Free Republic

TikTok said on Thursday that it will set up its first European data center in Ireland. The announcement comes amid increasing scrutiny over the video app’s privacy and security risks. U.S. President Donald Trump, citing national security concerns, on July 31 gave TikTok’s owner, Beijing-based internet giant Bytedance Technology, an ultimatum: either sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft or any other U.S. company by Sept. 15, or get banned in the United States. Until recently, TikTok Inc., the company’s U.S. entity, was the official data controller of TikTok. After July 29, the service provider for European Economic Area (EEA)-Swiss users...

The European Union needs to “work hand in hand” with China as a matter of necessity given the economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, said a top EU official in charge of Tuesday’s trade talks with Beijing. Chaired by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, the meeting comes as Brussels is hoping to clinch a landmark investment deal with China this year, though progress has been slow. “By pulling together, we can recover more quickly economically, and make progress on areas of mutual interest such as trade and investment relations,” European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told Politico ahead of the...

Saturday’s huge demo in Berlin against Germany’s coronavirus measures has raked up a new debate about the boundaries between the right to assemble and the protection of public health. Inevitably, given that the organizers of the “Day of Freedom” were arguing that the German government was wilfully overestimating the threat of the coronavirus, most of the 17,000–20,000 protesters made no attempt to wear face masks or stick to social distancing guidelines. That was why the Berlin police eventually disbanded the main demo, as it did many of the counter-demos also staged on Saturday. All in all, Saturday’s various protests were...

Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 10.1% in the second quarter of 2020, according to economic data released on Thursday. The data from Germany’s Federal Statistic Office comes amid fears of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic across Europe. “This was the sharpest decline since the quarterly GDP calculations for Germany began in 1970,” the statistics office said. Compared with last year, Thursday’s figures were even worse. GDP was down 11.7% for April to June, with an overall collapse of exports and household spending alongside an increase in state spending. “It’s clear that it was a really horrible...

The European Commission has signed a contract with US pharmaceutical giant Gilead, securing 30,000 doses of the COVID-19 drug remdesivir for EU member states and Britain. Remdesivir is the first drug that received EU approval to treat severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The €63-million ($74-million) contract will be paid for with an emergency instrument from the European Union’s shared budget, the EU’s executive body announced on Wednesday. Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for health, called this move “another important step forward in our fight to overcome this disease”, and said the contract between the commission and...

Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it would increase loan repayments to France and Spain in a “final” bid to reverse U.S. tariffs and jog the United States into settling a 16-year-old dispute over billions of dollars of aircraft subsidies. The European Union, France and Spain said the move to raise interest rates paid by Airbus on A350 aircraft development loans should settle the row at the World Trade Organization and urged Washington to withdraw tariffs on EU goods. “In the absence of a settlement, the EU will be ready to fully avail itself of its own sanction rights,” EU Trade...

President Donald Trump distanced himself late Thursday night from Jeff Lyash, his appointee running the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), who is now using H-1B outsourcing to discard American professionals even as Trump tries to revive his poll numbers. Another one of many Fake T.V. Ads, this one about the Tennessee Valley Authority, which for years has paid its top executive a ridiculous FORTUNE. Not run by the U.S., but I have long been fighting that crazy “salary” & its polices. Strange ad paid for (?) by “U.S. Tech Workers”.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2020 The TVA is a...

Apple won its court fight over a record 13 billion-euro ($14.9 billion) Irish tax grab in a crushing blow to European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s crackdown on preferential fiscal deals for companies. Stephanie Bodoni and Aoife White for Bloomberg: Apple EU tax. Image: Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition While the EU General Court’s ruling can still be appealed, judges delivered a stinging attack on the European Commission for failing to show “to the requisite legal standard” that Ireland’s tax deal broke state-aid law by giving Apple an unfair advantage.. “The commission’s intent seemed to be a political one:...

Germany has a problem. For years, politicians and security chiefs rejected the notion of any far-right infiltration of the security services, speaking only of “individual cases.” The idea of networks was dismissed. The superiors of those exposed as extremists were protected. Guns and ammunition disappeared from military stockpiles with no real investigation. The government is now waking up. Cases of far-right extremists in the military and the police, some hoarding weapons and explosives, have multiplied alarmingly. The nation’s top intelligence officials and senior military commanders are moving to confront an issue that has become too dangerous to ignore. The problem...

German is coming. English may be the European Union’s lingua franca, but listen carefully in the corridors of power and you’ll find the language of Goethe and Schiller is on the rise. German is gaining ground among the EU’s three official working languages as Berlin prepares to take on the bloc’s presidency next month. That’s not least because native speakers occupy top positions, including Ursula von der Leyen at the Spitze of the European Commission. Those in the Brussels bubble are taking note. The Goethe Institute, Germany’s state-funded cultural outpost, told POLITICO it saw a five-fold increase in demand for...

The Eurozone economy will fall into a deeper recession this year than initially thought, and the recovery in 2021 will be less robust, according to an updated economic forecast released by the European Commission on Tuesday. The revised forecast predicts the economy of the 19 nations that use the euro will shrink 8.7% in 2020 before recovering by 6.1% next year. For the 27 countries that comprise the EU, a downturn of 8.3% is expected in 2020, before growing 5.8% in 2021. This means that in 2021 Europe will still be worse off than before the global outbreak of COVID-19...

“Trust in Trump’s America is gone.” The coronavirus crisis has caused a dramatic deterioration in the European public perception of the US and left many believing the EU had become “irrelevant”, new polling finds. The new survey by the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR) says the pandemic has traumatized Europeans and left them “feeling alone and vulnerable”. The survey studied the views of Europeans towards the EU and notably its response to the coronavirus crisis and the results did not make for positive reading. “There is a powerful sense among citizens of almost all surveyed member states that their...

Germany called on Israel not to annex the West Bank on Wednesday, saying the plans were “in contradiction with international law.” The motion was brought in the Bundestag by the three parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s broad coalition and was approved without opposing votes. All parliamentary groups, aside from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, warned that Israel’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank would jeopardize Israel’s security and hopes of a two-state solution. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the plan threatened the stability of the entire Middle East. “Peace cannot be achieved by unilateral steps,” Maas...

“Nothing will stop” Nord Stream 2, Russia has said, after new US sanctions on a pipeline that is seeing the EU side with Russia against its transatlantic ally. “Our view remains the same: nothing will stop the finalization of Nord Stream 2 [NS2]. And we leave to Germany and other EU member states to pass judgment on such US measures,” Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told EUobserver on Monday (29 June). The Russian-owned firm building the pipe from Russia to Germany, the Nord Stream 2 consortium in Switzerland, was equally bullish. “Our shareholder and the five financial investors...

The European Union on Tuesday extended a ban on travelers from the United States and most other countries beyond July 1, citing epidemiological factors for the decision. Over the past month, the US has seen its number of cases steadily rise after most states eased lockdown measures. A lack of interstate coordination and an uneven response from the federal government has contributed to several new outbreaks across the country. Other countries whose travel restrictions were extended include Brazil, Russia and India, which have seen their number of positive cases surge in recent weeks. The US, Brazil, Russia and India are...

Twitter video French socialist President standing up for France and French culture and history.

Angela Merkel announced Britain will have to “live with the consequences” of a distant relationship with the European Union in the event of a no-deal exit. Unlike his predecessor Theresa May, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has scrapped the idea of maintaining close economic ties with the EU after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31. The UK recently rejected a EU deal surrounding environmental and consumer protections and workplace rights, and Mrs. Merkel has now hardened her stance as Germany prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the EU. The German chancellor told the media on Friday:...

American travelers look set to be denied entry to the EU when the bloc reopens its borders on July 1st, according to reports, while those from Australia and New Zealand will likely to be allowed to return. Europe will reopen its external borders on July 1st but American tourists may not be allowed to travel because the US is still considered a risk due to the high number of COVID-19 cases.Hard-hit countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Russia and India are also facing a continued travel ban. EU officials are reportedly frantically drawing up a list of countries whose nationals will...

A group of Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to reconsider his decision to cut the number of U.S. troops in Germany, saying their presence is the backbone of NATO’s deterrent against Russian aggression. The six lawmakers led by House Foreign Affairs Committee senior Republican Michael McCaul said in a letter that the U.S. military footprint in Germany served Washington’s strategic interests beyond Europe and into the Middle East and Africa, which have seen the growing influence of Russia and China. […] The lawmakers also warned that Moscow and Beijing sought to sow...

The European Parliament voted Friday to declare that "Black Lives Matter" and to denounce racism and white supremacism in all its forms. The resolution has no legal consequences but sends a signal of support to anti-racism protesters, and it follows a UN call for a probe into police brutality and "systemic racism." And, one day before President Donald Trump is to hold a rally in Tulsa, a city that saw one of the worst racist massacres in US history, the lawmakers condemned American police brutality. Point number one of the text of the resolution takes up the slogan US campaigners...