The US Congress will act to regulate Facebook

"A catalyst” is how one elected official described the whistleblower Frances Haugen, whose presentation damaged Facebook's image on Tuesday to the point of pushing Congress to promise to better regulate the Californian giant. “Moral bankruptcy”, “spiral”, the 37-year-old computer engineer described for more than two hours, calmly and precisely, the situation of a company that, in her opinion, renounced some moral principles in the name of profit. “You have been a catalyst for change like I have never seen before and I have been working on these issues for 10 or 15 years,” commented Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal during his hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee. “Gone are the days when you invaded our privacy, promoted toxic content, and used children and teens. Congress is going to act,” Democratic Senator Ed Markey also said at the hearing with Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook.

The EU is trying to reassure frustrated Balkans without opening the door for them

European Union (EU) leaders will try on Wednesday to respond to the frustration of the Western Balkans who have been stuck in the Union's antechamber for years, with the temptation to turn to Russia and China. At an informal summit held in Slovenia, the 27 Member States will mainly recall that they remain the main financial backer in this strategic region, which is tired of waiting. With economic support that amounts to billions of euros, “it is time to assert ourselves, to make it clear that we remain the main investor and the closest commercial partner”, says a European official. For this landlocked region in the EU, membership remains the “ultimate carrot”, according to the Austrian think tank OIIP. But on the tortuous path of European integration, the leaders of Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo cannot hope for breakthroughs in the near future

AT A GLANCE

Bamako convened the French ambassador on Tuesday after President Emmanuel Macron's comments deemed “regrettable” against the military junta in power and his call for “the State to return” to Mali.

Coast Guard is looking to determine if the oil spill threatening California beaches may have been caused by the anchor of a ship that pierced an oil pipeline, local media reported on Tuesday.

PS presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo advocates, in an interview with Libération, a reduction in fuel tax, saying she wants to insist on a “social” ecology. Eleven million people need their car every day to go to work. We must support them to turn the page on thermal vehicles from 2030,” she says

An American sued a seer who claimed to be able to lift a love curse against him but produced no convincing results.