Cat

In the wake of Elon Musk’s multiple attacks on different European politicians, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his surprise that the most powerful man in the world was supporting the “reactionary international.” He called for defending EU democracies and the European project from the interference of digital tycoons. While democracies have always coexisted with economic oligarchies – the United States more than most European ones – the power acquired by a few men is beginning to take on new economic and political characteristics. The technological revolution – satellites, software and search engines, AI – provides them with an extraordinary global power, as governments and decision-makers increasingly depend on their services. This grants them an unmatched capacity to influence policies by controlling data, as well as through the lack of alternatives to several services.

Over 160 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions, and civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have called on the European Union to ban trade and business with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including East Jerusalem.

Since the start of the Chinese government’s abusive Strike Hard Campaign in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2016, Chinese authorities have arbitrarily confiscated passports of Uyghurs in the region and imprisoned Uyghurs for contacting people abroad. While the authorities are now allowing some Uyghurs to apply for or are returning passports for travel internationally, they exert tight control over those who travel.

“The modest thaw in China’s travel restrictions has allowed some Uyghurs to briefly reunite with loved ones abroad after having no news for years, but the Chinese government’s travel restrictions are still used to oppress Uyghurs in Xinjiang and in the diaspora,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Chinese government continues to deny Uyghurs their right to leave the country, restrict their speech and associations when abroad, and punish them for having foreign ties.”

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, said Monday that the U.S. Agency for International Development will be closed on President Donald Trump’s orders, after the prominent tycoon tasked with cutting government spending called the aid agency “evil.”

TikTok has stirred the pot in the political arena in the United States and Europe alike. From the ongoing process with the ban in the US, which is currently on hold, to the Chinese platform’s interference in European elections. In this interview, Josef Šlerka unpacks the intricacies of TikTok’s algorithm and its implications for political content. He is an expert on issues of disinformation and conspiracy theories, working as a data analyst, reporter at our partners Investigace(.)cz and the head of the Department of New Media Studies at Charles University in Prague.

The government of Somalia´s semi-autonomous Puntland region said United States military strikes in the Golis mountains had killed “key figures” from the the Islamic State armed group.

A French court has convicted French film director Christophe Ruggia of sexually abusing actress Adèle Haenel when she was underage. He will avoid prison as the court sentenced him to a two-year suspended term and two years under house arrest.Ruggia was also ordered to pay €15,000 to Haenel.