Europe

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3196178

Archived version

Italy's antitrust watchdog AGCM said on Monday it had opened an investigation into Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek for allegedly failing to warn users that it may produce false information.

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The Italian regulator, which also polices consumer rights, said in a statement DeepSeek did not give users "sufficiently clear, immediate and intelligible" warnings about the risk of so-called "hallucinations" in its AI-produced content.

It described these as "situations in which, in response to a given input entered by a user, the AI ​​model generates one or more outputs containing inaccurate, misleading or invented information."

In February, another Italian watchdog, the data protection authority, ordered DeepSeek to block access to its chatbot after it failed to address its concerns on privacy policy.

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As an addition:

What They’re Not Telling You: China’s New DeepSeek Censors Even More Than Old Models

• China’s DeepSeek releases advanced AI model R1-0528, rivaling Western systems but heavily censoring political criticism and human rights issues.
• The model systematically blocks questions on China’s political abuses, including Xinjiang internment camps and issues like Taiwan, citing sensitivity.
• Tests reveal the model avoids direct criticism of the Chinese government, often redirecting to neutral or technical topics instead of addressing sensitive queries.
• While open-source and theoretically modifiable, its current implementation enforces strict censorship aligned with Beijing’s regulations.
• Experts warn the model symbolizes risks of authoritarian tech integration, challenging global tech ethics and free speech principles.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37084496

Archived

Thousands of North Koreans are entering Russia, posing as students on “practical training” but instead coming to labor under slave-like conditions [...] The practice directly violates UN sanctions — sanctions that Russia itself has agreed to. The workers toil six days a week, sometimes for up to 20 hours a day, while their wages are divided between the North Korean regime and Russian companies. Among those profiting from the forced labor system is an organization linked to Artem Chaika, the son of Russia’s former prosecutor general.

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Pyongyang uses its labor force as a vital source of hard currency. In 2015, Marzuki Darusman, the former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, reported that foreign employers paid the regime in Pyongyang “significantly higher amounts” than the workers themselves were told they were earning, allowing the government to collect an estimated $1.2 to $2.3 billion annually.

Meanwhile, the workers themselves often received little or nothing in exchange for working grueling shifts of up to 20 hours a day — all while living in conditions of constant surveillance and with insufficient food. In one of his messages, Tkachuk noted that each group of North Korean workers must include a designated “senior” supervisor — a minder tasked with overseeing and controlling the group on behalf of the regime.

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According to Cedric Ryngaert, Head of the Department of International Law at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, given the findings of The Insider’s investigation are correct, Russia is likely to violate UN Security Council resolutions 2375 and 2397, both adopted in 2017. These resolutions, among other conditions, require member states to stop issuing work permits to North Korean labourers and repatriate all of them to their home country within 2 years.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37083862

Archived

The head of one of Russia’s largest steel producers has warned of imminent production cuts and plant closures in the country’s steel industry as a strengthening ruble and high interest rates choke off demand and profitability.

The steel industry, which employs more than 600,000 workers and accounts for roughly 10% of Russia’s export revenues, has long been a pillar of the nation’s heavy industry.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday, Severstal CEO Alexander Shevelev said the industry could be unable to sell up to 6 million metric tons of steel this year, nearly 10% of last year’s total output.

The current forecast for domestic steel consumption predicts that demand could fall from 43-45 million tons to just 39 million tons this year, he said.

“That’s effectively the disappearance of an entire industry’s worth of demand,” Shevelev said.

At the same time, exporting steel has become unprofitable due to the sharp appreciation of the ruble.

“The industry … today is practically unable to export metal products, because it is economically unviable,” Shevelev said.

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Meanwhile, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov warned Thursday that Russia's economy is teetering on the "brink of recession", casting a downbeat tone over the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a key event aimed at attracting investment to the country.

Speaking on the second day of the forum, Reshetnikov said "current business sentiment and indicators" point to a looming downturn.

"Overall, I think we are on the brink of a recession," he told journalists. "Everything else depends on our decisions," he added, urging Russia's Central Bank to show "a little love for the economy."

Russia's economy has been marked by volatility since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with growth now slowing after a period when record defense spending led to "overheating."

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What Gaza exposed to the world should have been recognised from the start by Western leaders. But as long as Israel was standing against a defenceless population, the West remained ensconced within its narrative, complicit in Israel’s killing thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. When starvation became a point of contention after the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was banned by Israel, the EU prioritised its humanitarian discourse and found a fragment of consensus upon which it could criticise Israel.

Once Israel decided to attack Iran, the EU swiftly found another niche for Israel’s security narrative, taking cues from Israel, of course.

Since Israel’s security narrative still holds sway, Palestinians remain on the bottom most rung of EU foreign policy. Instead of viewing Israel’s belligerence – sustaining the genocide in Gaza and attacking Iran based upon decades of Zionist incendiary rhetoric – as a reason to apply punitive measures, the EU takes a step back from acting against Israel’s interests, which are also its own

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3194360

Archived version

The EU and Australia announced on Wednesday they will start talks for a defence and security pact, with the bloc expected to strike a similar deal with Canada next week, a first step that could eventually allow both NATO allies to take part in the EU's €150 billion programme to boost military production.

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Brussels and Canberra emphasised their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, where China's military is increasingly active and assertive, and which has become a key pillar of Washington's foreign policy.

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The EU and Australia are also currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement but the talks for the SPD will remain separate.

A Security and Defence Pact (SPD) - like the one the EU signed with the UK last month - is one of the likely deliverables of the EU-Canada summit to be held on Monday in Brussels between European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, European Council president Antonio Costa, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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A second agreement, allowing for the third country's participation in SAFE, will also be required.

SAFE was approved by member states late last month and governments now have a few months to submit to the Commission the joint procurement projects they want to take part in. The EU executive could then start releasing money to fund these projects before the end of the year.

France announced on Tuesday that Bulgaria had joined its initiative for joint acquisitions of THALES radar intended to strengthen aerial surveillance.

"Other countries have already shown a strong interest in this approach and, with the support of the initial partner countries, are expected to join the cooperation in the near future," the French ministry for the armed forces said.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3195372

The European Commission decided to exclude Chinese companies from EU government purchases of medical devices exceeding €5 million. This measure follows the conclusions of the first investigation under the International Procurement Instrument (IPI), and allows no more than 50% of inputs from China for successful bids.

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Global public procurement, worth over €11 trillion per year, is an important business opportunity for European companies. The EU public procurement market remains one of the most open in the world. For example, Chinese exports of medical devices to the EU have more than doubled between 2015 and 2023.

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China has erected significant and recurring legal and administrative barriers to its procurement market: 87% of public procurement contracts for medical devices in China were subject to exclusionary and discriminatory measures and practices against EU-made medical devices and EU suppliers, according to a 2025 Commission report. The report was the result of the Commission's first investigation under the IPI Regulation, launched on 24 April 2024.

The Commission has repeatedly raised this issue with the Chinese authorities, seeking a constructive and fair solution that would enable EU companies to access the Chinese market on terms comparable to those enjoyed by Chinese firms in the EU. Despite these efforts, China has so far not offered specific commitments that would address the discriminatory measures and practices identified.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/41770509

Commissioner O’Flaherty raises concerns about restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly of persons protesting in the context of the conflict in Gaza, as well as about reports of excessive use of force by police against protesters, including children.

In a letter responding to Rutte’s proposals for next week’s Nato summit in the Hague, first reported by the Spanish newspaper El País, Sánchez declared his opposition for the proposed change arguing “it is not necessary to fulfil our commitments to the alliance.”

He explained that the figure “has nothing to do with the level of commitment to collective defence,” with Spain confidence it can do enough with lower spending.

He added that adopting the target would have adverse effects for the Spanish economy, as it would force the government to raise taxes, cut public services and slow down its plans on green transition. “We choose not to make those sacrifices,” he reportedly said.

The paper said that the new Nato target had been expected to be adopted unanimously, but Spain’s objection could now trigger further discussions on its adoption.

Poland has been observing GPS disruptions over the Baltic Sea, Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said, adding they were “related to the actions of the Russian Federation, including sabotage actions.”

Polish media reported cases of GPS malfunction in the north of the country on Tuesday, including private drones flying away in unknown directions or losing connection.

“This may be Russia’s answer to the Baltops exercises,” Polish Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski told Reuters on Tuesday, referring to NATO’s annual exercise in the Baltic Sea, being held this month.

Jaworski said the disruptions had become more intense since the start of the NATO exercise.

On Monday, a flight from Alicante in Spain to the northern Polish city of Bydgoszcz was redirected to Poznań in the west of Poland due to navigation problems, a Bydgoszcz airport spokesperson said, without identifying the airline.

“We are observing these disruptions. They are also observed over the Baltic Sea area by our allies in NATO countries - both in the Baltic states and the Nordic countries,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told journalists when asked about such incidents at a press conference about new helicopters.

“These actions are related, according to our sources, to the actions of the Russian Federation, also to sabotage actions.”

He did not elaborate on the sources.

**Rising sabotage threats **

Countries located on the Baltic Sea have reported numerous incidents since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, including power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages, and the NATO military alliance has boosted its presence in the region.

On Tuesday, Poland and the Baltic states signed a memorandum to boost the protection of critical energy infrastructure, with a special focus on shielding vulnerable underwater assets in the Baltic Sea, where a string of suspected sabotage attacks have been reported since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Last year, Estonia and Finland blamed Moscow for jamming GPS navigation devices in the region’s airspace.

Russia has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/41772576