Author: staff

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is reportedly set to be hit with a fine of over €500 million for illegally shipping European user data to China. The privacy fine will be issued by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (Irish DPC), according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.The report said that the fine is a result of an investigation that found Europe’s privacy rules were breached as data was sent to China to be assessed by engineers, breaking the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The DPC, TikTok’s main regulator in Europe, is likely to impose the penalty before the end of April,…

The announcement of a new Bruce Springsteen album is always something to be celebrated. Well, imagine being a fan of The Boss today, when not one but seven new studio albums are on the way…Springsteen will release seven new studio albums, titled ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums’, on 27 June, containing material written and re-recorded between 1983 and 2018.The 83-song collection is mostly previously unreleased tracks, 74 of them never-before-heard songs, in a box set that includes a 100-page hardcover book. It will be available in configurations including a 7-CD set and a 9-LP vinyl collection.Scroll down for the full…

Downing Street officials argue the 10 percent tariff on U.K. exports — the joint-lowest Trump applied to any country — “vindicates” Britain’s approach, and many feared worse, given the U.K.’s Value Added Tax on most sales is 20 percent. The EU, which Britain only left five years ago, was charged 20 percent. There is a less inspiring reason to continue the charm offensive, though. “They haven’t got any choice,” said Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. “It’s not in the [U.K.’s] interests to have a trade war.” POLITICO spoke to more than a dozen U.K.…

North Macedonia has made a clear warning of growing Russian influence in the Western Balkans if the EU does not commit quickly and clearly to enlargement.”We changed our flag, we changed our currency, we changed the constitution several times, we even changed the name of our country. All with the promise of a window of opportunity that we’ve been told existed if we do these changes for our path towards the European Union,” Foreign Minister Timcho Murcunski told Euronews.Murcunski warned that the EU’s credibility is at stake, and that enlargement is necessary to prevent weaponising Russian propaganda.”There are malign actors out…

Protesters in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, clashed with police on Wednesday, as they rallied against escalating gang violence and urged the government to restore security.The protests, which began peacefully, turned chaotic when armed individuals opened fire on police near the prime minister’s office and the transitional presidential council. The gunfire caused panic, sending crowds fleeing, while demonstrators blocked roads with burning tyres and called on police to turn against the government.The unrest is the first major challenge for Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, appointed in November. Gangs now control 85% of the capital, displacing thousands and expanding into new areas. The…

One person’s doorstop is another’s life-altering treasure… A 3.5kg reddish chunk of ‘rock’ was found in a stream bed in southeast Romania by an elderly woman. She brought it home and used it to keep a door open for decades.  After her death in 1991, a relative inherited her property and noticed the ‘rock’. He decided to have it appraised…  Verdict? The woman’s door wedge revealed itself to be one of the largest intact pieces of amber deposits in the world.  And how much would something like that be worth? Well, around €1 million.  According to a report by El Pais, the fragment…

The U.K. government has said it is not planning any immediate retaliation to the tariffs as it holds out hope for an economic deal that would exempt British exporters from the duties.  But addressing MPs on Thursday, Reynolds said the government would consult with industry on possible retaliatory measures if the U.K. fails to secure an agreement, describing the move as a “formal step, necessary for us to keep all options on the table.” The government has not indicated where it would levy tariffs, instead asking businesses for their thoughts. But it ruled out any duties on products such as…

Berlin’s immigration authorities have ordered four foreign residents to leave the country or risk deportation over their involvement in a university sit-in against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.Authorities have claimed the quartet — two from Ireland, one from Poland and one from the US — constitute a threat to public safety and should therefore leave Germany as soon as possible, according to a lawyer representing two of them. They have been told to leave Germany by 21 April or face deportation. Criminal and immigration lawyer Alexander Gorski said his clients had ongoing criminal proceedings for minor charges, such as trespassing,…

In announcing what he has called reciprocal tariffs, Trump was fulfilling a key campaign promise by raising US taxes on foreign goods to narrow the gap with the tariffs the White House says other countries unfairly impose on US products.Trump’s higher rates would hit foreign entities that sell more goods to the United States than they buy. But economists don’t share Trump’s enthusiasm for tariffs—notably because they’re a tax on importers that usually get passed on to consumers. It’s possible, however, that the reciprocal tariffs could bring other countries to the table and get them to lower their own import…

What’s not? Some of the beers listed on the menu were actually out of stock; one of our chicken burgers was deep fried to the point you couldn’t actually tell it was still meat; while another member of our group had the bun on her vegan burger nearly crumble into a thousand pieces as soon as she picked it up off the plate. There were also some fairly glaring hygiene issues (see below). Vibe: It’s all painfully hipster and ordering-drinks-via-QR-code trendy. There are also shuffleboard tables upstairs if that’s your thing on a night out. BrewDog is a huge venue, so…