OSLO, Norway (AFP) — Facebook and Google are pushing users to share private information by offering “invasive” and limited default options despite new EU data protection laws aimed at giving users more control and choice, a government study said Wednesday. The Norwegian Consumer Council found that the US tech giants’ privacy updates clash with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which forces companies to clarify what choices people have when sharing private information. “These […]
EU
Europe will strike back in case of new US tariffs: France
by Joseph Schmid Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – The European Union will retaliate again if US President Donald Trump imposes more tariffs on EU goods to remedy what he calls “unfair” trade relations, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday. The EU on Friday imposed a range of tariffs on goods worth 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in a tit-for-tat response to Trump’s decision to apply stiff tariffs on European steel and aluminium […]
Trump threatens 20 percent tariff on all imported EU cars
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump threatened Friday to impose a 20 percent tariff on cars imported from the European Union, after the bloc’s additional tariffs on dozens of American products took effect. “Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their […]
Nationalist ‘leprosy’ spreading in Europe: Macron
PARIS, France (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday likened rising nationalism and anti-migrant sentiment in Europe to “leprosy”. On a visit to Brittany three days before a meeting of European leaders to try to resolve the continent’s migrant crisis, Macron urged the French not to give into anti-EU sentiment. “I’m saying to you in the gravest terms: Many hate it (Europe) but they have hated it for a long time, and now you […]
World on brink of trade war as US slaps tariffs on allies
by Simon Morgan with Delphine Touitou Agence France Presse The world’s largest economies stood on the brink of all-out trade war as the EU, Canada and Mexico drew up retaliatory measures to Washington’s stinging steel and aluminium tariffs that came into effect on Friday. Washington angered its major allies by slapping duties of 25 percent and 10 percent on imports of aluminium and steel. The measures had actually been decided back in March, but […]
Trade war looms as US tariffs roil G7 meet
by Delphine TOUITOU / Douglas Gillison / with Heather Scott in Washington © Agence France-Presse WHISTLER, Canada (AFP) — The world’s largest economies stood at the precipice of all-out trade war as major US allies announced retaliation against stinging steel and aluminum tariffs that took effect on Friday. President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday not to extend exemptions for Canada and the European Union — the largest sources of foreign aluminum and steel respectively for […]
EU’s new data protection rules come into effect
by Lachlan Carmichael Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union’s new data protection laws came into effect on Friday, with Brussels saying the changes will protect consumers from being like “people naked in an aquarium”. The EU’s so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been blamed for a flood of spam emails and messages in recent weeks as firms rush to request the explicit consent of users to contact them. Even […]
Iran FM hails ‘good start’ in talks with EU to save nuclear deal
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday hailed talks with the EU to try to find a way to rescue the Iran nuclear deal after the US pulled out as a “good start”. “I believe it’s a good start. We’re not there, we’re beginning the process,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after meeting his French, British and German counterparts in Brussels. The three European signatories to the landmark 2015 deal are leading international efforts to […]
Friend of Paris knife attacker arrested in Strasbourg: source
PARIS, France (AFP)–A friend of the Chechen-born man who killed one person during a stabbing spree in Paris on Saturday night has been arrested in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, a source close to the inquiry said Sunday. The attacker, whom official sources have named as Khamzat A., grew up with his family in Strasbourg, home to a large community of refugees from the Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya.
Deadline looms on US steel tariff exemptions
by Heather Scott © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Key US trading partners face a looming deadline on Tuesday when crippling tariffs on steel and aluminum are set to take effect — and they are urging the White House to exempt them permanently. The major suppliers, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the European Union, were granted a temporary reprieve when President Donald Trump imposed the tariffs in March. The measures were largely […]
EU asks WTO for safeguards over US steel, aluminium tariffs
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The European Union on Monday followed China in complaining to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. “Having a substantial interest as an exporter in this case, the European Union requests consultations with the United States” to agree “safeguards,” the EU said in a statement published on the world trade body’s website. US President Donald Trump sparked fears of a trade war in March when […]
EU urges Facebook to ‘cooperate fully’ in data scandal
BELGIUM (AFP) — The European Commission on Thursday called on Facebook to “cooperate fully” with investigators into the scandal over the harvesting of personal data of millions of users which were then shared with the British political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica. Facebook has admitted up to 2.7 million people in the EU may have been caught in the scandal. And last week the EU had said that its justice commissioner, Vera Jourova, would hold phone talks […]