cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6057808

Archived link

[HALO is an NGO operating in Ukraine. Women are clearing the land after Russians mined it.]

...

Until 2017, demining was on Ukraine’s list of 450 occupations prohibited for women. Today, women make up 30 per cent of HALO’s 1,500 Ukrainian staff.

...

[HALO is also] training Ukraine’s women to make their country’s land safe again. Canada has played a part in this work. In early 2024, the Trudeau government — which had a feminist foreign-aid strategy — provided HALO with a $5-million grant to support its female demining efforts. Today, the future of such grants look uncertain.

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For years, even before all-out war began, Russia has been littering Ukraine’s fields, roads and forests with mines, booby-traps and trip-wire explosives.

These efforts have turned Ukraine into one of the world’s most contaminated countries, some reports say. It is estimated that as much as a quarter of Ukraine’s territory — equivalent to the Canadian Maritimes in size — is mined.

The effect is devastating. As of May, explosive ordnance had killed nearly 500 people and injured another 1,000.

The contaminated lands mean farmers cannot plant crops, families cannot rebuild their homes and children cannot play safely outside. It also threatens global food security, undermining Ukraine’s agricultural output and role as Europe’s so-called “breadbasket.”

In 2023, Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy set a goal of clearing 80 per cent of Ukraine’s contaminated lands within 10 years.

This is where HALO comes in.

...

For nearly four decades, HALO has been clearing landmines, cluster munitions and other explosives from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.

Its work began in Afghanistan but today spans 30 countries. The non-profit employs more than 11,000 people and generates roughly US$200 million in revenue.

Its expansion into Ukraine has been supported by international donors, including Canada.

Samuel Fricker, a Canadian projects officer with HALO who is based in Langley, B.C., says he is glad to see Canadian dollars being put toward HALO.

“As someone who pays taxes in Canada, I’m … happy with where the money goes,” he tells me in a HALO team video call days later.

“The reason I work in this field is because of how tangible the impact is. You are seeing landmines being removed. You’re seeing genuine lives saved,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million contribution accounts for a small fraction of HALO’s $60-million annual Ukraine budget.

...

Daria Hapirova, a gender expert at HALO, says training women to demine is crucial because hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have joined the military.

“Unfortunately, there is no time for us to act in a gender-neutral way,” she says on the call. “[W]ithout women right now, Ukrainian mine action wouldn’t function.”

Hapirova says there are halo effects to promoting gender equality in a niche sector like demining.

“We started to change our uniform sets, for example, to make it more inclusive, and not only suitable for female bodies, but also to be more practical and more inclusive for different shapes of man’s bodies,” she says.

Fricker says HALO is also more effective at its work when women are included.

Households headed by women — often widows or those whose husbands are fighting — are more willing to share information with female surveyors, he says.

“The interactions are much, much improved by having that diversity,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million grant ended in August, and HALO currently has no ongoing Canadian funding for Ukraine. “We are in discussions with [Global Affairs Canada] about potential future options for follow-on funding,” Shustova says.

But the political winds have shifted. On Nov. 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a press conference in Johannesburg that Canada no longer has a feminist foreign policy.

He added, however, that gender equality will remain an “aspect” of Canada’s broader international agenda.

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6057808

Archived link

[HALO is an NGO operating in Ukraine. Women are clearing the land after Russians mined it.]

...

Until 2017, demining was on Ukraine’s list of 450 occupations prohibited for women. Today, women make up 30 per cent of HALO’s 1,500 Ukrainian staff.

...

[HALO is also] training Ukraine’s women to make their country’s land safe again. Canada has played a part in this work. In early 2024, the Trudeau government — which had a feminist foreign-aid strategy — provided HALO with a $5-million grant to support its female demining efforts. Today, the future of such grants look uncertain.

...

For years, even before all-out war began, Russia has been littering Ukraine’s fields, roads and forests with mines, booby-traps and trip-wire explosives.

These efforts have turned Ukraine into one of the world’s most contaminated countries, some reports say. It is estimated that as much as a quarter of Ukraine’s territory — equivalent to the Canadian Maritimes in size — is mined.

The effect is devastating. As of May, explosive ordnance had killed nearly 500 people and injured another 1,000.

The contaminated lands mean farmers cannot plant crops, families cannot rebuild their homes and children cannot play safely outside. It also threatens global food security, undermining Ukraine’s agricultural output and role as Europe’s so-called “breadbasket.”

In 2023, Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy set a goal of clearing 80 per cent of Ukraine’s contaminated lands within 10 years.

This is where HALO comes in.

...

For nearly four decades, HALO has been clearing landmines, cluster munitions and other explosives from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.

Its work began in Afghanistan but today spans 30 countries. The non-profit employs more than 11,000 people and generates roughly US$200 million in revenue.

Its expansion into Ukraine has been supported by international donors, including Canada.

Samuel Fricker, a Canadian projects officer with HALO who is based in Langley, B.C., says he is glad to see Canadian dollars being put toward HALO.

“As someone who pays taxes in Canada, I’m … happy with where the money goes,” he tells me in a HALO team video call days later.

“The reason I work in this field is because of how tangible the impact is. You are seeing landmines being removed. You’re seeing genuine lives saved,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million contribution accounts for a small fraction of HALO’s $60-million annual Ukraine budget.

...

Daria Hapirova, a gender expert at HALO, says training women to demine is crucial because hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men have joined the military.

“Unfortunately, there is no time for us to act in a gender-neutral way,” she says on the call. “[W]ithout women right now, Ukrainian mine action wouldn’t function.”

Hapirova says there are halo effects to promoting gender equality in a niche sector like demining.

“We started to change our uniform sets, for example, to make it more inclusive, and not only suitable for female bodies, but also to be more practical and more inclusive for different shapes of man’s bodies,” she says.

Fricker says HALO is also more effective at its work when women are included.

Households headed by women — often widows or those whose husbands are fighting — are more willing to share information with female surveyors, he says.

“The interactions are much, much improved by having that diversity,” he says.

Canada’s $5-million grant ended in August, and HALO currently has no ongoing Canadian funding for Ukraine. “We are in discussions with [Global Affairs Canada] about potential future options for follow-on funding,” Shustova says.

But the political winds have shifted. On Nov. 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a press conference in Johannesburg that Canada no longer has a feminist foreign policy.

He added, however, that gender equality will remain an “aspect” of Canada’s broader international agenda.

...

Hi all!

Just a quick update on Scatola Magica - a self hosted file transfer and management system I built - it's almost out of beta and I'd love to have people test it out and raise issues on github in case something is incredibly off.

Repo: https://github.com/fccview/scatola-magica

Quick youtube demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvn0KHxzesE

enable subtitles in the demo for some commentary

Some quick highlights on the features I wanted that made me build this:

• Drag/drop anywhere to upload files/folders (yes even unzipped folders)
• Copy a file and paste it straight on the UI to upload it
• Copy some text and paste it straight in the UI to create a .txt file with the pasted text
• Click on the recursive button to see all files within all folders, multi select them all and download as zip (regardless from if they are in the same folder or not)
• Full on, easy to use encrypt/decrypt of files using the keys generated from the app OR any random public key I may want to use
• Encrypted file transfer
• (for my own taste) Slick UI.

The latest update features full on PGP encryption, transfer encryption (I don't want to call it e2e because files do end up decrypted on the server unless you purposely upload them via the "upload encrypted file", but it's effectively e2e, they get encrypted on your browser - requires https/localhost - are transferred encrypted and get decrypted once safe on your server).

I also have added some fun theming options for people who, like me, grew up in the late 90s, bit of nostalgia never hurts. This is fully featured in the demo video

Some of you may know me for my two other apps I have published here jotty and cronmaster, been a developer for half my life and all I do in my spare time is code and create open source apps. Been into self hosting for quite a while and I have very specific tastes and want very niche features, so I always end up building my own applications, it's a good way to keep up with latest tech and keep the love for my job alive.

Let me know if you like it! Super proud of this one, I am really enjoying using it in my homelab.

Will Twitter finally return?

Deported from the United States and then immediately dispatched to the front lines by Russia. Such was the fate of several Russian nationals who, after being detained and put on a plane in Arizona on Monday, December 8, eventually landed in Moscow on Tuesday, December 9, after a stopover in Cairo.

According to the independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, 64 Russian passengers were on board. The authorities have provided no information about their current status. However, several of them received military draft notices as soon as they arrived, the first step toward likely deployment to the front in Ukraine. The information was confirmed by the group Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR), an advocacy group established in the US by opponents to the Kremlin.

The only official statement from Moscow came after the plane landed: The Office of the Prosecutor General announced the arrest of Zair Saimullin, age 69, who was charged with fraud and whose extradition from the US had been requested by Russia. According to RADR, he was likely on board the flight from Cairo.

After reading about this on hacker news, I get why they do it. Its to make people upload identification documents, to get them prepped to authenticate for using the internet. Now the world makes sense again. I was wondering why they would do something positive. But now I get it.

Crossposted from https://lemmy.cafe/post/28218826

While the Linux kernel has inclusive terminology guidelines for the past five years to replace phrases like master/slave and blacklist/whitelist, there has surprisingly been a "genocide" function within the kernel that was questioned when it was first submitted for inclusion but now removed in Linux 6.19.

Introduced to the Linux kernel back in 2023 was the d_genocide() function as part of various dcache updates to the kernel. The genocide name was questioned when the patches were first posted by longtime Linux developer Al Viro

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43437607

Archive link

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Czech developers have unveiled a new Narwhal cruise missile intended for transfer to Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia. The developer, LPP, is already testing the weapon, with combat validation planned as the final stage. Initial use is expected in January–February 2026, with industrial production slated to begin in March, the outlet Aktualne reports.

Experts say Narwhal is designed for a range of up to 680 km, enough to hit targets deep behind the front lines, including Moscow or the Engels strategic air base. The missile can fly up to 750 km/h and carry a 120 kg warhead. That’s more than the Iran-Russia “Shahed” (50–90 kg), making Narwhal more effective against a broader set of targets.

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Archive link

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Czech developers have unveiled a new Narwhal cruise missile intended for transfer to Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia. The developer, LPP, is already testing the weapon, with combat validation planned as the final stage. Initial use is expected in January–February 2026, with industrial production slated to begin in March, the outlet Aktualne reports.

Experts say Narwhal is designed for a range of up to 680 km, enough to hit targets deep behind the front lines, including Moscow or the Engels strategic air base. The missile can fly up to 750 km/h and carry a 120 kg warhead. That’s more than the Iran-Russia “Shahed” (50–90 kg), making Narwhal more effective against a broader set of targets.

...

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43437255

The Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems is set to collaborate with British educational institutions to train future professionals for its drone manufacturing plant in Mildenhall, the company’s UK director, Rory Chamberlain, [said].

The company is currently partnering with universities to develop educational programs for students.

Chamberlain emphasized that this collaboration will benefit not only Ukrspecsystems but also the broader drone manufacturing ecosystem and its suppliers.

“We are working on this with local educational institutions. We will create courses and transfer knowledge to local students and engineers,” Chamberlain explained.

...

Ukrspecsystems is also working on a program to offer British military personnel opportunities to join the industry before they finish their service, helping them transition into related careers afterward.

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Earlier, it was reported that the Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems has obtained a location at a UK airfield for its drones and is building a specialized runway for UAVs.

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The Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems is set to collaborate with British educational institutions to train future professionals for its drone manufacturing plant in Mildenhall, the company’s UK director, Rory Chamberlain, [said].

The company is currently partnering with universities to develop educational programs for students.

Chamberlain emphasized that this collaboration will benefit not only Ukrspecsystems but also the broader drone manufacturing ecosystem and its suppliers.

“We are working on this with local educational institutions. We will create courses and transfer knowledge to local students and engineers,” Chamberlain explained.

...

Ukrspecsystems is also working on a program to offer British military personnel opportunities to join the industry before they finish their service, helping them transition into related careers afterward.

...

Earlier, it was reported that the Ukrainian company Ukrspecsystems has obtained a location at a UK airfield for its drones and is building a specialized runway for UAVs.

...

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/51387855

Offering screening for neurodivergence to people detained by the police could help ensure access to appropriate support and fairer treatment in the criminal justice system, say Cambridge researchers. A study from the team suggests that one in two individuals arrested and detained in London may have undiagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and one in 20 may have undiagnosed autism.

Archive link

EU countries are to fast-track a decision to indefinitely immobilise up to €210bn in Russian sovereign assets, in an attempt to bypass Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán even before Europe’s leaders meet for a summit next week.

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Diplomats handling the legislation see advantage in moving swiftly in coming days to detach the contentious question of immobilising assets from the debate on raising loans for Kyiv backed by the frozen Russian funds. That funding question will be left to EU leaders next week.

The move to vote within the coming week, overriding the principle of unanimity on sanctions decisions, risks enraging Hungary and other countries that oppose the measure. Past instances of EU countries outvoting other member states on critical issues — such as Poland and Hungary on migration policy — have caused bad blood between capitals for years.

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The European Commission last week proposed using €210bn of Russia’s foreign assets immobilised under sanctions in the EU to fund a loan to Kyiv, initially for €90bn that would be disbursed in the next two years.

For the loan scheme to work, the underlying assets need to be immobilised indefinitely, rather than for six-month periods that can only be renewed with unanimous agreement of all EU27 countries.

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*To bypass the risk of the sanctions being lifted, the commission has proposed using emergency powers reserved for dealing with economic crises to indefinitely impose the sanctions on the assets. Enacted under Article 122 of the EU’s treaties, it can be passed with just a majority of EU countries, circumventing potential vetoes. *

Locking in the sanctions would also mark a statement against Washington. An initial Ukraine peace plan partly drafted by American officials had called for the bulk of the assets to be poured into two US-led investment funds.

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Belgium, home to central securities depository Euroclear, which holds €185bn of the Russian assets, has opposed the loan proposal, citing legal and financial risks. It fears being left on the hook for legal claims from Russia should the sanctions be lifted unexpectedly.

Belgium has demanded ironclad guarantees that other member states would agree to be jointly liable and share the costs of potential legal suits against it or Euroclear. The commission has addressed “almost all” of Belgium’s demands for the reparations loan, president Ursula von der Leyen said.

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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43435445

Web archive link

Russia’s lower-house State Duma passed a bill on Tuesday granting the state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring access to detailed information about Russians’ financial transactions.

The move is intended to improve Russia’s ability to track suspicious financial activity more quickly, making it easier to identify potential money laundering or terrorism financing activities.

Critics argued that it could expand financial surveillance and restrict citizens' financial freedom, while others warned that it might increase the risk of unjustified account freezes.

The legislation will allow Rosfinmonitoring to directly access transaction data from the National Payment Card System (NPCS), which manages operations involving Russia’s Mir cards, and the Fast Payment System (FPS).

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