Fifty potential cases in first three months of this year as rising costs lead to increase in parallel market

The EU had a record number of potential olive oil fraud and mislabelling cases in the first quarter of this year as inflationary pressures fuelled an increase in the hidden market for the kitchen staple.

The cost of olive oil has more than doubled since 2018 with production hit by extreme weather caused by the climate crisis and other factors.

British Ports Association reportedly warns government it faces huge losses after investing in border control posts

UK port operators have reportedly said they must be compensated by the government if it negotiates a deal to lower trade barriers with the EU, having been forced to invest millions in building post-Brexit border control facilities under the Conservatives.

The British Ports Association (BPA) is said to have written to the Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs warning of huge losses after operators built sophisticated control points to enforce strict checks on animal and plant imports.

Rugby’s greatest player gets his golden day nine months after bruising exit from home World Cup

Non, rien de rien.

The turf, he knows. The corridors and the dressing rooms, he knows. The way the noise rolls around the stands, the winding route the coach takes into the guts of the stadium, this he knows. But the open spaces, the daunting feeling of freedom, of flying into the teeth of a gale, this part is new. It is a journey Antoine Dupont has barely begun, and yet here, it ends.

• Final: France 28-7 Fiji
• Gamble pays off for Dupont as France bring home gold

Glory be, the Games are going to have to go some to top their start at the Stade de France on Saturday night. France won their first gold medal of these Olympics in the most incredible style, with a ring-a-ding, rope-a-dope 28-7 victory in the men’s rugby sevens final against the two-time Olympic champions Fiji. It wasn’t only orchestrated by Antoine Dupont, it was conceived, composed and performed by him too. Dupont, the face of the Games, met the moment in a way few athletes labouring under the heavy weight of national expectation, ever do.

In the space of seven minutes, the scrum-half made one try and scored two more. Whatever else happens in the next fortnight, his play in those moments will be part of the highlight reel of the Games. He did it all in front of a capacity crowd, the largest ever assembled for a game of sevens. Emmanuel Macron was there among the thousands, the president beaming down from the balcony while everyone belted out La Marseillaise. You could just about catch the golden tint of all that reflected glory on his brilliant white teeth.

Far-right leader talks of new Asia-oriented world order and throws support behind Donald Trump

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Saturday that the EU was sliding toward oblivion, in a rambling anti-west speech in which he warned of a new, Asia-oriented “world order” while throwing his support behind Donald Trump’s US presidential bid.

“Europe has given up defending its own interests,” Orbán said in Băile Tuşnad, a majority ethnic Hungarian town in central Romania. “All Europe is doing today is following the US’s pro-Democrat foreign policy unconditionally … even at the cost of self-destruction.

• Argentina 14 France 26
• South Africa, Fiji and Australia make up last-four lineup

There have not been many rugby sevens matches quite like the quarter-final between France and Argentina, have not, in all honesty, been many Olympic moments quite like it either. France won it 26-14, their last, match-winning, try, a spectacular solo tap-and-go scored by (who else but?) Antoine Dupont. But it was not the action that made the occasion, good as it was, but the atmosphere around it. There were 80,000 French fans in the Stade de France, and they made a racket that carried out of the ground and right around the city.

The poor old Argentinians were on the hook for the racist chants their football team aimed at the French players during the recent Copa América, and they were booed and hooted and jeered every time they touched the ball. Relations between the two countries have become so strained that Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has arranged to meet Emmanuel Macron in Paris this weekend in an effort to lessen the tensions between them.

Lawyers criticise what they consider inconsistencies in the handling of individual foreign nationals’ cases

The UK government scheme allowing EU citizens to remain post-Brexit is in danger of being upended, legal experts have warned, after a series of conflicting court rulings over social welfare payments to French and Slovenian citizens and the relative of a Spanish woman living in Britain.

In May, one county court judge found against Islington council, which had rescinded a Slovenian software engineer’s right to emergency housing after he lost work during the pandemic.

They disagreed on the EU, but both worry about the rise of far right parties and dislike religions

Terry, 81, London

Occupation Retired accountant

One of the faces of the Games shows his genius to secure victory for hosts against Uruguay after draw with USA

As the French rugby sevens team returned for their second game of a frenzied start to the Olympic Games, there was, unexpectedly, some jeopardy involved. An obvious reason why these contests had started so early, two days before the opening ceremony, was the hope that this highly rated French team, topped by a sprinkling of Antoine Dupont’s greatness, would set the tone as France’s first athletes in competition for an incredible event to come.

But in their opening contest of the day, three and a half hours earlier, France had stumbled to a 12-12 draw against a solid USA team. Under no circumstances could that be repeated.

Turkey wants doner registered as its ‘guaranteed traditional speciality’ across Europe, akin to serrano ham and Neapolitan pizza

Germany and Turkey have crossed swords over the doner kebab, with Berlin appealing Ankara’s attempt to have the beloved street food given the same protected EU status as Spain’s serrano ham and Neapolitan pizza.

The food fight began in April when Turkey applied to register the name doner as its “guaranteed traditional speciality” across Europe, meaning the label could only be used by those conforming to designated production methods and specifications for the meat inside.

EU officials ask Giorgia Meloni to guarantee independence and funding of public broadcaster amid growing worries

The European Commission has raised the alarm about the independence of Italy’s public service media and Rome’s failure to reform the country’s strict defamation law, which is widely seen as silencing government critics.

In a report issued on Wednesday EU officials identified “persisting challenges related to the effectiveness of [the] governance and funding” of Italy’s public service media, urging Giorgia Meloni’s government to guarantee both its independence and its funding.

Group of finance ministers call for sanctions to be ratcheted up amid signs Moscow’s war machine is weakening

• Opinion: Russia sanctions are working – and we need more

Vladimir Putin is “peddling lies” about the strength of the Russian economy that must be refuted, finance ministers from eight EU member states have said, with growing signs of deterioration in the face of biting sanctions.

They say there are signs that the economy is being “sovietised” with many hallmarks of the former USSR including expropriation of private assets to fund public spending, a “total disregard to the social and economic wellbeing of the population” and reorientation of the economy towards its war in Ukraine.

The signs are clear that not everything is as rosy in Putin’s Soviet-style war economy as Moscow would have us believe

President Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime are peddling the false narrative that the Russian economy is strong, and that its war machine is unharmed by western sanctions. This is a lie that must be rebutted. In fact, there are many signs that the Russian war economy is deteriorating. The sanctions and other measures to weaken the Russian economy are effective, but even more can be done. We must continue to increase pressure on Putin’s regime and support Ukraine.

During the Nato summit in Washington DC, western leaders reaffirmed their commitment to Ukraine’s defence. But Russia’s war against Ukraine is not only being fought by soldiers on the ground. It is also a war of information, on which the Kremlin spends an estimated $1.5bn (£1.2bn) a year, and of economic strength. Putin and his authoritarian regime want us to believe that Russia stands unmoved by sanctions and other efforts made to support Ukraine, freedom and democracy. Thus, it is extremely important that politicians, the media and economic institutions in the west do not take the information coming out of the Kremlin at face value. When taking a closer look at the signals, it becomes clear that everything is not as rosy with the Russian economy as Moscow would have us believe.

Elisabeth Svantesson, minister for finance, Sweden

Stephanie Lose, minister for economic affairs, Denmark

Mart Võrklaev, minister of finance, Estonia

Riikka Purra, minister of finance, Finland

Arvils Ašeradens, minister of finance, Latvia

Gintarė Skaistė, minister of finance, Lithuania

Eelco Heinen, minister of finance, Netherlands

Andrzej Domański, minister of finance, Poland

In a city belonging to two nations, I hoped for art that could heal suspicion and bridge political divides. Instead I found timidity

Gareth Southgate had a “genuine desire to unite people around a particular project rather than divide people and cause upset,” said British playwright James Graham in his tribute-cum-eulogy to the departing England football manager after the nation’s defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 24.

Graham, who is busy rewriting his football drama, Dear England, in light of this outcome (presumably as a tragedy), is best known for the sting of his political dramas, which so often expose division, government doublespeak and hypocrisy. His words brought to mind the role of theatre-makers and their responsibility to unite the audience around a “particular project”, or otherwise.

Arifa Akbar is the Guardian’s chief theatre critic

The razor-thin margin of defeat at a Coventry warehouse shows the global pressure for recognition is reaching a tipping point

• Callum Cant is a sociologist of work and author of Feeding the Machine

It was 6am and raining hard when I arrived at the picket line outside Amazon’s Coventry warehouse. Despite the weather, hundreds of workers were gathering on either side of the road in an industrial estate on the city’s outskirts. When I chatted to them, they told hopeful stories of how a pay rise and union recognition could improve their lives. Now, one year and 37 days of strike action later, their campaign for union recognition has suffered a serious setback. Last week, they found out that they have lost an election that would have seen the union GMB recognised by Amazon for collective bargaining for the first time in the UK.

The margin of defeat was razor-thin: only 0.5%. Amazon’s anti-union stance in the UK has been maintained by a handful of votes. The company had to use every trick in its extensive union-busting playbook to secure the result.

The men’s sevens has been moved forward in the schedules in a bid to give the hosts lift-off. No pressure then …

Paris has waited a century for the Olympic Games to return; it may take that long for rugby to witness another player like Antoine Dupont too.

France’s chief orchestrator has it all: vision, pin-point ambidextrous kicking, speed of execution, evasive runs and a destructive physique, all of which have helped him dictate matches at will for club and country.

Former leader rallies pro-EU MPs who German ambassador says now vastly outnumber ERG group of Eurosceptic Tories

Neil Kinnock has delivered a rallying cry to pro-EU Labour MPs, telling them that “fortune favours the brave” when it comes to forging closer ties with Europe.

The “tide is shifting”, the former party leader told a reception of the Labour Movement for Europe (LME), where there was applause when Germany’s ambassador told of his delight that the grouping’s more than 100 MPs now vastly outnumbered the Conservatives’ European Research Group of Eurosceptic MPs.

Meeting of bloc’s foreign ministers organised by Josep Borrell is in effect a boycott of a gathering in Budapest

The EU’s most senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, has called a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels – in effect a boycott of a rival gathering in Budapest – to register widespread anger over Hungary’s rogue diplomacy.

Borrell announced that he had decided to convene informal meetings of EU foreign affairs and defence ministers in Brussels after the summer break, meaning the same participants will not gather in Budapest as originally planned.

• Former England No 9 treated for irregular heartbeat
• Youngs, 34, hopes to return for Tigers in September

England’s most-capped player, Ben Youngs, has revealed he had heart surgery after collapsing during an open training session. The Leicester scrum-half says he is “on the mend” and hopes to be fit for the new season that begins in September.

Youngs was diagnosed with arrhythmia and supraventricular tachycardia, which is a type of irregular heartbeat that causes the heart’s upper chamber to beat fast or erratically. The 34-year-old had a two-hour operation in Birmingham following the episode while training with Leicester this year.

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)

The European Commission (EC) has finally taken action to block Meta's heavily criticized plan to charge a subscription fee to users who value privacy on its platforms.

Surprisingly, this step wasn't taken under laws like the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Digital Markets Act (DMA), or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Instead, the EC announced Monday that Meta risked sanctions under EU consumer laws if it could not resolve key concerns about Meta's so-called "pay or consent" model.

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Dani says his £26,000 salary is not high enough to sponsor his wife so she can join him in Britain

A police officer working in Manchester says he has been forced to quit his job after Rishi Sunak raised the salary threshold to sponsor his Italian wife to live in the UK in the post-Brexit immigration scheme.

Campaigners have warned that his tale of Brexit anguish is being repeated up and down the country in low-paid public sectors where many EU citizens work.

The new government has promised things will be different: but when it comes to spending, we seem stuck on old Tory policies

The election campaign mantra of “change, change, change” reminded me of those people down on their luck who approach you in the street and ask “got any change, guv?”

Until this month’s welcome result in the polling booths, the Labour party had certainly been down on its luck. From the moment in 2010 when the new chancellor, George Osborne, capitalised on departing Labour chief secretary Liam Byrne’s joke that “there’s no money left”, Labour was fighting an uphill battle.

Greek Cypriots in south wake to air raid sirens reminiscent of invasion while Turkish-occupied north celebrates

Cyprus has marked the landmark anniversary of 50 years of ethnic division amid markedly contrasting scenes: mourning in the south and celebration in the north.

At 5.20am Greek Cypriots in the internationally recognised south awoke to air raid sirens reminding them of the arrival of thousands of invading Turkish troops on the eastern Mediterranean island five decades ago. In the Turkish-occupied north, the milestone event was cause for joy, with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, flying in to attend a military parade and fly-past commemorating the “peace operation”.

• Wallabies make it three from three under Joe Schmidt
• Any thoughts? Email or get in touch on X @JPHowcroft

The two sides are now lined up in the tunnel. The Wallabies in gold jerseys and green shorts, Georgia all in white.

The teams are just making the final touches to their uniforms in the sheds. Our advertised start time of 3:45pm looks to be out by at least 10 minutes.

• England 21-13 France
• Set-piece superiority guides team to victory

England claimed a first under-20 world title since 2016 with a victory over France founded on their ruthlessly dominant scrum and a power-packed performance that will have Steve Borthwick licking his lips. Tries from the forwards Joe Bailey and Arthur Green sealed victory in Cape Town with England’s muscle up front proving too much for the defending champions.

England were unstoppable at scrum time, winning penalties at will less than a week after Borthwick had bemoaned the senior side’s set-piece problems. The props Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Afolabi Fasogbon may soon find themselves fast-tracked, such was their superiority in a pack that was missing its first-choice tighthead in Billy Sela. Others to burnish their reputations were the second-row Junior Kpoku and the flanker Henry Pollock in a performance that bodes well as Borthwick plots a course towards the 2027 World Cup.

PM’s promise to draw line under years of fractious relations greeted with plaudits and relief by European media

Keir Starmer’s promised “reset” of the UK’s ties with the rest of Europe has drawn a positive response in European media, with one longtime journalist rejoicing that she will never again have to cover “Britain as a basket case”.

The prime minister told leaders at a meeting of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Thursday that he wanted to draw a line under years of fractious relations with the rest of Europe. The relaunch was greeted with a sense of relief that after years of chaotic leadership in London a new age of cooperation was beginning.

PM wants to rethink UK’s immigration policies but did not make progress on returns deal at summit with EU leaders

Keir Starmer is looking into plans to process asylum seekers outside the UK as part of a rethink of the government’s immigration policies, even as a returns agreement with the EU appears more distant than ever.

The prime minister said on Thursday he was open to the idea of Britain processing claims offshore, after a day spent discussing illegal migration with fellow European leaders at Blenheim Palace. Those talks, as part of the European Political Community summit, included a meeting with Edi Rama, the Albanian prime minister, whose country processes asylum claims on behalf of Italy.

Keir Starmer has seized the opportunity of the meeting at Blenheim Palace to announce a much-needed reset in relations

By becoming prime minister two weeks ago, Keir Starmer inherited the host’s role at Thursday’s long-scheduled European Political Community summit in Oxfordshire. From Sir Keir’s perspective it was a perfect piece of timing and an extraordinary opportunity. It enabled this country’s new leader to show the voters at home and its allies abroad that Britain wishes to come in from the post-Brexit cold, taking its place at the heart of European responses to crises such as Ukraine.

The European Political Community is not a decision-making body like the European Union or the Nato alliance. It issues no summit communiques, deploys no armies and enforces no treaties or laws. But it is a pan-European body all the same, and more than 40 European heads of government came to Blenheim Palace. This therefore provided Sir Keir with an ideal platform to highlight what he described as Labour’s “reset” on Britain’s relations with Europe.

Keir Starmer has said the new UK government wants to rediscover common interests with neighbouring countries in his speech at the opening of the European political community summit

• UK politics: latest updates

Enlarge (credit: Anadolu / Contributor | Anadolu)

Google tried to derail a Microsoft antitrust settlement over anticompetitive software licensing in the European Union by offering a $500 million alternative deal to the group of cloud providers behind the EU complaint, Bloomberg reported.

According to Bloomberg, Google's offer to the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) required that the group maintain its EU antitrust complaint. It came "just days" before CISPE settled with Microsoft, and it was apparently not compelling enough to stop CISPE from inking a deal with the software giant that TechCrunch noted forced CISPE to accept several compromises.

Bloomberg uncovered Google's attempted counteroffer after reviewing confidential documents and speaking to "people familiar with the matter." Apparently, Google sought to sway CISPE with a package worth nearly $500 million for more than five years of software licenses and about $15 million in cash.

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Breton Says X in Violation with Dark Patterns, Ad Transparency and Researcher Data Access

The European Commission (EC) flexed its regulatory muscle today, sending a shot across the bow of social media giant X with preliminary findings of non-compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The DSA, a landmark piece of legislation enacted in November 2022, aims to create a safer and fairer online environment by holding large platforms accountable for content moderation and advertising practices.

The EC's investigation focused on three key areas:

• Deceptive "Verified Accounts": The Commission alleges X employs misleading tactics with its "verified account" system, which awards a blue checkmark. They argue the current system, where users can potentially subscribe for verification, undermines users' ability to discern genuine accounts and the legitimacy of information. The EC points to instances of malicious actors exploiting this system to deceive users.

• Opaque Advertising Practices: X is also accused of failing to provide a transparent and accessible advertising repository. According to the EC, the current system uses design elements and access barriers that hinder users and researchers from effectively scrutinizing online advertising practices. This lack of transparency hampers efforts to identify and mitigate emerging risks associated with online advertising.

• Limited Researcher Data Access: The EC further found X's current approach to public data access for researchers falls short of DSA requirements. Specifically, X reportedly prohibits researchers from independently accessing public data through techniques like scraping, a practice explicitly permitted by the DSA's terms. The API access process for researchers is also criticized for being cumbersome and potentially dissuasive, with some researchers facing exorbitant fees.

These preliminary findings initiate a formal process where X can respond to the EC's concerns. They have the right to examine the investigation file and submit a written defense. The European Board for Digital Services will also be consulted.

If the EC's preliminary findings are upheld, X could face significant consequences. Potential sanctions include fines up to 6% of its global annual turnover and mandated corrective actions to address the identified violations. The EC may also impose enhanced supervision or even periodic penalty payments to ensure compliance.

"Today we issue for the first time preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act. In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers. The DSA has transparency at its very core, and we are determined to ensure that all platforms, including X, comply with EU legislation."  - Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age

This move by the EC signals a strong commitment to enforcing the DSA and holding Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) accountable. The investigation against X follows similar actions initiated against TikTok, AliExpress, and Meta earlier this year. Security professionals and researchers closely following the evolution of the online landscape will be keenly interested in the outcome of this case and its potential impact on the broader VLOP landscape.

Enlarge (credit: Maskot | Maskot)

In two weeks, iPhone users in the European Union will be able to use any mobile wallet they like to complete "tap and go" payments with the ease of using Apple Pay.

The change comes as part of a settlement with the European Commission (EC), which investigated Apple for potentially shutting out rivals by denying access to the "Near Field Communication" (NFC) technology on its devices that enables the "tap and go" feature. Apple did not develop this technology, which is free for developers, the EC said, and going forward, Apple agreed to not charge developers fees to provide the NFC functionality on its devices.

In a press release, the EC's executive vice president, Margrethe Vestager, said that Apple's commitments in the settlement address the commission's "preliminary concerns that Apple may have illegally restricted competition for mobile wallets on iPhones."

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Enlarge / Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney. (credit: Epic Games)

It's been a whirlwind journey of stops and starts, but AppleInsider reports the Epic Game Store for iOS in the European Union has passed Apple's notarization process.

This paves the way for Epic CEO Tim Sweeney to realize his long-stated goal of launching an alternative game store on Apple's closed platform—at least in Europe.

Apple announced plans to allow third-party app stores on iOS in the region earlier this year, complying with the letter of the law (though some say not the spirit) as required by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which was enacted in hopes of making platforms more open and competitive.

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Europol Details Home Routing Intervention Challenges

• LEAs become dependent on cooperation from service providers in the suspect's home country.
• Domestic interception orders can't be enforced across borders.
• European Investigation Orders, while available, can take up to 120 days – too long for urgent cases.

Proposed Solutions to Home Routing

• Maintains current security levels and law enforcement capabilities
• Allows domestic service providers to execute interception orders for foreign SIM cards
• Technically feasible and easily implemented
• Preserves privacy at the same level as communication via national SIM cards

• Allows LEAs to request interception from service providers in other EU member states
• Maintains PET for all users
• Requires development of cross-border standards and interfaces
• May compromise operational security by revealing persons of interest to foreign entities

Scope Of Patelco Credit Union Attack

Patelco Credit Union Response and Recovery Efforts

Please know that our team and third-party partners are working around the clock to get back up and running. We are committed to providing transparent and frequent updates to best of our ability as well as the best possible service that we can, given the disruption. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this cyber attack has caused for our members. We anticipate longer than normal wait times and truly appreciate your patience and support during this difficult time.

Russian Military Intelligence and FSB Operative Sanctions

The use of cyber operations that have enabled and accompanied Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine affects global stability and security, represents an important risk of escalation, and adds to the already significant increase of malicious cyber activities outside the context of armed conflict over recent years. The growing cybersecurity risks and an overall complex cyber threat landscape, with a clear risk of rapid spill-over of cyber incidents from one Member State to others, and from third countries to the Union, further call for restrictive measures under Decision (CFSP) 2019/797.

Wizard Spider Threat Group Members Sanctioned

 "As part of the sustained, tailored and coordinated Union action against persistent cyber threat actors, six natural persons should be included in the list of natural and legal persons, entities and bodies subject to restrictive measures set out in the Annex to Decision (CFSP) 2019/797. Those persons are responsible for, or were involved in, cyberattacks with a significant effect, which constitute an external threat to the Union or its Member States."