The effective confirmation by five European countries that Russia did kill opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2024 did not surprise those familiar with the Kremlin's track record.

But the Feb. 14 statement, which blames Russia for the murder and specifies the kind of poison used, represents a new milestone in the deterioration in Russian-European relations.

Previously European countries were more reluctant to antagonize Russia. But Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and Kremlin-linked murders and sabotage all over the continent have pushed Europe towards a harsher and more resolute approach.

"It looks like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s penchant for killing has been recognized as outrageous," Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told the Kyiv Independent. "And now it will be impossible to restore normal relations with him. The idea that it is possible to make deals with him is becoming less and less popular in Europe."

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A 28-year-old Brazilian recruit died after a brutal punishment handed out in a unit that regularly used discipline practices described as "torture" by those who both witnessed and suffered them, a Kyiv Independent investigation can reveal.

The man, Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva, died overnight Dec. 28-29, 2025, according to former fellow fighters who spoke to the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.

The unit in question is a Brazilian-led formation called Advanced Company, led by the Brazilian Leanderson Paulino who is accused by several of those serving under him of overseeing — and in some cases taking part in — the abuse of his subordinates.

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Published FlightRadar screenshots recorded at least 19 KC-135R/T Stratotanker aircraft.

also see https://www.commondreams.org/news/trumps-war-with-iran

Full Comission

Update: I am re-uploading a new version of the video because there was some issue with audio syncing in Firefox.

If only there was a better way!

While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average

Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.

The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while they were on the road.

. . .

According to the study, the vehicles require on average six litres per 100km, or about 300%, more fuel to run than previously cited.

The scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute found that the main reason for the higher-than-stated fuel usage was due precisely to the fact that the PHEVs use two different modes, the electric engine and the combustion engine, switching between both. Until now it has been claimed by manufacturers that the vehicles used only a little or almost no fuel when in the electric mode. The studies showed that this was not in fact the case.

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*Genocide

Instead, the US is now in talks with the Islamic Republic, with the focus of American efforts having unaccountably shifted from preventing the ayatollahs from massacring their own people and expediting the regime’s downfall to trying yet again to lock them into an agreement ensuring they cannot build nuclear weapons — the kind of deal, that is, that experience shows the regime will evade and breach without compunction. The talks don’t even cover Iran’s revived ballistic missiles production, or its ongoing support for proxies, including Hezbollah and Hamas, that exist solely to expand Iran’s rapacious ideology.

It’s as though Iran holds the upper hand in setting the framework for this interaction, when it is a failing regime, loathed by its own people, facing off against the most powerful military force in the world.

....

Trump has set his heart on acting as global peacemaker, ending conflicts rather than starting them. Where Iran is concerned, peace and stability require effectively supporting an Iranian citizenry that has shown, time and again, that it will put its lives on the line for freedom, and where, to date, the supposedly enlightened, life-affirming West has failed, also time and again, to play its vital part in the struggle.

As US senator and close Trump ally Lindsey Graham told ToI’s Lazar Berman on Monday, “If having said all the things we’ve said and done all the things we’ve done, if the ayatollah is still standing after all this bluster, then it would be a strategic victory for Iran and the force of radical Islam.”

takes a bong rip

how many levels deep of leopards-eating-faces is this? It is a leopard-face onion that extends so far down into delusion it gives you vertigo...

What we may be witnessing isn’t diplomacy aimed at preventing conflict, but diplomacy establishing narrative justification for conflict. Each side can claim it tried negotiations, offered reasonable terms, and was rebuffed by unreasonable demands. That establishes cover for military action.

These six factors indicate a moment of high risk. U.S. forces are moving into position, while diplomacy is stuck on core issues.

The most apocalyptic listicle?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7691747

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/29115

Big Tech firms are coming under greater scrutiny for the proliferation of child sexual abuse material generated by artificial intelligence-powered chatbots on their social media platforms.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced on Tuesday that it was invoking the European Union's data privacy regulations to open an investigation into Grok, the AI chatbot featured on Elon Musk's X platform, after it was used to generate nonconsensual deepfake images, including sexualized images of children.

In announcing the investigation, DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said that the commission has been in contact with X for weeks after reports first emerged of Grok being used to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Doyle said DPC has since decided to launch "a large-scale inquiry which will examine [X's] compliance with some of their fundamental obligations" under European privacy laws.

Spanish President Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday that his government would ask Spain's Public Prosecution Service to "investigate the crimes that X, Meta, and TikTok may be committing through the creation and dissemination of child pornography by means of their AI."

"These platforms are attacking the mental health, dignity, and rights of our sons and daughters," Sánchez emphasized. "The state cannot allow it. The impunity of the giants must end."

The probes announced by Ireland and Spain mark just the latest actions by European governments against US-based tech giants. Earlier in February, law enforcement authorities in France raided the office of X in Paris, which the Paris prosecutor’s office said was part of an investigation aimed at "ensuring that the X platform complies with French laws, insofar as it operates on national territory."

The UK government's Information Commissioner's Office has also announced an investigation into X that the agency said encompasses "their processing of personal data in relation to the Grok artificial intelligence system and its potential to produce harmful sexualized image and video content."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7691757

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/28994

"Late Show" host Stephen Colbert unloaded on higher-ups at CBS late Monday for refusing to air his interview with Texas US Senate candidate James Talarico, allegedly out of fear that the Federal Communications Commission—led by Trump lackey Brendan Carr—would retaliate against the network.

"We were told in no uncertain terms by our network's lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast," Colbert said of the Democratic candidate, whose 15-minute interview was aired on YouTube instead.

During an on-air segment late Monday, Colbert called attention to FCC Media Bureau guidance issued last month stating that daytime and late-night talk shows featuring interviews with political candidates must give equal time to opposing candidates, effectively dispensing with a decades-old exemption for the programs.

Colbert slammed CBS for "unilaterally enforcing" the FCC guidance, a decision he said was made for "purely financial reasons." CBS is owned by Paramount Skydance, whose chief executive, David Ellison, is the son of billionaire Trump ally and donor Larry Ellison.

Watch Colbert's segment:

CBS leadership's decision to block the airing of Colbert's interview with Talarico came days after the Republican-led FCC launched an investigation into whether ABC's "The View" violated equal time rules with its Talarico interview earlier this month. US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who is running against Talarico in the Senate primary, appeared on "The View" in January.

Anna Gomez, the lone Democratic commissioner on the FCC, denounced the ABC investigation as a "sham."

“Let’s be clear on what this is. This is government intimidation, not a legitimate investigation," said Gomez. "Like many other so-called ‘investigations’ before it, the FCC will announce an investigation but never carry one out, reach a conclusion, or take any meaningful action."

"The real purpose is to weaponize the FCC’s regulatory authority to intimidate perceived critics of this administration and chill protected speech. That is not how a free society operates," she continued. "I urge broadcasters and their parent networks to stand strong against these unfounded attacks and continue exercising their constitutional rights without fear or favor."

By refusing to let the Talarico interview air on the televised broadcast, CBS opted to cave to the administration, according to Colbert.

"Let’s just call this what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV, OK? He’s like a toddler with too much screen time," said Colbert. "He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diaper."

Talarico, for his part, declared in a social media post that "this is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see," posting a clip of his appearance on "The Late Show."

Watch the full interview:

"I think that Donald Trump is worried that we're about to flip Texas," Talarico said during the interview. "This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they're trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read."

"They went after 'The View' because I went on there," he continued. "They went after Jimmy Kimmel for telling a joke they didn't like. They went after you for telling the truth about Paramount's bribe to Donald Trump. Corporate media executives are selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians."

Other critics of the CBS decision said it's the latest example of media conglomerates bending to Trump's bullying.

"Big media self-censorship is real," warned Tim Karr, senior director of strategy and communications with the advocacy group Free Press.

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

I've found the solution, and it's exactly as stupid and obvious as I was expecting.

The classroom computers were deployed using Clonezilla from an image that had the VirtualBox VM pre-configured. As a result of this, every VM had the same MAC address, which probably caused a lot of ARP collisions, since all the hosts and VMs were essentially on the same broadcast domain.

The solution was to simply randomize each VM's MAC address. After that, ICMP, SSH, and HTTP worked as expected. Thanks for the suggestions, but it was caused by my own oversight in the end.

(edit) I got around to reading the comments just now, @maxy@piefed.social was totally correct.

I know this isn't "selfhosting" as most people imagine it, but it is about hosting services on own hardware, hence why I'm posting in this community.

I'm supposed to help a teacher set up a networking exercise where pairs of computers are connected directly on a crossover cable and can access services (echo, HTTP, SSH, FTP) on each other. Every computer is identical: Windows 10 host, one VirtualBox VM running Linux Mint with a bridged adapter in promiscuous mode. Each host and VM has its own static link-local IP address.

The problem is, the VMs can't talk to each other, and I don't know why.

From one VM, I can ping itself, its host, and the remote host, but not the remote VM. Each host can ping itself, the local VM, the remote host, but not the remote VM. I've tried connecting both hosts to a layer-2 switch, with the same result.

Can someone point me at the one thing that I'm obviously doing wrong?

(edit) I've also tried to set the default gateway to the host's, remote host's, and remote VM's address, but nothing changed.

Running Linux on metal isn't an option. In the past, the classroom computers used to dual boot Windows and Ubuntu, but the Windows install got so bloated (the software too, not just Windows) that it needs the full SSD.

According to the Author of the Post the Model Context Protocol (MCP) disregards RPC best practices like:

• No (enforced) type validation of inputs at compile-time
• Mixing stateful and stateless Operations without clear labeling/separation
• No generated consistent bindings for different languages (similar to the first point) like e.g. gRPC does
• No tracability embedded into the Protocol
• Relying on "yet another library" to add functionality that is baked into other RPC protocols (e.g. Authorization, generators, tracing)

I thought it was an interesting read. We are (in our company) using MCP in a more Basic way (to access company internal ressources like Wiki's, issue trackers, etc.) and for this they work good enough. But I never thought about the consequences you might experience if you MCP in a more complex and autonomuous use case.

This is not directly selfhosting but related. I have 2 Proxmox hosts which both support Intel AMT which is a remote control tool similar to supermicro IPMI, supporting KVM, power cycles and more. I wanted it to be able to repair stuff in case I can't reach the servers via ui/ssh.

I set it up and it worked fine for months. I could access both on ip.address:16992.

Lately, one of them started disappearing after days or weeks. Rebooting brings it back, but it's a running server and I don't want to reboot it so often. The server is working fine otherwise.

Does anyone know that problem? It's hard to pin down since it can't be seen on the host linux (port not shown in netstat for example).