Page 47 - European Union

Plane carrying UK minister gets its GPS jammed as it flew near Russia

A plane carrying British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps had its satellite signal jammed as it flew near Russian territory, the government said on Thursday. The government said the Royal Air Force jet carrying Shapps, officials and journalists temporarily experienced GPS jamming when they flew close to Kaliningrad on a flight from Poland to the UK. The Times of London, whose reporter was onboard, said that for about 30 minutes mobile phones couldn't connect to the internet and the aircraft was forced to use alternative methods to determine its location. Shapps visited Poland on Wednesday to see UK troops participating in a large NATO exercise, Steadfast Defender. Kaliningrad is a Russian enclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania, home to the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman, Dave Pares, said the jamming didn't threaten the safety of the aircraft at any point. He said it was not unusual for aircraft to experience electronic jamming near ...

EU lawmakers pass Act to regulate AI despite doubts about right balance

The landmark set of rules, in the absence of any legislation from the US, could set the tone for how AI is governed in the Western world

Explained: Apple to allow apps download on iPhone from websites, but...

Apple is opening up its iPhone ecosystem in the EU, developers will still have to jump over a lot of hurdles to offer apps directly from their website

India, four-nation EFTA set to sign free trade agreement on Sunday

India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA will sign a free trade agreement on Sunday with an aim to boost two-way trade in goods, services and investments, an official said. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. The pact received approval from the Union Cabinet on March 7, the official said. India and EFTA have been negotiating the pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), since January 2008 to boost economic ties. The agreement has 14 chapters, including trade in goods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPRs), trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, government procurement, technical barriers to trade, and trade facilitation. EFTA has 29 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 40 partner countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Mexico, and Korea. Under free trade pacts, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum

As Big Tech scrambles to meet EU regulations, investigations seen as likely

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is one of the most comprehensive regulatory actions to rein in so-called "Big Tech" and is expected to reshape the global technology industry after decades of unfettered

India's free trade agreement with EFTA likely to be signed on March 10

The Union Cabinet on Thursday discussed the proposed free trade agreement between India and four European nation bloc EFTA and the pact is likely to be inked on Sunday, said sources. The negotiations for the pact with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members -- Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland -- have concluded. The pact is expected to be signed on Sunday here, sources added. India and EFTA have been negotiating the pact, officially dubbed as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), since January 2008 to boost economic ties. The agreement has several chapters including trade in goods, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (IPRs), trade in services, investment promotion and cooperation, trade and sustainable development, and trade facilitation. EFTA has 29 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 40 partner countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Mexico, and Korea. Under free trade pacts, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate .

As costs rise, Lufthansa drops 2024 operating margin target to 7.6%

Europe's airlines have benefited from unprecedented demand following the pandemic, allowing them to hike prices, but higher labour and maintenance costs have limited earnings growth

IAEA chief in Russia to discuss safety of Ukrainian nuclear plant

The U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency chief is visiting Russia amid concern about a Ukrainian nuclear power plant caught in the crossfire since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and seized the facility shortly after. IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi arrived at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday evening, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti for talks on nuclear safety in Ukraine. Grossi announced the trip on Monday, the first day of a regular meeting of the agency's 35-nation board of governors in Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest, amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. The plant's six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features. Speaking to reporters in Sochi on Wednesday, the IAEA chief said he had a very intensive and exhaustive workin

Poland protests: Many injured amid violent clashes between farmers, police

Poland saw its most violent protest by farmers and supporters yet Wednesday as some participants threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers, police said. Police used tear gas and said they detained over a dozen people and prevented the protesters from getting through to the Sejm, the Polish parliament. Farmers are angry over European Union climate policies and food imports from Ukraine that they say threaten their livelihoods. Such protests have occurred across the 27-member EU in recent weeks, but this one was decidedly angrier than earlier demonstrations in the central European nation. Police noted on the social media platform X that its officers are not a party to the ongoing dispute and warned that behavior threatening their safety cannot be taken lightly and requires a firm and decisive response. The deputy agriculture minister, Michal Kolodziejczak, said he didn't believe that real, normal farmers caused a riot in fr

Google rolls out changes for users, developers as EU digital rules loom

Changes to search results mean large intermediaries and aggregators will get more traffic while hotels, airlines, merchants and restaurants will get less, Google said in a blogpost

Apple on track to collide with EU as new Digital Markets Act kicks in

The world's most ambitious digital regulation is being closely watched by other nations, including Japan, South Korea, Turkey and the UK, which are contemplating their own versions

As France ensures right to abortion, other countries look to expand access

As France becomes the only country to explicitly guarantee the right to abortion in its constitution, other Europeans look at the US rollback of abortion access and wonder: Could that happen here? Abortion is broadly legal across Europe, and governments have been gradually expanding abortion rights, with some exceptions. Women can access abortion in more than 40 European nations from Portugal to Russia, with varying rules on how late in a pregnancy it is allowed. Abortion is banned or tightly restricted in Poland and a handful of tiny countries. "It may not be an issue today in France, where a majority of people support abortion. But those same people may one day vote for a far-right government, and what happened in the US can happen in Europe," said Mathilde Philip-Gay, a law professor and specialist in French and American constitutional law. The inscription into France's constitution will "make it harder for abortion opponents of the future to challenge these rights." Here is a lo

WTO MC13: India blocks EU proposal to link trade with industrial policy

The proposal was a major ask by the EU

Ukrainian food producers needs long-term plan for exports to EU: Report

Ukraine wants to permanently remove tariffs and quotas on EU agricultural imports by updating its trade deal with the EU, or at least extend the current suspension for three years

Elon Musk's X could face European Union's crackdown on digital dominance

DMA, set to take effect on Thursday, lays out a series of dos and don'ts for likes of Alphabet Inc.'s Google Search, Apple's Safari, Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.'s Facebook among others

Meta Platforms targeted in privacy complaints by 8 EU consumer groups

The consumer bodies said Meta is not complying with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules on fair processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation

Investigate Putin's money flows in West: Navalny's wife to EU lawmakers

Navalnaya was speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, 12 days after her husband died suddenly in a Russian penal colony at the age of 47

Zelenskyy to co-host summit in Albania seeking more war support from Europe

Ukraine's president will co-host a summit with Albania's government on Wednesday that's meant to encourage further support for Kyiv by southeastern European countries as signs of fatigue grow two years after Russia's full-scale invasion. It is not immediately clear what the summit is expected to achieve beyond its stated goals of "peace, security, cooperation." No agenda was available ahead of the summit. Officials with NATO member Albania gave no details. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend in person on the latest stop in an international tour that saw him in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to push for a peace plan and the return of prisoners of war from Russia. Securing further support is key to Ukraine's leader while his country faces battlefield challenges. Zelenskyy on Sunday announced that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia's invasion the first time that Kyiv had confirmed the number of its losses. Ukraine has urged Western leaders to .

EU to approve plan to meet climate goals, protect nature despite protests

The European Union is on the brink of approving a major plan to fight climate change and better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc after protests from farmers and opposition from the biggest party in parliament led it to be diluted. The plan is a key part of the EU's European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world's most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. The Nature Restoration plan has had a rough ride through the EU's complicated approval process, and a watered-down version will proceed to a final vote by the EU member states, where it is expected to survive. Today's vote to get the Nature Restoration Law over the finish line offers fresh hope for Europe's ability to combat the worst effects of climate change and biodiversity loss for decades to come," said Noor Yafai of the global environmental group The Nature Conservancy. Under the plan, member states would have to meet restoration targets f

Meta will set up team to counter misinformation, AI abuse in EU elections

European Parliament elections will take place June 6-9. Its 720 lawmakers, together with EU governments, pass new EU policies and laws