EURACTIV News
Eastern Europe’s armies struggle to enlist young people with war not far away
Countries across eastern Europe struggle to sign up new soldiers and keep experienced ones in a region where Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia all share a border with Ukraine.
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Israel pounds Gaza as Iran accuses it of seeking to ‘expand war’
Israel kept up its bombardment of Gaza Thursday (8 August), killing more than 18 people in strikes on two schools, the emergency services said, as Iran accused it of wanting to spread war in the Middle East.
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Venezuela’s Maduro blocks X access in country for 10 days
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday (8 August) took tensions with social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk to new heights, banning the platform in the South American country for 10 days amid furore over a disputed presidential election.
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Russia battles Ukrainian troops for third day after shock incursion
Russian forces were battling Ukrainian troops for a third day on Thursday (8 August) after they smashed through the Russian border in the Kursk region, an audacious attack on the world's biggest nuclear power that has forced Moscow to call in reserves.
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Apple changes EU app store policy after Commission probe
Apple on Thursday (8 August) changed its policy in the European Union to allow developers to communicate with their customers outside its App Store after the commission charged the iPhone maker in June for breaching the bloc's tech rules.
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X’s handling of UK riots could influence ongoing EU probe into the platform
An ongoing European Commission investigation into social media platform X could take its handling of harmful content related to the recent UK riots into account, a spokesperson said on Thursday (8 August).
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G7 ambassadors snub Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial over Israel’s exclusion
Nagasaki's mayor said he would stick to a decision to exclude Israel's ambassador from this year's event to mark the city's atomic bombing, though senior diplomats of the US and other G7 nations said the snub would keep them away.
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X suspends processing of some personal data for AI training
Social media giant X has suspended the processing of some personal data from EU users' public posts to train AI models, two days after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) launched court proceedings over the practice.
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Novo Nordisk confirms huge increase in sales despite supply constraints
Novo Nordisk is on track to make a significant contribution to Denmark's GDP through its obesity and diabetes treatments, despite supply constraints, according to the company's financial report for the first half of 2024.
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UK competition authority launches merger inquiry into Amazon-Anthropic partnership
The UK's main competition watchdog has formally opened an investigation into the merger between Amazon and AI company Anthropic, a statement released on Thursday (8 August) reads.
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Europe’s teenage ‘TikTok terrorists’ target Taylor Swift
The foiled jihadist terrorist plot targeting Taylor Swift‘s concerts in Vienna highlights an increasing terrorist threat coming from radicalised European teenagers, which experts blame on social media.
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Puigdemont the ‘great Houdini’ of Spanish politics, escapes again
Former Catalan president and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont staged a scene worthy of one of the best performances by escape artist Harry Houdini when he gave a speech in Barcelona on Thursday, where he was actively sought by the Spanish authorities before escaping again.
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EU potato sector points to climate, changing consumer habits as production drops by 37% in over 20 years
From Belgian frites to Spanish tortilla de patata and Italian gnocchi, potatoes are a culinary cornerstone across Europe. Yet, a new Eurostat report confirms a persistent decline in production, despite a slight uptick last year.
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EU urges Mexico to arrest Putin if he accepts inauguration invite
The European Commission has urged Mexico to arrest Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader attends the inauguration of Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum later this year.
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Econ vice chair Boeselager: Plans for European champions akin to ‘government capture’
Damian Boeselager (Greens/EFA), co-founder of the pan-European Volt party, warned that EU officials' focus on encouraging European firms to "scale up" risks pushing the bloc's competition policy "in a completely wrong direction".
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European Commission opposes amending GDPR, focusing on enforcement instead
The European Commission does not plan to reopen the General Data Protection Regulation, instead focusing on enforcement, as privacy in the age of artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly controversial.
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Puigdemont returns to Spain as a “free man”, condemning his “repression”
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont returned to Spain from southern France, and before some 3.500 separatist supporters gathered in Barcelona on Thursday lamented the “repression” of which he said he had been a victim since 2017, while escaping the the police force set up to capture him.
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WHO to convene International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on new Mpox variant
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Director General announced that he is convening an emergency committee to advise on whether the new outbreak of Monkeypox (Mpox) constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
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Tech industry groups ask to extend deadline to contribute to general purpose AI Code of Practice
Big Tech industry groups say six weeks in the middle of summer are not enough time for them to offer views on a Code of Practice for general-purpose AI.
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US prosecutors say Romanian businessman hired Hunter Biden as lobbyist
Prosecutors in the US criminal tax case against Hunter Biden accused him of accepting payments from a Romanian businessman who sought to "influence US government agencies" in connection with a criminal probe in Romania.
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