If lawmakers push to charge retirees for health care, it will especially hit Americans who have made France their home.

I just revived my (never that active, to begin with) Mastodon account because I felt like posting a quick note and a picture of the (17th century French poetry) book I'm carrying with me today. While I was writing it, I realized I could easily post stuff like that very regularly, if not every single day, but also it was not something I wanted to use my blog for, nor share over here on Lemmy. Here is the link to the post: https://social.vivaldi.net/@Lbb89/115644609170370202

I have no idea if this is of interest to anyone, to read and/or to participate in by sharing their own book, but here it is. To the admin: feel free to remove this post if you don't think it belongs here, I won't be mad ;)

Any move to “wipe the slate clean” for Russia in a peace deal would be “a historic mistake of huge proportions,” the EU justice commissioner tells POLITICO.

Donald Trump’s drive to secure peace in Ukraine must not let Vladimir Putin off the hook for war crimes committed by Russian forces, a top EU official has warned, effectively setting a new red line for a deal.

In an interview with POLITICO, Michael McGrath, the European commissioner for justice and democracy, said negotiators must ensure the push for a ceasefire does not result in Russia escaping prosecution.

His comments reflect concerns widely held in European capitals that the original American blueprint for a deal included the promise of a “full amnesty for actions committed during the war,” alongside plans to reintegrate Russia into the world economy.

1. Which mods/admins were being Power Tripping Bastards?

https://quokk.au/u/Deceptichum

2. What sanction did they impose (e.g. community ban, instance ban, removed comment)?

74 year community ban for 'homophobia'

3. Provide a screenshot of the relevant modlog entry (don’t de-obfuscate mod names).

4. Provide a screenshot and explanation of the cause of the sanction (e.g. the post/comment that was removed, or got you banned).

here's the exchange that resulted in the ban:

5. Explain why you think its unfair and how you would like the situation to be remedied.

I'm gay, trans, and an anarchist. I thought the post title was misogynistic, objectifying, and not a good example something that should be in a 'queer friendly' space.

Not everyone is okay with sexual degradation humor, misogynistic comments, etc, even if it's about people you disagree with. Pointing that out in this case got me called a homophobic tankie and banned within minutes of making the post.

Alleged gunman faces nine charges including second-degree murder in New York state case

Luigi Mangione is due to appear in Manhattan state court on Monday for the first day of a potentially weeklong proceeding to weigh the legality of evidence gathered during his arrest after the killing of a prominent healthcare executive.

Mangione was apprehended last December in the murder of senior United HealthCare figure Brian Thompson last December. In addition to state-level charges, he faces a Manhattan federal court case.

Thompson’s brutal slaying on the streets of New York city triggered an intense manhunt for the killer, but also sparked an outpouring of anger at the practices of the US for-profit healthcare industry. Since his arrest Mangione has attracted some enthusiastic supporters, both online and at his court appearances.

Country seen as champion of equal rights faces reckoning after senior politician says she felt compelled to quit

Increasing hate, threats and harassment against female politicians are scaring women away from public life and forcing them to censor themselves, the Swedish government’s equality agency has said, warning that this poses a “big threat to democracy.”

Women’s safety in politics has come under heightened scrutiny in the Scandinavian country since October, when Anna-Karin Hatt resigned as leader of the Centre party after only five months in office, citing hate and threats.

“To constantly feel like you need to look over your shoulder and [to] not feel completely safe, not even at home … I am affected by it much more deeply than I thought I would [be],” she said at the time.

MKBHD Video.

We’ve got some important news to share. Earlier this year, the makeup of the development team changed, and despite our best efforts to bring in collaborators who shared our passion and vision, we weren’t able to find the right fit. Rather than keeping the app running without being able to grow it in the way we originally envisioned, we felt it was best to make a clean break.

The Panels app itself will be shutting down.

Once the app shutdown is complete and all user data has been securely deleted, we will open source the Panels app code under the Apache 2.0 license. This will allow anyone to build on what we started — we’re excited to see what new projects may grow from it.

We're keeping the artist revenue share program active until the very end because we want their work to be rewarded!

Early results from the general election in Honduras show Nasry Asfura, leader of the right-wing National Party, has a very narrow lead.

With more than 40% of the votes counted, the conservative candidate was just ahead of former TV host and Vice-President Salvador Nasralla, according to preliminary results published by the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Asfura has been backed by Donald Trump, who has threatened to cut financial aid to the Central American nation if his preferred candidate does not win.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46524461

Archived

Not long before he was reportedly detained, Miles Kwan approached commuters outside a Hong Kong train station, urging them to demand accountability for the deadly inferno that tore through nearby apartment blocks.

"We all feel unhappy that (Hong Kong) has come to this and we want things to improve," the 24-year-old student said Friday, while handing out flyers that called for an independent probe into the blaze, which killed at least 128 people last week, with another 150 still missing. "We need to be frank about how today's Hong Kong is riddled with holes, inside and out."

Kwan and other organizers' demands turned into an online petition that gained more than 10,000 signatures in less than a day.

A second petition with the same demands has been launched by a Tai Po resident who is now living overseas.

“Hongkongers demand the truth and justice,” read one note in the comment section of the new online petition.

But local media reported Saturday night that Kwan was arrested on suspicion of sedition by national security police and the text of the online petition had been deleted, showing how under Beijing's watchful eye, dissenting voices in Hong Kong can vanish as quickly as they appear.

[...]

Reporters' attempts to reach Kwan by phone Sunday morning went unanswered.

[...]

Kwan was reportedly detained not long after Beijing's national security arm in Hong Kong publicly condemned "anti-China forces" for exploiting the disaster and "inciting social division and stirring hatred against authorities."

Asked on Friday if he feared being arrested, Kwan said he was only "proposing very basic demands."

"If these ideas are deemed seditious or 'crossing the line,' then I feel I can't predict the consequences of anything anymore, and I can only do what I truly believe."

Kwan and a handful of activists gave out flyers at the train station near the charred residential estate Friday, demanding government accountability, an independent probe into possible corruption, proper resettlement for residents and a review of construction oversight.

The demands reflected a belief that the fire was "not an accident" but a human-made disaster, he said.

[...]

Residents of Wang Fuk Court were told by authorities last year they faced "relatively low fire risks" after complaining about fire hazards posed by the renovation, the city's Labour Department said.

The residents raised concerns in September 2024, including about the potential flammability of the protective green mesh contractors used to cover the bamboo scaffolding, a department spokesperson said.

[...]

When Britain was grappling with public fury over the devastating Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, which killed 72 people, the government announced a public inquiry.

Lawyer Imran Khan, who represented the bereaved and survivors in the inquiry, said "the lessons from Grenfell apply around the world" as all governments need to ensure high-rise residential buildings are safe.

Khan said a public inquiry with court-like powers was a better option for the situation in Hong Kong because "an internal investigation will not get to the truth and there will be no faith in it by the bereaved, survivors and residents."

Based on his experience with Grenfell residents, he said, "without justice they cannot grieve."

[...]

Near the site of the blaze a short walk away, a long queue snaked through a park as mourners brought flowers and handwritten notes of remembrance.

One unsigned note left on the ground read, "This is not just an accident, it is the evil fruit of an unjust system, which landed on you. It's not right."

Addition:

Reporting on the the deadly fires, Australia's ABC says that Hong Kong residents are asking hard questions about safety following last week's deadly high-rise tower blaze (video, 7 min).

The term "rage bait" has been chosen as Oxford's Word of the Year for 2025, reflecting the rise of outrage-driven online content. It beat contenders "aura farming" and "biohack" in a public vote.

The term refers to "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content."

Experts at Oxford Language say the term captures how online culture has evolved from click-driven attention to emotion-driven manipulation. They noted that 2025's news cycle, dominated by social unrest and debates on regulating online content, contributed to rage bait becoming a widely recognized linguistic marker of the moment.

Some of the netting used by contractors at Wang Fuk Court has been found to not meet fire-safety code. Police continue to search the rubble, with more than 40 people still missing.

The massive electricity usage by AI data centers in the US is causing the price of electricity to rise, and with it many other things whose prices are affected by the cost of electricity. Some people are getting mad enough to become politically active.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46523973

Archived

China’s already fragile property market took another blow this week as two of its largest private housing data agencies, China Real Estate Information Corp. and China Index Academy, failed to release monthly sales figures for the top 100 developers as expected on Sunday. This data blackout came shortly after China Vanke Co. a developer long perceived as relatively stable requested a delay in repaying a local bond, its first such move.

The agencies did not provide explanations for the delay, a rare deviation from routine reporting schedules that has triggered widespread speculation. The timing suggests a correlation between Vanke’s distress signal and the withholding of market data, reinforcing concerns that the November sales figures may be significantly worse than anticipated.

[...]

The absence of November figures adds opacity to an already uncertain environment. According to Kristy Hung, senior real estate analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, withholding the data “could increase uncertainty about the struggling sector’s condition” and likely reflects “steeper declines” in sales performance across the board.

The lack of transparency is particularly troubling as it undermines efforts by regulators to stabilize market sentiment. Investors are now left to interpret silence as a negative signal, which may accelerate capital flight and further impair refinancing efforts for developers already teetering on the edge of default.

[...]

Vanke’s request to delay bond repayment marks a critical turning point. As one of the few firms previously seen as weathering the crisis, its need for restructuring signals that even stronger developers are now succumbing to funding constraints and weakening sales. This suggests a causal deterioration of sector-wide liquidity, as refinancing options dwindle and investor confidence erodes.

While Evergrande and Country Garden have already defaulted or restructured, Vanke’s case sends a new signal to markets: no developer is immune. The Vanke episode has also likely prompted data providers to pause release to avoid further market panic, underscoring the depth of sentiment fragility.

[...]

China’s housing sector risks sliding further into a protracted downturn marked by fear, opacity, and investor disengagement. The Vanke episode may be just the beginning of a broader reckoning for an industry long seen as a pillar of China’s economic engine.

“The most likely option ... is that cold cuts, a sandwich, contaminated food, could end up in a bin – we have to take into account that Bellaterra is an area with a lot of traffic from all over Europe – and then that a wild boar would have eaten it and become infected,” Catalonia’s agriculture minister Oscar Ordeig told Catalunya Radio on Dec 1.

African swine fever, while harmless to humans, spreads rapidly among pigs and wild boar, posing a significant economic risk to Spain, one of the world’s largest pork exporters.

Casting support is still available on older Chromecast devices or TVs that support Google Cast natively, according to Netflix’s support page

TL;DR

MKBHD is shutting down the Panels app at the end of this month, citing issues with finding the right development team fit.

You can no longer buy collections, and you must download existing wallpapers before the app is removed.

Users will receive automatic pro-rated refunds for active subscriptions, and the app code is promised to be open-sourced after shutdown.

Big Brother Watch have warned that this facial recognition drive "affects everyone with a passport" — threatening rights and civil liberties

The Swiss privacy regulator Privatim has taken steps to ban Microsoft, Amazon, and Google’s American cloud services for government agencies. Data storage within Switzerland offers no protection against American laws, Privatim argues.