TikTok will open two new data centres in Europe, the firm’s general manager for the region, Rich Waterworth, wrote in a blog post on February 17. 

It follows the Chinese social media platform’s announcement last April that it was opening its first European data centre in Dublin, Ireland.

“In line with the growth of our community, we’re looking to expand our European data storage capacity. We are at an advanced stage of finalising a plan for a second data centre in Ireland with a third-party service provider, in addition to the site announced last year,” he wrote. The firm is also in talks to establish a third data centre in Europe, the blog post states. 

More than 5000 people work for TikTok in the region, spanning Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.  

Taliban turns US bases into special economic zones

The Taliban administration in Afghanistan is planning to turn former foreign military bases into special economic zones, according to Reuters. 

“Following a thorough discussion, it was decided that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should progressively take control of the remaining military bases of the foreign forces with the intention of converting them into special economic zones,” the news agency quotes acting deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar as saying in a statement.

It will begin with pilot projects that convert bases in Kabul and the northern Balkh province.

France chosen for recycling plant

An international joint venture has chosen Saint-Avold in France to establish a €450m production facility for fully recyclable PET plastic. The project to be developed by a consortium consisting of Canada’s Loop Industries, France’s Suez and South Korea’s SK Geo Centric will be the first in Europe to apply Loop’s end–to-end plastic recycling technology. 

The group plans to break ground on the plant in the Chemesis industrial platform, in France’s north east, next year and start operations in 2027.

“This pioneering process will close the plastic cycle by recycling packaging indefinitely with no loss of quality and low carbon dioxide emissions thanks to France's highly decarbonised electricity mix,” said French minister of industry Roland Lescure in a statement on February 16.

And finally: Algeria’s president Abdelmadjid Tebboune will grant $1bn to the Algerian Agency of International Cooperation for Solidarity and Development to invest in economic development projects throughout Africa, the country’s official news agency APS announced on February 19.