Britain resists giving EU diplomats full status, sparking row

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is resisting an EU demand that it grant full diplomatic status to the bloc’s ambassador in London, causing a row between the recently divorced parties that spilled out into the open on Thursday 21.1.21

Britain, an EU member for 46 years, voted to quit in 2016 and completed its tortuous journey out of the bloc on Dec. 31, when Brexit fully took effect.

via REUTERS/File Photo

The BBC reported that the Foreign Office was refusing to grant the same diplomatic status and privileges to EU ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida and his team as it gives to envoys of countries, on the basis that the EU is not a nation state. The Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The European Commission, the 27-member bloc’s executive body, said the EU’s 143 delegations around the world had all been granted a status equivalent to that of diplomatic missions of states, and Britain was well aware of the fact. “Granting reciprocal treatment based on the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations is standard practice between equal partners and we are confident that we can clear this issue with our friends in London in a satisfactory manner,” said Peter Stano, the commission’s spokesman for foreign affairs. Stano added that when Britain was still an EU member, it had been supportive of the diplomatic status of EU delegations. “Nothing has changed since the UK’s exit from the European Union to justify any change in stance on the UK’s part,” he said. The BBC report quoted the Foreign Office in London as saying: “Engagement continues with the EU on the long-term arrangements for the EU delegation to the UK.” The report said Britain was reluctant to grant full status to EU diplomats in London because it did not want to set a precedent in the eyes of other international organisations. The EU argues it is not a typical international organisation. “It has been conferred substantial competences by its member states, has the power to adopt legislation binding on its member states, has its own decision-making institutions and its own system of judicial control, and has established a common currency,” Stano said.

Source: BBC/Reuters

Google investigates ethical AI team member over handling of sensitive data

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google is investigating a member of its ethical AI team and has locked the corporate account linked to that person after finding that thousands of files were retrieved from its server and shared with external accounts, the company said on Wednesday.

Axios, which first reported the latest investigation around a member of Google's AI team, said Margaret Mitchell had been using automated scripts to look through her messages to find examples showing discriminatory treatment of Timnit Gebru, a former employee in the AI team who was fired.

Gebru, who is Black, was a top AI ethics researcher at Google and was fired in December. While Gebru claimed she was sacked for criticizing the diversity efforts within Google’s AI unit, the company has disputed it.

“Our security systems automatically lock an employee’s corporate account when they detect that the account is at risk of compromise due to credential problems or when an automated rule involving the handling of sensitive data has been triggered,” a Google representative said in a statement.

“We are actively investigating this matter as part of standard procedures to gather additional details.”

Mitchell did not immediately respond to a request for comment via her LinkedIn account.

Google’s diversity efforts have been questioned by employees and adds to years of angst, including several resignations and firings in the AI department, raising doubts whether the company’s efforts to minimize the potential harms of its services are sufficient.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's message to the US is that multiculturalism is 'not who America is'

On his last full day as the top US diplomat and just one day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deemed multiculturalism to be un-American.

"Woke-ism, multiculturalism, all the -isms — they're not who America is. They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker," Pompeo said in a tweet.

The US has an extraordinarily diverse population and generally celebrates the hodgepodge of cultures that have helped define it.

Source: Business Insider