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Poland has launched an investigation into its previous government’s use of the controversial spyware Pegasus, with a parliamentary inquiry under way and the possibility of criminal charges being brought against former government officials in future.

Adam Bodnar, Poland’s new justice minister, said that in coming months the government would notify people who were targeted with Pegasus. Under Polish law, they would then have the possibility of seeking financial compensation, and becoming party to potential criminal proceedings.

“There is a decent chance that within a couple of months we’ll have quite extensive knowledge how this equipment was used and for what purpose,” said Bodnar.

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Alicia Kearns, chairman of the UK foreign affairs select committee, said that with the US and EU both passing laws to ban solar products made by Uyghur slave labour, many will end up in the UK where an estimated 98pc of solar panels are already Chinese made.

The warning comes at a crucial time for the UK’s burgeoning solar industry. The Government is about to publish its long-awaited Solar Roadmap committing the UK to a massive expansion of solar farms and domestic rooftop installations, from 18 gigawatts now to about 70 gigawatts by 2035.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/2578645

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/mapporn by /u/Autistic-Inquisitive on 2024-03-30 14:54:37.

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21 countries, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the European Union, have expressed concern about dangerous maneuvers and the use of water cannons against Filipino ships by the China Coast Guard. They refer to the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UCLOS) and they call for upholding the rules, when managing the dispute in the South China Sea.

The statements follows weeks of tension between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, with both countries accusing each other of initiating aggressions.

The Embassy of Sweden in Manila wrote on social media, that damaging the Philippine vessels is “needlessly endangering lives”, and that the “disputes must be resolved peacefully in accordance with UNCLOS and the international rule of law.”

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"War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven't seen a situation like this since 1945," Tusk said in an interview with the European media grouping LENA on Friday.

"I know it sounds devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to get used to the fact that a new era has begun: the pre-war era. I'm not exaggerating; it's becoming clearer every day."

The former European Council president's comments came soon after the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war upended an era of peace in Europe and pushed nations into ramping up weapons production.

Tusk further said that no one in Europe would feel safe if Kyiv lost the war.

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Investigators claimed it used the popular Voice of Europe website as a vehicle to pay politicians.

The Czech Republic and Poland said the network aimed to influence European politics.

Czech media, citing intelligence sources, reported that politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary were paid by Voice of Europe in order to influence upcoming elections for the European Parliament.

Pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is alleged by the Czech Republic to be behind the network.

Mr Medvedchuk was arrested in Ukraine soon after the Russian invasion, but later transferred to Russia with about 50 prisoners of war in exchange for 215 Ukrainians.

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Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10480714

"It is abundantly clear that ISIS (Islamic State) was solely responsible for the horrific attack in Moscow last week," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

"In fact, the United States tried to help prevent this terrorist attack and the Kremlin knows this."

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When Luigi Boitani, Italy’s leading wolf expert, captured a hybrid in 1975, he says he “was met with everything from gentle opposition to [people who] said, ‘this is bullshit’.”

Time has proven Boitani right. Today, a growing number of studies point to the presence of hybrids in nearly every European country with wolves, and in some areas their numbers are growing steadily. In Boitani’s native Tuscany, and other regions, they have become endemic, accounting for as much as 70% of the wolf population. The rise has been driven by the increasing destruction of wolf habitats and the expansion of human settlements, which bring people, their pets, and packs of stray dogs into more frequent contact with wolf packs.

In some regions “they are basically all hybrids,” Boitani says. “In this case, there is nothing you can do. You cannot send the army and kill everything.”

Hybrids trouble conservationists partly for their unpredictability. They may increase conflict with humans, crowd pure-blood wolves out of their habitat, or reduce the viability of future offspring, hampering efforts to revive Europe’s wolf population.

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Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/10466441

Ukraine has destroyed an ultra-rare Soviet-era armoured vehicle that was first field-tested by the Russians at Chernobyl.

Battlefield footage shared on social media appeared to show the Ladoga nuclear command vehicle being targeted by a Ukrainian drone.

The vehicle was designed in the seventies to move senior Kremlin staff around in the event of a nuclear attack.

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The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday.

“We believe there is a case, given how this war has been conducted,” Martin said.

“We will be inviting the court to consider the issue of broadening how you determine whether genocide has taken place or not on the basis of an entire population being collectively punished.”

A clear pattern of behaviour had impeded humanitarian aid, resulting in widespread suffering, he said. “Half the population of Gaza is facing famine and 100% is experiencing food insecurity.”

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EDIT: The header of the english statement has been updated in the statement on the website of the group. The term confiscation has distinct legal meanings that could be confused and the way the term is often used in common language is inaccurate for the legal meaning. See @geissi@feddit.de s comment showing the legal distinction.

~~In 2024, Jewish money is once again being confiscated by a German bank:~~ Berliner Sparkasse freezes Jewish Voice account

On 25 March 2024, our account with the Berliner Sparkasse was frozen with immediate effect. In a letter, the Sparkasse informed us that it had taken this step as a precautionary measure and that we should submit numerous internal documents by 5 April to update our customer data. As a public corporation, the bank is bound by public law and may therefore not arbitrarily freeze accounts without providing an explanation, which it did not. It is also highly unusual that the required documents include a list of our members with their full names and addresses.

Why should this information be important to the Berliner Sparkasse? It sounds more like a question that might be asked by an intelligence service or the police, who have been politically persecuting us as a Jewish organisation for some time. Our previous account with the Bank for Social Economy was closed in 2019 because of our support for BDS. This happened after agitation by Israeli journalist Benjamin Weinthal and pressure from the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

This pressure and political persecution are increasing as Israel and its apartheid policies in the state of Israel and the West Bank, and now its genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip, lose support around the world. Germany is one of Israel"s last loyal allies, and the German state is co-operating with Israel"s apartheid and genocide, even though over 80% of the population does not support the German government"s policy.

The Palestine Congress will take place in Berlin in mid-April and will feature a wide range of international speakers, including the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. The closer the congress gets, the more intense the persecution becomes; for weeks, there has been shrill defamation from the tabloid media and local politicians, such as describing it as a "hate summit" for which "thousands of anti-Semites" will be coming to Berlin. Because the journalists can"t write anything factual about it, they try to delegitimise the congress through guilt by association.

However, because the organisers are independent of politics, the usual methods such as cancellation or denial of spaces do not work. The congress is financed by ticket sales and donations; we, the Jewish Voice, have made our account available for this purpose – which is why it has now been blocked. We will not be intimidated by this, even if we lose our account: Our position on genocide is derived from our Jewish values and is not dependent on financial resources. Our membership grows with every day and every act of repression. Anyone who is a member of our organisation knows it themselves. It is none of any bank"s business. We are taking legal action against the arbitrary, politically motivated freezing of our account, which is unacceptable in a democracy.

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