Tootfinder

Discover European products and services
A community-driven directory that helps you buy European products and services, based on personal recommendations.
🇪🇺 #alternative <…

Go European — Discover European products and services
Go European is a community-driven directory bringing you European products and services from across the continent.

European XFEL: Am Hamburgischen Röntgenlaser wird es kalt
Der European XFEL wird nach einer längeren Pause wieder für den wissenschaftlichen Betrieb vorbereitet. Wir waren vorher noch einmal dort.
https://w…

Putin calls European leaders 'piglets,' declares war goals will be met 'unconditionally': https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/17/putin-calls-european-leaders-piglets.html

Putin calls European leaders
‘little pigs’
and says Russia will achieve its
Ukraine goals by diplomacy or force
The Russian leader says the aims of its ‘special military operation’ will be met ‘unconditionally
https://www…

Danish startup Flatpay, which facilitates card payments for SMBs, raised €145M at a €1.5B valuation and says it "crossed €100M of ARR in October" (Anna Heim/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/16/fast

Danish startup FlatPay joins the club of European fintech unicorns to track | TechCrunch
Flatpay’s bet is that it can challenge larger players by charging small merchants a flat transaction rate to use its card terminals and point-of-sales systems.

European police bust Ukraine-based call center network behind $11 million in scams https://therecord.media/european-police-bust-ukraine-based-call-centers

Putin calls European leaders 'little pigs' and says Russia will achieve Ukraine goals by diplomacy or force - Europe live (Jakub Krupa/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/dec/17/ukraine-russia-war-eu-european-council-frozen-assets-zelenskyy-europe-live-news
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p57#a251217p57

The One-Year Jewish Studies Program at Paideia - The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20134939/one-year-jewish-studies-program-paideia-european-institute-jewish

Scientific Advice Mechanism to the European Commission
December 2025
SAPEA (2025). Artificial intelligence in emergency and crisis management: Rapid evidence review report.
Downloadable from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17737962

McKinsey expects the European demand-side flexibility market to grow to €12 billion by 2030, with a €2 billion residential portion.
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/electric-power-and-natural-…

The US threatens economic penalties against European companies like Spotify if the EU does not roll back regulations and lawsuits targeting US tech giants (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/business/economy/us-eu-tech-penalties.html

U.S. Threatens Penalties Against European Tech Firms Amid Regulatory Fight
The Trump administration singled out European tech firms by name and promised economic consequences Tuesday unless the E.U. rolls back tech regulation and lawsuits.

Russia, a European friend of Russia, and an American admirer/asset of Russia to hold 'peace summit'.
https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-donald-trump-meeting/

‘We are ready’: Orbán hails planned Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest
The U.S. president says he will meet Russia’s leader in Hungary.

And now for something completely different, what are all you European Linux people using for secure automatic cloud backups of docs and pictures on your linux laptops?
Asking for a teenager used to onedrive.
#DigitalSovereignty
proton
pcloud
nextcloud
Something else? (Add in replies)

Der Cloudflare-Ausfall extra zur Feier des „Summit on European Digital Sovereignty“ ist schon schön orchestriert.

According to the 2020 European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP),
the highest-priority next collider is an electron-positron Higgs factory,
followed in the longer term by a hadron-hadron collider at the highest achievable energy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20417

Future Colliders Comparative Evaluation -- Working Group Report
In anticipation of the completion of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) programme by the end of 2041, CERN is preparing to launch a new major facility in the mid-2040s. According to the 2020 European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP), the highest-priority next collider is an electron-positron Higgs factory, followed in the longer term by a hadron-hadron collider at the highest achievable energy. The CERN directorate established a Future Colliders Comparative Evaluation workin…

#Sentinel6B "was delivered into orbit just under an hour after liftoff, and at 07:54 CET ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Germany received the all-important signal via the Inuvik ground station in Canada, indicating that Sentinel-6B is alive and well": https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-6/Sentinel-6B_launched_to_extend_record_of_sea-level_rise

The US threatens economic penalties against European companies like Spotify, if the EU does not roll back regulations and lawsuits targeting US tech giants (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/business/economy/us-eu-tech-penalties.html<…

U.S. Threatens Penalties Against European Tech Firms Amid Regulatory Fight
The Trump administration singled out European tech firms by name and promised economic consequences Tuesday unless the E.U. rolls back tech regulation and lawsuits.

„EU makes it even easier for Chinese EV companies to dominate the European car market“ There, fixed it for you.
EU Moves To Ease 2035 Ban On Internal Combustion Cars - Slashdot https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/17/003222/eu-moves-to-…

This week, GÉANT held its first multistakeholder policy event in Brussels—opening a new chapter in how the GÉANT community and European policy makers can work together to shape the #DigitalTransformation of #Europe.
This event laid the groundwork for an ongoing dialogue between GÉANT, …

Say No to China’s Cruel New “Monkey Business” #AnimalRights

Went for a visit over to BlueSky and after being there for less than five minutes, got attacked by a weird, seemingly coordinated group consisting of religious "feminists" (ie, they fight for the right to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen) and Black people. What a weird coalition.
This was apparently for the crime of being on US-owned social media while progressive, European, female and under-pigmented.
Very close to dropping that account.

Folx, I don't do this often, but one of my favorite projects has now gone online again and I wish to share it! Feel free to check out @… at:
🔗 https://howtheyvote.eu/

Find out how Members of the European Parliament vote
Find out how Members of the European Parliament vote.

“Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.
…
The motive hardly matters: whether the US regards the EU as an enemy for transactional or ideological reasons, it now sees it as an enemy.
…
[Mark] Rutte warns of war, urging Europe to prepare itself, yet he has nothing to say about the one-time ally across the Atlantic…

[OT] Europe is breaking up with U.S. cloud https://www.eetimes.com/europe-breaking-up-cloud-us/ Geopolitics forces European large organizations to abandon U.S. hyperscale cloud reliance.

European police bust network selling thousands of phone numbers to scammers https://therecord.media/europe-sim-farms-raided-latvia-austria-estonia

Ignoring evil does not make it go away.
The world needs to wake up and stand against corruption, fascism, oligarchies and billionaires.
Giorgio is a singular point of truth from the frontlines in Ukraine.
Giorgio risks his life and shares the friend link to tell the world what is happening, and what is coming to their cities next.
Please support his work, share widely, and help the world stand up to the evil of greedy and horrid men.

«They tore them to pieces in front of me» – live from the European front of Zaporizhzhia
Live from Ukraine 🇺🇦

The One-Year Jewish Studies Program at Paideia - The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden
https://ift.tt/HxLXogs
Mining the Logs: Sources on Blue Humor URL …
via Input 4 RELCFP ht…

European leaders present six-point security, recovery plan for Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/16/european-leaders-present-sixpoint-security.html

Why are these people so obsessed with eating bugs? "Oh but millions of people around the world eat bugs" yeah millions of people around the world do all kinds of fucked up shit and I'm not planning to do any of that shit either. Gross. Fuck outta here. I'll have the vegan option. https://www.…

Next, an interesting blog from @… - is it finally time for European alternatives? I'd say a resounding YES...
https://www.collaboraonline.com/blog/is-it-time-for-european-technology-alternatives/?utm_campaign=Blog&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Mastodon&utm_content=European_Alternatives

Bursting AI bubble may be EU’s “secret weapon” in clash with Trump, expert says:
Spotify and Accenture caught in crossfire as Trump attacks EU tech regulations.
The US threatened to restrict some of the largest service providers in the European Union as retaliation for EU tech regulations and investigations are increasingly drawing Donald Trump’s ire. […]
🤖

Bursting AI bubble may be EU’s “secret weapon” in clash with Trump, expert says
Spotify and Accenture caught in crossfire as Trump attacks EU tech regulations.

"it is official U.S. policy to work toward regime change in European countries and to weaken or even destroy the European Union." — @…
I think this has been coming for a long time – since long before #Trump. The interests of the US and of an incr…

New U.S. security strategy calls for regime change in Europe
In this video, I discuss the new U.S. national security strategy, which, to put it mildly, is concerning for Europe. It's largely a document about how the Trump administration sees it as a requirement for continued transatlantic cooperation that MAGA movements come to power in European countries. Watch the

Some of our members in Game Workers Unite Ireland were in Paris for a game union summit today and joined the STJV and other European game worker unions for a solidarity protest outside Take Two offices.
The blatant union busting firing of the Rockstar 31 workers can not stand. Reinstate them now!
Work in games in Ireland? Join us 👉 https://fs…

This is welcome, but the also axed Paris-Vienna route still has no replacement.
New sleeper services will run from Paris to Berlin next year | Rail travel | The Guardian
#NightTrains
https://www.

Vladimir Putin predicts European 'swine' backing Ukraine will lose power (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/52c0b594-d299-4473-a35e-9a9235267d92
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p94#a251217p94

European Women’s International Leadership Award 2025
https://europa.blog/de/european-womens-international-leadership-award-2025/

European Women’s International Leadership Award 2025 - Europa Blog
28

"In Finland, tax records are considered public data, and every November, the tax authorities release a dataset to the media containing the incomes earned and taxes paid by Finland’s richest."
"At the top spot this year was Mikko ”Miki” Kuusi, founder of food delivery company Wolt and CEO of Deliveroo, whose income was €80.6 million, of which he paid €39.7 million in taxes."
STANDING OVATION

David Eugene Edwards' legendary band 16 Horsepower reunite for a 2026 European tour and one US festival
For the first time in over 20 years, the original 3 members David Eugene Edwards, Jean-Yves Tola, and Pascal Humbert will be playing together (with Chuck French, the guitarist from David EE’s band Wovenhand)
https://wovenhandband.com/n…

TikTok tracked user’s Grindr activity in violation of European law, rights group alleges https://therecord.media/tiktok-grindr-data-tracking-noyb

European automakers warn of substantial disruption to production after China cut off Nexperia's outbound shipments following the Dutch seizure of Nexperia (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/91304da5-6537-4f80-955a-6cb1df05cbc8

Big steps for digital connectivity in the Western Balkans 🌐
This week at the EU–Western Balkans Investment Forum, the European Commission, GÉANT and 4iG Group signed a joint declaration confirming their shared commitment to advancing secure, high-capacity digital infrastructure and strengthening connectivity across the region.
🔗 Read more:

RE: https://mastodon.social/@burger_jaap/115355130590936308
Part 2: when European, national and local policies reinforce each other. How diesel vans disappeared from new vehicle sales in the Netherlands.

A lot of journalistic pieces contain too little information. But here's one that is chock full of interesting stuff, not details, but hooks for deeper inquiry. That stuff goes far beyond the topics in the headline. For instance I had never previously considered subway cars as a potential form of spyware.
"After F-35 “Kill Switch”, Now Europe Perturbed By Chinese “Kill Switch” That Could Cripple Its Transport Infra'

After F-35 “Kill Switch”, Now Europe Perturbed By Chinese “Kill Switch” That Could Cripple Its Transport Infra
The debate about a “kill switch” in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets was hardly over when a new worry is pestering Europe. Do Chinese electric buses plying across multiple cities in Europe come with a similar “kill switch” that allows Beijing to deactivate them remotely? In the last month, multiple European countries, […]

eu_procurements_alt: EU national procurement networks (2008-2016)
These 234 networks represent the annual national public procurement markets of 26 European countries from 2008-2016, inclusive. Data is sourced from Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), the official procurement portal of the European Union.
This network has 10215 nodes and 11837 edges.
Tags: Economic, Commerce, Weighted, Temporal

Interesting to so easily see the quite aggressive radar/jamming near key Russian sites on European Space Agency's Synthetic-Aperture Radar imagery

Copernicus Browser
Search, visualise and download Sentinel satellite imagery

Breadboarding I briefly shorted the 5v to ground or one of the pins. This broke the 1N5819W scottsky protection diode.
Now to repair a €3 module I need a replacement. Buying from european suppliers doesn't make sense for low cost repairs, but thanks to AliExpress I'll soon have 99 extra diodes for future repairs🤪

Oh, FFS. And here I thought EU leaders might have grown a spine. Guess I was wrong. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/07/european-commission-ai-artificial-intelligence-act…

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will unveil a new £4 million project to reinforce cyber defenses in the Western Balkans, and share expertise in countering disinformation and other malign activity from hostile actors.
Foreign Secretary to put boosting security and tackling illegal migration at the heart of foreign policy during meeting of European partners

Foreign Secretary to put boosting security and tackling illegal migration at the heart of foreign policy during meeting of European partners
Foreign Secretary hosts meeting in Northern Ireland, focused on preserving security and stability in the Western Balkans. 

Reading Paul Krugman talking with Adam Tooze . Re. € crisis in 2012: "Paul DeGraue, Belgian economist said, “this is a panic, the numbers don’t really justify this.” Mario Draghi actually agreed and said three words, “whatever it takes,” that the ECB will stand behind that and will make sure the countries don’t run out of cash. The crisis just evaporated like nothing. *Most effective central bank statement in the history of humanity*, I’m sure." Here is Dhragi's speech:

Pope Leo criticizes Trump for trying to ‘break apart’ US-European alliance | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pope-ukraine-deal-trump-european-alliance-b2881392.html

Sources and a memo: Amazon plans to cut 370 jobs, or ~8.5% of its 4,370 employees, at its European HQ in Luxembourg, the country's biggest layoffs in 20 years (Benoit Berthelot/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

A new PhD programme “migration, time and urban inequalities” run by seven European universities (including @…) has 15 fully funded PhD positions open: https://www.migrationtime.eu…

A fully funded European PhD training programme (2026–2029)
MITIME is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network focusing on how time shapes migration, inequality, and urban life in post-industrial Europe. We train early-stage researchers in cutting-edge theory, methods and transferable skills, and innovate approac

Call for Papers: "Gods in/of the Machine: Technologies of Metahuman Presence and Communication" in EASA 2026 conference (European Association of Social Anthropologists)
https://ift.tt/jGBCv7J
Mining the Logs: Sources on Blue Humor URL …
via Input 4 RELCFP

RE: https://mastodon.social/@burger_jaap/115388996250482308
On the last day of voting before the elections, the populist farmer's party in the Dutch parliament managed to pass a motion instructing the Dutch government to ‘oppose the European ban on…

The EU was not called the European Coal And Steel Community for nothing, folks.
We talk a mean human rights and democracy. But we’re still the European Coal and Steel Community.
Go Single Market, amirite?! https://mastodon.mediafaro.org/@mf_newsdigest/11550764176416580…

After bringing white South Africans to the United States as refugees earlier this year,
the Trump administration is now reportedly considering granting protection to members of far-right European parties.
According to the New York Times, the proposal that Donald Trump is now weighing would prioritize Europeans who are allegedly
“targeted for peaceful expression of views online such as opposition to mass migration or support for ‘populist’ political parties.”
The pro…

Trump could soon make America’s refugee program a tool for white nationalism
The White House is considering a plan to overhaul refugee admissions in favor of right-wing whites.

Witkoff to meet Zelensky, European leaders over the weekend to discuss US peace plan, WSJ reports: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/13/witkoff-to-meet-zelensky-european.html

European Women’s International Leadership Award 2025
#brussels

European Women’s International Leadership Award 2025 - Europa Blog
28

Erasmus is back.
UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme | European Union | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/16/uk-to-rejoin-eu-erasmus-student-exchange-programme?CMP=Share_An…

Monzo receives an Irish banking license, allowing the London-based digital lender to offer current and savings accounts across the EU (Aisha S Gani/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-17/monzo-gets-iri…

Perhaps they'll have to change their brand name to Beyond Dead Animals now?
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/10/08/when-is-a-sausage-no-longer-a-sausage-european-parliament-answers-a…

When is a sausage no longer one? EU Parliament answers after grilling
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups. #EuropeNews

Call for Papers: "Gods in/of the Machine: Technologies of Metahuman Presence and Communication" in EASA 2026 conference (European Association of Social Anthropologists)
https://ift.tt/EqUMuFP
Mining the Logs: Sources on Blue Humor URL …
via Input 4 RELCFP

Various news about a possible future collider,
all pointing to the CERN FCC-ee as the leading proposal.
The Chinese CEPC plan is now on hold, as a decision was reached to not include it in China’s plans for the next five years (2026-30).

As part of the European Strategy for Particle Physics update process, recommendations drafted earlier this month have now been released
As expected, the main recommendation is to pursue the FCC-ee project, which will cost an esti…

Future Collider Update
Various news about a possible future collider, all pointing to the CERN FCC-ee as the leading proposal. For up to date background technical information on proposed colliders, including cost estimat…

How European, national and local policies enhance each other’s effectiveness. And how cities make EU policy work for business and society.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jaapburger_how-european-national-and-local-policies-a…

How European, national, and local policies enhance each other's effectiveness. The share of electric vans and light trucks in new sales in the Netherlands has risen to more than three-quarters this… | Jaap Burger
How European, national, and local policies enhance each other's effectiveness. The share of electric vans and light trucks in new sales in the Netherlands has risen to more than three-quarters this year. A clear result of the introduction of local zero-emission zones for freight in an increasing number of Dutch cities, and updated taxation rules. The graph and table are from an excellent The International Council on Clean Transportation post by Dr. Sandra Wappelhorst and Eamonn Mulholland exp…

I looked at the photo below and thought "Why are they all carrying lava lamps? And why is that soldier sticking his weapon into his eye?"
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-leaders-warn-us-could-betray-ukraine-in-leaked-call/

Macron warned US could ‘betray’ Ukraine in leaked leaders’ call, Spiegel reports
According to a transcript obtained by the German outlet, Europe rallied around Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sharply criticized Washington.

Finally
"I think if you're European, then it is a national security priority to stop using X" — @…
Well, indeed. But is there a national security priority to move to yet another #US owned and controlled social media platform, when there…

New U.S. security strategy calls for regime change in Europe
In this video, I discuss the new U.S. national security strategy, which, to put it mildly, is concerning for Europe. It's largely a document about how the Trump administration sees it as a requirement for continued transatlantic cooperation that MAGA movements come to power in European countries. Watch the

So far in Russia's hybrid war in Europe, most known acts of sabotage have resulted in minimal damage
— nothing compared to the tens of thousands of lives lost and cities decimated across Ukraine.
But officials say each act
— from vandalism of monuments to cyberattacks to warehouse fires
— sucks up valuable security resources.
The head of one large European intelligence service said investigations into Russian interference now swallow up as much of the agency’…

Russia wants to drain Europe's security resources with sabotage campaign, officials say | AP News
The Associated Press has tracked 145 cases of sabotage and disruption that Western officials blame on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They say Moscow wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources.

Call for Papers: "Gods in/of the Machine: Technologies of Metahuman Presence and Communication" in EASA 2026 conference (European Association of Social Anthropologists) https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcement…

A European theater owners group says Netflix's Warner Bros. acquisition "represents a double risk" of fewer films being produced and getting theatrical releases (Scott Roxborough/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodrepo…

European Theater Owners Group Opposes Netflix-Warner Bros. Megadeal
The UNIC, which represents cinema exhibitors across Europe, fears the streamer will downgrade the theatrical experience.

Ukraine has no right to renounce territory — Zelensky comments on US-led peace efforts after talks with European leaders
https://kyivindependent.com/zelensky-arrives-in-london-to-discuss-ukraine-peace-efforts-with-european-leaders/

email_eu: Email network (EU research inst.)
An email network (anonymized) from a large European research institution, collected from October 2003 to May 2005 (18 months). Each node corresponds to an email address, and a directed edge exists between nodes i and j, if i sent at least one message to j.
This network has 265214 nodes and 420045 edges.
Tags: Social, Communication, Unweighted

How Russian propaganda humiliates European leaders! #shorts: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/10/how-russian-propaganda-humiliates-european.html

In the United States, more than 2,500 demonstrations against US President Donald Trump are planned nationwide for Saturday.
The organizers expect millions of participants under the motto
"No Kings".
The first protests are underway in Ann Arbor and other places.
Demonstrations against the growing US authoritarianism also gathered in European capitals.

"No Kings": Hunderte Demonstrationen gegen Trump laufen an - Hubu.de - News & FreeMail
In den USA sind für Samstag landesweit über 2.500 Demonstrationen gegen US-Präsident Donald Trump geplant.

Apple doesn't include a charger in the box with the new M5 MacBook Pro in European countries, making users pay extra; the company cites local regulations (Joe Rossignol/MacRumors)
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/15/new-macbook-pro-lacks-charger-in-europe/

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy,...

Make no mistake, the only values the European Commission gives a single damn about are expressed in Euros and cents.
The guiding principle of the successor to the European Coal and Steel Community isn’t human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, it’s the Single Market.
How dare you even pretend to care when you are beyond silent in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, you despicable bunch of fancy-suited hypocrites.

European Commission (@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu)
Attached: 1 image 🤝75 years of the European Convention on Human Rights A landmark treaty that reshaped Europe after the second World War, protecting millions of Europeans and supporting our shared values of human rights, democracy and rule of law. Because human rights aren’t optional. They’re universal.

Call for Papers: "Gods in/of the Machine: Technologies of Metahuman Presence and Communication" in EASA 2026 conference (European Association of Social Anthropologists) https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcement…

Austria’s high court orders Meta to change its personalized ad practices https://therecord.media/austria-court-meta-ruling

But not a whisper about reparations for the colonised, expropriated and exploited global South.
European Commission plans ‘reparations loan’ to Ukraine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/03/european-commission-rep…

"The reality is that the views expressed in this US national security strategy are in many ways identical to the Russian viewpoints on Europe and the Russian goals of regime change in European countries." — @…
I think we should all consider the possibility that this may be because

New U.S. security strategy calls for regime change in Europe
In this video, I discuss the new U.S. national security strategy, which, to put it mildly, is concerning for Europe. It's largely a document about how the Trump administration sees it as a requirement for continued transatlantic cooperation that MAGA movements come to power in European countries. Watch the

Want to try an imagine how difficult things could get for us in the EU? (Or elsewhere?) You dont even have to try hard.
If you are responsible for planning, running, maintaining or procuring IT infrastructure of any kind for any organisation, this is essential reading.
https://ecfr.eu/publication/get-over-your-x-a-european-plan-to-escape-american-technology/

Read it from the former MEP who was the European Parliament's rapporteur for the CO₂ emission performance standards for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-end-goal-accounting-trick-w…

From End Goal to Accounting Trick: What a 90% Target in 2035 Really Means
A 90% CO₂ target for 2035 sounds close to zero. In practice, it creates significant room for plug-in hybrids and combustion-engine vehicles.

The European Union on Friday
indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe
to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia,
both with Moscow-friendly governments,
can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.
Using a special procedure meant for economic emergencies,
the EU blocked the assets until Russia gives up its war on Ukraine
and compensates its neighbor for the heavy damage that it has inflicted for almost four years.
EU Cou…

EU set to lock up Russia's frozen assets so Hungary and Slovakia can't veto their use for Ukraine
The European Union is set to lock up Russia’s assets in Europe until Russia ends its war on Ukraine and compensates for the damage. The move expected on Friday would allow EU leaders to decide how to use Russian Central Bank assets to support Ukraine financially and militarily when they hold a summit next week. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán opposes the decision. He has accused the European Commission of “raping European law.” The EU has frozen $247 billion in Russian assets. Most…

“By 2040, the Locational scenario could reduce the total system cost by 23 – 59 Bn. EUR annually. These savings are in the order of magnitude of those associated with the integration of European electricity markets.”
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/J…

Locational Price Signals in Europe
As Europe strives to become the first climate neutral continent, grid congestion is becoming an increasingly urgent issue, with the potential to lead to large-scale curtailment of renewables and undermine the system’s security. Accordingly, the Mission Letter to Commissioner for Energy and Affordable Housing Dan Jørgensen lists the task to improve locational price signals. These aim to ensure that investments occur where they are most beneficial to the system, while incentivizing an efficien…

Obvious enough, isn't it?
"Yousef Birzeit, an economics professor at Birzeit University,(Ramallah, Palestine) says the cost to rebuild Gaza will be far greater than the UN, European Union and World Bank estimate of about $50bn."
Estimated cost to rebuild Gaza not “sufficient” | Gaza | Al Jazeera

Estimated cost to rebuild Gaza not “sufficient”
The cost to rebuild Gaza will be far greater than the UN, European Union and World Bank estimate of $50bn

Real war: what European politicians hide – truth from a former British officer| Wrap-up Analytics: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/05/real-war-what-european-politicians.html

Nikita Bier accuses the European Commission of trying to deceptively amplify the reach of its post about the €120M fine on X; X terminates the EC's ad account (Bjarke Smith-Meyer/Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/x-axes-european-commiss…

X axes European Commission’s ad account after €120M EU fine
Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, accused the EU executive of trying to amplify its own social media post about the fine on X by trying “to take advantage of an exploit in our Ad Composer.”

The One-Year Jewish Studies Program at Paideia - The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden
https://ift.tt/paWSE3r
Mining the Logs: Sources on Blue Humor URL …
via Input 4 RELCFP ht…

Civil society decries digital rights ‘rollback' as European Commission pushes data protection changes https://therecord.media/civil-society-privacy-rollback

Inside First Wap, a European-led phone tracking company in Indonesia that has exploited the SS7 telecom protocol to target politicians, journalists, and others (Mother Jones)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you
Inside the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

FIFA ordered European clubs to ignore Russia sanctions, investigation finds: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/05/fifa-ordered-european-clubs-to.html

Waymo plans to launch a fully driverless robotaxi service in London, starting in 2026, its first European launch; human-supervised cars will first collect data (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/799259/waymo-london-robotaxi-launch-2026…

Waymo’s robotaxis are coming to London
Waymo is launching a driverless robotaxi service in London in 2026. The news comes as the UK prepares for fully driverless vehicles.

Perhaps the silver lining to the UK no longer being in the European Union is that it offers the opportunity to look at developments that are progressing at a different pace in the EU.
Here:
how clean consumer flexibility - EVs, heat pumps - can support the local grid, if allow it to.

Yes, consumer clean energy technologies can support the local grid — if we allow them to. Last week, I shared information about EU policy developments regarding device-level metering for charging… | Jaap Burger
Yes, consumer clean energy technologies can support the local grid — if we allow them to. Last week, I shared information about EU policy developments regarding device-level metering for charging points. This allows EV charging sessions to be measured accurately and enables the flexibility involved to be marketed. I cited the example of the UK, where this has recently become a practical reality, an opportunity to learn for other jurisdictions. Here is another example. The latest amendment to…

These charts will shock you I am sure.
Travel to the United States for Europeans appears much less popular year-over-year.
Financial Times shows the steep drop (paywalled) since the new administration began.
https://flowingdata.com/2025/04/15/decline-in…

Decline in European travelers to U.S.
These charts will shock you I am sure. Travel to the United States for Europeans appears much less popular year-over-year. Financial Times shows the steep drop (paywalled) since the new administrat…

European leaders warn Zelensky of possible U.S. betrayal amid distrust of Trump’s Ukraine peace talks: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/05/european-leaders-warn-zelensky-of.html

SoftBank's $5.4B purchase of ABB's robotics unit is another setback for Europe, which risks losing its edge to Asian and US companies in the "physical AI" era (Chris Bryant/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles

Even before Microsoft Azure had a global failure this week,
Austria's Ministry of Economy had taken a decisive step toward digital sovereignty.
The Ministry is migrating 1,200 employees to a Nextcloud-based cloud and collaboration platform hosted on Austrian-based infrastructure
It's the latest move in a European trend to shift away from Big Tech.

European governments and agencies want to control sensitive data.

Another European agency shifts off Big Tech, as digital sovereignty movement gains steam
European Union states are increasingly shifting toward European-based companies that offer open-source solutions. Here's why.

Open letter: 40 European companies oppose the EU's "Chat Control" proposal, which forces services to scan messages for CSAM, fearing it would mandate backdoors (CryptPad Blog)
https://blog.cryptpad.org/2025/10/07/open-letter-against-chat-control/

Europe's future is at stake: Open letter against Chat Control
European SMEs have united to direct a strong open letter to urge ministers of EU member states to oppose Chat Control and to defend privacy and a strong European tech industry.

Sources: the EU considers forcing Chinese companies seeking access to digital markets to hand over tech to European companies if they want to operate locally (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-14/eu-co…

A look at iRobot, founded in 1990, and its slow collapse after regulatory pressure killed Amazon's $1.7B acquisition in 2024, and the rising Chinese competition (Connie Loizos/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/14/how-irobot-lost-its-way-home/

How iRobot lost its way home | TechCrunch
iRobot survived three decades of competition, but couldn't survive European regulators killing its Amazon buyout. Now it's being taken over by its own supplier in bankruptcy court.