International News

Meta faces row over plan to use European data for AI

A Vienna-based privacy campaign group said Wednesday it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, after the tech giant announced plans to train its artificial intelligence models with European users personal data. The move comes after Meta said last month it would push ahead with plans to use personal data from European users of its Instagram and Facebook platforms for AI technology training from May 27, despite criticism over its legality. Meta has been hit with multiple privacy complaints in Europe, but cited a "legitimate interest" to process personal data for AI training. The privacy group, the European Center for Digital Rights -- also known as Noyb ("None of Your Business") -- threatened to file an injunction or class-action lawsuit against Meta if it does not halt plans. "Metas absurd claims that stealing everyones (personal) data is necessary for AI training is laughable," Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement. "Other AI providers do not use social network data -- and generate even better models than Meta," he added. When Meta AI first launched in the European Union in late March, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users. Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than a year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including user data, AI and digital markets. Following the complaints, Meta temporarily put its AI plans on hold in June 2024, before recently announcing it would go ahead with them. "It is... totally absurd to argue that Meta needs the personal data of everyone that uses Facebook or Instagram in the past 20 years to train AI," Schrems said, adding the plans were "neither legal nor necessary". "Meta simply says that (its) interest in making money is more important than the rights of its users," he said, adding that users could simply be asked for their consent. With about 400 million estimated Meta users in Europe, the approval of 10 percent of them would "already clearly be sufficient" for AI language training and the like, Schrems said. Launched in 2018, Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities.

Bolivias President Arce says will not seek reelection

Bolivian President Luis Arce announced on Tuesday that he would not seek reelection, as a severe economic crisis has sent his poll numbers plummeting. Elections are to be held in August, and Arce had been declared the candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party. He had not declared his intent to run, and had until May 11 to make his candidacy official. "Today I announce to the Bolivian people, with absolute firmness, my decision to decline my candidacy for presidential reelection," he said in a message broadcast by the official Bolivia TV channel. The president is dealing with a severe economic crisis due to the shortage of dollars and fuel, which has led to protests and has badly hit his chances of renewing his mandate for five more years. A 61-year-old economist, Arce had previously served as economy minister during the 2006-2019 rule of former president Evo Morales, who is now his greatest political rival. Morales, Bolivias first Indigenous president, has been a wanted man since October when prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest over a case alleging he had a relationship with a teenage girl while in power. Morales denies the charges and has accused Arce of weaponizing the judiciary against him to stop him from running in the election. On Tuesday, Arce renewed his call for Morales to abandon his candidacy. "From here I issue a challenge to former president Evo Morales not to insist on being a candidate for the presidency," he said, while calling for "unity of the left."

Macron says France does not want World War III over Ukraine

President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France did not want to unleash "World War III" over Russias invasion of Ukraine and vowed referendums on key issues as he outlined his aims for for the remaining two years of his mandate in a marathon television appearance. Macron, who came to power in 2017 promising radical change, will step down in 2027 after serving the maximum two terms allowed under the constitution. On occasion over the last year, Macron has appeared as a lame duck especially after his decision to hold snap legislative elections backfired, leaving the far-right as the biggest party in parliament and his own party a diminished, minority presence. But recent months have seen a newly energised Macron, boosted by his presence on the international front as he seeks to bring an end to the three-year-war sparked by Russias invasion of Ukraine. "We must help Ukraine defend itself but we do not want to unleash a Third World War," Macron said in the interview that lasted more than three hours. "The war must cease and Ukraine must be in the best possible situation to go into negotiations," he added. But Macron said France was ready to start discussing with other European countries deploying French warplanes armed with nuclear weapons on their territory, as the United States does. "The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey," Macron said. "We are ready to open this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come," he said. - Havent thought about it - Those who put their points of view in front of Macron ranged from the head of the hardline CGT union, Sophie Binet, to Tibo Inshape, a muscular and massively followed fitness influencer. Amid concern about some 600 jobs in France, Macron told Binet that the French operations of steelmaker ArcelorMittal would not be nationalised but vowed to save its two plants in the country. In a key announcement, he said he favoured holding several referendums on the same day for voters to decide on French social and economic "reforms". "I want us to organise a series of consultations," Macron said, adding that the votes would take place on one day in coming months and address "major" economic and social reforms. While he would not go into details, he was open to a suggestion by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who has proposed holding a referendum on a plan to reduce Frances debt. Referendums could also address social reforms such as access to social media for under-15s and assisted dying. However, Macron rejected the idea of putting immigration issues to a popular vote despite repeated requests from the right and far right. Tackling delicate social issues, the French president spoke out against the wearing of religious symbols, such as the Islamic veil, in sports competitions, but he added that for non-competitive sports practice it was up to sports federations to decide. While Macron, 47, must step down in 2027 after serving two consecutive terms, he could in theory return in 2032, something no French leader has ever done before. But he said at the end of the TV marathon he had not yet thought about his future after 2027 and was only thinking of France in his daily work. "When Im done (with the current term), Ill think about whats next. Then Ill be able to answer you. But today, I havent thought about it," he said.

White House slams Episcopal Churchs refusal to resettle white South Africans

The White House questioned Tuesday the humanitarian commitment of the influential Episcopal Church after it refused to comply with a federal directive to help resettle white Afrikaners granted refugee status by the Trump administration. Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform and essentially halted refugee arrivals in the United States after taking office, but made an exception for white Afrikaners despite South Africas insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland. On Monday, around 50 white South Africans arrived for resettlement in the United States, after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a "genocide." That claim -- oft-repeated by Trumps Pretoria-born ally, billionaire Elon Musk -- has been widely dismissed as absurd, including by the South African government. On Monday, the Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans. In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly criticized the decision as raising "serious questions about its (the Churchs) supposed commitment to humanitarian aid." She claimed white Afrikaners -- who are primarily descendants of European colonizers and whose ethnic group dominated South African politics until apartheid was abolished in 1994 -- had "faced unspeakable horrors." On Monday, the church had said it would wind up its refugee resettlement grant agreements -- amounting to more than $50 million annually -- with the US federal government rather than comply with Trumps orders. In a statement, the churchs presiding bishop was scathing in his criticism of the administrations decision to grant the white South Africans refugee status. "It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years," said Sean W. Rowe. Under eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial minority in South Africa. The Episcopal Church said that it could not comply with Trumps order "in light of our churchs steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation." It said its programs with the US federal government would be wound up by the end of the fiscal year, but that its work on refugee resettlement would continue, including supporting recently arrived refugees from around the world.

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