US social media giant Meta was slapped Wednesday with fines totalling 390 million euros ($413 million) for breaching EU personal data laws on Facebook and Instagram, Ireland's data regulator said.. The watchdog reached "final decisions" to fine Meta Ireland 210 million euros in relation to Facebook and 180 million euros in relation to Instagram, for violating Europe's landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The rate of ground-breaking scientific discoveries and technological innovation is slowing down despite an ever-growing amount of knowledge, according to an analysis released Wednesday of millions of research papers and patents.. The researchers gave a "disruptiveness score" to 45 million scientific papers dating from 1945 to 2010, and to 3.9 million US-based patents from 1976 to 2010.
Russia has blamed the deaths of scores of its soldiers in a New Year missile strike on its troops using unsecured, traceable mobile phones on the battlefield.. While lax mobile phone habits have been blamed for the Makiivka deaths -- soldiers may have been texting their loved ones for New Year's -- inadequate Russian technology is just as much of a problem, and even more difficult to fix, say analysts.
The EU on Wednesday defended a trip by its top diplomat to Morocco, which has been linked, along with Qatar, to a graft scandal unrolling at the European Parliament.. The affair has cast a cloud over other EU institutions, and increased media scrutiny of dealings by EU commissioners and top officials who recently dealt with Qatar and Morocco.
Donald Trump on Wednesday called for far-right Republicans to end their blocking of the party's candidate to become US House speaker, after a damaging split prevented Kevin McCarthy from securing the key role.. - Trump loyalty test - The House was adjourned on Tuesday and was expected to hold further ballots on Wednesday until someone emerges with a majority -- and it is not out of the question that a new candidate could come to the fore.
The global airline association criticised on Wednesday decisions by governments to impose Covid tests and other measures on travellers from China as ineffective "knee-jerk" reactions.. "It is extremely disappointing to see this knee-jerk reinstatement of measures that have proven ineffective over the last three years," Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said in a statement.
Swedish director Ruben Ostlund is aiming to get his famously straight-faced compatriots out of their seats with a special screening of Palme d'Or-winning satire "Triangle of Sadness".. "Triangle of Sadness", a sharp satire about class conflict, won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year.
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka Wednesday announced its first nationwide elections since its president fled and resigned in the face of widespread protests, in what will be a test of popularity for his successor.. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who replaced his deposed predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, faces potential embarrassment in the vote, as he was his party's sole representative in parliament.
Though it is a pariah on the world stage and battling fierce domestic opposition to its rule, Myanmar's junta has found grounds for optimism -– the birth of a rare albino elephant.. But the birth of the elephant -- more milky-grey than white -- in western Rahkine state last year is being portrayed by junta-controlled media as fortuitous.
Retail pharmacies in the United States will be permitted to sell abortion pills, health officials said Tuesday, a move that could significantly expand access to the procedure after last year's landmark Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal abortion rights. . Demand for abortion pills has risen since the conservative-dominated Supreme Court made a landmark ruling last June that overturned Roe v.
