by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Corporate, Corporate Reports, Markets, Social Media, World
London : As the European Parliament election inch closer, the European Commission has claimed Facebook is withholding key data on its efforts towards how the platform is rooting out the spread of poll-related disinformation.
According to a report in The Guardian on Thursday, the European Commission has complained that Facebook has set up fact checkers only in eight of the European Union’s (EU) 28 member states.
“Mark Zuckerberg’s company has been under fire from the European Commission for failing to provide it with the hard numbers to prove that it was living up to promises made in a voluntary code of conduct,” said the report.
“Facebook has again failed to provide all necessary information, including any data on its actions in January on scrutiny of ad placements or efforts to disrupt advertising and monetisation incentives for those behind disinformation,” the report said, quoting EU’s security commissioner Sir Julian King and digital economy commissioner, Mariya Gabriel.
The commission, however, said Google has fared slightly better on sharing information on election-related misinformation.
The next elections to the European Parliament are expected to be held in May. A total of 751 members of the European Parliament currently represent more than 512 million people from 28 member states.
Facebook in January said it is committed to setting a high standard for transparency when it comes to political advertising on Facebook in EU.
“To run electoral ads or ads about highly debated and important issues related to the European Parliament Elections, advertisers will be required to confirm their identity and include additional information about who is responsible for their ads,” Anika Geisel, Public Policy Elections, Europe said in a blog post.
Facebook said it was planning to set up new operation centres, focused on election integrity, including one in Dublin.
“Working together with our teams in our Menlo Park headquarters and across Europe, the new initiative will serve as an added layer of defence against false news and misinformation, hate speech, voter suppression and election interference,” said Facebook.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Brussels : Britain’s planned exit from the European Union next month will hopefully not be “brutal” or “divisive” especially given the many Italians resident in the UK and Britons living in Italy, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Tuesday.
“We hope there will be no brutal severing of the relationship between Britain and the EU, given that many Italian citizens live on the other side of the channel and there are many Britons living in Italy,” he said.
Italy has “strong economic interests” in and “a positive trade balance” with Britain, Moavero said on the sidelines of the EU General Affairs Council.
“We hope that a non-divisive way forward can be found,” he said.
“A possible extension of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU beyond March, which remains a possibility under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union and which requires the European Council’s unanimous accord,” Moavero said.
The foreign ministry said that Moavero had talks with his British counterpart Jeremy Hunt in Brussels Monday on the rights of Italian citizens in the UK and Britons resident in Italy after Brexit, which is scheduled for March 29.
Britain’s Premier Theresa May is still hoping to secure changes to the withdrawal treaty she negotiated with the EU in order to get a revised deal through parliament. She has not ruled out a no-deal Brexit should her bid fail.
—IANS/AKI
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Riyadh : Saudi Arabia has expressed regret about the decision by the European Commission (EC) to place the Kingdom on a blacklist of 23 non-EU countries and territories accused of posing a high risk of money laundering and financing terrorism, despite the efforts being made by the Kingdom to combat such crimes.
“The Kingdom finds it regrettable that it was included in the proposed list of ‘high-risk’ countries for money laundering and terrorist financing that was issued by the European Commission on Feb. 13, 2019,” Saudi authorities said in a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“This comes despite the Kingdom’s ratification of many laws and procedures relating to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, to reduce the risks associated with such crimes,” said the statement.
It added that the Kingdom reaffirms its strong commitment to the joint global efforts to combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism, as part of which it works with international partners and allies.
“Saudi Arabia, who is a key partner in the international coalition against Daesh, has been leading a group, along with the United States and Italy, to fight the financing of the group,” the statement continued.
“The Saudi Mutual Evaluation Report, published by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in September 2018, praised Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the group’s recommendations. The FATF report stated that the Kingdom’s preventive measures against money laundering and terrorist financing are strong and robust.”
The Kingdom has a legal framework and coordinated procedures in place for the swift implementation of targeted financial sanctions imposed by the United Nations, it added.
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said: “Saudi Arabia’s commitment to combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a strategic priority and we will continue to develop and improve our regulatory and legislative frameworks to achieve this goal.”
“The announcement by the European Commission that the Kingdom will be included in the proposed list of high-risk countries for money laundering and terrorist financing will have to pass the voting stage in the European Parliament before it becomes effective,” he said.
The minister invited EC officials and members of the European Parliament to visit Riyadh to learn about the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts and initiatives to combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism at local, regional and international levels. He also stressed that the Kingdom looks forward to a constructive dialogue with its partners in the EU to help strengthen and support efforts to combat the flow of ‘dirty money’.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate finance
By Ravi Dutta Mishra,
New Delhi : Britain is set to leave the European Union on March 29 and concerns remain across the globe with the financial markets already jittery over the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. For India, experts say, Brexit might have a short-term adverse impact but benefits lie in the long run.
So far, Brexit talks between England and the EU have not been fruitful and there are concerns that Britain might have to leave the Union without a deal which may have severe economic impact including a recession in England.
“..if there is Brexit without a deal then there could be short-term disruption while in the long run, it makes the UK less dependent on the EU giving countries like India an opportunity to negotiate directly with the UK,” said Mayuresh Joshi, Fund Manager Angel Broking.
An RBI report published earlier this month had also noted that the “the likelihood of Brexit in March 2019 could offer opportunities for Indian exporters if bilateral trade agreements are renegotiated”.
Earlier, last year the Bank of England had warned that a no-deal Brexit could send the pound plunging and trigger a worse recession than the financial crisis.
Explaining its impact on the domestic currency, Anindya Banerjee of Kotak Securities said that the no-deal Brexit will have a negative effect on the UK first, it will impact Europe, US, and the emerging markets subsequently.
“An actual no-deal Brexit will impact the rupee only because of the outcome” but if the sell-off continues in pound, the rupee will ramain unaffacted.
There is considerable confusion with respect to Brexit said Gaurang Somaiya of Motilal Oswal but as far as the Indian currency is concerned the impact will be short-term adding that the uncertainty around Brexit is already affecting the currency market.
Brexit has been indentified as a major headwind owing to the strong investment relationship as highlighted by Shaktikanta Das, RBI governor earlier this month, “Brexit is a factor that has repercussions for India’s external sector. There are consequential policy challenges for India which enjoys strong trade and investment relations with the UK and the EU.”
Pointing out India’s strong trade relationship with the UK, Mayuresh Joshi commented that Britain is among the top trading partners for India both in terms of inbound and outbound trade. In pure trade terms, UK ranks 12th in a trade with India but it is important because the UK is one of the seven large nations with whom India runs a trade surplus.
“The Tata Group has already emerged as the largest employer in the UK through its stake in Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The UK also happens to be a very large market for India’s software exports,” says Josi.
“While the US continues to be the major partner for India by a margin, UK and the EU region collectively account for nearly 30 per cent of India” IT exports and UK apparently is the next big market in terms of exports of pharmaceutical products from India,” Joshi added.
“Even in terms of FDI, India is the third largest FDI investor in the UK and which is also the the third largest FDI investor in India. The relationship is largely symbiotic.”
According to a research note by Kotak, “Our checks indicate that clients are budgeting for a year of a slowdown” owing to various factors like external headwinds emanating from a slowdown in the US, uncertainty around Brexit and trade wars.
Experts said that prominent Indian companies have invested in the Auto and steel sector and the presence is also evident in the IT and pharma sector. Indian auto ancillary companies are major suppliers to auto companies across Europe.
Apart from auto and steel where Indian companies have invested in UK, there is a reverse flow from the UK into sectors like healthcare, agritech, food, and beverages.
“Brexit with a deal will disrupt all these flows in the short run but will be value accretive for India in the long run,” said Mayuresh Joshi, Fund Manager Angel Broking.
“The impact of a no-deal Brexit may have catastrophic implications for not just the European heartland, but for the wider developing world in general,” said Natasha Mudhar, Advisory Board Member at the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC).
In a recent survey said Mudhar German Development Institute found, the impact of a no-deal Brexit can push nearly 1.7 million people from developing countries into poverty. trade and investments.
(Ravi Dutta Mishra can be reached at ravidutta.m@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Nigel Farage
London : Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the most prominent campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union (EU), has announced that if the country’s exit from the EU was delayed, he would stand as candidate for a new pro-Brexit party.
Farage made the announcement in an op-ed for The Telegraph daily on Friday, reports CNN.
“I have made it clear many times that I will not stand by and do nothing, so should this (European Parliament) election need to be contested, I will stand as a candidate for the Brexit Party and I will give it my all,” he said.
“In defence of democracy, we stand ready for battle.”
The party’s current leader, Catherine Blaiklock, a former UKIP member, had registered the group on Tuesday.
Farage saw the EU referendum result as a personal victory when the public voted in June 2016 to leave the bloc by a margin of 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
A high-profile Eurosceptic, Farage has been accused of peddling racist and xenophobic views — especially when it comes to immigration in the UK, CNN said.
He argued in 2016 that the open immigration policy Britain agreed to with the EU led to an influx of people that created divisions within society.
Before the Brexit vote, UKIP unveiled a campaign poster with the slogan: “Breaking Point. The EU has failed us all”, showing an image of migrants entering Europe in 2015.
Opposition leaders called it “divisive” and “hate-filled”.
The UK is due to leave the EU on March 29.
However, British Prime Minister Theresa May still needs to secure a deal that has approval from both the EU and UK and unless she seeks an extension on Article 50, the country will crash out of the bloc.
—IANS
