PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron and New Zealand's premier Jacinda Ardern will Wednesday (May 15) host other world leaders and leading tech chiefs to launch an ambitious new initiative aimed at curbing extremism online.The initiative, known as the "Christchurch call", was pushed by Ardern after a self-described white supremacist gunned down 51 people in a massacre at two mosques in the New Zealand city in March, the country's worst atrocity of recent times.Participants will be asked to commit to pledges to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content on social media and other online platforms.The political meeting will run in parallel to an initiative launched by Macron called Tech for Good which will bring together 80 tech chiefs in Paris to find a way for new technologies to work for the common good.The summit comes as there is a growing realisation that the current abuse of social media by extremists must be countered, after the Christchurch attacker broadcast live … [Read more...] about Macron, Ardern host Paris summit against online extremism
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Zuckerberg ‘optimistic’ on regulation after Macron meeting
PARIS (AFP) - Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Friday (May 10) said he was "encouraged" and "optimistic" about the regulatory framework being suggested by France for the social media giant and other online platforms, after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. The meeting followed the drawing up of a report by experts and top French civil servants proposing that each member state of the European Union set up its own regulatory authority to police social networks. "I am hopeful that it can become a model" that can be used "across the EU", Zuckerberg added. The report commissioned by the French government - for which the experts were given unprecedented access by social networks - slammed the online firms' efforts to self-regulate and their "lack of credibility". Zuckerberg met Macron at the Elysee Palace amid pressure to crack down on the spread of disinformation as well as a call from a co-founder of Facebook for the California-based giant to be broken up. The report called … [Read more...] about Zuckerberg ‘optimistic’ on regulation after Macron meeting
Macron’s EU election flagbearer admits campaign gaffes
PARIS: A political novice handpicked by President Emmanuel Macron to lead his European election campaign acknowledged on Thursday (May 9) making a series of blunders early in a faltering campaign race in which the far-right is expected to perform strongly.Nathalie Loiseau's missteps have unsettled the president's camp barely three weeks before the European Parliament vote, which Macron sees as crucial for France's influence in Europe.Loiseau first denied and then played down a report that she had once joined far-right activists on a student union ticket. She also said the elite ENA administrative school had received her "like a gipsy" when she became director because she was not an alumna.Loiseau, who leads Macron's list of candidates under the banner of the Renaissance grouping, told France 2 she had made "clumsy mistakes, certainly.""I am not a political dinosaur, and nor do I claim to be. I have no desire to become a robot, not do I wish that we serve up sterile phrases, formulaic … [Read more...] about Macron’s EU election flagbearer admits campaign gaffes
Macron, Merkel try to resurrect Serbia-Kosovo talks at Balkan summit
BERLIN: European leaders will try to bring bitter foes Serbia and Kosovo back to the negotiating table at a regional summit in Berlin on Monday (Apr 29), hoping to reboot a dialogue over one of the Balkans' thorniest disputes.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are hosting the neighbours, whose relationship has taken a turn for the worse in recent months, alongside other Western Balkans leaders and those of EU members Croatia and Slovenia.The Berlin gathering will centre on the "stability of the region, with a particular focus on finding a way to relaunch the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo," the French presidency said in a briefing ahead of the summit.The Macron-Merkel initiative comes after EU-led talks between Serbia and Kosovo ground to a halt last year.The nub of the dispute is Belgrade's denial of the independence of Kosovo, a former province of deep historical and cultural significance to Serbians that broke away in a bloody 1998-1999 war.The … [Read more...] about Macron, Merkel try to resurrect Serbia-Kosovo talks at Balkan summit
Macron and Merkel try to resurrect Serbia-Kosovo talks at Balkan summit
BERLIN: European leaders will try to bring bitter foes Serbia and Kosovo back to the negotiating table at a regional summit in Berlin today, hoping to reboot a dialogue over one of the Balkans’ thorniest disputes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are hosting the neighbours, whose relationship has taken a turn for the worse in recent months, alongside other Western Balkans leaders and EU members Croatia and Slovenia. The gathering will centre on the “stability of the region, with a particular focus on finding a way to relaunch the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo,” the French presidency said in a briefing ahead of the summit. The Macron-Merkel initiative comes after EU-led talks between Serbia and Kosovo ground to a halt last year. The nub of the dispute is Belgrade’s denial of the independence of Kosovo, a former province that broke away in a bloody 1998-99 war. The Brussels-led dialogue collapsed several months after talk … [Read more...] about Macron and Merkel try to resurrect Serbia-Kosovo talks at Balkan summit