Microsoft 365 in Breach of Data Protection Laws

A lengthy investigation into the European Union’s use of Microsoft 365 has found the Commission breached the bloc’s data protection rules through its use of the cloud-based productivity software.


Announcing its decision in a press release today, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said the Commission infringed “several key data protection rules when using Microsoft 365”.


“The Commission did not sufficiently specify what types of personal data are to be collected and for which explicit and specified purposes when using Microsoft 365,” the data supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, wrote, adding: “The Commission’s infringements as data controller also relate to data processing, including transfers of personal data, carried out on its behalf.”


The EDPS has imposed corrective measures requiring the Commission to address the compliance problems it has identified by December 9 2024, assuming it continues to use Microsoft’s cloud suite.  READ MORE...

Ethiopia First to Ban Internal Combustion Engines

Ethiopia has decided that only electric cars may be imported into the country. The move is a major step towards sustainable mobility and is ahead of the European Union's plans to ban internal combustion engines from 2035.  Nicole Dominikowski (translated by Nicole Dominikowski), Published 02/11/2024 Business E-Mobility


While in the past less affluent countries have been the dumping ground for second-hand cars from other nations, Ethiopia is now the first country in the world to ban the import of all cars that are not electrically powered. In contrast to the European Union, which has a ban on the sale of cars with internal combustion engines from 2035, Ethiopia is about ten years ahead of schedule:


A decision has been made that automobiles cannot enter Ethiopia unless they are electric ones.    - Minister Alemu Sime        READ MORE...

AI Needs to be REGULATED

For most of the past decade, public concerns about digital technology have focused on the potential abuse of personal data. People were uncomfortable with the way companies could track their movements online, often gathering credit card numbers, addresses, and other critical information. They found it creepy to be followed around the web by ads that had clearly been triggered by their idle searches, and they worried about identity theft and fraud.

Those concerns led to the passage of measures in the United States and Europe guaranteeing internet users some level of control over their personal data and images—most notably, the European Union’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

Of course, those measures didn’t end the debate around companies’ use of personal data. Some argue that curbing it will hamper the economic performance of Europe and the United States relative to less restrictive countries, notably China, whose digital giants have thrived with the help of ready, lightly regulated access to personal information of all sorts. (Recently, however, the Chinese government has started to limit the digital firms’ freedom—as demonstrated by the large fines imposed on Alibaba.) 

Others point out that there’s plenty of evidence that tighter regulation has put smaller European companies at a considerable disadvantage to deeper-pocketed U.S. rivals such as Google and Amazon.

But the debate is entering a new phase. As companies increasingly embed artificial intelligence in their products, services, processes, and decision-making, attention is shifting to how data is used by the software—particularly by complex, evolving algorithms that might diagnose a cancer, drive a car, or approve a loan. 

The EU, which is again leading the way (in its 2020 white paper “On Artificial Intelligence—A European Approach to Excellence and Trust” and its 2021 proposal for an AI legal framework), considers regulation to be essential to the development of AI tools that consumers can trust.  READ MORE...

Tik Tok Facing Global Bans

The backlash against China-owned TikTok in the U.S. and other Western countries escalated in recent days, as some U.S lawmakers pushed to give President Joe Biden the authority to impose a ban on the app for all users.


Canada banned TikTok on government-issued mobile devices on Monday, following a similar ban from the European Union last week.


TikTok, which has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., has faced growing scrutiny from government officials over fears that user data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government and the app could ultimately be weaponized by China to spread misinformation.


However, the fight to ban TikTok risks imposing undue limits on free speech and private business, mimicking the type of censorship for which some Western countries have faulted China, according to some experts and civil liberties advocates.  READ MORE...

All About Ireland

The magnificent scenery of Ireland’s Atlantic coastline faces a 2,000-mile- (3,200-km-) wide expanse of ocean, and its geographic isolation has helped it to develop a rich heritage of culture and tradition that was linked initially to the Gaelic language. Washed by abundant rain, the country’s pervasive grasslands create a green-hued landscape that is responsible for the popular sobriquet Emerald Isle. 

Ireland is also renowned for its wealth of folklore, from tales of tiny leprechauns with hidden pots of gold to that of the patron saint, Patrick, with his legendary ridding the island of snakes and his reputed use of the three-leaved shamrock as a symbol for the Christian Trinity. But while many may think of Ireland as an enchanted land, the republic has been beset with perennial concerns—emigration, cultural and political identity, and relations with Northern Ireland (comprising the 6 of Ireland’s 32 counties within the province of Ulster that remain part of the United Kingdom). 

At the beginning of the 21st century, Ireland’s long-standing economic problems were abating, owing to its diverse export-driven economy, but calamity struck again in 2008 when a new financial and economic crisis befell the country, culminating in a very costly bailout of the Irish economy by the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund.

The emergence of Ireland as an independent country is a fairly recent phenomenon. Until the 17th century, political power was widely shared among a rather loosely constructed network of small earldoms in often-shifting alliances. Following the so-called “Flight of the Earls” after an unsuccessful uprising in the early 17th century, Ireland effectively became an English colony. 

It was formally incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801. A 1914 Home Rule Act was passed but never implemented due to pro-union militancy in the north, the onset of World War I, and the subsequent Irish War of Independence. 

In 1920 the island was effectively partitioned with the creation of Northern Ireland, a six-county area with devolved powers within the United Kingdom, whereas under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, the other 26 counties became the Irish Free State, a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth and Empire. In 1937 the southern state passed a new constitution that offered a more robust expression of sovereignty, and in 1949 it formally left the Commonwealth as the Republic of Ireland.  SOURCE:  Britannica

Diesel Reserves Running Out

President Joe Biden is proposing a plan that would require fuel suppliers to maintain a minimum amount of diesel in their inventories this winter to stave off severe shortages and prevent extreme price hikes. However, it could create a demand surge and drive up already high prices, according to Bloomberg.

The plan would force diesel vendors to take supplies off the market which could cause short-term diesel demand to soar and drive up prices in the Northeast, where fuel shortages are most severe, according to Bloomberg. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated the East Coast’s fuel shortages as the region has become dependent on Russian imports due to the region’s constrained pipeline capacity.

“We also want to make sure there’s enough fuel in the United States,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said when asked about U.S. fuel exports to energy-starved Europe during an interview at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. “It may not be a business choice that they make, but we’re asking, as the companies that are operating in America, to do what they are doing in other countries.”

The national average price of diesel is $5.31 per gallon and is $1.58 higher than it was in November 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The Midwest region’s wholesale diesel prices skyrocketed in July after pipeline operator Magellan Midstream Partners increased the minimum inventory levels for fuel held throughout its pipeline, according to Bloomberg.

The European Union (EU) required its member-states to fill natural gas storages to 80% of full capacity in order to prepare for potential winter shortages, according to the European Council press release. Europe is currently heavily reliant on U.S. oil and gas imports as Russia has continuously disrupted natural gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in retaliation to EU sanctions.

Americans who use heating oil (a form of diesel) will spend an average of $2,354 to heat their homes this winter which represents a 27% increase from winter 2021 and the highest price point in more than 25 years, according to the EIA.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Recycling Lithium Batteries

Electric vehicles, power tools, smartwatches—Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere now. However, the materials to make them are finite, and sourcing them has environmental, humanitarian, and economic implications. Recycling is key to addressing those, but a recent study shows most Lithium-ion batteries never get recycled.

Lithium and several other metals that make up these batteries are incredibly valuable. The cost of raw lithium is roughly seven times what you'd pay for the same weight in lead, but unlike lithium batteries, almost all lead-acid batteries get recycled. So there’s something beyond pure economics at play.

It turns out that there are good reasons why lithium battery recycling hasn’t happened yet. But some companies expect to change that, which is a good thing since recycling lithium batteries will be an essential part of the renewable energy transition.
Lead-acid lessons

How extreme is the disparity between lithium and lead batteries? In 2021, the average price of one metric ton of battery-grade lithium carbonate was $17,000 compared to $2,425 for lead North American markets, and raw materials now account for over half of battery cost, according to a 2021 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The imbalance of recycling is counterintuitive in terms of fresh material supply as well. Global sources of lithium amount to 89 million tons, most of which originate in South America, according to a recent United States Geological Survey report. In contrast, the global lead supply at 2 billion tons was 22 times higher than lithium.

Despite the smaller supply of lithium, a study earlier this year in the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science found that less than 1 percent of Lithium-ion batteries get recycled in the US and EU compared to 99 percent of lead-acid batteries, which are most often used in gas vehicles and power grids. According to the study, recycling challenges range from the constantly evolving battery technology to costly shipping of dangerous materials to inadequate government regulation.  READ MORE....

Friends in High Places

(CNN)After weeks of failing to divide Europe over his war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin enjoyed two small diplomatic victories this weekend.

In both Hungary and Serbia, openly pro-Russian parties comfortably won legislative elections, providing Putin with a welcome reminder that despite the international community's firm and largely united response to the invasion, he does have some friends to his west.

The most significant victory came in the form of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his nationalist Fidesz party winning a landslide. Hungary is a member of both the European Union and NATO, meaning Putin can claim to have a friend with seats at the top table of two of his most-hated institutions.

On Sunday night, during his victory speech, Orban goaded not only the EU but Ukraine.

"We have such a victory it can be seen from the moon, but it's sure that it can be seen from Brussels," he said, adding that Fidesz "will remember this victory until the end of our lives because we had to fight against a huge amount of opponents." Included in that list of opponents were Brussels bureaucrats, international media and, pointedly, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky has directly criticized Orban for failing to support Ukraine as enthusiastically as many of his European counterparts have over the past weeks.  READ MORE...

Closing Air Space to Russian Airplanes

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Sweden, Finland and Denmark said they were preparing to close their airspace to Russian planes on Sunday, joining a string of European countries taking this measure after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The moves follow similar closures of airspace of Britain, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Romania to Russia's aircraft. Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are also closing their airspace to Russian airliners, while Germany said it was preparing to do so. 

Iceland has also decided to shut its airspace to Russian air traffic, Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Gylfadottir tweeted on Sunday.

"It is now absolutely necessary to proceed with further touch measures to isolate Russia," Swedish EU Minister Hans Dahlgren told public service radio SR.

A European Union-wide ban for Russian flights could be part of a fresh package of sanctions on Moscow to be discussed later on Sunday by the bloc's foreign ministers, an EU official said separately. 

Dahlgren said such a ban would be the most efficient way to pressure Moscow.

Denmark would also support a cross-EU ban to Russian aircraft, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said in a tweet.

Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka said in a tweet late on Saturday that Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia, was preparing a similar closure.

Russia's likely countermeasure will heavily hurt Finland's state carrier Finnair .  READ MORE...

Malta's Cannibis Rules

Malta’s new cannabis rules should serve as a model for other European states of how to end the unnecessary prosecution of low-level drug users and strike a blow against organised crime, according to the minister responsible for the law, Owen Bonnici.

Bonnici, a former justice minister and now minister for equality, research and innovation, said the new law, passed by the Maltese parliament in December 2021, prevented recreational users from being dragged through the courts or tribunal process for possession of small amounts of cannabis.

But it also allows for users and, eventually, non-profit organisations to grow cannabis plants and distribute it to other smokers via cannabis associations, meaning they no longer have to source the drug via the black market and put money into the pockets of international criminal gangs.

Malta’s law allows users to carry seven grams of the drug and store up to 50 grams at home, making it the first EU state to legalise cannabis.

German Chancellor Olof Scholz is in favour of legalisation but the country’s new government has not set a time limit on the reforms.

Although the Netherlands is world-famous for the availability of cannabis, it remains illegal for individuals to sell or possess it and the "coffee shops" that are licensed to sell it have to buy their product in bulk on the black market, incentivising criminals that grow and traffic it.

A number of European states, including Italy, Spain, Belgium and Ireland, have done away with prison sentences for marijuana possession, but in 14 of 28 European states -- including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria -- minor cannabis possession can still lead to jail time.

Even in European states where cannabis has been “decriminalised”, meaning that those caught with small amounts of the product are not be arrested, users still need to buy the drug from dealers.  READ MORE...

Will Putin Shut Off Europe's Gas?

Berlin, Germany – Determining the front lines of Europe’s potential energy conflict with Russia is no mean feat. Because should Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government decide to use what analysts often call Moscow’s “gas weapon”, the fallout would impact some European Union nations far more than others.

The variations in potential impacts stem from how different national energy markets are organised and legislated.

Around 35 percent of the EU’s natural gas comes from Russia. And as political tensions have mounted around the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, there has been much discussion of whether Russia, the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas, might weaponise that dependency to get its way.

Of the 167.7 billion cubic metres of natural gas Europe imported from Russia in 2020, Germany bought the most – 56.3 billion cubic meters – followed by Italy, with 19.7 billion, and the Netherlands, with 11.2 billion.

But what really determines a country’s vulnerability to Moscow’s energy export policies is not how much it buys but what part Russian gas plays in its national energy mix.  READ MORE...

US Ends Trade War With UK

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

The UK has been "left behind" according to steel makers after the US agreed to end a trade war over items that also included whiskey and Harley-Davidsons.


President Biden has signed a deal to end tariffs on steel imports from the EU, which were imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump.


But the agreement does not cover exports from the UK, putting British steelmakers at a disadvantage.


Trade body UK Steel said a deal for British producers was "sorely needed".


The tariffs, which came into force in 2018, nearly halved British steel exports to the US, Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, said.


The US is the second-largest market for British-made steel. But the new deal will put UK producers at a competitive disadvantage compared to European rivals who will be able to ship their products to the US without paying import tax


In return, the EU removed retaliatory tariffs that it had put on whiskey, power boats and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.


"Whilst it is promising to see the US take steps to open up access to its steel markets again, there is significant concern that UK producers have been left behind in this process and continue to wait for their own deal," Mr Stace said.  READ MORE...