Page 8 - Europe

French protesters standing up to far right ahead of snap elections

Anti-racism groups were joining French unions and a brand-new left-wing coalition in protests in Paris and across France on Saturday against the surging nationalist far right as frenzied campaigning is underway ahead of snap parliamentary elections. In Paris, those who fear that the elections will produce France's first far-right government since World War II will gather at Place de la Republique before marching through eastern Paris. The French Interior Ministry said 21,000 police and gendarmes would be deployed at protests across the country, with authorities expecting between 300,000 and 500,000 protesters nationwide. In the French Riviera city of Nice, protesters marched down Jean Mdecin Avenue, the city's main shopping street. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said she heard chants against the National Rally, its leader Jordan Bardella as well as against President Emmanuel Macron. Protest organisers said 3,000 took part, while the police put the number at 2,500. Nic

FAA, EASA vow to boost collaboration on new airplane certification

Since two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a combined 346 people, aviation regulators around the world have tightened oversight of new airplanes

Xi has few options to retaliate against Europe without sparking trade war

China has also signaled it's considering tariffs as high as 25% on imported cars with large engines

Allcargo Logistics arm partners with ShipBob for freight services

ECU Worldwide, a wholly-owned global subsidiary of Allcargo Logistics, on Thursday said it has partnered with ShipBob to offer its ocean and air freight services to the latter's receiving hubs and fulfilment centres in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. Under the collaboration, ECU Worldwide will become an integral part of FreightBob, an end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution programme of ShipBob, through its network across over 180 countries, more than 2,400 direct trade lanes and door-to-door deliveries, Allcargo Logistics said. This would help ShipBob manage its e-commerce inventory for their merchants in over 50 markets, as a part of ECU Worldwide LCL (less-than-container load) offering, it stated. "Our new-age tech-driven booking platform ECU360 has redefined the global supply chain efficiency with convenient features, continued product innovation and a worldwide network. The association with ShipBob will help us further deepen our delivery capabilities acros

Meta to train AI model on European data as it faces privacy concerns

Meta wants to use data from users in privacy-conscious Europe to train its artificial intelligence models, the social media giant said Monday as it faces concerns about data protection while battling to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Google. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said that in order to better reflect the languages, geography and cultural references" of its users in Europe, it needs to use public data from those users to teach its Llama AI large language model. Meta's AI training efforts are hampered by stringent European Union data privacy laws, which give people control over how their personal information is used. Vienna-based group NOYB, led by activist Max Schrems, complained last week to 11 national privacy watchdogs about Meta's AI training plans and urged them to stop the company before it starts training Llama's next generation. AI language models are trained on vast pools of data that help them predict the most plausible next word in a

Italy's PM Meloni comes out on top in EU vote, strengthens her position

Projected forecasts based on the early count said Brothers of Italy had won 28.3 per cent, more than four times what it took in the last EU election in 2019

PM Modi may visit Italy this week, his first overseas trip in third term

Modi will join global leaders in attending the G7 or Group of Seven summit, which will be held in Borgo Egnazia (Fasano) in Italy's Apulia from June 13-15

Poland's PM Tusk strengthened by EU election win, populists close behind

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist party clinched its first electoral victory over a right-wing populist party in a decade by taking the most votes in the European Parliament election, official results released Monday showed. Many viewed Tusk's return to power last year as a rare case of a democratic party prevailing over populist and authoritarian forces. However, while Sunday's win solidified his position, the results also showed that his lead is small, and that support for the far right is rising. His Civic Coalition took 37.1 per cent of the votes. The nationalist Law and Justice party, which held power from 2015 until last year and is led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, followed closely with 36.2 per cent, underscoring the continued attraction of its conservative worldview to many Polish voters, despite corruption scandals during its years in power. Two Law and Justice candidates Former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski and his former deputy, Maciej Wasik won seats in the

EU elections: Huge voter turnout expected; surveys predict shift to right

Voters are heading to the polls for the European Union's election super Sunday amid concern that a likely shift to the political right will undermine the ability of the world's biggest trading bloc to take decisions as war rages in Ukraine and anti-migrant sentiment mounts. Citizens in 20 countries, from the Alpine nation of Austria to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, will cast ballots to elect 720 members of the European Parliament. Seats in the assembly are allocated based on population, ranging from six in Malta or Luxembourg to 96 in Germany. Official results of the elections, which are held every five years and began in the Netherlands on Thursday, cannot be published before the last polling stations in the 27 EU nations close those in Italy at 11 p.m. (2100 GMT). Unofficial estimates are due to trickle in from 1615 GMT. An unofficial exit poll on Thursday suggested that Geert Wilders' anti-migrant hard right party should make important gains in the Netherlands, even thoug

GX Group eyes 66% revenue growth to Rs 500 cr in 2 yrs, to double exports

Telecom gear maker GX Group expects its revenue to grow by 66 per cent to Rs 500 crore by financial year 2026, on account of growth in domestic business as well as exports, a top company official has said. The company makes Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) gears that are required to run fibre-based broadband networks. GX Group also makes routers and switches as well as Internet of Things (IoT) devices in India. GX Group CEO Paritosh Prajapati told PTI that the company is looking to expand its manufacturing unit in India with an investment of Rs 100 crore in the current financial year. According to him, benefits from the telecom production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme are one of the key growth drivers for the company. "We have achieved a 40 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in consecutive years, supporting us to grow from a Rs 300 crore to a Rs 500 crore company within the next two financial years. "We are planning to build India as our Global hub, therefore, we are ...

'India a big market; good to have stronger Lufthansa-Air India partnership'

India is a big aviation market and a stronger partnership between Air India and Lufthansa is good, as efforts of the Star Alliance are to bring the partners together to provide a unique value proposition for the passengers, the airline grouping's CEO Theo Panagiotoulias has said. Air India and Lufthansa are part of the Star Alliance, whose 26 member airlines come together at more than 50 global hubs to offer smooth connections across a global network. A management company, based in Frankfurt and Singapore, coordinates Star Alliance projects and activities. It includes airport co-location, digital infrastructure, frequent flyer integration and joint business lounge projects to improve the travel experience. Talking to PTI on the sidelines of IATA annual general meeting in Dubai this week, Panagiotoulias was bullish about the prospects in the Indian market that offers "so much of opportunities". "The alliance is to bring the partners together to provide a unique value proposition...

China's exports grow 7.6% in May despite trade tensions with US, Europe

China's exports in May grew at their fastest pace in more than a year despite trade tensions, though imports fell short of analyst expectations, according to customs data released on Friday. Exports jumped 7.6 per cent in May from the same month last year to USD 302.35 billion, rising at the fastest pace since April 2023. Imports rose by 1.8 per cent to USD 219.73 billion, missing estimates of about 4 per cent growth. The uptick in exports is also partly due to a lower base in the same period last year, when exports declined 7.5 per cent. In comparison, exports grew by 1.5 per cent in April compared with the same period last year, while April imports rose by 8.4 per cent. The strong exports caused China's trade surplus to widen to USD 82.62 billion, up from April's USD 72.35 billion. The growth in exports comes as China faces escalated trade tensions with the US and Europe. The US is ramping up tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars while Europe is considering levying similar ...

Amid sanctions, Putin pivots to eastern allies for Russian investment forum

Western sanctions have not torpedoed Russia's economy, however, and Moscow has nurtured ties with China, major regional powers in the Middle East and across Africa and Latin America

Ukraine using German weapons to strike Russia 'dangerous step' warns Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Germany on Wednesday that use of its weapons by Ukraine to strike targets in Russia would mark a dangerous step" and ruin relations between Berlin and Moscow. Germany joined the United States recently in authorizing Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying. Putin said that the deliveries of German tanks to Ukraine came as a shock to many in Russia. Now if they use missiles to strike facilities on the Russian territory it will completely ruin Russian-German relations, he said.

McDonald's can't use term 'Big Mac' for poultry products rules Europe court

The ruling can be appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's highest

European Union prepares for foreign disinformation ahead of elections

Voters in the European Union are set to elect lawmakers starting Thursday for the bloc's parliament, in a major democratic exercise that's also likely to be overshadowed by online disinformation. Experts have warned that artificial intelligence could supercharge the spread of fake news that could disrupt the election in the EU and many other countries this year. But the stakes are especially high in Europe, which has been confronting Russian propaganda efforts as Moscow's war with Ukraine drags on. Here's a closer look: WHAT'S HAPPENING? Some 360 million people in 27 nations from Portugal to Finland, Ireland to Cyprus will choose 720 European Parliament lawmakers in an election that runs Thursday to Sunday. In the months leading up to the vote, experts have observed a surge in the quantity and quality of fake news and anti-EU disinformation being peddled in member countries. A big fear is that deceiving voters will be easier than ever, enabled by new AI tools that make it easy t

Few AI deepfakes identified in EU elections, says Microsoft President Smith

'We have to recognise the risks that AI can create in the context of creating abusive content and one form of abusive content would be AI generated deep fakes,' Smith said

Ambanis to host birthday bash for granddaughter Veda on a cruise in Europe

The Ambanis will today celebrate the first birthday of granddaughter, Veda, who is the daughter of Shloka and Akash Ambani, on the cruise on which the pre-wedding of Radhika and Anant is taking place

UN tribute to Iran's late Prez Raisi marred by protests, European, US snubs

The UN General Assembly's tribute to Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi was snubbed by Western and East European nations on Thursday amid protests against honouring a leader who was reviled for his crackdown on opponents. The assembly's tribute was no surprise. It is a longstanding practice that the 193-member world body holds a plenary meeting to pay tribute to the memory of a sitting head of state who dies, where all UN regional groups send representatives to speak about their life and legacy. And there were some warm tributes to Raisi, especially from African nations. But what happened Thursday that was highly unusual was that only representatives from the African, Asian-Pacific, and Latin American and Caribbean regional groups spoke. There were no remarks from the West European or East European groups, or from the United States, which normally speaks last representing the host country. The United States will not attend today's United Nations tribute event for President Raisi i

What's at stake in the European Parliament election due next month

Around 400 million European Union citizens go to the polls next month to elect members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, in one of the biggest global democratic events. Far-right parties are seeking to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers' discontent, while the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are on the minds of voters. One of the biggest questions is whether European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will remain in charge as the most visible face of the EU. Here is a look at the upcoming election and the biggest issues at stake: WHEN IS THE VOTE? EU elections are held every five years across the 27-member bloc. This year marks the 10th parliamentary election since the first polls in 1979, and the first after Brexit. The vote takes place from June 6-9. First results can only be revealed on the evening of June 9, once polling stations have closed in all member states. HOW VOTING WORKS? The elections start on a Thursday in the Netherlands and finish o