Author: staff
Published on 10/07/2026 – 12:08 GMT+2•Updated 14:52 The European Commission has preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) over the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook, opening the door to a fine worth billions of euros. Friday’s finding centres on features including infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalised recommendation algorithms — tools regulators say shift users into “autopilot mode” and fuel compulsive use. “Protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said in a…
Wer regiert die Welt – und was treibt sie an? In unserem regelmäßigen Machthaber-Spezial geht es um die mächtigsten und umstrittensten Politikerinnen und Politiker unserer Zeit. Wir zeigen, wie sie denken, entscheiden – und was das für uns bedeutet. Eine Politikerin oder Politiker, ein Blick hinter die Kulissen der Macht. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren. Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon…
Parisians are taking to the Seine on a new type of electric surfboard that lifts riders above the water, creating the sensation of flying. Known as an e-foil, the board combines an electric motor, a submerged hydrofoil and a rechargeable battery, allowing it to glide above the river’s surface once it gains speed. “It’s got a board to climb on, and it’s got a mast that’s fitted with a motor at the back. It’s got a wing, like an aircraft wing, and that’s the surface we’re going to use to ‘fly’. Then you put the battery inside, and this battery…
Published on 10/07/2026 – 14:13 GMT+2 Germany is moving to close a legal loophole that has left e-scooter accident victims unable to claim compensation by making rental companies such as Lime and Bolt directly liable for accidents involving their vehicles. The bill would also cover accidents caused by scooters left blocking pavements. Under the new rules, operators face strict liability as owners regardless of fault, while riders will be presumed at fault unless they can prove otherwise. Meanwhile under the current rules, victims of scooter accidents must prove the rider was at fault — a standard that is often impossible…
Burnham dances after being announced as the new leader of the Labour Party in London on July 17, 2026. | Carl Court/Getty Images He dad-danced to New Order’s “True Faith” on becoming Labour leader, and used a TikTok blind ranking of five bands which included … four from Manchester. And, of course, his official Spotify playlist during the Makerfield by-election was flooded with songs by Mancunian artists. 5) ‘Manchester of India.’ Improving diplomatic ties cuts both ways as world leaders try to get in Burnham’s good books by referencing his favorite city. During a call with Indian PM Narendra Modi,…
Delivering food through conflict zones, minefields and floods can put humanitarian workers at mortal risk. Now, technology developed to control rovers on distant planets is being adapted to take aid workers out of some of the world’s most dangerous aid missions. Project AHEAD, a collaboration between the World Food Programme, Germany’s aerospace research centre DLR, the Red Cross and technology partners, is developing remotely operated vehicles capable of carrying supplies through areas considered too dangerous or difficult for conventional delivery trucks. Footage from a DLR test site in Germany shows a SHERP all-terrain vehicle wading into open water and climbing…
By Una Hajdari with AP Published on 14/07/2026 – 9:43 GMT+2 The space between stars just got a little sweeter. Astronomers have detected a type of sugar in space that is also found in raspberries and self-tanners. The sugar, called erythrulose, lurks in what is known as the interstellar medium — thin clouds of gas and dust scattered between stars. Sugar does more than sweeten tea and coat doughnuts. Different varieties fuel our cells and make up DNA, and scientists are eager to understand how sugars form because they are a key ingredient for life as we know it. Using two dish-shaped radio…
By Egle Markeviciute, EU Tech Loop with Euronews Published on 15/07/2026 – 11:17 GMT+2 In late April, the Commission presented a communication — “A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook” — a concise document on how to improve the quality of the EU’s lawmaking, enhance transparency, enhance stakeholder involvement, deep clean the EU’s laws, and manage potential gold plating or even avoid transposing the EU rules on a Member State level. While the document captures some of the necessary changes to the EU’s lawmaking, the list of actions could be more ambitious and future-oriented. Especially now, when the Commission is…
Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with the nation’s Red Cross representative on Monday, the president’s office said, the first publicised meeting between her and a foreign official since she was ousted in a 2021 military coup. The military deposed Suu Kyi in February 2021, jailing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering an ongoing civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people on all sides. The coup leader and former junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, was installed as civilian president in April following highly restricted elections. Later that month, Suu Kyi, now 81, was moved…
Published on 03/08/2026 – 13:06 GMT+2•Updated 13:09 The prime minister’s office at Matignon has decided to tighten the rules. In a decree published this Sunday 2 August (source in French), Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has strengthened state control over the purchase, by foreign investors, of companies in sensitive sectors. Until now, the Ministry of the Economy had a right of scrutiny whenever a non-European investor acquired 25% or more of a French company listed on a regulated market outside the European Union. “From now on, any stake of at least 10% taken by a non-European investor in a French company…