Europe

The first-ever European affordable housing plan will strive to address the housing crisis facing millions of people across the EU.

It will support EU countries, regions & cities in increasing the supply of affordable and sustainable housing, and improve access to housing for people in need, for example by addressing structural challenges and unlocking public & private investment.

The plan will respect subsidiarity and aim to deliver EU added value, building on appropriate tools & best practices.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36194817

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4648971

Archived version

• Chinese defense-linked universities have dramatically increased research partnerships with Russian institutions in recent years, providing Moscow with access to innovations and know-how that help offset Western sanctions and export controls., a major new expansion of the China Defence Universities Tracker by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has found
• The ASPI tracker, which includes now more than 180 Chinese civilian and military, points out China's Beihang University and the Moscow Aviation Institute as one key partnership, focusing on aircraft engine development, and Xi’an Technological University with the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University on advanced weapons systems

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As international scrutiny of Chinese-foreign joint venture universities has grown, ASPI has added three prominent joint ventures to the tracker, allowing users to easily compare the relative risks of joint venture universities and Chinese universities. Expanded research on international collaborations also reveals that Chinese universities are still partnering with British and European institutions with the explicit goal, for example, of advancing China’s national aerospace industry.

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The tracker also now includes the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the world’s largest scientific research institution, and 10 affiliated institutes. Users can now quickly see why CAS occupies such a preeminent place in global science research; the tracker features CAS’s global and national rankings in 64 critical technologies tracked by ASPI, including the 31 critical technologies where CAS leads the world in high-impact research. These fields include quantum sensors, high performance computing and advanced robotics.

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These new research findings have been applied to more than 60 universities and institutes in the tracker database, complementing the existing database of nearly 100 civilian universities, 50 People’s Liberation Army institutions, China’s nuclear weapons program, three Ministry of State Security institutions, four Ministry of Public Security universities and 12 state-owned defence industry conglomerates. From early 2026, updates will see new institutions added to the tracker and research additions extended to more existing institutions.

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https://archive.ph/xYDR0

https://archive.ph/2025.09.19-124130/https://www.ft.com/content/096547cf-cf83-4298-820e-49b09a14972f

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/27699028

The grim death toll from heat waves across European cities this past summer would be captured in shocking headlines if they happened all at once, in a bombing or plane crash—835 in Rome, 630 in Athens, 409 in Paris.

archived (Wayback Machine)

“Experts do not believe that we can adapt health systems adequately to cope with the temperatures that we are currently facing. That’s why reducing fossil fuel use is one of the most important public health interventions of our time.”

Reducing fossil fuel use too rapidly would be suicidal; the rapid increase in temperature would make adaptation more difficult.

Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in street demonstrations across France as trade unions held a day of strike action to pressure the new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to rethink budget cuts and act on wages, pensions and public services.

There was disruption to public transport as train, bus and tram drivers went on strike, hospital staff joined protests and nine out of 10 pharmacies were closed as pharmacists protested against pricing policies. About one in six teachers at primary and secondary schools went on strike, as well as school canteen staff and monitors. Several high schools from Paris to Amiens and Le Havre were blockaded by students. Protesters held more than 250 demonstrations and marched in cities from Paris to Marseille, Nantes, Lyon and Montpellier.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4620708

Archived link

Two men and a woman have been arrested in Essex on suspicion of assisting the Russian intelligence service, the Metropolitan Police has said.

A 41-year-old man and 35-year-old woman were arrested at the same address in Grays. A 46-year-old man was arrested nearby.

All three have been released on bail.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counterterrorism unit, said: “We’re seeing an increasing number of who we would describe as ‘proxies’ being recruited by foreign intelligence services."

“Two young British men are awaiting sentencing after they were recruited by the Wagner Group — effectively the Russian state — to carry out an arson at Ukrainian-linked warehouse. They are facing potentially lengthy custodial sentences, although, to be clear, today’s arrests are in no way connected to that investigation."

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“Anyone who might be contacted by and tempted into carrying out criminal activity on behalf of a foreign state here in the UK should think again. This kind of activity will be investigated and anyone found to be involved can expect to be prosecuted and there are potentially very serious consequences.”

The European Parliament has publicly identified five of its lawmakers implicated in an ongoing bribery scandal investigation linked to the Chinese technology conglomerate Huawei Technologies. This revelation marks a significant development in a probe spearheaded by Belgian federal prosecutors, who allege that Huawei engaged in illicit lobbying practices involving bribery and undue influence within EU institutions.

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On Wednesday, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola publicly named the five lawmakers targeted by Belgian prosecutors. They are:

• Daniel Attard, Maltese Socialist MEP
• Nikola Minchev, Bulgarian centrist MEP from Renew Europe
• Salvatore De Meo, Italian member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP)
• Fulvio Martusciello, Italian EPP member
• Giusi Princi, Italian EPP member

All five are accused of accepting gifts or illicit payments from Huawei in return for lobbying efforts benefiting the Chinese tech giant’s interests within the Parliament.

These accusations include details of undisclosed financial incentives, extravagant hospitality such as football match tickets, and all-expenses-paid trips to China. Belgian authorities suspect the gifts were systematically used to influence the lawmakers’ positions on technology and digital infrastructure policies, notably concerning 5G rollout debates in the EU.

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The lobbying process itself is not unknown and is not illegal, as long as the limits of lobbying are not exceeded. In this case, there are strong suspicions that Huawei exceeded the limits of what is permitted in the lobbying process.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/4614706

• Ukraine is stepping up international cooperation in defense manufacturing to maximize production, drive innovation, and protect critical industrial infrastructure from Russian strikes.
• Kyiv launched the “Test in Ukraine” platform to allow international defense companies to learn from Ukrainian innovation and test their new weapons and technologies in real combat conditions.
• Ukrainian companies have also scaled up production and created numerous new prototypes of weapon systems and cruise missiles. Their effectiveness, however, will depend on Ukraine’s ability to mass-produce them and Western assistance in sourcing components.

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Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced that Ukrainian defense company Fire Point will begin a production line in Denmark. Fire Point specializes in the production of long-range strike drones and cruise missiles.

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Ukraine’s experience and innovations have attracted the interest of an increasing number of partners. For example, Gaël Veyssière, the French ambassador to Ukraine, expressed France’s willingness to involve French defense and automotive companies in joint production with their Ukrainian counterparts. A project for the joint manufacture of drones is already in the works ... On September 3, at the International Defense Industry Exhibition in Poland, Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Taiwanese and Polish delegations, focusing on drone production (Taiwan News, September 3). Additionally, Yuliia Fediv, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Philippines, announced that the two countries are working toward signing an MOU on defense cooperation by October. A high-level Ukrainian delegation, including officials from the Ministry of Defense, is expected to visit Manila to discuss the draft agreement and the possibility of jointly producing Ukrainian-style drones, specifically uncrewed surface vessels.

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The Ukrainian government is seeing increased success in developing its defense industry, particularly through international cooperation in the forms of investments, relocation of production, and the creation of joint companies. Despite bureaucratic, financial, and security obstacles, the Ukrainian defense sector is showing rather positive dynamics and becoming more attractive to international partners ... For the Ukrainian military, this may soon mean that missile and drone production catches up with Russian production. For Kyiv’s international partners, the current environment gives them a chance to gain access to cutting-edge expertise and technologies, as well as to test their own products in real combat conditions.

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Archived version

Russia is an acute threat to “every sane country” and Europe is only at the beginning­ of rebuilding its defences, the Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal has said.

Michal called for the European Nato allies to start jointly procuring weapons and seize almost €200 billion­ in frozen Russian state ­assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Like Poland and its Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Latvia, Estonia directly borders Russia and sees the alliance’s ability to deter Moscow from attacking the eastern flank as a question of existential importance.

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After Russia sent at least 19 drones across the Polish border and violated Estonian airspace with an Mi-8 military helicopter last week, Michal, 50, said his country’s repeated warnings about Russian aggression had been fully vindicated­.

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Michal suggested that if a peace deal or a “frozen conflict” situation were to be reached in Ukraine, tens of thousands of demobilised Russian soldiers would spill out and destabilise regions far beyond Europe, like the Wagner private military company has done.

He said: “Russia has more men under arms than before the war. They are ­getting higher salaries, they have fighting capabilities. Some of them are criminals and they have to be treated as ­heroes in Russia.

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Archived version

Latvia's State Security Service (VDD) said Wednesday that it arrested one of its citizens on suspicion of spying for Russia.

Authorities in the Baltic country claimed the Latvian man, who was not identified, had shared the locations and security protocols of Latvian and NATO troops with his contacts inside Russia.

"According to information at VDD's disposal, the man has also shared other information with the Russian intelligence and security service which could be used against the national security interests of Latvia and other Baltic region states," the VDD said in a statement.

Authorities launched a criminal investigation. They said the man has been held in custody since late August.

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Authorities in all three of the Baltic countries have in recent years arrested individuals they accuse of spying on behalf of Moscow. An Estonian court last year sentenced Russian political science professor Vyacheslav Morozov to six years in prison on espionage charges.

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