Europe

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/41686120

https://archive.is/lWgz4

Chinese brands doubled their share of the European car market in April from a year earlier, according to registration data compiled by JATO Dynamics

About one in five electric vehicles sold in Europe during the first quarter was made in China, according to separate figures from Schmidt Automotive Research.

Only one-third of the cars that the Chinese carmakers sold in Europe during the first quarter were electric, according to Schmidt Automotive. The rest were hybrids or conventional gasoline-powered cars that are exempt from tariffs. “That’s one of the ironies” of the tariffs, said Matthias Schmidt, the owner of Schmidt Automotive.

Archived version

The city of Budapest will organise Hungary's Pride march by the LGBTQ community on June 28 as a municipal event celebrating freedom, Budapest's liberal mayor said on Monday, in a move to circumvent a law that allows police to ban LGBTQ marches.

Hungary’s parliament, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orban's right-wing Fidesz Party has a big majority, passed legislation in March that creates a legal basis to ban LGBTQ marches, citing protection of children. It also lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend.

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Pride organisers have said the 30th Pride march in Budapest would proceed despite the new legislation, and on Monday Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony said in a video that the city would team up with organisers. The mayor added since the march will be a municipal event - a celebration of freedom - "no permits from authorities are needed."

Karacsony said Budapest's history was about freedom and solidarity. "In this city, there are no first- or second-class citizens. In this city we know that we can only be free together," he said. "So in this city, neither freedom, nor love can be banned, and the Budapest Pride cannot be banned either."

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Archived version

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Ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague this month, where members are expected to agree to raise defense spending targets to 5% of GDP, the alliance is worried that Russia is using its policy of transparency for propaganda and military planning.

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The Kremlin is deliberately betting on turning even the smallest incidents into scandals and points of conflict, a strategy demonstrated by recent disinformation campaigns targeting Moscow’s opponents.

French President Emmanuel Macron found himself at the center of these efforts, first through unflattering rumors about his wife Brigitte and later with a viral video in which she allegedly slapped him before they disembarked a plane.

In one famous example, Russian state television channels, pro-Kremlin online media and Telegram news channels spread the false claim that a bag of cocaine was lying on the table in front of Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on their train to Kyiv.

In reality, it was a napkin.

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As a result of Russian shelling, 2,354 medical facility structures in Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.

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It is noted that 653 of the affected facilities have been fully restored, while another 315 have been partially repaired. These include medical institutions in de-occupied territories and those that sustained minor damage, such as broken windows, damaged facades, or destroyed roofs.

The Ministry of Health adds that most damaged facilities have not ceased operations: over 1,400 continue to function either fully or partially, while some have been relocated to other premises.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/36926438

In 2024, Russian pharmacies had 134 fewer essential drugs than the year before. Of these, about 15% treat cancer. The remaining are antibiotics, anticonvulsants, immunosuppressants, insulin for pregnant women and drugs for migraines, allergies, tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and so on.

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For example, Endoxan, used as chemotherapy and to suppress the immune system, disappeared in May 2024, as did other drugs used in the treatment of lung and biliary tract cancer.

Last summer, doctors and patients complained about a shortage of the laxative Senade, which is included in the official list of essential drugs.

In October, many regions ran short of antibiotics with different active ingredients.

In November, immunoglobulin, which is extremely important for pregnant women with the Rh negative blood type, disappeared across almost all of Russia.

Meanwhile, even in Moscow and St Petersburg there was a serious shortage of saline solution for several months. For example, in the northern capital’s clinics the wait for procedures with saline solution took up to two months, and pharmacies had only ampoules of 5-10 milliliters.

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Sanctions, restrictions and the (poor) quality of generics have led to the emergence of a real black market for brand-name, original drugs. Suppliers buy batches of them in Turkey, India and European countries and then sell them through messenger chats.

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The most popular drugs on the internet are those for cancer treatment. This is unsurprising: most antitumor drugs cannot be found in pharmacies anymore.

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The Russian consultancy RNC Pharma estimates the cost of imported drugs increased a third in 2024.

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Prices have risen for the most common therapies as well, such as over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs and asthma drugs. The reason is that many locally produced medications are made with imported components, which have become much more expensive.

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Meanwhile, Russia produces many cheap generics, for which reason, however, brand-name drugs are leaving the country due to low selling prices. Another problem is that Russian generics do not undergo the required cycle of clinical trials. Their real efficacy is unknown, and they often have many more side effects.

This is the case not only for cancer drugs but also, for example, HIV drugs. In addition, Russia does not produce combination drugs, meaning patients on local treatment regimens need to take several pills at once instead of one, which is much less convenient.

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In the prevailing conditions, patients with orphan diseases find themselves in a hopeless situation. Their drugs are often very expensive, and almost no family can afford them on their own, even though they mean the difference between life and death.

In 2024, 77% of orphan disease patients complained about difficulties in obtaining drugs.

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Prices [for medications] will rise further and there will be even fewer medications on shelves – a fact acknowledged even by official Russian sources.

"The current global trading system is not working as it should. Guardrails are clearly missing. On this point, Donald is right – there is a serious problem. But we strongly feel that the biggest challenges are not the trade between G7 partners," said the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during a G7 meeting in Canada.

"The sources of the biggest collective problem [for the G7 countries] we have has its origins in the accession of China to the WTO in 2001," she added.

"China has largely shown [its] unwillingness to live within the constraints of the rules based international system. While other opened their market China focused undercutting intellectual property protections, massive subsidies with the aim to dominate global manufacturing and supply chains. This is not market competition – it is distortion with intent. And it undermines our manufacturing sectors."

Von der Leyen added that this is the problem the G7 must solve together, stressing that the G7 economies account for 45% of global GDP – and over 80% of intellectual property revenues.

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According to to a report by Euronews, von der Leyen also said during one of the meeting's thematic sessions "China is using this quasi-monopoly [on rare earths] not only as a bargaining chip, but also weaponising it to undermine competitors in key industries."

"We all witnessed the cost and consequences of China's coercion through export restrictions," she added, referring to Beijing's recent decision to curb sales of seven types of rare earth minerals, a situation Brussels had described as "alarming".

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Von der Leyen also blasted China for flooding global markets with "subsidised overcapacity that its market cannot absorb", name-checking the dispute over China-made electric vehicles that her Commission considers to be artificially cheaper.

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This is why people turn into tankies

archive Link: https://archive.is/EGO0W

If i was a neighbor of Germany i would get very worried. Germany now openly embraces attack wars against other countries. In combination with the plans to massively arm up this government and a potential future government with AfD in the coalition will probably be interested in invading other countries again.

A new study shows that other countries are more attractive to economically successful foreigners. Discrimination also plays a major role.

The survey excludes asylum seekers who do not yet have recognized residence status in Germany. The survey period ran from December 2024 to April 2025.

"A key finding of our survey is that it is precisely those who moved to Germany to work or study, who are better educated or more economically successful and who have a better command of the German language, who are more likely than average to consider leaving or express concrete plans to emigrate," said IAB researcher Katia Gallegos Torres.

Immigrants with a master's degree or doctorate and higher earners in particular have considered leaving Germany in the last twelve months.

"Almost two-thirds of immigrants report perceived discrimination, for example at work, on the housing market, in public spaces or in contact with the police," says Gallegos Torres

Paywall? https://archive.is/TzfCE

Paywall? https://archive.is/qDNRM

https://archive.is/MGFOV

The EU must be open to resuming Russian gas imports in the event of a peace deal being brokered to end the war in Ukraine, Austria has said

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-century-of-unions-in-europe-1920-2022/

Archived

Russia fires 440 drone, 32 missiles overnight on Ukraine's capital Kyiv with the main barrage demolishing a residential building, killing at least 15, injuring dozens others

An overnight Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed [at least] 15 people and injured 156, local officials said Tuesday, with the main barrage demolishing a nine-story Kyiv apartment building in the deadliest attack on the capital this year.

Photos of a combined Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv overnight Tuesday.

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Explosions echoed across the Ukrainian capital for almost nine hours, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said, destroying dozens of apartments.

Russia fired more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, calling the Kyiv attack “one of the most terrifying strikes” on the capital.

Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said 139 people were injured in Kyiv. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko announced that Wednesday would be an official day of mourning.

The attack came after two rounds of direct peace talks failed to make progress on ending the war, now in its fourth year.

[Edit typo.]