EUROPE

EU regulators hit X with huge fine

The European Union hit Elon Musk's X with a 120-million-euro ($140-million) fine on Friday for breaking its digital rules, in a move that risks a fresh clash with US President Donald Trump's administration. The high-profile probe into the social media platform was seen as a test of the bloc's resolve to police Big Tech. Vice-President JD Vance fired a bullish warning against "attacking" US firms through "censorship" before the penalty was even made public. Imposing the first-ever fine under its powerful Digital Services Act on content, the EU said it was hitting X for noncompliance with transparency rules including through the "deceptive design" of its blue checkmark.

UNITED STATES

Signal use risks harm to forces: Watchdog

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's use of the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen risked compromising sensitive information and could have put troops at risk, the Pentagon's independent watchdog said on Thursday. The report piles further pressure on Hegseth. "Using a personal cellphone to conduct official business and send nonpublic DoD information through Signal risks potential compromise of sensitive DoD information," the inspector general's office said in a report, using an abbreviation for the Department of Defense. Hegseth, who declined to be interviewed as part of the inspector general's investigation, nonetheless described the report as a "total exoneration", saying in a post on X: "Case closed."