# NuseReal

Politico: France's budget bombshell is a wake-up call for Europe as it veers toward bankruptcy (LINK) 18 July 2025

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Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta bigwigs agree to settlement in $8 billion suit over alleged privacy violations involving Cambidge Analytica: sum not revealed, Zuckerberg did not testify (LINK) 17 July 2025

— The political consulting firm accessed data from millions of Facebook users as part of Donald Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign. That led to the FTC fine, which was the largest ever issued at the time. The FTC fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 after finding it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement to protect user data. Cambridge Analytica has since shuttered. Company shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. Plaintiffs alleged in the suit that the defendants failed to oversee FTC compliance and that they knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation.

— A big antitrust case once again pits the FTC against Meta, alleging that the company participated in anticompetitive practices by purchasing one-time rivals Instagram and Whatsapp. The trial has ended but no decision has been reached. Zuckerberg has been implicated in a case that alleges Meta knowingly used pirated materials to train its Llama AI. The company is also paying $25 million to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump over his 2021 Facebook suspension, after Trump threatened Zuckerberg with retribution during the 2024 election. The current president was temporarily suspended from the platform after inciting a riot at the capitol that left several people dead.

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Crypto thefts have already topped last year's tally (LINK subscription) 17 July 2025

Crypto theft is booming as criminals increasingly turn to physical attacks — (LINK)

Asia emerges as major hotspot for violent crypto crime — (LINK)

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2025's first summer heatwave was early, and deadly, for all of Western Europe (LINK) 16 July 2025

— June 2025 was the hottest on record for Western Europe, with around 2,300 heat-related deaths across the continent.

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Blatten, Switzerland: Zurich ETH study shows previously unexplained factors that determine the destructive force of debris flows (LINK) — ground.news: 2 media reports (LINK) 16 July 2025

— On 5 June 2022, a debris flow came loose in Illgraben above the village of Leuk in the Valais, transporting 25,000 cubic metres of debris four kilometres through the bed of the Illbach river, before flowing into the Rhône at Susten. The team of scientists monitored the natural phenomena at several measuring stations. "We've known for a long time that these surges play a key role in the destructive force of debris flows. We were able to demonstrate that surges arise spontaneously on the surface of the flow. They stem from small irregularities, which grow over time, increasing in size and speed until they reach their maximum destructive force."

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Debra Crew, CEO of Diageo, owner of the Guinness and Johnnie Walker brands, steps down after drink firm's lacklustre performance (LINK) 16 July 2025

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Cuban labour minister resigns after her suggestion beggars were pretending sparked backlash (LINK) — ground.news: 163 media reports (LINK) 15 July 2025

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9th United Nations conference on competition and consumer protection, 7-11 July, Palais des Nations, Geneva (LINK)

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WAIPA (World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies): launching Investment for Good decade, 10 July 2025 15:00, Swiss Press Club + online (LINK)

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Switzerland not Viet Nam to host UNCTAD16 in Geneva 20-23 October 2025: "not possible to finalize the agreement with Viet Nam within the timeframe required to hold the conference in October 2025" (LINK)

— Geneva is the city where the 1st UN Conference on Trade and Development was held in 1964.

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World's top parliamentarians to meet in Geneva 29-31 July: Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, UN Geneva (LINK)

— Established in 2000 by the IPU, the World Conference of Speakers of Parliament brings together the highest level representatives of parliaments and the United Nations every five years.

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Geneva to host new international talks on plastic pollution on August 5-14. (LINK)

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Irène Zurkinden (1909–1987), rebel artist and friend of Meret Oppenheim, finally has her day in the Swiss spotlight at Basel's H. Geiger Kulturstiftung till 7 September (LINK, long article)

— The ambitious show, years in the making, attempts to reclaim Zurdinken's legacy from the margins of art history and position her as an artistic rebel, a daring woman who remained untethered to conventions, and whose outlook on the world around her was honest, unflinching, and dazzlingly inclusive. Last year, at Art Basel, New York's Meredith Rosen Gallery devoted its booth to Zurkinden, with Rosen calling her "truly… one of the greatest artists". That presentation followed the gallery's exhibition of her work in "The Paris Years" in the summer and fall of 2023, back in New York.

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Swiss Pavilion during the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan ("Designing Future Society for Our Lives": April 13 to October 13, 2025) includes The Geneva Public Portal to Anticipation: "From Heidi to High-Tech". (LINK)

— A first-of-its-kind interactive exhibition, designed to immerse the public in future scenarios generated by AI using data from the GESDA Science Breakthrough Radar.

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