the european parliament voted in favour of new european union rules to store phone and internet data to fight terrorism and other serious crime on wednesday. the parliament voted by 378 to 197, with 30 abstentions, for a package that had already been agreed between the assembly)s two biggest groups and member states, with european commission backing, reuters reported. earlier this month, britain secured a deal among the eu)s 25 member countries that would force telecommunications companies to store data for between six to 24 months. --spa 14:14 local time 11:14 gmt nnnn
