comment, and I sent her the response added in the image, with the request to forward my message to her. This was done, and soon after Michelle Bravo sent me a very kind email back. Here is the email I sent in response to the reporter:

This is the only way these Zionist Gestapo tactics can be stopped: solidarity with those who are targeted by it. If those are targeted are not subject to isolation, ostracizing, and, crucially, financial and material damages to their lives, then the weapon is made impotent. Then it no longer carries any weight at all. In fact, being targeted by it can be used as a badge of honor: Look, the Zionist Gestapo is coming after me, this proves that I am actually principled and have minimum morality, ethics and decency as a person. Just like Ms Rachel and all the others who are the targets of this deranged Liora Rez scumbag.

For everyone else who knows just how disgusting and vile Liora Rez is, and btw as I said in my email response she is funded by Zionist billionaire scum like Adam Milstein, you know that this vast Zionist censorship industrial complex, which goes against everyone no matter what your ideological background or politics, must always in all circumstances be opposed. Just like they are indiscriminate in who they target, we must be indiscriminate in upholding the principle that these scum cannot be allowed to censor, blacklist and fire people on behalf of their precious genocidal Israeli death and rape-cult, the sole thing they are loyal to.

To that end, I ask you all to donate to Michelle Bravo. I told her that she incurred a lot of costs due to this Zionist censorship campaign, and she should pursue any means she can to fight it. She made a Gofundme for this purpose, and I encourage you all to donate however much you can to it. https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-dr-bravo-against-unjust-accusations

In current news we could hear that the USA wants to gather a lot of data from everyone entering. This includes data of other people who aren't entering the USA, like family, maybe even contacts on the phone.

Wouldn't this mean that you need to invest a lot of time to get consent or, alternatively, pay a fine on return from the USA?

In the case of the fine, how high would it be? And if you travel to the USA again, will the fine stay the same, now that you do break the law knowingly/intentionally?

European nations are struggling to compensate for halted US aid to Ukraine, with a significant drop in overall support in 2025. While some countries like France, Germany, and the UK have increased contributions, Italy and Spain have reduced or stopped aid. The European Commission aims to use frozen Russian assets for a major Ukraine loan package, but the plan faces resistance, particularly from Belgium.

Report from Burmese media with photos of the damage: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/hospital-massacre-in-mrauk-u-junta-airstrike-kills-33-injures-76.html

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/47116727

Archived

[...]

"We are recording an actual increase in the de-sovereignization of part of Russian territory in favor of China. This primarily concerns the use of resource-rich lands and the sale of scarce resources to China," Ukraine's President is cited after a report by the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Oleh Ivashchenko.

"We are also recording that China is taking steps to intensify cooperation with Russia, particularly in the field of the defense industry. Intelligence services of our partners have similar information."

[...]

In a related report, U.S. outlet Newsweek cites Patrick Cronin, the Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute: “Xi Jinping views Russia as an indispensable strategic partner in constructing a post-U.S.–led world order.

“Reconciling these competing impulses points toward a strategy of slow, steady accretions of effective sovereignty, punctuated by performative shows of solidarity, from parades to joint military drills, that mask an emerging asymmetry," Cronin adds.

Cronin said however that China "clearly appears poised to expand its influence across its shared borderlands through a mix of brazen cyber intrusions and opportunistic moves to anchor itself inside Russia’s increasingly enfeebled economy."

[...]

Went with