Europe

BUDAPEST, May 24 (Reuters) - Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar walked across the border to Romania on Saturday after a week-long journey, in a attempt to win support of the ethnic Hungarians in Romania and appeal to conservative voters in the run-up to the 2026 elections.

Magyar's centre-right Tisza party emerged last year to mount the most serious challenge to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban since he rose to power in 2010.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5023165

Following Parliament’s motion for an arms embargo on Israel, activists are pressuring the Sánchez government to turn words into action on Gaza genocide

On Tuesday, May 20, a majority of representatives in the Spanish Parliament voted in favor of a motion calling for an arms embargo on Israel. Spearheaded by the progressive blocs Podemos, Sumar, and the Republican Left of Catalonia, everyone but the right-wing supported the motion – including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE).

While the news undoubtedly marks an important achievement for the months-long grassroots Palestine solidarity mobilizations in Europe and beyond, many activists caution against interpreting it as a decisive sign of Spain’s concrete commitment to halting the genocide in Gaza. “The Spanish government has the power to introduce a full arms embargo on Israel as early as tomorrow via Royal Decree,” warned the End Arms Trade with Israel campaign, which has rallied behind this demand since 2024 with the backing of over 600 organizations. “Why hasn’t it acted? What’s holding it back?”

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cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/26853335

“Russia doesn’t make any difference between the soldiers and civilians in their captivity”, Labuzov explained, adding that most of the civilians held in prisons were taken there from "the territories that Russia allegedly liberated and allegedly brought them happiness and freedom. But the treatment is the same for both civilians and military personnel."

It is not clear how many Ukrainian civilians are being held in Russian prisons and how many more are remaining under Russian occupation, with similar treatment.

"They are now forced into such conditions that if you want just to live or to even walk the streets of your villages, you must take Russian citizenship. Without Russian citizenship - you are a nobody, you have no rights," Labuzov said.

“If this is not a genocide of the Ukrainian nation, then how can we interpret these conditions that Russia is imposing on the Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories? This is one of the greatest displays of genocide of the Ukrainian nation by its northern neighbour.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30154540

Big drama in Ireland lately, players are refusing to wear skorts, with many wanting to simply wear shorts. 100% with them on this, it's a ridiculous rule and should be resisted. In the end shorts won.

Anyone else got some 'fun' smaller local European news?

cross-posted from: https://piefed.jeena.net/post/172622

The "Accept all" button is often the standard for cookie banners. An administrative court has ruled that the opposite offer is also necessary. > > Lower Saxony's data protection officer Denis Lehmkemper can report a legal victory in his long-standing battle against manipulatively designed cookie banners. The Hanover Administrative Court has confirmed his legal opinion in a judgment of March 19 that has only just been made public: Accordingly, website operators must offer a clearly visible "reject all" button on the first level of the corresponding banner for cookie consent requests if there is also the frequently found "accept all" option. Accordingly, cookie banners must not be specifically designed to encourage users to click on consent and must not prevent them from rejecting the controversial browser files.

Not all threats come from outside Europe’s borders.

One of the most insidious is the fragmentation of the political landscape. Traditional parties are losing ground. Political reference points are shifting — often to the benefit of extreme positions. Disruptive forces are rushing in to fill the vacuum.

Today’s politics is, above all, anti. Anti-European. Anti-immigration. Anti-elite. Anti-woke. Anti-system.

Democratic debate is increasingly drowned out by so-called “culture wars”.

There are always easy targets. In the UK, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has highlighted the weaponisation of the European Convention on Human Rights, accusing it of weakening national identity and border security.

In the US, Vice-President JD Vance, doubling down on his Munich speech, has framed limits on free speech as a direct threat to Western civilisation.

The risk is using the tools of democracy itself — its laws, institutions, and freedoms — to restrict rights, suppress dissent, and create the illusion that security must come first.

A Cypriot cargo ship ran ashore immediately next to a Norwegian household today, and they are currently doing there best to get the ship unstuck. It's a surprisingly sootehning live stream.

Via @DreadShips@mastodon.me.uk on Mastodon.