UPDATE 1-UK privacy watchdog says Facebook agrees to suspend using WhatsApp users

Dear Viewers,

BRUSSELS Britain's privacy watchdog said on Monday that Facebook (FB.O) has agreed to suspend using data from UK users of its WhatsApp messaging app after the watchdog said consumers weren't properly protected.

The watchdog said the social media giant faces action if it uses such data without valid consent.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) had said in August that it would monitor WhatsApp's new privacy policy, after WhatsApp, acquired by Facebook in 2014, said it would share user data with its parent company.

"We're pleased that they've agreed to pause using data from UK WhatsApp users for advertisements or product improvement purposes," the head of ICO, Elizabeth Denham, said in a statement.

"If Facebook starts using the data without valid consent, they may face enforcement action from my office," she said.

The regulator said it had also asked Facebook and WhatsApp to sign an undertaking committing to better explaining to customers how their data would be used and to give them ongoing control over the information.

However, the companies have so far not agreed.

"We think consumers deserve a greater level of information and protection, but so far Facebook hasn't agreed," Denham said.

Facebook and WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The two companies have also come under scrutiny from the wider group of the EU's 28 data protection authorities, who last month requested that the popular messaging service pause sharing users' data with its parent company until the appropriate legal protections could be assured.

Denham said she did not think users had been given enough information about what Facebook would do with their data and that WhatsApp had not obtained valid consent.

Enforcement action could ultimately lead to fines. Such fines are small compared to the revenues of the companies concerned. However, a new EU-wide data protection law coming into force in 2018 would change that with fines of up to 4 percent of global turnover.

Denham said she would keep pushing the issue along with other privacy watchdogs, notably the Irish authority which has the most sway over Facebook since the U.S. company's European headquarters are in Ireland. Thanks.

UPDATE 1-EU executive asks Italy to explain rising 2017 budget deficit

Dear Viewers,

BRUSSELS Oct 25 The European Commission asked Italy on Tuesday to explain why its 2017 structural budget deficit is rising instead of falling as requested by EU finance ministers and why the headline budget gap is to be much higher than Rome promised in May.

The letter from the European Union's executive arm to Italy's Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is part of the Commission's responsibilities to check if the main assumptions of euro zone governments' budgets are in line with EU law.

Italy, like all euro zone countries, is obliged to cut its structural deficit, which excludes one-off items and the effects of the business cycle, by at least 0.5 percent of GDP a year until it comes into balance or surplus.

But in Rome's draft plan for next year, the structural deficit rises 0.4 percentage points to 1.6 percent of GDP, rather than falling 0.6 points to 0.6 percent of GDP as requested by EU finance ministers in July.

In May, Italy wrote to the Commission promising its headline budget deficit in 2017 would be 1.8 percent of GDP, down from 2.4 percent expected in 2016. The 2017 assumptions most recently sent to the Commission, however, put the headline deficit at 2.3 percent.

"We would need explanations for the revision of the targets and the substantial gap emerging with respect to the commitments made last spring," the Commission letter said.

The Commission, which also sent letters with requests for clarifications to Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Cyprus and Finland, said it understands the extraordinary nature of the costs that Italy was incurring for the recent earthquakes and migration inflows, but it needed more detail.

"We would also need clarifications on amounts included in the Draft Budgetary Plan for consideration as 'exceptional expenditures'," it said.

The letter is an embarrassment for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who faces a referendum on Dec. 4 that may determine whether he stays in office.

In 2015 and 2016, thanks to various clauses in the Stability and Growth Pact -- the EU's budget rules -- Italy got a total of about 19 billion euros, or 1.1 percent of GDP of extra budget leeway from the Commission.

The Commission agreed Rome could spend the additional money rather than consolidate state books because it was to go on refugees, investment, security and propping up the economy in bad times.

"Part of this flexibility, namely under the investment and structural reform clauses, was granted subject to Italy ... progressing with the structural reform agenda (and) ... presenting credible plans to resume the adjustment as of 2017," the Commission said.

It gave Italy until Oct. 27 to reply. If the Commission is not satisfied with the explanations, it could reject the budget assumptions and ask for new ones, although this has never happened yet since the Commission got the powers in 2013.

The Commission's doubts about draft budgets of the other countries mainly focused on insufficient planned reductions in the structural deficit, or, in the case of Cyprus, a sharp deterioration of the structural deficit by 1.9 percent of GDP.

In the cases of Spain and Lithuania, which do not have fully operational governments at the moment, the Commission requested an update of the draft budgets as soon as a fully functional government is in place.


ROME, Oct 25 Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Tuesday he was optimistic Italy's economy would grow by 1 percent this year, just a few weeks after he cut the official forecast to 0.8 percent.

 BRUSSELS, Oct 25 The European Commission asked Italy on Tuesday to explain why its 2017 structural budget deficit is rising instead of falling as requested by EU finance ministers and why the headline budget gap is to be much higher than Rome promised in May.Thanks.