Tag: EU

Myanmar sacks top general involved in Rohingya crackdown

  YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s military said it sacked a top general who was named in fresh EU sanctions against security officials accused of serious rights violations in the Rohingya crisis, including killings and sexual violence. Myanmar is accused of waging a crackdown in Rakhine state that forced 700,000 to flee that the UN and major western powers have said amounts to “ethnic cleansing”. Its leaders have come under fire for taking little punitive action […]

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 […]

Russia wants ‘united and prosperous EU’: Putin

VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Monday downplayed suggestions Russia was seeking to disrupt the European Union’s cohesion, saying it was in his country’s interests for the bloc to remain “united and prosperous”. “We have an interest in an EU that’s united and prosperous, since the EU is our most important commercial and economic partner,” Putin told Austria’s ORF television a day before an official visit to Vienna. “The more problems at the heart […]

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 […]

Global Facebook users to get ‘good’ EU-style safeguards: Zuckerberg

PARIS, France (AFP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that he was rolling out the privacy controls demanded by European regulators to Facebook users worldwide because “everyone cares about privacy”. Speaking at the VivaTech trade fair in Paris a day before new European data protection rules come into force Zuckerberg said Europe’s history had made its citizens particularly wary when it comes to data collection. “There are specific points about history in Europe. If […]

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 […]

‘I’m sorry’, Facebook boss tells European lawmakers

  by Lachlan Carmichael Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg apologized to the European Parliament on Tuesday for the “harm” caused by a huge breach of users’ data and by a failure to crack down on fake news. But Zuckerberg’s appearance failed to satisfy MEPs who accused him of dodging questions and criticised a format that gave the parliament’s political leaders far more time to give long-winded speeches. His livestreamed […]

Facebook’s Zuckerberg agrees to live-stream EU parliament hearing

  BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to live-stream his meeting with European Parliament members as he answers questions in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a top official said Monday. The meeting on Tuesday with the parliament’s most senior members was initially set to be held behind closed doors. But influential MEPs had pushed for a public hearing following the worst crisis in Facebook’s history. “I have personally discussed […]

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 […]