Germany plans to significantly increase funding for the European Space Agency, with Research Minister Dorothee Baer set to pledge up to 5 billion euros ($5.76 billion) at the ESA's conference in the north-western city of Bremen next week.

"It will definitely be more than three years ago, when it was around 3.5 billion. If we now reach the 5-billion mark, that would be extremely positive," she told Reuters on Thursday.

...

The funding is part of a larger strategy on space security that the government presented on Wednesday, with plans to invest as much as 35 billion euros in coming years on space defence.

"We have been resting on a peace dividend for a very, very long time. That's why it's good and right that the strategic importance of space travel has now been so clearly recognized."

...

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5751458

A fortnight of marathon talks marked by Indigenous protests, the notable absence of the US — the world's second largest polluter — and a fire that forced a mass evacuation of the venue, have closed with a deal that many feel is weak given the scale of the climate crisis.

A main point of contention has been a road map to transition away from fossil fuels, the burning of which produces most of the emissions heating the planet and turbocharges extreme weather.

More than 80 countries — including Colombia, Germany and Kenya — had said a final deal would hinge on a concrete action plan to follow through on a previous hard-won pledge to shift beyond coal, oil and gas.

But the idea, which faced significant pushback from China, the Arab Group of nations, including petro-states such as Saudi Arabia, and others, did not make it into the final document.

...

In the closing session, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago announced that he would spearhead two voluntary road maps — one to transition away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly, and equitable way, and another to halt and reverse deforestation.

While these plans are not part of the formal UN deal, all countries are invited to join. He also announced the first-ever conference on ending reliance on oil, gas and coal, to be held in Colombia in April.

Signatories include only 24 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Nepal, Netherlands, Panama, Spain, Slovenia, Vanuatu, and Tuvalu.

A fortnight of marathon talks marked by Indigenous protests, the notable absence of the US — the world's second largest polluter — and a fire that forced a mass evacuation of the venue, have closed with a deal that many feel is weak given the scale of the climate crisis.

A main point of contention has been a road map to transition away from fossil fuels, the burning of which produces most of the emissions heating the planet and turbocharges extreme weather.

More than 80 countries — including Colombia, Germany and Kenya — had said a final deal would hinge on a concrete action plan to follow through on a previous hard-won pledge to shift beyond coal, oil and gas.

But the idea, which faced significant pushback from China, the Arab Group of nations, including petro-states such as Saudi Arabia, and others, did not make it into the final document.

...

In the closing session, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago announced that he would spearhead two voluntary road maps — one to transition away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly, and equitable way, and another to halt and reverse deforestation.

While these plans are not part of the formal UN deal, all countries are invited to join. He also announced the first-ever conference on ending reliance on oil, gas and coal, to be held in Colombia in April.

Signatories include only 24 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Nepal, Netherlands, Panama, Spain, Slovenia, Vanuatu, and Tuvalu.

After Germany blocked the October vote, Europe’s surveillance proposal didn’t die—it evolved. Denmark’s November compromise claims to abandon mandatory scanning while preserving identical outcomes through legal sleight of hand. The repackaging reveals the essential dynamic: when democratic opposition defeats mass surveillance, proponents don’t accept defeat. They redraft terminology, shift articles, and reintroduce the same architecture under different labels until resistance exhausts itself.

The pattern is documented across five iterations. Sweden’s January-June 2023 presidency failed. Belgium couldn’t secure passage in June 2024. Hungary’s presidency ended December 31, 2024 without achieving agreement. Poland’s presidency collapsed in January-June 2025 when 16 pro-scanning states refused meaningful compromise. Each defeat produced not withdrawal but repackaging: “chat control” became “child sexual abuse regulation,” “scanning” became “detection orders,” “mandatory” became “risk mitigation,” and “breaking encryption” became “lawful access.” October’s blocking minority forced Denmark’s hand, but rather than accepting defeat, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard withdrew the proposal on October 31 and immediately began drafting version 2.0.

The Loophole Disguised as Compromise

Denmark’s November 5 revised text removes Articles 7-11’s “detection orders”—the language mandating scanning. Privacy advocates initially celebrated. Then legal experts read Article 4. The provision requires all communication providers implement “all appropriate risk mitigation measures” to prevent abuse on their platforms. Services classified as “high risk”—essentially any platform offering encryption, anonymity, or real-time communications—face obligations that experts argue constitute mandatory scanning without using the word “mandatory.”

Continue reading this article - https://restmedia.st/the-voluntary-trap-how-denmark-repackaged-chat-control-after-defeat/

[TRANSLATED ARTICLE]

EU chat control comes – through the back door of voluntariness

The EU states have agreed on a common position on chat control. Data protection advocates warn against massive surveillance. What is in store for us?

After lengthy negotiations, the EU states have agreed on a common position on so-called chat control. Like from one Minutes of negotiations of the Council working group As can be seen, Internet services will in future be allowed to voluntarily search their users' communications for information about crimes, but will not be obliged to do so.

The Danish Council Presidency wants to get the draft law through the Council "as quickly as possible", "so that the trilogue negotiations can begin promptly", the minutes say. Feedback from states should be limited to "absolute red lines".

Consensus achieved

The majority of States supported the compromise proposal. At least 15 spoke in favor, including Germany and France. Germany "welcomed both the deletion of the mandatory measures and the permanent anchoring of voluntary measures", said the protocol.

However, other countries were disappointed. Spain in particular "continued to see mandatory measures as necessary, unfortunately a comprehensive agreement on this was not possible". Hungary also "seen voluntariness as the sole concept as too little".

Spain, Hungary and Bulgaria proposed "an obligation for providers to detect, at least in open areas". The Danish Presidency "described the proposal as ambitious, but did not take it up to avoid further discussion.

The organization Netzpolitik.org, which has been reporting critically on chat control for years, sees the plans as a fundamental threat to democracy. "From the beginning, a lobby network intertwined with the security apparatus pushed chat control", writes the organization. “It was never really about the children, otherwise it would get to the root of abuse and violence instead of monitoring people without any initial suspicion.”

Netzpolitik.org argues that "encrypted communication is a thorn in the side of the security apparatus". Authorities have been trying to combat private and encrypted communication in various ways for years.

A number of scholars criticize the compromise proposal, calling voluntary chat control inappropriate. "Their benefits have not been proven, while the potential for harm and abuse is enormous", one said open letter.

According to critics, the planned technology, so-called client-side scanning, would create a backdoor on all users' devices. Netzpolitik.org warns that this represents a "frontal attack on end-to-end encryption, which is vital in the digital world".

The problem with such backdoors is that "not only the supposedly 'good guys' can use them, but also resourceful criminals or unwell-disposed other states", argues the organization.

Signal considers withdrawing from the EU

Journalists' associations are also alarmed by the plans. The DJV rejects chat control as a form of mass surveillance without cause and sees source protection threatened, for which encrypted communication is essential. The infrastructure created in this way can be used for political control "in just a few simple steps", said the DJV in a statement Opinion.

The Messenger service Signal Already announced that it would withdraw from the EU if necessary. Signal President Meredith Whittaker told the dpa: “Unfortunately, if we were given the choice of either undermining the integrity of our encryption or leaving Europe, we would make the decision to leave the market.”

Next steps in the legislative process

The Permanent Representatives of the EU states are due to meet next week on the subject, followed in December by the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs, these two bodies are due to approve the bill as the Council's official position.

The trilogue then begins, in which the Commission, Parliament and Council must reach a compromise from their three draft laws. Parliament had described the original plans as mass surveillance and called for only unencrypted suspect content to be scanned.

The EU Commission had originally proposed requiring Internet services to search their users' content for information about crimes without cause and to send it to authorities if suspected.

Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook and Instagram after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users’ mental health, according to unredacted filings in a class action by U.S. school districts against Meta and other social media platforms.

In a 2020 research project code-named “Project Mercury,” Meta scientists worked with survey firm Nielsen to gauge the effect of “deactivating” Facebook and Instagram, according to Meta documents obtained via discovery. To the company’s disappointment, “people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison,” internal documents said.

Rather than publishing those findings or pursuing additional research, the filing states, Meta called off further work and internally declared that the negative study findings were tainted by the “existing media narrative” around the company.

Time for robot taxes:

https://chat.qwen.ai/s/t_1ef0a516-cf71-4e6a-91a3-35778a6ee424?fev=0.0.248

There was another IDF massacre in Gaza on Saturday, reportedly killing dozens of Palestinians.

Israel as usual claimed it was responding to a ceasefire violation by Hamas, but of course there’s absolutely no evidence for this to be found. AP reports that according to the IDF the strikes were launched after a Hamas fighter “shot at troops in southern Gaza,” but that “no soldiers were hurt” in this alleged attack. Not so much as a scratch. So I guess we’re just expected to take Israel’s word for it.

Now check out these western media headlines about the massacre and notice the disgusting spin they are placing on the narrative to normalize the continued slaughter of Palestinians:

• “Israel launches strikes in Gaza ceasefire’s latest test as hospitals say 24 killed,” by AP.

• “Israel launches strikes in Gaza ceasefire’s latest test as hospitals say more than 20 killed,” by NBC News.

• “Israel launches strikes on Gaza in further test of fragile ceasefire,” from Sky News.

• “Israel launches strikes on Gaza in latest test to fragile ceasefire,” from France 24.

• “Israeli Strikes Kill at Least Two Dozen in Gaza Amid Fragile Ceasefire,” from Newsweek.

Do you see what they’re doing here?

The western press see the killing of Palestinians as such a baseline norm that Israel can massacre dozens of people in Gaza and they’ll go, “Gosh I sure hope this doesn’t lead to any violations of the ceasefire!”

It’s never a ceasefire violation to commit mass murder against Palestinians. It’s only ever a “test” of the ceasefire, or something that happens “amid a fragile ceasefire”. If Hamas suddenly attacked and killed dozens of Israelis, these empire propagandists wouldn’t be saying “Hmm I sure hope the fragile ceasefire holds up amid this challenging test.” They’d just call it what it is. And it would be the main news story in the world.

Since they already support the current evidence as it sits and may want the world to know the full scope of this?

How the Turkistan Islamic Party, Turkey, NATO and Julani’s “new Syria” are being positioned to threaten Xinjiang and the Belt and Road.

You know, the guy who's been having that same angry conversation about the same fucking thing he's been obsessed with for the last 5 years and demands that you take his view while going on long monologues and then immediately interrupting anyone who tries to get a word in edgewise? And then goes into a weeks-long suicidal despair if you try to leave the conversation? Any way to deal with that?

tl;dr: r/AmITheAsshole?

So I'm a Reddit refugee late by two years. Before all, I'm from somewhere you'll need VPNs to access the real Internet, and people aren't familiar with how Reddit works.

I got permabanned in an anime subreddit for calling out someone straightly said "the manga is f***ing disgusting" bc fanservices. My language is at worse "I hope you're satisfied rubbing your uncivilizedness into [manga author]'s face" and my ban reason was "mean language & hate".

Well it was just a ban in one singular sub and smaller subs for same anime exists. But my deadass didn't think through and rage-deleted my 3y-old Reddit account, planning to "start again" before learning how Reddit treats newcomers, alt accounts and VPN users the hard way.

Now I have created some alts and all got either banned or shadowbanned for "ban evasion ", or may had smth to do with me using VPNs. Ofc I had to use an alt account now since I can't retreat to my old one. I can't even browse Reddit without logging in bc "blocked by network security".

I admit it's my fault rage-deleting my account recklessly; I admit it's not Reddit's fault they had to prevent spam and ban-evasion; but do I really deserved this?

Having turned my sub-wide ban into a Reddit-wide ban and learnt my lesson, I'm now here in Lemmy.

Trump has said he wants Ukraine to agree to a 28-point peace plan by Thanksgiving. The problem for Kyiv is that many of the points cross their red lines and reflect demands long made by Moscow. The Kremlin has said it wasn’t consulted on the plan.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the key points in the plan and how Ukraine and its European allies might respond.

Archive: http://archive.today/CQyLC

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39173110

Really makes you think

LOL Not really, but boy it has been a day. Started at 7:00 am and I finally resolved (?) the issue. In fact I've got through every last bit of my network, and at this point in the evening, I actually don't have a solid reason why the issue was present. Something in my VPN settings glitched, or something got triggered on pFsense and got hung up....something, something with Tailscale. It wasn't CLoudflare this time. LOL

You ever do so much to a problem that when you 'fix' it, you have no real idea what the fix truly was? You ever have a problem and find all the shit you cobbled together in the name of 'just get it running and back online'? I did, and decided that I would fix that shit too. It took all flippin' day.

You guys that do this for a living....I salute you! jebus crispies!

ETA: 8 bells and all's well today.

Air traffic at the Eindhoven airport in the south of the Netherlands has resumed after a suspension that lasted several hours due to multiple drone sightings, the Dutch defence minister has said.

Traffic resumed around 11pm (22:00 GMT), Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Saturday, two hours after he had first reported the disruption.

Separately on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said the Dutch military opened fire at drones over Volkel Air Base in the east of the country on Friday, but no wreckage was recovered.

Security staff at the base reported the drones between 7pm and 9pm on Friday (between 17:00 and 19:00 GMT), prompting the air force to fire ground-based weapons to take them down, the ministry said in a statement.