Author: staff

Romania will hold the first round of the presidential election on May 4, with a runoff expected on May 18. Trump Jr.’s visit will be on on April 28. The country previously held a presidential election on Dec. 6, 2024, but it was annulled by Romania’s Constitutional Court due to concerns about Russian interference. On Dec. 7, Trump Jr. criticized the court’s decision calling it a “Soros/Marxist attempt” to prevent far-right pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu from beating centrist candidate Elena Lasconi. Trump Jr. was referring to George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire despised by many on the right for his donations…

Video sharing app TikTok has made internal changes in a bid to protect the May Romanian presidential election from foreign interference after the European Commission opened a probe into the platform last December, EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen told lawmakers of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee (IMCO) on Monday.“Regarding the upcoming election in Romania in May, we welcome the changes TikTok has made. This includes better detection and labelling of political accounts and more Romanian language experts, and an additional 120 experts to the Romanian election task force working especially on covert influence campaigns and advertising…

Selon un document interne vu par POLITICO, la Commission envisage d’imposer des droits de douane allant jusqu’à 25% sur un large éventail d’exportations en provenance des Etats-Unis en réponse aux taxes de Trump sur l’acier et l’aluminium. Les gouvernements nationaux se prononceront sur ce plan mercredi. L’UE imposerait des droits de douane de 25% sur un large éventail d’exportations américaines, notamment le soja, le maïs doux, le riz, les amandes, le jus d’orange, les canneberges, le tabac, le fer, l’acier, l’aluminium, certains bateaux et véhicules, les textiles et certains vêtements, ainsi que divers types de produits de maquillage. Le montant…

The European Parliament’s budgetary control committee has provisionally signed off on the EU’s 2023 budget, largely voting down attempts by right-wing law makers to include harsh criticism of funding for non-governmental organisations in its final report.As well as rejecting a joint proposal by members of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party and France’s Rassemblement National to condemn an “enormous EU-NGO propaganda complex”, the committee rejected a slew of amendments tabled by conservative European People’s Party (EPP) lawmaker Monika Hohlmeier.Among them was a call for the EU Court of Auditors (ECA) to conduct a probe specifically into the LIFE Programme, the bloc’s funding instrument…

Meta has unveiled three new AI models from its artificial intelligence (AI) software Llama 4, as the Facebook and Instagram parent company aims to have a stake in the generative AI (GenAI) race. Two of the models are now available but not its most powerful Llama 4 model, which Meta teased would be released at a later date. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the so-called Llama 4 Behemoth would be “the highest performing base model in the world”.While that model is still in training, here is what we know about the other two AI models that are now available for download. Llama…

The remarks come as the U.K. government pushes for a trade deal with the Trump administration to try and ease tariffs placed on the U.K. and other global economies last week.  The U.S. imposed a baseline tariff of 10 percent on all U.K. imports, as well as a 25 percent tax on vehicles and steel and aluminum.  Reeves told MPs that a trade war “is in nobody’s interest” and the government will take the “right decisions that are in our national interest,” while also committing to her fiscal rules.  The chancellor also confirmed she has since spoken to the finance…

US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime has already faced one lawsuit, and further legal challenges are reportedly being prepared by business leaders and conservative lawyers amid growing opposition from influential right-wing figures. New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a conservative non-profit legal group based in the US, filed a lawsuit last week on behalf of a stationary company based in Florida after Trump announced a 20% import levy from China as part of his sweeping tariffs. The NCLA said the tariff imposed on China is “harmful” as the stationary company, Simplified, depends on materials imported from China that are not available…

A Russian rocket carrying a US astronaut and two Russian crewmates arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, with a Kremlin envoy hailing cooperation in space between Washington and Moscow as relations thaw between the two nations.A Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled on Tuesday morning from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan to put the Soyuz MS-27 in orbit. It docked at the space station just over three hours later. On board were NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Russia’s Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, who are scheduled to spend about eight months at the space outpost.Russian…

According to Zelenskyy, the two soldiers were captured in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and possessed “documents … bank cards, personal data.” “Russia’s involvement of China directly or indirectly in this war in Europe is a clear signal that Putin is going to do anything but end the war. He is looking for ways to continue fighting,” the Ukrainian president warned. “This definitely needs a reaction. The reaction of the United States, Europe and everyone in the world who wants there to be peace.” Despite its official stance of neutrality, Beijing has been accused of covertly supplying Russia with weapons and components…

Tech giant Samsung Electronics increased its earnings guidance for the first quarter of the year on Tuesday. It comes following a surge in sales ahead of expected US tariffs on chip imports. The company expects consolidated sales to come in at about 79 trillion Korean won (€48.8 billion), with consolidated operating profit estimated to be around 6.6 trillion Korean won (€4.1 billion). The consolidated operating profit estimate for the first quarter of 2025 is more than than the 5.2 trillion Korean won (€3.2 billion) predicted by the London Stock Exchange Group’s StarMine SmartEstimates model. Similarly, the consolidated sales guidance is an increase of…