With less than a day until the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect, a growing number of companies are taking the nuclear option to ensure compliance: blocking all European users from their servers.

Instapaper, a read-later service owned by the US firm Pinterest, became the latest to disconnect European customers on Thursday. It said the cutoff was temporary while it made the required changes, and told users: “We apologise for any inconvenience, and we intend to restore access as soon as possible.” Pinterest did not respond to a request for comment. Other companies have taken a more permanent approach. Unroll.me, an inbox management firm, announced it was withdrawing services for EU companies due to an inability to offer its product – which is monetised by selling insights gleaned from reading users’ emails – in a way that was compatible with EU law. “We are truly sorry that we are unable to offer our service to you,” the company told EU users.(theguardian)…[+]

Jeremy Corbyn has rebuffed claims he will seek a united Ireland if he becomes prime minister during his first visit to Belfast since becoming the leader of the opposition.

The Labour leader said he would not seek a border poll unless there was an obvious demand for it during a speech in which he went out of his way to praise senior unionists such as Lord Trimble and the late Rev Ian Paisley.  He spoke out following reports on Thursday that unionists remain suspicious that Corbyn supports the unification of Ireland and retains sympathies for Sinn Féin and other republicans.

The Irish border issue is one of the most problematic aspects of the Brexit negotiations, with ministers trying to find a way of avoiding checks on the UK’s only land border with the EU.

Addressing students and staff at Queen’s University, Corbyn was asked if he would advocate a poll on whether the border should continue to exist between Ireland and Northern Ireland.  He replied: “That would be a decision that could be made within the terms of the Good Friday agreement.

“If that is the wish, then clearly such a poll would happen. I’m not asking for it, I’m not advocating it. What I’m asking for is a return to the fullness of the Good Friday agreement which would open up the opportunities and possibilities for the future of Ireland as a whole. “That is the point of the Good Friday agreement – not direct rule, not imposition of a political view from Westminster – but devolution of powers to Stormont here and of course the relationship with the Republic. “It is quite clear that it’s there for a poll on both sides of the border, should that be something that is demanded,” he said.(theguardian)…[+]

A Spanish rapper whose jail sentence of three and a half years for “glorifying terrorism” and insulting the crown caused an outcry has said he will defy authorities, amid reports he may have fled the country. Jose Miguel Arenas Beltrán – better known as Valtònyc– was sentenced last year for lyrics that Spain’s national court ruled warranted a prison sentence. The supreme court upheld the ruling in February.

Valtònyc, 24, had been freed on bail until his prison entry deadline, which came on Thursday. But on Wednesday he wrote in a cryptic tweet: “Tomorrow they will knock down the door of my house to put me in jail. For some songs. Tomorrow Spain is going to make a fool of itself, once more. “I’m not going to make it easy for them, it’s legitimate and an obligation to disobey this fascist state. Here, no one surrenders.”(theguardian)…[+]