Independent browser companies in the European Union are seeing a spike in users in the first month after EU legislation forced Alphabet's Google, Microsoft, and Apple to make it easier for users to switch to rivals, according to data provided to Reuters by six companies.

The early results come after the EU's sweeping Digital Markets Act, which aims to remove unfair competition, took effect on March 7, forcing big tech companies to offer mobile users the ability to select from a list of available web browsers from a "choice screen."

Cyprus-based Aloha Browser said users in the EU jumped 250% in March - one of the first companies to give monthly growth numbers since the new regulations came in.

Norway's Vivaldi, Germany's Ecosia and U.S.-based Brave have also seen user numbers rise following the new regulation.

Study download (pdf)

Chinese leading electric car manufacturer BYD received direct state subsidies of approximately EUR 220 million in 2020, rising to EUR 2.1 billion in 2022. In terms of business revenues, direct subsidies increased from 1.1 percent in 2020 to 3.5 percent in 2022. This is the result of an investigaton by Germany's Kiel Institute For The World Economy.

Additionally, BYD receives significantly more purchase premiums for electric cars in China compared to other domestic manufacturers like GAC or foreign companies producing locally, such as Tesla or VW's joint ventures, the study says.

However, the figures clearly understate the true scale and scope of green technology subsidies in China, ss BYD also benefits from subsidies to battery producers through lower input prices, as well as subsidies to buyers of battery electric vehicles, thus stimulating demand.

China's massive state subsidies are not limited to EV cars. According to a very conservative estimate, industrial subsidies in China amounted to around EUR 221 billion or 1.73% of Chinese GDP in 2019.

The authors urge the European Union to engage in negotiations with the Beijing government amidst the recently initiated anti-subsidy proceeding against imports of electric vehicles from China, aiming to persuade China to withdraw subsidies particularly harmful to the EU. Given China's current macroeconomic weakness, its relative strength in green technology sectors, and its tensions with the US, the authors see a realistic chance of successful negotiations.

Next week, German chancellor is visiting China, accompanied by an induszry delegation.

https://archive.ph/wtoAv

The case is special given its international dimension and the fact that it is not only about espionage but also about the infiltration of the Austrian political system and the weakening of the country’s internal security,”

Between 2017 and 2021, the Austrian warrant says, Ott collected sensitive information on people of interest to Russia “for the purpose of transmission to Jan Marsalek and to unknown representatives of Russian authorities” by conducting numerous searches in national police databases and making requests to other European police officers, including in Italy and Britain.

Evgenia Kara-Murza, who is an advocacy director at the Free Russia Foundation civil organization, explained to DW that her husband was forced to endure grim prison conditions with little in the way of human contact.

For the past six months, her husband has been held in solitary confinement in a disciplinary cell in a "special regime prison colony" like the Polar Wolf colony where many believe Kara-Murza's fellow dissident Alexei Navalny was murdered.

"His bed is fixed to the wall from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day," said Evgenia Kara-Murza.

"He only has one backless stool which is the only piece of furniture in that cell. The only things he's allowed to keep in his cell are a mug, a toothbrush, a bar of soap, two towels, and two books."

Cambridge graduate Vladimir Kara-Murza -a joint UK-Russian citizen- had spent years campaigning for Western sanctions against the Kremlin.

However, the level of repression has dramatically worsened since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Last year, he was sentenced to 25 years on charges of treason for opposing the war in Ukraine.

A Portuguese man has become the first European citizen jailed under the China-imposed National Security Law in Hong Kong, a law widely criticised by rights groups.

Joseph John, also known as Wong Kin-chung, holds dual Portuguese and Hong Kong nationality and was previously based in the UK.

He was arrested for posting pro-independence and anti-China content on social media, after returning to Hong Kong to visit family in 2022

In February, he was convicted of "secession" and on Thursday sentenced to five years in jail.

Cross posted from: https://feddit.de/post/11010494

Reports suggest a rise in complaints that stamps bought from legitimate stores are being deemed counterfeit. Anyone who receives a letter with a fake stamp is charged £5 by Royal Mail.

Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told BBC Breakfast: "China is behind it."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We are working hard to remove counterfeit stamps from circulation."

Consumers are being warned to look out for strange perforations around the edge of a stamp, a shine to the surface or the colour looking off.

Report download: Tide of injustice: exploitation and illegal fishing on Chinese vessels in the Southwest Indian Ocean

A new report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) contradicts China’s claims of supporting sustainable development and thriving blue economies in the region. This issue is crucial for EU members, as seafood linked to these vessels may enter key international markets, including Europe.

Of the 44 anglers interviewed for the report, 80% reported shark finning, 100% reported abusive working and living conditions, 96% reported excessive overtime, and 55% reported physical violence. EJF also interviewed 16 fishers who worked on Chinese trawlers in Mozambique, who similarly reported widespread illegalities. 81% of them reported physical abuse, and half of them reported the deliberate capture and/or injury of vulnerable marine megafauna.

Seafood linked to these vessels potentially enters vital international markets, including Europe, the US, Japan, and South Korea. At the time of writing, around 73% of the vessels suspected of human rights abuses and illegal fishing appear on the list of authorised exporters to the EU.

The three coalition partners that make up the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk have submitted several bills for discussion amid wide divisions on the issue.

Under a 2020 ruling by Poland's Constitutional Court, abortion is permissible after rape or incest or in cases when the pregnant woman's life is in danger, but illegal even if a fetus is severely abnormal.

Tusk has promised to liberalize the law, which was established by the previous conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party government. The anti-abortion law has strong support of the Catholic Church, which retains a powerful influence in the country.

Many had hoped that the debate would be held earlier, but conservatives in Tusk's three-party governing coalition wanted it delayed until last weekend's local elections were over.

Beijing's industrial subsidies are on average three to four times higher than in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries — sometimes up to nine times as much. A report published this week by IfW-Kiel estimated that industrial subsidies amounted to €221 billion or 1.73% of China's gross domestic product in 2019. Another study put annual subsidies typically at around 5% of GDP.

The IfW-Kiel report revealed how Chinese subsidies for domestic green-tech firms had increased significantly in 2022. The world's largest EV maker, BYD, received €2.1 billion, compared with €220 million just two years earlier. Support for wind turbine maker Mingyang rose from €20 million to €52 million.

Europe's green-energy sector has already taken a beating from cheap Chinese imports of solar panels, which have wiped out several domestic players and prompted an EU anti-subsidy probe. Though EU countries installed record levels of solar capacity last year — 40% more than in 2022 — the vast majority of panels and parts came from China, according to data from the International Energy Agency.

Analysts argue that China can't succeed without strong and stable markets for its products, which should give US and EU leaders the edge in negotiations with Beijing.

The European Union should suspend its trade and institutional ties with Israel to deter war crimes that amount to genocide in the Gaza Strip, the UN's special rapporteur on Palestine has said.

"Europe is the main trading partner - which accounts I think for 30% of Israel's trade - so it has a huge power and it should use that power. In the end, this is not an option, it's an obligation because Article 2 of that association agreement foresees the suspension in case of violations of human rights," she added.

Albanese said the EU's reluctance to use the measures in its power to hold Israel to account perpetuates Israel's impunity and reveals a "disconnect" between Europe's political class and the large portion of European society that has persistently called for a ceasefire in the besieged Gaza Strip.

She also said EU leaders need to take more concrete counter-measures against Israel, including revoking diplomatic recognition and targeted sanctions on government officials.

Now, we must make sure that what has been agreed to is fully implemented in all our Member States, and that implementation goes hand in hand with the respect for our shared humanity,” Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola said after the vote.

It is not a perfect solution, it is a compromise that we in the European Parliament are accepting with a heavy lump in our throats, but was absolutely necessary,” said one of the leading negotiators, Slovakian Socialist MEP Matjaz Nemec.

In case of paywall: https://archive.ph/TWRqF

The Court seems to have spelled out a clear way forward for climate cases - and confirmed that climate change is very much an ECHR issue,” she writes from Strasbourg, while live-tweeting the hearing on X.