EU: Facebook cries foul on EU request for internal documents - by Andrew Rettman

Facebook, a US tech giant known for abusing its users' private information, has said the European Commission was now attempting to do the same to Facebook employees' data.

The firm filed its complaints at the EU court in Luxembourg, after the commission asked to see internal documents containing any of 2,500 search phrases as part of an anti-trust enquiry.

Brussels-based news agency MLex first revealed Facebook's legal counter-strike in a story on Monday (27 July), citing anonymous sources.

US congressmen were also due to cross-examine Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday in a separate investigation into alleged abuse of the firm's online "dominance", but the hearing was postponed due to a clash with a memorial service for a US civil rights leader.

Zuckerberg founded the California-based firm in 2004 initially as a platform for US students to talk to each other.

Read more at: 
Facebook cries foul on EU request for internal documents

EU: Black lives matter in Europe too – Khaled Diab

No one should be smug about racism in Europe. Here too there is a toxic interaction between ethnicity, equality and the environment.

As we Europeans gaze in dismay across the Atlantic at the generations of racism and discrimination that brought the United States to this sorry impasse, we must not, tempting as it seems, believe we are somehow superior when it comes to tolerance and multiculturalism.

The European Commission member for equality, Helena Dalli, made just this point in an interview. ‘It’s ironic that we are celebrating the 20 years of the racial equality directive, and we still have structural problems. Racism has not been eradicated. There is a wide gap between legislation and how effective that legislation is on people’s lives,’ she said.

‘We will focus on what is underneath the tip of the iceberg, the structural racism which is more difficult to address,’ she added, referring to an action plan on combating racism which the commission will put forward later this year.

Read  more at:
Black lives matter in Europe too – Khaled Diab

The Netherlands: Five things the Netherlands does best

The Netherlands is such a small yet varied country. There’s so much going on, all the time - some of it good, some of it less so. It’s easy to compare the Netherlands to other countries around the world, especially as expats, but there are some things that the Dutch have just managed to hone down to an art. So, to shed some positive light on some of the elements of this wonderful country, let’s take a look at five things that the Netherlands undeniably does best.

 1. Bike parking
2. Work-life balance
3. Broodjes
4. Openness and honesty
5. Symphonic metal

his is only a small handful of some of the things the Netherlands has to offer, and some of the aspects of Dutch life that you can enjoy living here. What are some other things you love about the Netherlands? Are there any key things missing from this list? Let us know in the comments!

 Read more at
Five things the Netherlands does best

The Netherlands: Alarm in Netherlands as Covid-19 cases and reproduction rate climb

European neighbours, the Netherlandscould now be facing a crisis – with the level of infection almost doubling in one week, combined with a worrying increase in the
reproduction rate of the virus.

Latest figures from the public health institute – now issued weekly rather than daily – show
that 987 new cases were recorded during the week July 15th-21st, compared with 534 the previous week, a rise than cannot be accounted for statistically by increased mass testing.

At the same time, the healthinstitute says the reproduction rate rose during that week to 1.29, thefirst time since March that it’s been higher than 1. A reproduction rateof more than one means that, on average, every patient is infectingmore than one other person – and so the number of cases is rising.

Worrying too – as hugenumbers leave this weekend for stay-at-home holidays in rural parts of the country – is that young adults in their 20s are now almost as likely to be infected as those over 50, an extraordinary turn around in the behaviour of the disease.

Read more at:
Alarm in Netherlands as Covid-19 cases and reproduction rate climb

The Netherands Coronavirus antibodies may not help with cure, after Dutch study sees harmful effect in ICU patients

Antibodies generated by the immune system to neutralize the novel coronavirus could cause severe harm or even kill the patient, according to a study by Dutch scientists.

Immuno globulin G (IgG) is a fork-shaped molecule produced by adaptive immune cells to intercept foreign invaders. Each type of IgG targets a specific type of pathogen.

The IgG for Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, fights off the virus by binding with the virus' unique spike protein to reduce its chance ofinfecting human cells. They usually appear a week or two after the onset of illness, when the symptoms of most critically-ill patients suddenly get worse.

A research team led by Professor Menno de Winther from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands said they might have found an importantclue that may answer why the IgG appears only when patients are ill enough to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Read more at:

Coronavirus antibodies may not help with cure, after Dutch study sees harmful effect in ICU patients | South China Morning Post

EU summit: Leaders reach landmark €1.82 trillion COVID-19 recovery deal and budget

Speaking to reporters, European Council president Charles Michel called it a "good deal", stating that "Europe is solid".

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, underlined important concessions made in the search for a compromise, saying she regretted the cuts to "modern policies" in research and innovation.

French president Emmanuel Macron called it an "historic day for Europe".

The recovery plan includes €390 billion worth of grants and €360 billion worth of loans due to a compromise with the so-called frugal four, now five, countries — Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Read more at :
EU summit: Leaders reach landmark €1.82 trillion COVID-19 recovery deal and budget | Euronews

EU summit: Talks entering 'crucial phase' as leaders meet for fourth day

Leaders left the marathon summit early Monday morning without an agreement and are set to resume talks at 16:00 CET. The summit was originally planned to end on Saturday.

Von der Leyen told reportershat "after three days and three nights of negotiation marathon, we're entering now in the crucial phase but I have the impression that European leaders really want an agreement."

"I'm positive for today, we're not there yet but things are moving in the right direction," she added.

Talks have focussed on a proposed €1.68 trillion package, a seven-year budget and a coronavirus recovery fund.

Read more at:
EU summit: Talks entering 'crucial phase' as leaders meet for fourth day | Euronews