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In Spain there is growing concern over the use of Chinese technology from Huawei in processes closely tied to national security. According to local media in the European country, the current government signed contracts with the Shenzhen-based company to provide servers to its law enforcement and intelligence agencies—going against the European Union's recommendations.

According to official Spanish government documents published by The Objective, the Interior Ministry armed its agencies with Chinese Huawei OceanStor 6800 V5 servers to store wiretaps obtained prior to judicial authorization.

These contracts with Huawei were given after the arrival of the Government of the current Executive headed by the socialist Pedro Sanchez. Prior to the Socialist Party Government, they were revoked by the centrist Popular Party, which replaced Huawei, contracted for the first time by the governments of the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Rodríguez Zapatero himself is under scrutiny by the center-right opposition in Spain, accused of lobbying in favor of the Chinese company.

[...]

Several Western governments have warned about the dangers that lie in the use of Huawei's technology for national security tasks.

[...]

Archived

Following the massive demonstration that gathered hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of Belgrade on 15 March, the popular uprising shaking Serbia shows no sign of losing momentum. For nine days now, students have been blocking the entrance to the Serbian public broadcaster (RTS), accusing it of ignoring the movement and serving the authorities’ interests, resulting in disrupted programming.

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To lift the blockade of RTS, Serbian students are demanding the appointment of new leadership at the helm of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), whose role is theoretically to ensure pluralism of opinion and sanction incitement to hatred and violence.

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For Serbian civil society [...] it is the authorities' widespread corruption that is seen as having triggered the tragedy at the root of the mobilisations. On 1 November, the recently renovated roof of the railway station in the major city of Novi Sad collapsed, killing sixteen people. Protesters have since demanded full transparency regarding the accident amid allegations that endemic graft was partly to blame.

Rallies are being organised almost daily in Serbia’s major cities. Prime Minister Miloš Vučević was forced to resign in January after protesters were assaulted by activists from Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

[...]

On 16 April, 80 Serbian students arrived in Strasbourg after cycling more than 1,400 kilometres from Belgrade. Passing through Budapest, Vienna, and Munich, they eventually handed over a letter describing the political situation in Serbia to Bjorn Berge, the deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe.

Despite record declines in oil revenues and a growing budget deficit, the Kremlin has doubled its 2025 funding for Yunarmiya, a Russian youth movement known for promoting military training and ideological indoctrination among teenagers, reported independent Russian outlet Mozhem Obyasnit, citing the organization’s financial documents on April 22.

The group has been allocated $12.3 million (1 billion rubles) this year—the highest amount since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Of that, $9.85 million will come from federal subsidies under the national project Youth and Children, launched by presidential order in 2024 to create “advanced schools” in Russia’s regions.

[...]

Yunarmiya was established in 2016 by then-Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. According to its official website, the group now includes 1.75 million children and teenagers.

Activities include basic military training, army-style discipline, and patriotic education—including programs conducted in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

The group has been tasked with instilling what the government calls the “right attitude” toward military service. In 2021, the Russian government set a target to grow Yunarmiya’s ranks to 3.25 million children by 2030.

[...]

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said that China is one of the largest threats with respect to foreign interference in Canada and is an emerging threat in the Arctic.

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Asked to elaborate at a news conference in Niagara Falls on Friday, Carney said Canada has to counter Chinese foreign interference threats. He also criticized China for being a partner with Russia in the war with Ukraine and said it is a threat to broader Asia and Taiwan in particular.

Carney said China is the biggest threat "from a geopolitical sense." "We're taking action to address," he added.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33239490

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„Brandneu und geölt“ soll das Sturmgewehr aus China sein, das Kiews Soldaten angeblich in der Nähe von Toretsk im Osten der Ukraine sichergestellt haben. So schreibt es der estnische Blogger WarTranslated auf Bluesky. Er verweist auf einen ukrainischen YouTuber, der sich in Videos mit Waffen beschäftigt und offenbar auch eins über das Gewehr aufgenommen hat. Dabei soll es sich um den Typ 56-1 handeln, eine seit den 1950ern produzierte chinesische Kopie der sowjetischen Kalaschnikow.

China stellt sich als neutrale Partei in dem Konflikt dar und behauptet, weder Kiew noch Moskau mit Waffen zu beliefern. Doch die Wirtschaftsmacht, von der Russland ökonomisch abhängig ist, gilt schon lange als heimlicher Unterstützer der russischen Invasion in der Ukraine. Schickt das Land nun auch ganz offen Waffen an die russische Armee? Militärexperte Gustav Gressel hält einen Fund des chinesischen Sturmgewehres für plausibel, wie er dem Tagesspiegel mitteilte. Dass die Waffe direkt aus China kommt, sei jedoch nicht sicher.

„Die chinesische Kopie der Kalaschnikow ist weltweit extrem weit verbreitet und wurde in diverse Kriegsgebiete exportiert. Auch Nordkorea erhielt diese Waffe. Russland könnte sie also auch von dort, den Huthi oder anderen Verbündeten bezogen haben.“

[...]

So bröckelt das Bild des neutralen Chinas mehr und mehr. Aus Angst vor westlichen Sanktionen war es bisher sehr bedacht darauf, die Unterstützung Russland zu verschleiern, so Gressel. Demnach wurden nur chemische Vorprodukte, Maschinen und Computerchips für die russische Waffenproduktion geschickt. In diesem Zusammenhang ist immer wieder von sogenannten Dual-Use-Gütern die Rede. Das sind Produkte wie eben Chips, die sowohl für zivile, als auch militärische Zwecke genutzt werden können. China gebe aber an, die Teile ausschließlich an zivile Firmen zu liefern, erklärt Gressel.

[...]

Archiv-Link

„Brandneu und geölt“ soll das Sturmgewehr aus China sein, das Kiews Soldaten angeblich in der Nähe von Toretsk im Osten der Ukraine sichergestellt haben. So schreibt es der estnische Blogger WarTranslated auf Bluesky. Er verweist auf einen ukrainischen YouTuber, der sich in Videos mit Waffen beschäftigt und offenbar auch eins über das Gewehr aufgenommen hat. Dabei soll es sich um den Typ 56-1 handeln, eine seit den 1950ern produzierte chinesische Kopie der sowjetischen Kalaschnikow.

China stellt sich als neutrale Partei in dem Konflikt dar und behauptet, weder Kiew noch Moskau mit Waffen zu beliefern. Doch die Wirtschaftsmacht, von der Russland ökonomisch abhängig ist, gilt schon lange als heimlicher Unterstützer der russischen Invasion in der Ukraine. Schickt das Land nun auch ganz offen Waffen an die russische Armee? Militärexperte Gustav Gressel hält einen Fund des chinesischen Sturmgewehres für plausibel, wie er dem Tagesspiegel mitteilte. Dass die Waffe direkt aus China kommt, sei jedoch nicht sicher.

„Die chinesische Kopie der Kalaschnikow ist weltweit extrem weit verbreitet und wurde in diverse Kriegsgebiete exportiert. Auch Nordkorea erhielt diese Waffe. Russland könnte sie also auch von dort, den Huthi oder anderen Verbündeten bezogen haben.“

[...]

So bröckelt das Bild des neutralen Chinas mehr und mehr. Aus Angst vor westlichen Sanktionen war es bisher sehr bedacht darauf, die Unterstützung Russland zu verschleiern, so Gressel. Demnach wurden nur chemische Vorprodukte, Maschinen und Computerchips für die russische Waffenproduktion geschickt. In diesem Zusammenhang ist immer wieder von sogenannten Dual-Use-Gütern die Rede. Das sind Produkte wie eben Chips, die sowohl für zivile, als auch militärische Zwecke genutzt werden können. China gebe aber an, die Teile ausschließlich an zivile Firmen zu liefern, erklärt Gressel.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33238989

Archived

• Pipeline: A Chinese prison is part of the pipeline that delivers fentanyl to the U.S., ProPublica found in a review of U.S. and Chinese documents and interviews with investigators.
• Fallout: Opioid overdoses have killed more Americans than the number of U.S. deaths in several wars combined.
• Permissive: Veteran federal agents told ProPublica that China has failed to cooperate and even interfered with drug investigations; China insists it has cracked down.

China’s vast security apparatus shrouds itself in shadows, but the outside world has caught periodic glimpses of it behind the faded gray walls of Shijiazhuang prison in the northern province of Hebei.

Chinese media reports have shown inmates hunched over sewing machines in a garment workshop in the sprawling facility. Business leaders and Chinese Communist Party dignitaries have praised the penitentiary for exemplifying President Xi Jinping’s views on the rule of law.

But the prison has an alarming secret, U.S. congressional investigators disclosed last year. They revealed evidence showing that it is a Chinese government outpost in the trafficking pipeline that inundates the United States with fentanyl.

[...]

Although China tightly restricts the domestic manufacturing, sale and use of fentanyl products, the nation has been the world’s leading producer of fentanyl that enters the United States and remains the leading producer of chemical precursors with which Mexican cartels make the drug. Overdoses on synthetic opioid drugs, most of them fentanyl related, have killed over 450,000 Americans during the past decade — more than the U.S. deaths in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.

The involvement of a state-run prison is just one sign of the Chinese government’s role in fomenting the U.S. fentanyl crisis, U.S. investigators say. Chinese leaders have insistently denied such allegations. But U.S. national security officials said the Yafeng case shows how China allows its chemical industry to engage openly in sales to overseas customers while blocking online domestic access and enforcing stern laws against drug dealing inside the country. Beijing also encourages the manufacture and export of fentanyl products, including drugs outlawed in China, with generous financial incentives, according to a bipartisan inquiry last year by the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33238989

Archived

• Pipeline: A Chinese prison is part of the pipeline that delivers fentanyl to the U.S., ProPublica found in a review of U.S. and Chinese documents and interviews with investigators.
• Fallout: Opioid overdoses have killed more Americans than the number of U.S. deaths in several wars combined.
• Permissive: Veteran federal agents told ProPublica that China has failed to cooperate and even interfered with drug investigations; China insists it has cracked down.

China’s vast security apparatus shrouds itself in shadows, but the outside world has caught periodic glimpses of it behind the faded gray walls of Shijiazhuang prison in the northern province of Hebei.

Chinese media reports have shown inmates hunched over sewing machines in a garment workshop in the sprawling facility. Business leaders and Chinese Communist Party dignitaries have praised the penitentiary for exemplifying President Xi Jinping’s views on the rule of law.

But the prison has an alarming secret, U.S. congressional investigators disclosed last year. They revealed evidence showing that it is a Chinese government outpost in the trafficking pipeline that inundates the United States with fentanyl.

[...]

Although China tightly restricts the domestic manufacturing, sale and use of fentanyl products, the nation has been the world’s leading producer of fentanyl that enters the United States and remains the leading producer of chemical precursors with which Mexican cartels make the drug. Overdoses on synthetic opioid drugs, most of them fentanyl related, have killed over 450,000 Americans during the past decade — more than the U.S. deaths in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.

The involvement of a state-run prison is just one sign of the Chinese government’s role in fomenting the U.S. fentanyl crisis, U.S. investigators say. Chinese leaders have insistently denied such allegations. But U.S. national security officials said the Yafeng case shows how China allows its chemical industry to engage openly in sales to overseas customers while blocking online domestic access and enforcing stern laws against drug dealing inside the country. Beijing also encourages the manufacture and export of fentanyl products, including drugs outlawed in China, with generous financial incentives, according to a bipartisan inquiry last year by the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

[...]

Archived

• Pipeline: A Chinese prison is part of the pipeline that delivers fentanyl to the U.S., ProPublica found in a review of U.S. and Chinese documents and interviews with investigators.
• Fallout: Opioid overdoses have killed more Americans than the number of U.S. deaths in several wars combined.
• Permissive: Veteran federal agents told ProPublica that China has failed to cooperate and even interfered with drug investigations; China insists it has cracked down.

China’s vast security apparatus shrouds itself in shadows, but the outside world has caught periodic glimpses of it behind the faded gray walls of Shijiazhuang prison in the northern province of Hebei.

Chinese media reports have shown inmates hunched over sewing machines in a garment workshop in the sprawling facility. Business leaders and Chinese Communist Party dignitaries have praised the penitentiary for exemplifying President Xi Jinping’s views on the rule of law.

But the prison has an alarming secret, U.S. congressional investigators disclosed last year. They revealed evidence showing that it is a Chinese government outpost in the trafficking pipeline that inundates the United States with fentanyl.

[...]

Although China tightly restricts the domestic manufacturing, sale and use of fentanyl products, the nation has been the world’s leading producer of fentanyl that enters the United States and remains the leading producer of chemical precursors with which Mexican cartels make the drug. Overdoses on synthetic opioid drugs, most of them fentanyl related, have killed over 450,000 Americans during the past decade — more than the U.S. deaths in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.

The involvement of a state-run prison is just one sign of the Chinese government’s role in fomenting the U.S. fentanyl crisis, U.S. investigators say. Chinese leaders have insistently denied such allegations. But U.S. national security officials said the Yafeng case shows how China allows its chemical industry to engage openly in sales to overseas customers while blocking online domestic access and enforcing stern laws against drug dealing inside the country. Beijing also encourages the manufacture and export of fentanyl products, including drugs outlawed in China, with generous financial incentives, according to a bipartisan inquiry last year by the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33238850

BASF said in a statement it had completed the sale of its shares in Markor Chemical Manufacturing and Markor Meiou Chemical to the Singaporean group Verde Chemical.

The German group gave no financial details of the transaction, which was completed on Monday "following approval by the relevant authorities".

BASF had said in February 2024 it would accelerate its divestment from the joint ventures which manufacture the industrial chemical butanediol.

Plans to sell the shares had already been announced by BASF in 2023 in response to commercial and environmental concerns.

German public broadcaster ZDF and news magazine Der Spiegel had reported that staff of BASF's partner firm Markor were involved in rights abuses against members of the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority.

Employees were alleged to have spied on Uyghur families and filed reports with Chinese authorities.

[...]

BASF said in a statement it had completed the sale of its shares in Markor Chemical Manufacturing and Markor Meiou Chemical to the Singaporean group Verde Chemical.

The German group gave no financial details of the transaction, which was completed on Monday "following approval by the relevant authorities".

BASF had said in February 2024 it would accelerate its divestment from the joint ventures which manufacture the industrial chemical butanediol.

Plans to sell the shares had already been announced by BASF in 2023 in response to commercial and environmental concerns.

German public broadcaster ZDF and news magazine Der Spiegel had reported that staff of BASF's partner firm Markor were involved in rights abuses against members of the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority.

Employees were alleged to have spied on Uyghur families and filed reports with Chinese authorities.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/33196646

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has taken at least 744,000 Ukrainian children to its territory, mostly accompanied by their parents, according to Daria Zarivna, Head of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative. Her remarks were published in an Espresso interview on April 19.

“Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine had approximately seven million children. According to human rights organizations, about 1.6 million children remain in temporarily occupied territories. Russia has stated that it took at least 744,000 children to its territory, mostly with their parents,” Zarivna said.

[...]

Due to the lack of access, it is unclear how many children have died, how many have been separated from their parents, or how many were born after February 2022.

According to official Ukrainian data, 19,546 cases of unlawful deportation or forced displacement of children have been documented. “The real number is much higher, but Russia blocks access to information, preventing a full assessment of the scale of this crime,” Zarivna added.

Through the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, Ukraine has managed to return 1,269 children—449 over the past year, and 18 in March 2025 alone.

[...]

Children are taken to filtration camps or sent deeper into occupied regions, where they are housed in “re-education camps,” orphanages, or medical facilities.

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In other instances, children are forcibly taken from institutions. “Russia abducted 48 children from the Kherson Infant Home alone, many of whom have already been adopted by Russian families,” Zarivna said.

One example cited in the interview involved 17-year-old Vlad Rudenko from the Kherson region. Russian soldiers entered his home while he was alone, ordered him to pack his belongings, and transported him and his siblings to a military college in Crimea. Only months later was his mother able to locate him and begin the process to bring him home.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that over 3,000 children were forcibly deported from occupied areas of Kherson during the summer of 2024 under the pretense of “vacation” programs. According to his statement, the children were taken to camps in remote Russian regions, where they were subjected to “re-education” activities aimed at erasing their Ukrainian identity.