extremely hacker voice: "I'm in" 😎

The EU has formal security and defence partnerships with Australia, Japan and South Korea, and in 2020 signed a broad “strategic partnership” with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional group, which includes co-operation on counterterrorism and maritime and cyber security.(..)

Kallas said the EU was “not the traditional security actor”, but Asian countries had been raising the possibility of working with it on issues such as maritime security, freedom of navigation and cyber security.(..)

“China is telling us that they want to be good partners and they are interested in our partnership,” she said. “If you want to have a partnership, then you also listen to the worries that the other side has.” Arch

I grew up in the 90s and I remember being able to truncate the year down to just 2 numbers when talking about years within the current millennium. It seems like we're still saying twenty before every year and I'm just wondering when that will change.

I've been getting into automotive photography, been doing it for my own interests for years, but as of late, I've been wanting to grow out of it, go it a little more "pro-hobbiest" level and be able to share publicly.

I've tried posting on other social medias like 500px or pixelfed, but no one knows what these are, and people quickly lose interest when I don't give them a Instagram handle or something familiar, especially as where I live everything is IG, so as it stands, the only way I share is in person, face to face and hope people are happy for me to text/email them links to a proton drive, and that goes about as smoothly as you'd imagine, so with that in mind, I'd like to try and see if there is a way I can run a IG account with privacy in mind.

I have a old LG G8s Thinq that I was considering putting another OS on and use only with either home internet or hotspot off of my main phone, use the LG only for Instagram and having all my images stripped of metadata before posting, but wondering what other tips people have in mind if they had to do this themselves. I understand that with anything Meta, true privacy is pretty much impossible, so a good enough solution is well, good enough.

Much appreciated!

• https://www.jmail.world/vr
• https://www.jmail.world/photos
• https://www.jmail.world/drive
• https://www.jmail.world/flights
• https://www.jmail.world/jamazon

"It almost seems that it doesn't matter to them who they execute, as long as they send a message to society that there's a zero-tolerance policy on whatever issue they're talking about - whether it's protests, freedom of expression, or drugs," said Ms Basyouni.

The de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman - who became crown prince in 2017 - has changed the country profoundly over the past few years, loosening social restrictions while simultaneously silencing criticism.

In a bid to diversify its economy away from oil, he has opened Saudi Arabia up to the outside world, taken the religious police off the streets, and allowed women to drive.

But the kingdom's human rights record remains "abysmal", according to the US-based campaign group Human Rights Watch, with the high level of executions a major concern. In recent years, only China and Iran have put more people to death, according to human rights activists.

Flock left at least 60 of its people-tracking Condor PTZ cameras live streaming and exposed to the open internet.

Benn Jordan’s Video

• Orban faces toughest challenge of his 15-year rule
• Economy mired in three-year period of stagnation
• Cost of living, economy, health dominate election concerns
• Veteran leader racing against time to turn economy around before the election in April 2025

Hungary's [prime minister] Viktor Orban may have got a brief poll boost last month from a costly pensions sweetener but he faces a race against time before April's election to turn the stagnating economy around enough to extend a 15-year grip on power.

Orban's reelection bid will be watched far beyond Hungary. A thorn in the side of the European Union, the nationalist leader counts U.S. President Donald Trump as an anti-EU ally and maintains close ties with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

...

While the inflation surge has lifted Hungarian food prices close to EU average levels, the annual average full-time salary per employee was third-lowest in the bloc and pension spending is also among the lowest as a share of output.

The pension top-up, aimed at Hungary's 2.4 million retirees who make up over a quarter of the electorate, will cost $454 million next year, with its price tag rising each following year as it is phased in over the next government cycle.

...

The pension moves will have a far larger cost in the long run. In August the IMF warned that, without reforms to its pension system, Hungary was set for "explosive growth" in borrowing beyond 2030, with its public debt estimated at a staggering 255% of output by 2054.

Some public comments to Orban's Facebook post announcing the pension top-up were critical of the move, calling instead for hikes to smaller pensions or indexation to wages, while others derided it as a "joke" or "vote buying".

...

"The problem is that (sentiment) is still negative and it cannot be changed dramatically in a few months. The time is too short and the amount of money to be distributed is limited," 21 Research Centre Director Daniel Rona said.

Several thousand activists from across Serbia joined student protests in the country's southwest on Sunday, rallying against what they describe as government pressure on state universities.

The demonstration, part of a wider movement confronting political interference in higher education, was the first of its kind in Novi Pazar, a town with a majority Bosniak Muslim population.

It is among many protests organised after the collapse of a railway station roof last year in the northern city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 people ... [The station’s modernization was a symbol of Serbia’s growing cooperation with China. Completed in the summer of 2024, the $1.5 billion project – funded through a loan agreement between the Serbian government, China’s Exim Bank, and the Russian government under the China-CEEC cooperation framework – but had come to symbolize systemic issues of corruption, secrecy, and a lack of accountability.]

...

Throughout the day-long protest, participants observed a moment of silence for the victims of the roof collapse. They waved flags representing their towns and universities, whistled, and chanted their signature slogan: “Pump up!”

The protest movement - led by students, academics, and opposition figures - accuses Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist nationalist party of fostering corruption, poor public services, nepotism, and restrictions on media freedom. Vucic and his party deny the allegations.

...

Visa says it has completed hundreds of secure AI initiated transactions with partners, signaling that agent driven shopping and checkout could reach mainstream consumers by the 2026 holiday season, raising both convenience and risk questions.

Anna’s Archive’s idealism doesn’t quite survive its own blog post

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's scandal-hit Socialists endured a crushing defeat in a regional election in Extremadura on Sunday, which saw far-right Vox make big gains.

The Socialists, who lead the minority national coalition, have been rocked by corruption and sexual misconduct allegations and the vote in the rural southwestern region was seen as an indicator of the party's wider prospects.

They won just 18 seats in the 65-seat assembly down from 28, their worst-ever regional result in Extremadura.

...

It was the first regional election since a court ordered Jose Luis Abalos, a former top aide to Sanchez, to stand trial over claims he took kickbacks related to the awarding of public contracts.

The prime minister's wife, Begona Gomez, and younger brother, David are also facing graft allegations.

David Sanchez is set to go on trial for influence peddling in May along with 10 other defendants including the Socialist candidate to head Extremadura's government, Miguel Angel Gallardo -- who called Sunday's election results "really bad".

The Socialists have also come under fire in recent weeks for allegedly failing to address sexual harassment by senior male officials.

...

Sunday's vote will be followed by regional elections in Andalusia, Aragon, and Castile and Leon during the first half of 2026.

I have a huge supply of ensure that i want to make a bit less desserty