DW | Huawei boss Liang Hua: 'Our top priority is to ensure survival'

"Huawei only provides equipment, and does not participate in network operations, so we have no access to user data," Liang underlined.

Nils Schmid, foreign affairs spokesperson for Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) said in an interview with the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung newspaper, "It is a very big mistake that to allow a company under the influence of a state to be so easily involved in such a sensitive sector."

"Chancellor Angela Merkel's decisions on 5G are based on Germany's national interests and development needs for the future," Liang said. "The German government's approach to 5G security standards does not focus on a supplier's country of origin, but treats all suppliers equally. This approach is good for the development of German communications infrastructure."

Independent.ie. | China ready to retaliate if Germany bans Huawei
"'If Germany were to take a decision that leads to Huawei's exclusion from the German market, there will be consequences,' Ambassador Wu Ken said at a Handelsblatt event."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Tax minister Menno Snel resigns over child benefit scandal
"Hundreds, possibly thousands, of parents were ordered to pay back benefits after tax office officials decided they had made fraudulent claims dating back to 2014."
"toeslagenaffaire"
"A disproportionate number of the parents involved were born abroad or have a non-Dutch background."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Germany's incoming ECB board member opposes pumping cash into green assets

Her views contrasted with those of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who told BBC radio that financial services weren't doing enough to discourage investment in fossil fuels. He called for a mix of public investment and change driven to combat climate change.

BoE preferences? All the more reason to guard eligible eurosystem collateral

EU states failed to agree on what qualifies as a ["]green asset["] earlier this month, making the ECB's involvement even more difficult.

Ursula vdL plays NORMA DESMOND in Sunset Boulevard.

EU parks post-Brexit demands to avoid clash with Boris Johnson

"We do not want to do this negotiation in public, that is for sure," one senior EU official said.

When the EU's negotiating position is revealed in draft form in early February, before its formal adoption by the EU27 at a meeting of ministers on 25 February, it will only contain "headline principles".

Greece retains negative yield in first debt auction of year
"The Public Debt Management Agency said the 13-week T-bills were auctioned Wednesday at a yield of -0.08%."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Agri-food exports to US spike ahead of tariffs storm

The last monthly update on agri-food trade with data until October 2019 confirmed a favourable trend of EU food exports to the US ahead of punitive tariffs promised by the Trump administration.
[...]
The reason behind the hike is that US consumers and restaurateurs started to stock up cheese, fearing an increase in prices in the months to come.
[...]
[EU trade Commissioner Phil] Hogan told the Spanish minister that there is a "predisposition" in the US administration to negotiate. If that is the case, "we have to take advantage of that window of opportunity," Maroto added.

However, both Hogan and [ES industry and trade minister Reyes] Maroto seemed optimistic that a negotiated solution could be found, given that in the coming months the WTO [!] will authorise Europeans to impose tariffs on the US for similar aid given by Washington to Boeing [!].

Keeping it real: evergreen SLAs, jobs saved or created

Germany's plans for automatic facial recognition meet fierce criticism
"Federal Police Act was planned to provide the police with 'improved technical possibilities and, where possible and reasonable, extended responsibilities'."

US ambassador to NL confirms pressure to refuse ASML export licence for China

'We have made it very clear to the Dutch,' the paper quotes Pete Hoestra as saying. 'We believe that this is extremely sensitive technology which does not belong in certain places.'

cosa nostra: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.

reference
The Wassenaar Arrangement
15 CFR § 743.1 - Wassenaar Arrangement.

Oxygen to Be Extracted from Lunar Dust at New Facility - Reports

The first prototype oxygen facility will be attempting the same extraction process on a larger scale, it was reported by Science Alert on Monday.

The new plant could potentially provide humans with essential resources that can aid in future space missions and even provide a means for long-term existence on moon bases and colonies.
[...]
The facility, established under the European Space Agency's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, will use a method which was discovered by [Beth] Lomax and her colleagues in 2019.

archived
Is anybody out there?
on a giant rotating structure at 1G as seen in Elysium

US, France reach tax deal averting broader trade ["]war["]

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday he had agreed on the truce with U.S. Treasury chief Steven Mnuchin, at a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
[...]
Le Maire said France would delay collection of the digital tax until December - through the next U.S. election cycle, potentially easing pressure for President Donald Trump as he seeks reelection.
[...]
The U.S., in turn, will hold off imposing retaliatory tariffs that it had threatened to slap tariffs on French wine, cheese and other products.

France's palm oil tax saga continues

Brexit deal cleared by EU Parliament; UK set to leave Friday
"The European Union grudgingly let go of the United Kingdom with a final vote Wednesday at the EU's parliament that ended the Brexit divorce battle and set the scene for tough trade negotiations in the year ahead." : 621 to 49 in favor

If that vote measures "grudgingly", I'd like to see a demo for "enthusiastically".