Kaja Kallas says other countries ‘look up to us’ and rejects idea Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’

The EU’s foreign policy chief has denied claims levelled by the US that Europe is facing civilisational erasure, rejecting what she condemned as “fashionable euro-bashing” by Washington.

Kaja Kallas also said the US was discovering that it could not settle the war in Ukraine without Europe’s involvement and consent.

Her remarks capped a difficult three-day Munich Security Conference attended by world leaders and security officials in which the health of the transatlantic alliance, a stronger European pillar inside NATO, and the Ukraine peace talks dominated discussions.

Instead of discarding stock, companies are encouraged to manage their stock more effectively, handle returns, and explore alternatives such as resale, remanufacturing, donations, or reuse.

The ban on destruction of unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear and the derogations will apply to large companies from 19 July 2026. Medium-sized companies are expected to follow in 2030. The rules on disclosure under the ESPR already apply to large companies and will also apply to medium-sized companies in 2030.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/43214341

Brett Wilkins
Feb 12, 2026

“We are sailing to Cuba, bringing critical humanitarian aid for its people,” the flotilla organizers said on their website. “The Trump administration is strangling the island, cutting off fuel, flights, and critical supplies for survival. The consequences are lethal, for newborns and parents, for the elderly and the sick.”

“That is why we are launching the Nuestra América Flotilla, setting sail from across the Caribbean Sea in solidarity with the Cuban people,” the organizers continued. “And we are asking for your support, to help us prepare the mission and purchase the food and medicine that we will bring to the Cuban people.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/43212707

Feb. 15, 2026

Stoking concerns is news that lack of fuel is hampering the UN World Food Programme’s efforts to relieve suffering from last year’s Hurricane Melissa. The organisation, which keeps a low-key presence on the island, is now having to draw up plans for a new, far larger crisis. “We’re already seeing the impact in the availability of fresh produce in the cities,” said Étienne Labande, the WFP’s country director.

Diplomats expressed concern at how fast the lack of fuel – for electricity, water and the transport of food – could cause extreme suffering. “It’s a matter of weeks,” said one. “The view is that people in rural villages like Viñales may be OK, but those in the cities would be at terrible risk.”

MSF on Saturday suspended all its noncritical medical operations at Nasser Hospital, citing security breaches that posed “serious” threats to its teams and patients. The Geneva, Switzerland-based charity said there had been an increase in patients and staff seeing armed men in parts of the compound since a United States-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was reached in October last year.

But the hospital said the MSF issued statements that “misrepresent facts and mirror narratives historically used to justify attacks” on hospitals, “despite full transparency and repeated clarification”.

“Such statements are not neutral. They foreseeably endanger Nasser Hospital Complex, serving over one million civilians, by undermining its protected status under international humanitarian law. MSF is aiding in manufacturing consent for attacks against the hospital,” it said.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/55370711

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/55370708

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a remote Siberian prison two years ago, was almost certainly poisoned with a deadly toxin found in South American dart frogs, five European governments said Saturday.

A joint statement from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands said they were “confident” Navanly had been poisoned after an analysis of samples taken from his body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine,” and that the Russian government was the likely culprit.

“Russia claimed that Navalny died of natural causes. But given the toxicity of epibatidine and reported symptoms, poisoning was highly likely the cause of his death. Navalny died while held in prison, meaning Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison to him,” it continued.

The five countries said they were reporting the case to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, alleging Russia violated the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Russian authorities had previously claimed Navalny, 47, died of natural causes while serving several sentences totaling more than 30 years at a high-security prison above the Arctic Circle.

“Scientists from five European countries have established: my husband, Alexei Navalny, was poisoned with epibatidine—a neurotoxin, one of the deadliest poisons on earth. In nature, this poison can be found on the skin of the Ecuadorian dart frog. It causes paralysis, respiratory arrest, and a painful death,” she said.

“I was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon. I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years and for uncovering the truth. Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must be held accountable for all his crimes.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the poisoning shows that “Vladimir Putin is prepared to use chemical weapons against his own people to remain in power. France pays tribute to this opposition figure, killed for his fight in favor of a free and democratic Russia.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper added: "Only the Russian government had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to use that toxin against Alexei Navalny in prison. We are here today to shine a spotlight on the Kremlin’s barbaric attempt to silence Alexei Navalny’s voice.”

Russia announced Navalny’s death on Feb. 16, 2024, just as that year’s Munich Security Conference opened. On that day, Navalnaya delivered a speech, pledging that Putin “would pay for what they have done to our country, to my family, and to my husband.” After a weeklong dispute over custody, Russia released Navalny’s body to his mother.

MUNICH (AP) — A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.

Kallas alluded to criticism in the U.S. national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/59149799

After years of wrangling, France has set out a new energy law that slashes its wind and solar power targets and drops a mandate for state-run energy provider EDF to shut down nuclear plants.

British and Canadian nationals will be able to travel to mainland China for up to 30 days without a visa from 17 February.

After months of uncertainty, the government said its pledge for the 2026-2028 cycle will fall from €1.6 billion in the previous funding period to €660 million.

China already has a zero-tariff policy for imports from 33 African countries, but Beijing said in 2025 that it would extend the policy to all 53 of its diplomatic partners on the continent.

China will implement zero‑tariff treatment for imports from the 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, starting May 1, 2026, state media reported on Saturday.

China will also continue to push for the negotiation and signing of joint economic partnership pacts, and further expand market access for African exports to China through upgraded mechanisms such as its “green channel”, according to the state television report.

The Israeli military plans to launch a renewed offensive in Gaza in March to seize more land and push the Yellow Line further west towards the coast of the enclave, Times of Israel reported, quoting officials.

Even as the ceasefire moves closer to the second phase, the Israeli military has drawn up plans for the offensive, citing failure in getting Hamas to disarm, the report quoted an Arab diplomat as saying.

On 10 October 2025, the US brokered a ceasefire under which Israeli forces pulled back to the Yellow Line, allowing them control of more than half of Gaza, roughly 53 per cent of the Strip.

The operation reportedly planned for March is focused on Gaza City and could see Israel build on the area under its control, the report said.

A woman who was trafficked from Cape Town to Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the Caribbean and ranch in New Mexico says her entrapment was more than physical.

Jeffrey Epstein's trafficking ring extended all the way to Africa's southern coast - held together by the invisible chains of psychological bondage that kept his victims ensnared for years at a time.

"Invisible chains is a good way to put it, it was like I was handcuffed invisibly," says 43-year-old Juliette Bryant.

"I'd never even told my family, I never told anyone about what happened with him until he died."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, February 14, urged calm and restraint after the fatal beating of a 23-year-old French youth aligned with the far-right on the sidelines of a conference by a hard-left lawmaker in the southeastern city of Lyon.

The death of the young man – identified only as Quentin – has intensified tensions between France's far-right and radical left who are both eyeing 2027 presidential elections.

He had been hospitalized in Lyon on Thursday after being attacked while providing what his supporters said was security for a protest against an appearance by hard-left MEP Rima Hassan at the Lyon branch of the Sciences Po university.

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In tsarist days, legend has it that Prince Yusupov fed cyanide to Rasputin in cakes and a glass of Madeira wine, hoping to kill him. When that failed, Rasputin was shot in the head. Today’s toxins are more terrifying — and their use by the state a powerful deterrent to Putin’s opponents.

Who can forget the haunting images of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian defector and Putin critic, as he lay in bed suffering an agonising death in London in 2006 after drinking a cup of tea laced with radioactive polonium-210?

“It sends a very clear message: ‘If you screw with us terrible things will happen,’” says a security source. “The message is not only that the state can kill, but that it can do so without ever admitting it has done anything at all.”

Nor is poison the only method favoured for its ambiguity. In recent years a striking number of Russian officials, business figures and critics of the Kremlin have died after falling from windows or balconies — deaths routinely described as suicides. Like poisoning, defenestration offers deniability without subtlety: a violent end that leaves no obvious weapon, no clear perpetrator and just enough uncertainty to smother accountability.

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