EU commissioner for security Julian King says that a lack of transparency by media platforms leads to terrorist content continuing to proliferate across the internet European Commission

EU commissioner for security Julian King says that a lack of transparency by media platforms leads to terrorist content continuing to proliferate across the internet European Commission

Commission targets terrorist content on social media

Draft legislation proposed by the European Commission is likely to impose a limit of one hour for social media platforms to delete material flagged as terrorist content by police and law enforcement bodies. Julian King, the EU’s commissioner for security told the Financial Times that the Commission has decided to abandon a voluntary approach to “take stronger action in order to better protect our citizens”. 

Venezuela unveils crisis package

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has launched what he calls a visionary bid to tackle the country’s economic crisis. With hyperinflation predicted to reach 1 million% by the end of the year, the new package includes raising taxes and increasing the minimum wage by more than 3,000%, The Guardian reports.  But the boldest move is a rebranded currency that will have five fewer zeros than its predecessor.  

Pepsi in SodaStream buyout

Pepsi is going to buy household drink-machine maker SodaStream for $3.2bn in a transaction unanimously approved by both firm’s boards, according to The Guardian. The soft drinks giant will pay $144 per SodaStream share in cash. The deal is set for January 2019 after speculation has “bubbled for years”, says The Guardian.

Ice on moon excites space miners

The moon may hold untold reserves of ice, new research has shown. The evidence of ice was spotted in shadowy craters near the moon's poles Business Insider reports. “Extracting ice from the moon would be a first step in building a space economy,” said Angel Abbud-Madrid, director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines.

New footage of Genoa bridge collapse

The BBC is among media websites showing new CCTV video of the collapse of the Morandi motorway bridge in Genoa last week. The footage shows cars driving along a road under the bridge and a street cleaner scurrying across a road moments before the bridge comes crashing down. The bridge collapse on 14 August claimed the lives of at least 43 people.

Pope acknowledges sexual abuse failure

Just a week after the publication of a grand jury report into sexual abuse over a 70-year period in Pennsylvania, Pope Francis has publicly acknowledged that the church failed to tackle sexual abuse by priests. The Irish Times reports on the story ahead of a visit to Ireland by the Pope. “We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them,” Pope Francis wrote in a papal letter to the world’s Catholics.

Coppola backs Ryder-Reeves wedding theory

Film director Francis Ford Coppola has explained that film stars Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder may, indeed, have gotten married in 1992. The Guardian reports that Coppola said that a wedding ceremony filmed in a Greek Orthodox church in Los Angeles for his "Dracula" adaptation may be legally binding.

Today's breakfast breifing was written by Duncan Roberts