Memo From Sarajevo: In a New Cold War With Russia, Balkans Become a Testing Ground

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In a New Cold War With Russia, Balkans Become a Testing Ground
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Cradle of the First World War, the Balkans have been a flashpoint, a place where empires, ethnicities and religions abut and contest. Now, analysts warn, the region is becoming a battleground in what feels like a new Cold War.
Russia, they say, is expanding its influence and magnifying ethnic tensions in countries that hope to join the European Union. Its involvement has already spurred Brussels to revive dormant aims for enlargement. It is also prompting fresh attention from Washington about security risks to NATO members.
After the concerted Western response to the poisoning in Britain of a former Russian spy and his daughter, which expelled around 150 Russian diplomats and intelligence officers, “the Balkans become even more important,” said Mark Galeotti, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations in Prague.
“Russia is looking for ways to retaliate that are asymme..

Facebook Fallout Deals Blow to Mercers’ Political Clout

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Facebook Fallout Deals Blow to Mercers’ Political Clout Photo The conservative donor Robert Mercer invested $15 million in Cambridge Analytica, where his daughter Rebekah is a board member. Credit Patrick McMullan, via Getty Images Last month, a friend of the wealthy conservative donor Rebekah Mercer arrived at Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters. His task: Find out what — if anything — could repair relations between Facebook, the world’s biggest social media company, and Cambridge Analytica, the voter-profiling firm co-founded by her father and used by the Trump campaign.
The revelation last month that Cambridge Analytica improperly acquired the private Facebook data of millions of users has set off government inquiries in Washington and London, plunging Facebook into crisis. But it has also battered the nascent political network overseen by Ms. Mercer, 44, and financed by her father, Robert Mercer, 71, a hard-line conservative billionaire.
Ms. Mercer’s standing in Mr. Trump’s circ..

E.P.A. Assesses Threats on Twitter to Justify Pruitt’s Spending

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E.P.A. Assesses Threats on Twitter to Justify Pruitt’s Spending Photo The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to justify Scott Pruitt’s extraordinary and costly security measures. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has been examining posts on Twitter and other social media about Scott Pruitt, the agency’s administrator, to justify his extraordinary and costly security measures, which have included first-class travel and full-time protection even on personal trips to Disneyland, the Rose Bowl and college basketball games, according to interviews and agency and congressional documents.
The social media efforts have come under scrutiny by some Democratic lawmakers, as well as senior officials at the E.P.A., who said the review had uncovered individuals sounding off against Mr. Pruitt but had found no actionable threats against him. One top E.P.A. official said in an interview that he had objected to the efforts when they were firs..

UK offices of Murdoch's 21st Century Fox raided as EU probes sports broadcasting 'cartel'

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European Commission carries unannounced inspections of companies across continent amid investigation into 'suspected anti-competitive practices'
The London offices of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Networks have been raided by the European Commission as part of a continent-wide investigation into a possible sports broadcasting cartel.
Officials carried out “unannounced inspections” of companies in several countries over concerns the firms “may have violated EU antitrust rules”, the commission said.
Fox Networks Group (FNG), an operating unit of 21st Century Fox which distributes TV and cable channels around the world, said it was co-operating with the investigation after its offices in Hammersmith, west London, were raided.
Read more Murdoch takeover of Sky ‘not in the public interest’, watchdog finds The commission said the inspections were “a preliminary step into suspected anti-competitive practices”.
In a statement, it added: “The fact that the commission carries out such i..

Brexit: Sticking to EU rules 'vastly' more beneficial than creating UK's own, says business group

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'For the majority of businesses, diverging from EU rules and regulations will make them less globally competitive,' says Confederation of British Industry
The economy will be much better off if the UK sticks closely to EU rules rather than creating its own after Brexit, a leading business group has said.
Eighteen of 23 sectors analysed would benefit from regulations that remain aligned with Brussels, the Confederation of British Industry found.
It said the costs of divergence would “vastly outweigh” the benefits in most parts of the economy.
Read more UK firms face storm of flawed legislation after Brexit, experts warn The CBI spoke to thousands of business leaders up and down the UK over a six-month period and found that, while there were opportunities to make beneficial new rules in sectors such as agriculture, shipping and tourism, these are limited.
In sectors such as aerospace, aviation, chemicals, financial services and technology, the majority of important reg..

Mark Zuckerberg’s I’m Sorry Suit

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Mark Zuckerberg’s I’m Sorry Suit How do we know that Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook and man currently under scrutiny, really does feel contrite and humbled by his company’s failure to protect users’ personal data, as he said during his testimony before Congress on Tuesday?
Well, he donned, if not a penitent’s robes, then what seems like his equivalent: a suit and tie.
It began on Monday, when Mr. Zuckerberg made the rounds of congressional leaders in a dark suit, white shirt and ink blue tie. On Tuesday, when he took his seat on the committee room floor, the suit was navy, and the tie was Facebook blue. It was somber. It was on brand.
And for someone who has made a professional and personal signature out of the plain gray tee and jeans — who has posted pictures of the row of gray T-shirts and hoodies hanging in his closet on his Facebook page; whose success has made those gray tees and hoodies into shorthand for a new generation of disrupters, as aspirational an outfit as..