A dense network of cross-border rail connections cuts through the continent, and it’s set to expand even further in the coming years thanks to new infrastructure and the birth of the European single rail market. However, there are still profound differences between the central and peripheral regions of Europe.
With Biden’s arrival in the White House, many pieces are moving on the international chessboard, including relations between Western democracies and the Middle East, and the delicate issue of arms exports.
Nicolas Kayser-Bril, data journalist at Algorithm Watch, coordinated AW-EDJNet’s joint investigation on Instagram’s algorithm. In this video, he explains why the subject matters and how it could be approached, despite the lack of transparency of the algorithm. Data suggests that Instagram has a bias in favour of pictures of scantily clothed men or women – this has an impact both on creators’ business and on users’ views.
Arms export data is not so easy to deal with, given that units of measurements may be unfamiliar for the wider public and, often, the data is incomplete. Here I explain some of the choices made for our latest article on European arms export to authoritarian regimes.
What’s the average internet speed in Europe? Our new dashboard shows the extent of the digital divide between, and within, European countries – here’s how it was made and what's the key R code behind it.
The road towards universally accessible ultra-fast connectivity in Europe still seems long and bumpy.
The number of workers at risk of in-work poverty has increased in 16 countries in the European Union. In response to this, the European Trade Union Confederation is calling for the European Commission’s Minimum Wage directive to prohibit the setting of such wages below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold.
The EU’s vaccine distribution delays could be solved through voluntary collaborations established by pharmaceutical giants. However, civil society and several EU countries are calling for the liberalization of patents, to be able to independently produce doses and ensure vaccine coverage for the largest possible number of people. The second part of Stefano Valentino’s report on the monopolistic practices of pharmaceutical companies.
When it was rumoured that banknotes could be spreading the coronavirus, banks that teamed up with card networks rubbed their hands with glee. Mastercard, Visa or the Internet giants like Google Pay or Apple Pay saw a unique opportunity to convince consumers to use their technology. Overnight, merchants in most European countries allowed card purchases for amounts that were sometimes less than one euro, with lower transaction fees, while supermarkets encouraged customers to pay for their groceries through contactless payment.
The European Union shifts between defending citizens’ health and defending pharmaceutical industry monopoly by opposing the liberalization of vaccine production. This might only delay achieving the immunisation necessary for economic recovery. We delve into this issue in a three-part investigation.
