All posts tagged: European Union

Aptoide Alternative App Store Launches in the EU With Access to Older Versions of Games

Aptoide Alternative App Store Launches in the EU With Access to Older Versions of Games

Published by skeptic

iPhone and iPad users in the European Union now have access to another alternative app store with the official launch of Aptoide, a gaming marketplace. Aptoide has been around for quite some time as an app marketplace on Android devices, but the company began working on an iOS marketplace when Apple added support for sideloading apps last year. The marketplace has been in testing in a beta capacity since June 2024, but it is now available to all EU users. “This full launch marks a major milestone in game distribution on iOS and Aptoide’s commitment to an open and unrestricted app distribution ecosystem. Apple users now have access to newfound freedoms, but there’s a huge amount of work still to be done to continue opening up iOS globally and reduce friction for users, and game developers.” Aptoide is a free alternative app store that’s available on iPhones and iPads for those who are located in the European Union. It is unique among app marketplaces because it adds support for App Versions, so users are able …

Libya Deports 613 Migrants Headed for Europe

Libya Deports 613 Migrants Headed for Europe

Published by Sam

The 613 men had traveled from their native Niger to neighboring Libya, where many of them planned to reach Europe over the Mediterranean Sea, a journey thousands of people from sub-Saharan Africa endeavor to make every year. But late last month, the men were deported by Libyan authorities in one of the country’s largest expulsions in years. The mass deportation is part of a common pattern: North African governments, funded by the European Union to tackle migration, using brutal tactics to block sub-Saharan Africa migrants from heading to Europe. The 613 men reached Niger’s closest town to the Libyan border on Jan. 3, disheveled and hungry, some barefoot and sick after months of detention and days of travel across the Sahara. Two of the men died shortly after arriving in Niger. “I lived through hell,” said Salmana Issoufou, one of the men. Mr. Issoufou, 18, said he had been beaten by Libyan prison guards with wires and weapons throughout his eight-month detention. As anti-migrant sentiment rises across Europe, from France to Germany to Hungary, the …

At the Gates of Fortress Europe | Caitlin L. Chandler

At the Gates of Fortress Europe | Caitlin L. Chandler

Published by skeptic

Druskininkai is a hilly, forested area in southern Lithuania, near the border with Belarus and Poland. Its name derives from druska, which means salt. Over thirty mineral springs pocket the ground. Since the nineteenth century residents of the capital, Vilnius, have flocked to spas there to bathe in the calcium-rich waters. Today the city of Druskininkai is known for its mud baths and amber therapies. In July 2021 the Lithuanian border security agency, VSAT, set up a makeshift encampment for detained asylum seekers not far from the city. A high metal barrier encircled the site, inside which a second chain link fence enclosed military-style tents. Armed officers patrolled the perimeter; surveillance cameras rotated on high poles. Inmates looking out could see a glimmer of the blue Nemunas River, which divides Lithuania from Belarus. Sajjad Mohammedhasan arrived at the Druskininkai camp on July 25, 2021. A twenty-four-year-old IT professional, he had fled Iraq two days earlier, flying to Belarus on a tourist visa and trekking through pine trees to the Lithuanian border. “I want to claim asylum,” he said …

EU officials blast Hungary’s Orban over Ukraine stance, democratic decline | European Union News

EU officials blast Hungary’s Orban over Ukraine stance, democratic decline | European Union News

Published by Sam

Lawmakers belt out antifascist anthem, prompting European Parliament president to declare: ‘This is not Eurovision’. Top European Union officials have slammed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over democratic backsliding at home and his Russia-friendly stance that has blocked military and financial aid to Ukraine. Orban, whose country currently holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, came under fire on Wednesday after warning officials gathered in Strasbourg, France, about the “migration crisis” and the war in Ukraine as he addressed the European Parliament. Leading the charge against Orban, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took aim at Budapest’s stalling of EU support for Kyiv and refusal to join Western efforts to arm Ukraine to fight off Moscow. “The world has witnessed the atrocities of Russia’s war. And yet, there are still some who blame this war not on the invader but the invaded,” said von der Leyen. “There are still some who blame this war not on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s lust for power but on Ukraine’s thirst for freedom.” In July, Orban stoked controversy when …

Voting for Their Jobs | Tim Judah

Voting for Their Jobs | Tim Judah

Published by skeptic

As we sped down Georgia’s main highway, the spine of the country linking east and west, Vato Bzhalava, who had helped set up this trip, showed me a video. He had made it as plainclothes policemen bundled him into a van during last spring’s anti-government demonstrations in the capital, Tbilisi. By chance, journalists who were livestreaming the protest also filmed the moment, and his friends saw the footage. This was lucky. Georgia is a small place; one way or another everyone knows everyone. Messages got through to the police: “Don’t beat up Vato!” They did not. Others were not so lucky. Vato is a moustachioed thirty-four-year-old researcher at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS). We were on our way to Akhaltsikhe, a small town eleven miles from the Turkish border. Signs giving the distances to Tehran and Ankara flashed by. Close to the turnoff for Stalin’s birthplace at Gori, we passed within a third of a mile of the southernmost tip of South Ossetia, the de facto Russian-controlled territory that broke away …

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Published by Sam

Berlin last year also announced stricter controls on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Those, and controls on the border with Austria, had allowed it to return 30,000 migrants since October 2023, it said on Monday. Ms Faeser said a new model would enable the government to turn back many more – but it could not talk about the model before confidential negotiations with the conservatives. The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants. Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompasses all of the bloc bar Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats to internal security or public policy. Germany shares its more than 3,700-km-long (2,300 miles) land border with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told Bild newspaper on Monday that his country would not take in any …

How to Get Apple Intelligence in the EU

Published by skeptic

With the release of iOS 18.1 beta 2, Apple has apparently opened up access to Apple Intelligence for English speakers located in the European Union, something that was not possible in previous versions. One of the reasons Apple initially limited region access to Apple Intelligence was that it only supported US English, but in the second 18.1 beta, Apple Intelligence localization options now include Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, the U.S., UK, and Australia. The other reason Apple Intelligence was previously not available in the EU was because Apple geo-locked access within the bloc, likely due to regulatory issues related to the Digital Markets Act. On the face of it, those issues still remain, and it’s still not clear whether they will be resolved by the time iOS 18.1 is released in October. But at least for now, there doesn’t seem to be anything stopping users in the EU from testing out Apple Intelligence in the beta if their device supports it. Supported Devices Apple Intelligence encompasses a range of capabilities, including …

Keir Starmer Vows To Strengthen UK Europe Relations

Keir Starmer Vows To Strengthen UK Europe Relations

Published by Sam

Keir Starmer has pledged to “fire the starting gun” on a new era of relations between the UK and Europe. Speaking ahead of a major summit of European leaders in Oxfordshire today, the prime minister said it was vital “we work together” on issues like tackling illegal immigration and standing up to Vladimir Putin. He said the European Political Community conference at Blenheim Palace – the birthplace of Winston Churchill – was “an opportunity to push on and begin delivering on the people’s priorities”. Starmer’s comments mark a major change in tone from the approach taken to the EU by successive Tory prime ministers in the wake of the Brexit vote in 2016. The PM said: “We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future. “That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government’s foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe. “The EPC will fire the starting gun on this government’s new approach …

EU lawmakers step up efforts to combat AI and online disinformation

EU lawmakers step up efforts to combat AI and online disinformation

Published by Sam

FIGHT AGAINST DISINFORMATION An EU task force is working with academics, journalists and technology firms to fight foreign information interference and manipulation. A key tool in their arsenal is the EUvsDisinfo – European Union versus Disinformation – website. The platform collects and counters what it calls examples of disinformation campaigns from Russia, regarded by the bloc as the major culprit. Moscow denies the charge. Since 2015, the database has compiled over 17,000 cases, with EU officials expecting pro-Kremlin activities to intensify whenever elections come around. The EU’s statistics office EUROSTAT is also offering data and fact-checking services for the first time this election season as part of a wider effort to fight misinformation. Officials cite potential threat posed by AI as another major concern. On their part, most EU political parties have signed a voluntary code of conduct, pledging not to produce or spread unlabelled deepfakes and other AI-generated content. Under the new Digital Services Act, the EU is also working with the biggest players in social media to monitor potential threats and ensure clear …