BRUSSELS (AP) — Five months after the European Union lurched to the political right, the influence of nationalist and populist parties will go on public display in Brussels on Monday when lawmakers vet the proposed new members of the EU’s increasingly powerful executive branch. Over five days of hearings, the EU parliamentarians will grill 26 […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union announced on Thursday that it is taking Hungary’s right-wing government to court over laws that could allow the authorities to investigate and prosecute people accused of undermining the country’s sovereignty. The “ sovereignty protection act ″ took effect in December. It created a government authority with the power to […]

LONDON (AP) — An animal rights group trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards at Buckingham Palace took aim Thursday at the cost of the ceremonial garb. The price of the caps soared 30% in a year to more than 2,000 pounds ($2,600) apiece for the hats made […]

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators said Thursday they’re looking into one of Google’s artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc’s strict data privacy rules. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into Google’s Pathways Language Model 2, also known as PaLM2. It’s part of wider efforts, including […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission did not allow the public enough access to information about COVID-19 vaccine purchase agreements it secured with pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic, the EU general court said Wednesday.  The decision came a day ahead of a vote at the European Parliament at which European Commission President Ursula von der […]

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Venice on Sunday wrapped up a pilot program charging day-trippers an entrance fee, more than 2 million euros ($2.2 million) richer and determined to extend the levy, but opponents in the fragile lagoon city called the experiment a failure. Several dozen activists gathered outside the Santa Lucia train station overlooking a […]

LONDON (AP) — The European Union said Friday that blue checkmarks from Elon Musk’s X are deceptive and that the online platform falls short on transparency and accountability requirements, the first charges against a tech company since the bloc’s new social media regulations took effect.  The European Commission outlined the preliminary findings from its investigation […]

LONDON (AP) — The European Union is escalating its scrutiny of the artificial intelligence industry, including taking a fresh look into Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI, a top EU official said Friday.  The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, started reviewing the deal last year to see whether it broke EU merger rules but dropped […]

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission is asking three of the world’s biggest pornography sites to provide details of the measures they have taken to better protect minors from accessing their content and prevent gender-based violence. The European Union’s executive branch took the decision targeting Pornhub, XVideos and Stripchat under its trailblazing Digital Services Act, […]

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators opened investigations into Apple, Google and Meta on Monday, the first cases under a sweeping new law designed to stop Big Tech companies from cornering digital markets.  The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, said it was investigating the companies for “non-compliance” with the Digital Markets Act.  The […]

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators on Thursday ratcheted up scrutiny of big tech companies including Google, Facebook and TikTok with requests for information on how they’re dealing with risks from generative artificial intelligence, such as the viral spread of deepfakes.  The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, has sent questionnaires about the ways that […]

Apple is opening small cracks in the iPhone’s digital fortress as part of a regulatory clampdown in Europe that is striving to give consumers more choices — at the risk of creating new avenues for hackers to steal personal and financial information stored on the devices. The overhaul rolling out Thursday only in the European […]