Several years ago I had a Discord community with hundreds of users. This was an IRL community, so it was very difficult to abandon but I did anyway. Tried to get people to leave but they were unwilling. So I handed it off to another member and deleted my account. Now that admin has contacted me again and let me know everyone is ready to leave. I found Fluxer yesterday while poking around #Discord on Mastodon and I think we're going to end up there.

Fluxer is still very early in development and they have plans for many advanced features in the roadmap but it's very feature-rich today. Current monetization plan is freemium + Patreon-like monetization. I understand that may be a dealbreaker for some but there aren't a ton of other great options, and everything is open source, and self-hostable, and if you do, you get all of the premium features for free, while still communicating with the main instance over federation (in roadmap). That still leaves it susceptible to Mattermost-style enshittification but honestly rolling back updates solves most of those style of problems.

Played Darksiders 3 some more.

Figured out what happens to souls after you die, a phantom / ghost like thingy start flying near the place, you just destroy it and get back the souls. Got a new powerup, and am at a place with many enemies. Turned it off the game when I kept dying. Will get back to it this weekend.

Also played some Xuan Yuan Sword: Mists Beyond the Mountains.

So the game is apparently a port of the mobile version, which basically gives you lots of XP so you level up faster, making the game much easier. Which I like, since these older RPGs can be pretty tough.

The game has random encounters, which I am not a fan of, but you get the option to "Auto Attack" which makes these fights much faster, and with increased XP, it keeps the things moving fast. There is also a "Tame" mechanic which allows you to capture different monsters, and then with "Fusion system" you can merge different monsters or items to get different monsters or upgrade your equipment. You can also summon the monsters in battle, and they can help you attack the enemy.

There are also many side-quests and puzzles, but they are quite obtuse if you aren't used to these older games. The quests doesn't appear as anything special, you just talk to NPCs and they talk like other NPCs but mention some problem in it, so you have to fix their problem or whatever, without any log or marker or anything. Took me a bit getting used to, and actually missed a few side-quests in the first area.

The story and the world is pretty good though, even with subpar translation and the way font formatting is.

So far, I'll recommend it if you like older RPGs with good stories, and are willing to deal with some dated mechanics.

What about all of you? What have you been playing and/or plan to play?

Kulyk legally entered the U.S. in late 2023 along with his wife, 38, and daughter, who’s now 5. The family was sponsored by U.S. citizens as part of the Uniting 4 Ukraine program, a humanitarian program set up in April 2022 to allow Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war to live and work in the U.S. on “parole.”

Once the initial two-year parole period expires, entrants can file for re-parole to remain in the country longer. That’s exactly what Kulyk says he did. His wife and daughter’s applications were approved. But his remained pending.

He said he was putting groceries in his car on Jan. 1 when he was approached by three ICE agents.

“I explained to the ICE officers that the war was killing people, that my wife had a disability, that it was violence, terrorism which we had escaped from but one of them began to laugh,” Kulyk told The Daily Beast. “I asked why he was laughing and I was told that he was pro-Russian, wanted Russia to win the war.”

I'm planning to setup backup on my nas with the 3-2-1 backup rule.

For the backup disks I want full disk encryption, but I also want to be really sure that I don't lose the encryption keys if I lose my phone and computer where I have my password manager.

What is a good practice to store the encryption key(s)?

One thought I had was to have an unencrypted partition on the backup disks that stores an encrypted keepass database with the key.

Any tips or experiences are welcome.

PS. I want to avoid cloud-based options.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/47379227

Russia has been able to continue its full-scale war against Ukraine largely due to extensive support from a specific country, according to a publication by Clash Report.

...

Despite public statements about aid from other countries, it is China’s resources that ... have been the decisive factor for the Kremlin.

Former head of British intelligence MI6, Richard Moore, stated that it was Beijing that provided Moscow with the most significant support during the war.

According to him, China’s contribution far exceeds that of Iran or North Korea, even though these countries are more frequently mentioned in the media due to weapons deliveries and personnel.

"I am absolutely certain that Putin would have already lost without the support from China that he received. Headlines often focus on North Korea providing approximately 12,000 troops for the battle near Kursk, or Iran supplying drone technology," Moore said.

...

The report shows that US support in 2025 fell by nearly 99% compared to the average for 2022–2024. Whereas the United States had previously allocated billions annually in military, financial, and humanitarian aid, 2025 saw a 99% drop in assistance.

There was only one "symbolic" military support package worth approximately €0.4 billion, and no new major financial or humanitarian commitments were recorded.

...

Against the backdrop of the steep reduction in US aid, European countries significantly expanded their contributions:

• military assistance from Europe increased by 67%.

• Financial and humanitarian support rose by 59%.

As a result, the overall volume of international aid to Ukraine in 2025 remained close to the levels of previous years, despite the sharp decline in support from the United States.

...

One of the key tools was the introduction of the PURL (Prioritized Ukraine Requirement List) mechanism, through which around 75% of missiles for Patriot systems and nearly 90% of ammunition for other air defense systems were funded by European partners in 2025.

...

Forecasts for 2026 are optimistic thanks to the new EU Ukraine Support Fund, totaling €90 billion. Of this, €60 billion is earmarked specifically for supporting Ukraine’s defense industry, enabling the country to become more autonomous in weapons production.

Japan intends to join a NATO initiative allowing the supply of ammunition, equipment, and other US-made resources to Ukraine.

Additionally, in mid-January 2026, Albania joined the PURL initiative.

By the end of December 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that more than 20 countries had joined the PURL initiative, specifically, 24.

...

Web archive link

Republicans may be willing to stick with Donald Trump through almost anything, but his recent push to seize control of Greenland has turned off many in his own party, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults disapprove of how Trump is handling the issue of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. That’s higher than the share who dislike how he’s handling foreign policy generally, suggesting that Trump’s Greenland approach has created a weak spot for the administration.

Even Republicans aren’t thrilled. About half disapprove of his attempt to turn the icebound landmass into American territory, something that Trump has insisted is critical for national security in the Arctic, while about half approve.

• Release Date: 2026
• Price: TBA
• Link: TBA
• Platform: Nintendo Switch
• Description:

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China has decided to provide Ukraine with an additional package of humanitarian energy aid.

"In Munich, I had a meaningful and productive meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. We focused on ways to develop mutually beneficial trade and bilateral ties based on mutual respect for territorial integrity. I reaffirmed Ukraine's interest in contacts with China at the highest level. We discussed peace efforts and China's important role in promoting an end to the war," Sybiha said on X.

"I am grateful for Beijing's decision to provide Ukraine with an additional package of humanitarian energy aid," Sybiha said.

As a reminder, the two were recently detained by the FSB, stripped to their underwear, as they themselves confessed, and received a 50-year ban on entering Russia. 

I have been thinking on how to celebrate my birthday, I thought of inviting my parents to my favorite restaurant. When I brought it up, they were all upset "why don't you invite us to your home? Why don't you cook for us? Restaurant is all reheated food, home cooked fresh food is much better" etc. We have lived in Europe for almost my whole life, I don't really understand what's wrong with going out to eat or why they expect me to invite them to my house and prepare a festive meal on my birthday.

The Home Office’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist group last year was unlawful, a three-judge panel at the High Court has ruled.

The new computer infrastructure is part of an effort by the company to keep its technology and all its cloud servers in Europe

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/25749999

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s High Court ruled Friday that the government’s decision to outlaw the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place pending an appeal.

[...]

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said if China were to take Taiwan, Beijing would become "more aggressive, undermining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and the rules-based international order."

"If Taiwan were annexed by China, China's expansionist ambitions would not stop there," Lai told AFP during an exclusive interview on Tuesday at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.

"The next countries under threat would be Japan, the Philippines, and others in the Indo-Pacific region, with repercussions eventually reaching the Americas and Europe," he said.

[...]

China has competing territorial claims with Japan and the Philippines, while the Taiwan Strait is a major artery for global shipping.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whose country hosts several US bases and around 60,000 American troops, suggested in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan, drawing a furious response from Beijing.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has also warned the archipelago nation, where US troops have access to nine military bases, would "inevitably" be dragged into a war over Taiwan.

"In this changing world, nations belong to a global community -- a situation in any one country would inevitably impact another," Lai said.

[...]

The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.

The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.

Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Iranians are beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.

BELGRADE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The European Union could withhold funds from a 1.6 billion euro allocation of loans and grants to Serbia, after Belgrade passed laws that are "eroding trust" in its commitment to the rule of law, the bloc's enlargement commissioner said.

Reforms to centralise the judiciary that came into force this week brought criticism from judges and prosecutors who see them as bolstering President Aleksandar Vucic's hold on power, weakening the fight against organised crime and undermining Serbia's bid to join the EU.

“These amendments are eroding trust. It is becoming harder for those in Brussels who are willing to advance with Serbia to make their case," EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos said in emailed comments to Reuters late on Thursday.

Kos said the commission was reviewing funding for Serbia under the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, aimed at aligning the region to EU rules and ultimately bringing countries such as Serbia into the bloc. Serbia was allocated 1.6 billion euros of loans and grants under the programme.

"These (funds) contain preconditions linked to the rule of law," she said.

Serbia began official talks to join the EU in 2014 but widespread corruption and weak institutions have slowed progress.

The judicial reforms include limiting the mandate of chief public prosecutors and granting court presidents - responsible for court administration - greater powers over judges. Critics fear the reforms will erode judges' independence and jeopardise high-level corruption cases overseen by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The justice ministry has said that the new laws will make the judiciary more efficient by streamlining the decision-making process.

Since the backlash, Serbia has requested the opinion of the Venice Commission, a panel of constitutional law experts of the Council of Europe, a human rights body.

"Once that opinion is issued, we expect these laws to be revised accordingly and in an inclusive manner," Kos said.

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

This is section 230, and for years it made it so that platforms aren’t directly responsible for what their users do. Repealing it would in a way mandate moderating each and every post for any potential risk for a lawsuit. The companies with the resources to do that will do that, those without will struggle.

There’s a push to repeal or weaken Section 230. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3546/text https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-graham-introduce-bill-to-sunset-section-230-immunity-for-tech-companies-protect-americans-online

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260213110652/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/02/13/nato-shake-up-fails-to-boost-france-s-influence-within-the-alliance_6750458_4.html

Despite Paris's hopes, the reorganization of the North Atlantic Alliance, finalized on February 6, does not allow France to increase its weight within the organization. Meanwhile, Germany is aiming for the key post of chair of the military committee.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/50778341

Their chances of settling in the United States increasingly bleak, a growing number of Chinese nationals are travelling visa-free to Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina and crossing into the European Union.

Archived

Driven by economic hardship and political discontent, a growing number of Chinese nationals are trying to reach the EU via the Balkans, their route to the United States made more difficult by the loss of a visa-free regime with Ecuador and growing hostility under Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

[...]

In 2024, more than 620 illegal border crossings by Chinese nationals were recorded on the Western Balkan route, according to statistics from the European Union border agency, Frontex, plus a further 30 travelling via Greece and Albania.

In 2022, the figure for the Western Balkan route was just 88. In 2025, it hit 706.

[...]

In China, youth unemployment remains high. The unemployment rate among 16 to 24-year-olds was 18.9 per cent last August. In 2023, the figure hit a record high of 21.3 per cent, amid signs of an economic slowdown.

Some Chinese migrants on the Balkan route said that they decided to leave China after their small businesses suffered during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The country’s shrinking economic opportunities and intensified social controls in recent years have also fuelled dissent; some Chinese are losing hope of a better life, especially for their children.

[...]

For more than a decade, the Balkan route has been a major pathway for refugees and irregular migrants mainly from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia trying to reach the EU.

Given China has visa-free arrangements with both Serbia and Bosnia, Chinese nationals have an advantage – they are able to travel directly to Belgrade and cross without visas into Bosnia.

This is a double-edged sword, however, said Milica Svabic, a lawyer affiliated with the Serbian NGO Klikaktiv, which provides legal and social support for migrants and refugees on the Balkan route.

Able to slip into Serbia and rent private accommodation, Chinese nationals are “completely invisible”, said Svabic. “They’re invisible to state institutions [and] NGOs, and this can open the door to labour exploitation, sexual exploitation.”

Many also turn to smugglers to cross into the EU.

[...]

In then years under its current leader Xi Jinping, China experienced a mass exodus as asylum seekers surpassed one million, according to the China-focused NGO Safeguard Defenders.

The number is even more staggering considering the increasing exit controls (including exit bans) placed on determinate categories of Chinese citizens by Chinese authorities. The continuing upward trend also serves as a stark reminder that China’s domestic human rights abuse is not the mere “internal affair” as it so often likes to claim.

[...]

Franco-German tank manufacturer KNDS is planning to invest heavily in Germany in order to expand production, the company's boss said on Thursday.

In the past three years, production capacity has already been tripled, said KNDS Managing Director Jean-Paul Alary, touting planned investments totalling more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion).

Alary confirmed plans for a dual IPO in Paris and Frankfurt this year, saying the exact timing would depend on market conditions.

KNDS makes weapons systems such as the Leopard 2 main battle tank and the 2000 self-propelled howitzer. The company was formed through a merger of Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and French company Nexter.

KNDS is currently owned by the German family behind Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and the French government.

Alary said that KNDS will continue specializing in land systems and aims to supply the armed forces of European allies and partners.

Currently, 24 European armed forces use KNDS weapon systems.