The Register reports that the European Commission (EC) has issued a proposal for a European Production Order requiring internet companies with an office in an EU member state to retrieve data requested by police and stored anywhere in the world within six hours and for a Preservation Order prohibiting the deletion of such data.
Reuters reports that 34 technology companies, including Microsoft and Facebook, have signed a Cybersecurity Tech Accord pledging not to assist governments with "offensive" cyber attacks "regardless of geopolitical or criminal motive."
French President Emmanuel Macron is facing skepticism regarding his ambitious project to reform Islam, drawing on historical examples of French state efforts to centralize control over religion and working with a controversial French Islamic cleric to build a national French Islam free of foreign Islamist radical influence and opposed to the use of violence.
Patrick Goodenough highlights the ongoing, controversial practice of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to hand out committee positions to regimes accused of wide-ranging human rights violations, including its recent decision to give Saudi Arabia a seat on the executive board of UN Women.
The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently published updated guidance on how to use "comprehensive sexuality education" in schools across the globe to prevent gender-based violence, including "emotional violence," and to teach students to challenge "unequal gender and power structures" that can lead to such violence.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently hosted a conference in Vienna that included discussions on how energy efficiency and "sustainability" are key to economic growth in the OSCE region, thereby linking the development of "green" energy sources with energy security in Europe.
The World Bank Group has released a report supporting robust global action toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions by predicting a worldwide migration crisis forcing at least 140 million people to move within their countries by the year 2050 due to the catastrophic impacts of climate change.
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council on Human Rights has published a report calling for developers of machine-learning artificial-intelligence technology to adopt a set of ethical standards preventing this technology from facilitating discrimination and other human rights violations.
Human Rights Watch has called on jewelry and watch companies participating in the Baselworld Fair in Switzerland to publicly disclose the source of materials in their products and perform impact assessments to help civil society activists determine whether they are associated with human rights violations and environmental damage.
Greenpeace International has released a report criticizing consumer products companies for failing to take sufficient steps to publicly report on the steps they are taking to address environmental harm in their global palm oil supply chains as set out in a 2010 pledge to "eliminate deforestation" caused by palm oil sourcing by the year 2020.
The Daily Mail reports that the European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly recently criticized European Commission (EC) officials for failing to scrutinize former EC President José Manuel Barroso's acceptance of a job at Goldman Sachs in 2016 that may involve lobbying EU officials, labeling the alleged oversight "maladministration."
The European Parliament (EP) recently adopted a resolution asserting that any "deep and comprehensive" future trade deal between the EU and the UK must include "a binding interpretation role" for the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) and proposing an "association agreement" with the UK that could provide broad market access between the jurisdictions.
The Express reports that, in a recent round of UK-EU negotiations over Britain's withdrawal from the EU and future trade between the jurisdictions, EU officials agreed to permit Britain to sign - but not implement - trade deals with other countries during a post-Brexit transition period when the UK would still be bound by EU regulations.
Islamic State (IS) actors have issued new threats to attack polling stations in Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections as a move opposing control by "Iranian Shiite infidels" and showing the group's continuing activity in the country.
The Afghan Central Bank has licensed the Islamic Bank of Afghanistan to apply sharia-compliant/compatible principles of Islamic finance in all its operations as it seeks to facilitate Islamic banking in the country's banking system to attract assets.
Mobile footage of Iran’s morality police assaulting a young woman whose head was only partially covered has sparked public outrage across the country against the religious police unit and has led to renewed public criticism of the compulsory Islamic dress code and, more generally, against the Islamic theocratic regime governing the country since 1979.
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