Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The European Parliament on Tuesday invited Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to speak following revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign harvested data on 50 million users. The parliament and the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, have already called for an urgent …
Read More »EU seeks Facebook data breach probe
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The European Union pushed Tuesday for an urgent investigation into revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump presidential campaign harvested data on 50 million users. EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, who has called the breach “horrifying”, was meanwhile to seek clarification from the social …
Read More »African leaders call on EU to shut ivory trade
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Thirty-two African countries on Friday called on the European Union to stop its ivory trade at a conference in Botswana aimed at saving African elephants. Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Ali Bongo of Gabon and host Ian Khama of Botswana wrote a petition along …
Read More »African, EU states focus anti-trafficking efforts at source
Niamey, Niger | AFP | Thirteen African and European countries and the EU agreed Friday that efforts to crack down on migrant trafficking to Europe should also focus on economic woes that prompt poor Africans to seek a better life in Europe. In ministerial-level talks, they agreed to “attack underlying …
Read More »Merkel says she will visit Macron to discuss EU reform
Berlin, Germany | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday, two days before she is to launch her new government, that she will pay a quick visit to French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss EU reform proposals. Without naming a date, Merkel said she would visit Paris ahead of an …
Read More »More boys suffer online sex abuse than thought: study
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Boys account for nearly a third of online child sex abuse images and often suffer the worst horrors, a new study revealed Tuesday, suggesting a greater problem than first thought. Interpol and Ecpat, a Bangkok-based international organisation fighting child sexual abuse, produced the findings after reviewing …
Read More »EU aims to tax internet giants at ‘two to six percent’: France
Paris, France | AFP | The EU will soon unveil a plan for taxing major internet companies like Amazon and Facebook by imposing a levy of two to six percent on revenues in every country where they operate, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Sunday. “The range will be …
Read More »EU’s Barnier welcomes ‘clarity’ in May Brexit speech
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Friday welcomed a key speech on Brexit by British Prime Minister Theresa May, saying she had brought “clarity”. Barnier said May’s highly-anticipated address in London, in which she said said it was time to face up to …
Read More »Google still under fire over EU anti-trust violations
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Rivals to Google urged the EU on Wednesday to keep up its fight against the search engine giant, saying proposals by the firm to avoid more EU mega-fines fell short. EU Competition Commissioner Margarethe Vestager in June slapped Google with a record 2.4-billion-euro (more than $2.7 …
Read More »May says no UK PM could accept EU Brexit treaty
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | British Prime Minister Theresa May angrily rejected a draft divorce treaty unveiled by the EU on Wednesday, saying she would never allow the bloc to undermine her country’s “constitutional integrity”. May lashed out at the proposal to keep British-ruled Northern Ireland in a customs union if …
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