cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/43299607

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Here is the official release by the Canadian government and the EU's official statement.

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Canada's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon held two press conferences on the first day of the two-day meeting in Montreal — one on a new partnership with Germany and the other on a new agreement with the European Union.

The agreement with Germany is meant to increase collaboration on AI, quantum technology, digital sovereignty and infrastructure. Solomon also announced the signing of two agreements with the EU — one focusing on adoption and responsible development of AI and the other on co-operation on digital credentials.

The European Union has been a proponent of AI regulation, while the United States under the Trump administration has opposed regulation. In Montreal, Solomon faced questions from reporters about that dynamic.

"Canada and Europe have both very much been aligned on finding a place where we have the balance between privacy, safety, and AI safety, not just with AI, whether it's with deep fakes and other issues, but also making sure we don't constrain innovation," Solomon said.

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At the press conference with [executive vice-president of the European Commission for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, Henna] Virkkunen, he said one of Canada's goals is to broaden trade relationships, including digital trade relationships with Europe. He noted Canada's digital partnership with the EU began in 2023.

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When Solomon was first named artificial intelligence minister, he said Canada would not "over-index" on regulation and cited U.S. and Chinese disinterest in such efforts.

A month ago, at the Govern or Be Governed conference in Montreal, the European Union’s democracy commissioner said he wouldn't "lecture" Canada or any other country as the EU pushes ahead on regulating tech platforms and artificial intelligence. AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio told the same conference Canada should partner with allies like the European Union.

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The federal government says it is keeping a close eye on lethal strikes by American forces on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, while continuing with operations in the region.

Canada has conducted Operation Caribbe — an anti-drug trafficking mission in partnership with the United States Coast Guard — since 2006.

The Department of National Defence says that mission has nothing to do with the deadly strikes conducted by the U.S. Air Force.

This shift has left Canada and other allies in an impossible position, according to Rob Huebert, director of the Centre For Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

"I think the Canadian government is quite rightly being very cautious on its activities to ensure Canadians are not caught up in any kind of illegal activities, but at the same token trying to maintain this working relationship we have," Huebert told CBC News.

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A few hundred people gathered in central Madrid, with thousands more rallying in nearly 80 cities across the globe. On Saturday, December 6, the Venezuelan diaspora responded to a call from Maria Corina Machado, the leading figure of the opposition to Nicolás Maduro's regime, ahead of the ceremony where she is set to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10 in Oslo.

On Plaza España, Venezuelan flags mixed with placards condemning the government in Caracas. For a long time, the opposition wanted to show a united front as Washington increased pressure on Venezuela. "The Nobel is a huge step forward for us. It means there is no longer any disagreement about the criminal nature of Maduro's regime," said José Antonio Vega, Spain coordinator for Vente Venezuela, the party founded by Machado in 2012.

The opposition leader, forced to go underground in Venezuela, confirmed that she would travel to Norway in person to receive her award, despite the risk of being declared a fugitive by authorities. The Nobel Committee awarded her the distinction on October 10 "for her tireless work in support of the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people, and for her fight for a fair and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46973777

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

I would give anything to move abroad, but im into little to no things it takes to actually do so. And when I read about it, it seems a bit reasonable, but I lose all interest and motivation right there. Doubt myself and the usual.

I hate being american so much to where I want to do. I don't feel like writing much cause I feel pretty tired right now, but still Its become some sort of dysphoria for me. I feel inferior and I even hope to die in my sleep. I just wish that I were born European.

I do learn languages and I'm well aware of the issues over there.

I wonder to god why I was born here, but I know god doesn't really work like that or see things that way. So I probably pray.

I feel inferior literally

I don't relate to the history or culture (as if there is any) at all.

And some other stuff.

And I apologize if this seems very excessive. Its just really how I feel.

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Schleswig-Holstein [Germany's most Northern state] started its open source journey early, becoming something of a vanguard in Europe's move away from proprietary software [by ditching Microsoft and introducing Linux and LibreOffice].

Now, Dirk Schrödter, the Minister for Digital Transformation of the state, has shared some remarkable numbers (link to article in German language) that prove the financial case for implementing open source for government use cases.

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According to Schrödter's ministry, Schleswig-Holstein will save over €15 million in license costs in 2026. This is money the state previously paid Microsoft for Office 365 and related services.

The savings come from nearly completing the migration to LibreOffice. Outside the tax administration, almost 80% of workplaces in the state government are said to have made the switch.

The remaining 20% of workplaces still depend on Microsoft programs. Technical dependencies in certain specialized applications keep these systems tied to Word or Excel for now. But converting these remaining computers is the end goal.

There is also a one-time €9 million investment set in motion for 2026, which would be used to complete the migration and further develop the open source solutions for the ministry.

[...]

US-Venezuela relations have reached one of their most volatile moments in decades. Here is how we got here.

Feel old yet?

Without Chairman Meow, There Would Be No New China.

A US pardon is worthless outside the US

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/40061691

Dec 08, 2025

In late 2024, Israeli lawmakers approved a ban on UNRWA in Israel over disproven allegations that some of its staffers were Hamas members who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack. Those accusations led to numerous nations suspending financial support for UNRWA, although most of the countries have since restored funding. Israel has also sought to ban UNRWA from Gaza since early 2024.

Israeli forces have killed more than 370 UNRWA staff members since October 2023 and destroyed or damaged over 300 of the agency’s facilities in Gaza. Lazzarini and others have also accused Israeli forces of torturing UNRWA staffers in a bid to force false confessions of Hamas involvement.

With the ban going into effect, I thought it might be helpful to allow people to share their experiences about the Australian teen social media ban and how it has affected them.

Note: For the Aussie Zone lemmy requirements, see here. Please use that thread for an Aussie Zone specific discussions or questions.

Good luck, everyone!

The European Commission said it will “make sure” it receives money owed by Elon Musk’s X after the company was fined €120 million for failing to meet transparency rules.

The Commission on Friday said X has breached transparency and deceptive design obligations under the EU's platforms regulation, the Digital Services Act, and issued the €120 million penalty.

The decision set off a cascade of accusations of censorship from U.S. officials, Musk and his supporters, with some suggesting the company should refuse to pay the fine.

Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis