Stories from Abroad

Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Robert Garcia (D-CA) opened an investigation of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, examining whether the company implemented adequate safeguards to prevent Russia from deploying its Starlink satellite internet service in its war against Ukraine. The lawmakers sent a letter demanding that the company report complaints about potential illegal acquisitions of Starlink terminals, including in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

For months, some of the biggest tech companies have been wrapped up in discussions with the European Commission (EC), seeking feedback and tweaking their plans to ensure their core platform services comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) ahead of that law taking force in the European Union on March 7. Under the DMA, companies designated as gatekeepers—Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft—must follow strict rules to ensure that they don't engage in unfair business practices that could limit consumer choice in core platform services. Although the EC has 

We recently announced that Apple approved our Epic Games Sweden AB developer account. We intended to use that account to bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite to iOS devices in Europe thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). To our surprise, Apple has terminated that account and now we cannot develop the Epic Games Store for iOS.

Soon, Google will have changed how it displays certain search results. Microsoft will no longer have Windows customers use its Bing internet search tool by default. And Apple will give iPhone and iPad users access to rival app stores and payment systems for the first time. The tech giants have been preparing ahead of a March 6 deadline to comply with a new European Union law intended to increase competition in the digital economy.

“This is one of the least visited places on planet Earth and I got to open the door,” Matty Jordan, a construction specialist at New Zealand’s Scott Base in Antarctica, wrote in the caption to the video he posted to Instagram and TikTok in October 2023. In the video, he guides viewers through an empty, echoing hut, pointing out where the men of Ernest Shackleton’s 1907 expedition lived and worked—the socks still hung up to dry and the provisions still stacked neatly in place, preserved by the cold. Jordan, who started making TikToks to keep family and friends up to date with his life in Ant

In a globalised world where the internet transformed our earth into a small village, the global South is left lagging. Internet accessibility remains a major hurdle facing a large proportion of people in the global South. The situation in Sudan is no exception. In the light of the economic instability, political turmoil and the United States-led economic sanctions imposed on Sudan, internet accessibility and making beneficial use of the internet are a real challenge, especially for women. This research explores the barriers to women’s access to and use of the internet in Sudan.

The other day some preschoolers were pretending to be one of their favorite Sesame Street characters, a baby goat named Ma’zooza who likes round things. They played with tomatoes—counting up to five, hiding one, and putting it back. A totally ordinary moment exploring shapes, numbers, and imagination.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is in New Delhi, India, for a series of bilateral meetings focused on security, supply chain, and connectivity matters. Over the course of two days, Carr will meet with his Indian counterparts, including officials at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Department of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the National Cyber Coordination Centre.

At the Munich Security Conference, leading technology companies pledged to help prevent deceptive AI content from interfering with the 2024 global elections in which more than four billion people in over 40 countries will vote. The “Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections” is a set of commitments to deploy technology countering harmful AI-generated content meant to deceive voters.

On October 8, 2021, a historic agreement was reached between over 130 countries of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on a two Pillar package of reforms to the international tax framework.In support of that agreement, in a joint statement on October 21, 2021, the United States, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom announced the terms of a political compromise on the transition from existing Digital Services Taxes to the new multilateral solution and to continuing discussions on this matter through constructive dialogue. In light of the continuing multilateral negotiations at