After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued series of apologies to BJP, Congress and&nbsp;Akali Dal leader, Congress has advised him to change his name to &quot;Arvind Sorry Kejriwal&quot;.

The party also said that Kejriwal will also have to apologise to the people of Delhi and country for &quot;deceiving&quot; them.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjwala said, &quot;There is a sorry Chief Minister in the country. He should change his name to Arvind Sorry Kejriwal. This is just the beginning of his trail of saying sorry, and not the end. He also has to apologise to the people of Delhi and the country, whom he has deceived&quot;.

Kejriwal had on Monday written to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Congress leader Kapil Sibal expressing regret for &#39;&#39;unverified allegations&quot; made against them.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/arvind-kejriwal-writes-to-nitin-gadkari-regretting-unverified-allegations-36355" target="_blank">Arvind Kejriwal writes to Nitin Gadkari regretting &#39;unverified allegations&#39; </a>

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/after-nitin-gadkari-kejriwal-apologises-to-senior-congress-leader-kapil-sibal-36370" target="_blank">After Nitin Gadkari, Kejriwal apologises to senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal</a>

After the AAP chief&nbsp;tendered apologies to the two leaders, the defamation cases filed against him were withdrawn.

Kejriwal had earlier also apologised to <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/after-kejriwal-apology-to-majithia-bhagwant-mann-resigns-as-aap-president-in-punjab-35998" target="_blank">Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia</a>&nbsp;which resulted in the resignation&nbsp;of prominent AAP leader&nbsp;Bhagwant Mann.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued series of apologies to BJP, Congress and Akali Dal leader, Congress has advised him to change his name to 'Arvind Sorry Kejriwal'

After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued series of apologies to BJP, Congress and Akali Dal leader, Congress has advised him to change his name to "Arvind Sorry Kejriwal". The party also said that Kejriwal will also have to apologise to the people of Delhi and country for "deceiving" them. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjwala said, "There is a sorry Chief Minister in the country. He should change his name to Arvind Sorry Kejriwal. This is just the beginning of his trail of saying sorry, and not the end. He also has to apologise to the people of Delhi and the country, whom he has deceived". Kejriwal had on Monday written to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Congress leader Kapil Sibal expressing regret for ''unverified allegations" made against them. Also read: Arvind Kejriwal writes to Nitin Gadkari regretting 'unverified allegations' Also read: After Nitin Gadkari, Kejriwal apologises to senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal After the AAP chief tendered apologies to the two leaders, the defamation cases filed against him were withdrawn. Kejriwal had earlier also apologised to Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia which resulted in the resignation of prominent AAP leader Bhagwant Mann.

Change name to Arvind 'Sorry' Kejriwal: Congress

As a Syrian migrant arriving in Berlin, Munzer Khattab could barely say a word in German, let alone fill out a pile of forms in the language. So over the past year, Khattab has not only learned German but also worked with five other Syrian refugees or asylum seekers to design a smartphone app to make forms less daunting. 
 
The app, called &#39;Bureaucrazy&#39;, to be launched in January, will translate various forms into Arabic and English for newcomers facing a pile of paperwork ranging from registering with authorities to opening a bank account. It will also provide them with a map with Berlin offices that all newcomers need to navigate and deal with other questions about red tape that can leave asylum seekers in knots. 
 
Khattab, 23, who fled his coastal hometown of Latakia last year to avoid military service in Syria, said the inspiration came as he ploughed through more than a dozen registration forms in German after arriving in Berlin. 
 
&quot;Even when we asked Germans they had problems understanding the forms,&quot; Khattab told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. 
 
&quot;If the Germans found them unreadable, how could we [migrants] read them?&quot; The app&#39;s name stemmed from Khattab, whose first language is Arabic, being caught out mispronouncing the word &#39;bureaucracy&#39;. &quot;Someone heard it and said &#39;Bureaucrazy? What did you say? That&#39;s a cool name&#39;,&quot; said Khattab. 
 
Khattab and his partners developed the app as part of a program in computer-coding they are taking at ReDI, a Berlin non-profit school with a mission to integrate refugees. It won a local software development contest and later drew praise at the Startup Europe tech conference earlier this year. 
 
The developers believe it will help migrants fleeing violence and poverty, more than a million of which have entered Germany in the past year. 
 
&quot;Everyone has the same problem: they come to Berlin as newcomers from Spain to Italy, and they have the same problems that we had,&quot; Khattab said. 
 
(Reuters)

The app, developed by Khattab, will translate various German forms into Arabic and English for newcomers facing a pile of paperwork

As a Syrian migrant arriving in Berlin, Munzer Khattab could barely say a word in German, let alone fill out a pile of forms in the language. So over the past year, Khattab has not only learned German but also worked with five other Syrian refugees or asylum seekers to design a smartphone app to make forms less daunting. The app, called 'Bureaucrazy', to be launched in January, will translate various forms into Arabic and English for newcomers facing a pile of paperwork ranging from registering with authorities to opening a bank account. It will also provide them with a map with Berlin offices that all newcomers need to navigate and deal with other questions about red tape that can leave asylum seekers in knots. Khattab, 23, who fled his coastal hometown of Latakia last year to avoid military service in Syria, said the inspiration came as he ploughed through more than a dozen registration forms in German after arriving in Berlin. "Even when we asked Germans they had problems understanding the forms," Khattab told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. "If the Germans found them unreadable, how could we [migrants] read them?" The app's name stemmed from Khattab, whose first language is Arabic, being caught out mispronouncing the word 'bureaucracy'. "Someone heard it and said 'Bureaucrazy? What did you say? That's a cool name'," said Khattab. Khattab and his partners developed the app as part of a program in computer-coding they are taking at ReDI, a Berlin non-profit school with a mission to integrate refugees. It won a local software development contest and later drew praise at the Startup Europe tech conference earlier this year. The developers believe it will help migrants fleeing violence and poverty, more than a million of which have entered Germany in the past year. "Everyone has the same problem: they come to Berlin as newcomers from Spain to Italy, and they have the same problems that we had," Khattab said. (Reuters)

Bureaucrazy: The smartphone app created by Syrian refugees to cut through German bureaucracy

The startup ecosystem of Bangladesh is growing at a fast pace. The country presents an unexplored market for young startups to innovate and disrupt. 
 
Here is a roundup of Bangladesh&#39;s most promising startups. 
 
Technolive 
Technolive is a news aggregator app which compiles news in real time from various websites and social media. This app uses machine learning algorithms for monitoring the news. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/screen%20shot%202016-09-05%20at%206.03.28%20pm-20160906054856.png" />
<div class="media-description">
&nbsp;
</div>
The Tech Lab 
The Tech Lab aims to reinvent Bangladesh&rsquo;s education system. It is an engineering institute catered towards Bangladeshi children. The Tech Lab provides courses on programming, electronics, robotics, and mechanical engineering among others. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/screen%20shot%202016-09-05%20at%206.04.55%20pm-20160906055852.png" />
<div class="media-description">
&nbsp;
</div>
Unigigg 
Unigigg provides a platform that connects students with their potential employers with an aim to popularize unconventional jobs like photography in the Bangladeshi society. This startup is currently in its alpha testing phase and is getting a very positive response. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/screen%20shot%202016-09-05%20at%206.06.14%20pm-20160906060709.png" />
<div class="media-description">
&nbsp;
</div>
Branoo 
Branoo is an e-commerce startup catering to men, women and kids alike with a wide variety of products from various brands. They have their own warehouse to store products. Branoo offers several payment modes to the customers. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/aaeaaqaaaaaaaaicaaaajdg2yja0ztvkltvmodgtndm2ns1izmrllwy4nmyynwjknznioa-20160906060846.png" />
<div class="media-description">
&nbsp;
</div>
Track My Vehicle 
Track My Vehicle is a startup which aims to address one of the biggest problems of Bangladesh i.e. vehicle stealing. Using their mobile app or website, the customers can get the reports on their vehicles&rsquo; speed, location, and other important statistics. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/track-my-vehicle-20160906061004.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
 
 
&nbsp;
</div>
 
Bongo 
Bangladesh&rsquo;s video-on-demand startup, Bongo, is popularly called the country&rsquo;s very own version of Netflix. It is an entertainment catalog with a library of over 30,000 movies, TV shows, dramas, music, etc. Bongo plans to extend its services to other countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and the U.S. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/6cu6zrql-20160906061433.png" />
<div class="media-description">
 
 
&nbsp;
</div>
 
Buckets Engineer 
Buckets Engineer is a subscription-based service for the autistic kids in Bangladesh. The startup has created a hub of applications and tools so as to allow the parents, therapists and educators to undertake a dynamic approach and make the autistic children learn better. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/z4ws7ocr-20160906061611.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
 
 
 
 
Kokhon.com 
Kokhon is a website that is dedicated solely to aggregating events happening all over Bangladesh&rsquo;s capital &lsquo;Dhaka&rsquo;. The startup helps people by suggesting them about the relevant events happening in the city. The website can be customized by the users and organisers for a better experience.

 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/screen%20shot%202016-09-05%20at%206.14.00%20pm-20160906061805.png" />
</div>
 
Dam.com.bd 
Dam.com.bd is the first online shopping database of Bangladesh. It gathers and compares the price information of every single product in the market, helping the consumers to grab the best deal. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/dam.com.bd%20(1)-20160906062151.png" />
<div class="media-description">
 
 
&nbsp;
</div>
Zuumzuum 
Zuumzuum is an e-commerce platform for lifestyle shoppers who are looking for products from reputed brands at competitive prices throughout South Asian markets. It was founded by ex-Groupon member Rafi Mustafa. 
 
<img alt="" class="img-responsive" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/zuumzuum-20160906062023.png" />
<div class="media-description">
 
(WION Edge)
</div>

Here's a look at Bangladesh's young but fast-growing startup ecosystem.

The startup ecosystem of Bangladesh is growing at a fast pace. The country presents an unexplored market for young startups to innovate and disrupt. Here is a roundup of Bangladesh's most promising startups. Technolive Technolive is a news aggregator app which compiles news in real time from various websites and social media. This app uses machine learning algorithms for monitoring the news. The Tech Lab The Tech Lab aims to reinvent Bangladesh’s education system. It is an engineering institute catered towards Bangladeshi children. The Tech Lab provides courses on programming, electronics, robotics, and mechanical engineering among others. Unigigg Unigigg provides a platform that connects students with their potential employers with an aim to popularize unconventional jobs like photography in the Bangladeshi society. This startup is currently in its alpha testing phase and is getting a very positive response. Branoo Branoo is an e-commerce startup catering to men, women and kids alike with a wide variety of products from various brands. They have their own warehouse to store products. Branoo offers several payment modes to the customers. Track My Vehicle Track My Vehicle is a startup which aims to address one of the biggest problems of Bangladesh i.e. vehicle stealing. Using their mobile app or website, the customers can get the reports on their vehicles’ speed, location, and other important statistics. Bongo Bangladesh’s video-on-demand startup, Bongo, is popularly called the country’s very own version of Netflix. It is an entertainment catalog with a library of over 30,000 movies, TV shows, dramas, music, etc. Bongo plans to extend its services to other countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and the U.S. Buckets Engineer Buckets Engineer is a subscription-based service for the autistic kids in Bangladesh. The startup has created a hub of applications and tools so as to allow the parents, therapists and educators to undertake a dynamic approach and make the autistic children learn better. Kokhon.com Kokhon is a website that is dedicated solely to aggregating events happening all over Bangladesh’s capital ‘Dhaka’. The startup helps people by suggesting them about the relevant events happening in the city. The website can be customized by the users and organisers for a better experience. Dam.com.bd Dam.com.bd is the first online shopping database of Bangladesh. It gathers and compares the price information of every single product in the market, helping the consumers to grab the best deal. Zuumzuum Zuumzuum is an e-commerce platform for lifestyle shoppers who are looking for products from reputed brands at competitive prices throughout South Asian markets. It was founded by ex-Groupon member Rafi Mustafa. (WION Edge)

10 hottest startups in Bangladesh to watch out for

Messaging app Snapchat by year&#39;s end will have more US users than either Twitter or Pinterest, a market tracker said on Wednesday. 
 
The number of people using Snapchat in the United States will leap more than 27 per cent this year to 58.6 million, meaning that nearly one in five people in the country will be using the service, according to an eMarketer forecast. 
 
Twitter was expected to have 56.8 million US users this year, and online bulletin board Pinterest to have 54.6 million users. 
By the year 2020, the ranks of US Snapchat users was expected to swell to 85.5 million, according to the report. 
 
However, eMarketer forecast that Facebook Messenger smartphone communication application would remain in the lead in this segment with its US user base growing from 105.2 million this year to 139.2 million in the year 2020. 
 
Snapchat estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day. 
 
Snapchat&#39;s allure includes letting users &quot;cut through the clutter by injecting fun back into social sharing,&quot; according to eMarketer analyst Cathy Boyle. 
 
Snapchat has also tapped into an interest, particularly among young internet users, in communicating intimately with one or a few people instead of broadcasting messages across networks, the analyst said. 
 
The messaging service has been working with media partners and advertisers to reach its youthful audience. 
 
Snapchat this week rolled out a redesign making it a more attractive stage for publishers or brands to attract online audiences. 
 
A recent Bloomberg news report maintained that the number of people using Snapchat daily around the world already outnumber those using Twitter, giving the figures 150 million users versus 140 million. 
 
Those figures have not been confirmed by either company. 
 
Snapchat disclosed last month that it raised more than $1.8 billion in new funding.

Messaging app Snapchat by year's end will have more US users than either Twitter or Pinterest

Messaging app Snapchat by year's end will have more US users than either Twitter or Pinterest, a market tracker said on Wednesday. The number of people using Snapchat in the United States will leap more than 27 per cent this year to 58.6 million, meaning that nearly one in five people in the country will be using the service, according to an eMarketer forecast. Twitter was expected to have 56.8 million US users this year, and online bulletin board Pinterest to have 54.6 million users. By the year 2020, the ranks of US Snapchat users was expected to swell to 85.5 million, according to the report. However, eMarketer forecast that Facebook Messenger smartphone communication application would remain in the lead in this segment with its US user base growing from 105.2 million this year to 139.2 million in the year 2020. Snapchat estimates it has more than 100 million users globally of the service for sending videos, images and text messages which vanish after being viewed. Some reports say it generates 10 billion video views per day. Snapchat's allure includes letting users "cut through the clutter by injecting fun back into social sharing," according to eMarketer analyst Cathy Boyle. Snapchat has also tapped into an interest, particularly among young internet users, in communicating intimately with one or a few people instead of broadcasting messages across networks, the analyst said. The messaging service has been working with media partners and advertisers to reach its youthful audience. Snapchat this week rolled out a redesign making it a more attractive stage for publishers or brands to attract online audiences. A recent Bloomberg news report maintained that the number of people using Snapchat daily around the world already outnumber those using Twitter, giving the figures 150 million users versus 140 million. Those figures have not been confirmed by either company. Snapchat disclosed last month that it raised more than $1.8 billion in new funding.

Snapchat seen surging past Twitter, Pinterest in US

Chinese mobile internet giant Alibaba Group has announced the launch of Privacy Knight, India`s first free app-lock with a face lock feature that protects mobile privacy from intruders. 
 
Currently available on Android, the app is equipped with face lock, the fastest and most accurate unlock solution in the world, which enables users to unlock their protected apps through a one-second-selfie. 
 
&quot;Face lock is set to change the way people protect their privacy. It`s the next big thing after fingerprint lock. The age of face lock is here,&quot; said Country Manager of 9Apps (Android Marketplace within Alibaba Mobile Business Group), Ebrahim Popat. 
 
With the boost of smartphone utilization, India is now the largest consumer market for security app in the world. Such tremendous demand indicates a strong need for better privacy protection. 
 
&quot;Indian users are particularly concerned about security of their private photos and SNS apps on their phones. On the other hand, with predictable popularization of mobile payment, the need for mobile financial security protection will also surge in the foreseeable future. Privacy Knight provides Indian users with an enjoyable and trustworthy privacy guard for their smartphone security,&quot; said Director Alibaba Mobile Security Department, Shuhua Chen. 
 
Simple yet reliable, the security app works on a one-second-step for face locking, saving users the trouble to remember patterns/pincode. 
 
Also, the face lock and blink detection setting ensure a 99.47 percent accuracy of face recognition, more precise than any other recognition models in the world.What makes Privacy Knight even safer is that no user information upload is requested, since face lock is accessible offline.Besides face lock, Privacy Knight also offers users excellent protection including app lock, vault, clean, themes, intruder selfie, fake cover, fake icon, and more.&nbsp;

Alibaba to launch India's first app-lock with a face lock feature.

Chinese mobile internet giant Alibaba Group has announced the launch of Privacy Knight, India`s first free app-lock with a face lock feature that protects mobile privacy from intruders. Currently available on Android, the app is equipped with face lock, the fastest and most accurate unlock solution in the world, which enables users to unlock their protected apps through a one-second-selfie. "Face lock is set to change the way people protect their privacy. It`s the next big thing after fingerprint lock. The age of face lock is here," said Country Manager of 9Apps (Android Marketplace within Alibaba Mobile Business Group), Ebrahim Popat. With the boost of smartphone utilization, India is now the largest consumer market for security app in the world. Such tremendous demand indicates a strong need for better privacy protection. "Indian users are particularly concerned about security of their private photos and SNS apps on their phones. On the other hand, with predictable popularization of mobile payment, the need for mobile financial security protection will also surge in the foreseeable future. Privacy Knight provides Indian users with an enjoyable and trustworthy privacy guard for their smartphone security," said Director Alibaba Mobile Security Department, Shuhua Chen. Simple yet reliable, the security app works on a one-second-step for face locking, saving users the trouble to remember patterns/pincode. Also, the face lock and blink detection setting ensure a 99.47 percent accuracy of face recognition, more precise than any other recognition models in the world.What makes Privacy Knight even safer is that no user information upload is requested, since face lock is accessible offline.Besides face lock, Privacy Knight also offers users excellent protection including app lock, vault, clean, themes, intruder selfie, fake cover, fake icon, and more.

Alibaba launches a face-lock security app called ''Privacy Knight''

European Union&nbsp;governments&nbsp;should not ban services like home-rental site&nbsp;Airbnb&nbsp;or ride-hailing app&nbsp;Uber&nbsp;except as a last resort, the&nbsp;EU&nbsp;says in new guidelines, seeking to rein in a crackdown on the &quot;sharing economy&quot;.

In guidelines seen by Reuters, the&nbsp;European Commission said any restrictions by&nbsp;EU&nbsp;member states on these new online services should be justified and proportionate to the public interest at stake.

&quot;Total bans of an activity constitute a measure of last resort that should be applied only if and where no less restrictive requirements to attain a public interest can be used,&quot; the draft document says.

In the case of room-renting sites like&nbsp;Airbnb, the Commission said&nbsp;banning&nbsp;short-term lets of apartments &quot;appears difficult to justify&quot; when limits on the maximum number of days apartments can be rented out would be more appropriate.

The guidelines will come as good news for the likes of&nbsp;Uber&nbsp;and&nbsp;Airbnb, which have faced outright bans or restrictions in some cities as established industry players complain of unfair competition.

Airbnb, founded in 2008, and&nbsp;Uber, launched a year later, both grew up in the hot-house San Francisco tech&nbsp;scene and almost from the start have faced regulatory battles across the United States, and&nbsp;more recently from&nbsp;around the world.

Both have become favourite targets of local officials and rival trade groups in&nbsp;Europe, with its tradition of strong social oversight.

In the &quot;sharing economy,&quot;&nbsp;customers use the internet to contract services such as ride-sharing, where amateur drivers displace professional taxi drivers, or home-sharing, which reduces hotel demand.

&quot;These services can fall within several sectors, falling under the regulatory burden of all of them,&quot; the Commission said.

A case in point is&nbsp;Uber,&nbsp;which considers itself merely a digital service connecting drivers and passengers, not&nbsp;a transport service, which would make it subject to more onerous rules on driver qualifications, road rules and insurance.

The&nbsp;EU&#39;s highest court is set to rule later this year or next on whether&nbsp;Uber&nbsp;is a transport company or a digital service.

 
LOCAL SKIRMISHES

Associations of taxi drivers have staged high-profile protests against&nbsp;Uber&nbsp;in France, Britain, Portugal, Spain and many other&nbsp;European countries since 2014.

Last year, French prosecutors staged a&nbsp;raid of&nbsp;Uber&#39;s Paris offices in a showdown over whether the company was violating a law to curtail online taxi services.

Uber&nbsp;suspended its&nbsp;UberPOP service, which relies on non-professional drivers, in Brussels last October after a court ordered it shut down.

The company reintroduced its service in Madrid in March after beating a hasty retreat from the market in 2014 following a court ruling against it.

Airbnb&nbsp;has faced loud criticism from city officials in Barcelona and Paris over its impact on local housing markets.

On May 1, Berlin officials implemented one of the world&#39;s toughest clampdowns on&nbsp;Airbnb. City officials have promised to reject 95 per cent of requests by landlords to rent out places on a short-term basis.

City officials have received more than 500 legal complaints over the murky provisions of the new law. A Berlin court on June 8 is handling the case of German&nbsp;Airbnb&nbsp;competitor Wimdu, which filed suit over the new regulation.

German hotel association IHA said in response to the&nbsp;EU&nbsp;guidelines: &ldquo;The current legal vacuum...comes at the expense of consumers, residents and taxpayers and distorts the competition to the (disadvantage) of the heavily regulated hotel industry&rdquo;.

European Union says governments should not ban services like home-rental site Airbnb or ride-hailing app Uber except as a last resort

European Union governments should not ban services like home-rental site Airbnb or ride-hailing app Uber except as a last resort, the EU says in new guidelines, seeking to rein in a crackdown on the "sharing economy". In guidelines seen by Reuters, the European Commission said any restrictions by EU member states on these new online services should be justified and proportionate to the public interest at stake. "Total bans of an activity constitute a measure of last resort that should be applied only if and where no less restrictive requirements to attain a public interest can be used," the draft document says. In the case of room-renting sites like Airbnb, the Commission said banning short-term lets of apartments "appears difficult to justify" when limits on the maximum number of days apartments can be rented out would be more appropriate. The guidelines will come as good news for the likes of Uber and Airbnb, which have faced outright bans or restrictions in some cities as established industry players complain of unfair competition. Airbnb, founded in 2008, and Uber, launched a year later, both grew up in the hot-house San Francisco tech scene and almost from the start have faced regulatory battles across the United States, and more recently from around the world. Both have become favourite targets of local officials and rival trade groups in Europe, with its tradition of strong social oversight. In the "sharing economy," customers use the internet to contract services such as ride-sharing, where amateur drivers displace professional taxi drivers, or home-sharing, which reduces hotel demand. "These services can fall within several sectors, falling under the regulatory burden of all of them," the Commission said. A case in point is Uber, which considers itself merely a digital service connecting drivers and passengers, not a transport service, which would make it subject to more onerous rules on driver qualifications, road rules and insurance. The EU's highest court is set to rule later this year or next on whether Uber is a transport company or a digital service. LOCAL SKIRMISHES Associations of taxi drivers have staged high-profile protests against Uber in France, Britain, Portugal, Spain and many other European countries since 2014. Last year, French prosecutors staged a raid of Uber's Paris offices in a showdown over whether the company was violating a law to curtail online taxi services. Uber suspended its UberPOP service, which relies on non-professional drivers, in Brussels last October after a court ordered it shut down. The company reintroduced its service in Madrid in March after beating a hasty retreat from the market in 2014 following a court ruling against it. Airbnb has faced loud criticism from city officials in Barcelona and Paris over its impact on local housing markets. On May 1, Berlin officials implemented one of the world's toughest clampdowns on Airbnb. City officials have promised to reject 95 per cent of requests by landlords to rent out places on a short-term basis. City officials have received more than 500 legal complaints over the murky provisions of the new law. A Berlin court on June 8 is handling the case of German Airbnb competitor Wimdu, which filed suit over the new regulation. German hotel association IHA said in response to the EU guidelines: “The current legal vacuum...comes at the expense of consumers, residents and taxpayers and distorts the competition to the (disadvantage) of the heavily regulated hotel industry”.

EU cautions governments against banning Uber, Airbnb

App, News on App, stories on App, articles on App, App stories at Wion, App news, App latest news