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.

• Release Date: 2026
• Price: TBA
• Link: TBA
• Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
• Description: Fantasy War Strategy RPG Series Brigandine's Newest Installment: Brigandine Abyss! Coming in 2026

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.

MUNICH (AP) — An annual gathering of top international security figures that last year set the tone for a growing rift between the United States and Europe opens Friday, bringing together many top European officials with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others.

• Release Date: April 2nd
• Price: $24.99
• Link: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/darwins-paradox-switch-2/
• Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
• Description: Darwin’s Paradox is a cinematic puzzle‑platforming adventure where you play an unlikely hero navigating a dangerous world filled with strange sea creatures, environmental puzzles, and unexpected visitors.

Play the Tactical Octopus Action demo today with the special "Snake" skin.

He made-a da booba flower (that means tity)

With the new Discord changes and the controversy causing people to leave the platform, I decided it was a great excuse for me to finally try to ditch discord. I mostly used discord for my creative endeavors through the years (collaborating on projects, help with software - looking at you Blender and Godot, and etc) but now I really only have my small community that I was trying to start back up based on my board game project.

As someone who drifts from project to project, and often tries to find other people who want to participate in projects - this forum is meant to fill two needs:

‣A communication and contributor hub for the various open source and creative commons projects I am currently working on, as well as a centralized location to access information and assets for said projects.

‣ A place for other creative individuals to network, collaborate, and share their own projects - or even simply chat and meet like minded individuals.

I am a huge advocate for the creative commons, open source software, and the overall Libre community that counters the capitalist models that are so prevalent in the online space. While members of this community don’t need to share these same ideals, I would like to foster a community that can lift up and encourage others who contribute to this space. It would be nice if we could create a community where people help and contribute to each others creative endeavors and improve the FOSS/CC community.

And honestly, I kind of miss the days when forums were the primary form of communication, before discord - so I am excited to see if this community can take off at all.

The community is extremely sparse at the moment, but if any of you would be willing to check it out and stick around for a while to see if we can grow - I would be greatly appreciative. If anyone has feedback for improvement or ideas for direction of the forum, I would love to hear any and all constructive criticism.

And to get ahead of the "Lemmy/Piefed is a forum" comments:
I personally think there is great value in mega-forums like Lemmy, PieFed, and Reddit, and while there are subs for niche topics, the idea of a standalone forum for my specific purpose seems like it has more of an opportunity to create the “small, close-knit” type of community that doesn’t seem to fit within the sphere of these mega-forums.

I could totally be wrong, and maybe its nostalgia, but something about a good old forum seems to bring something different to the table in my eyes.

The Epstein files show not only how he abused women and girls while mixing with powerful people, but also how he tried to influence politics in Europe.

According to the published materials, Epstein and Bannon regularly exchanged views on political developments – at times seriously, at others using lewd humour.

Unwanted pre-installed software, known as bloatware, is the bane of new computer buyers. We give the lowdown on the worst offenders and how to get rid of ones you don’t need.

Epstein files place Perimeter Institute's Lee Smolin and other prominent Canadians under scrutiny

The headline isn't that Onion-worthy but the ingress is:

AI said applicant's 'habitual' Chrome use could indicate a 'lack of adaptability' after screening interview

Hi

Disclaimer/TW : Vibe-coded project. You can hate me and insult me over that and i will understand it. But please bear with me for a minute

I wanted to share this abomination.

Basically i have been making helmfiles to deploy stoatchat and lasuitenumérique (which i previously shared : https://jlai.lu/post/32413174 )

But people kept asking me "but where docker-compose, k8s too complicated".
Instead of being the bigger person and maintain manually a separate compose.yml , i decided to overdo it myself and make an absolute ICBM of a script to kill a fly.

I checked, no one was stupid enough to go that far with such a project. Maybe it could ACTUALLY be useful for someone. So have fun with it.

Update : now called https://dekube.io/ . Take kubernetes stacks, make compose. Hell.