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Facebook, Twitter to face new EU content rules by August 25

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

The world’s largest social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and others will have to crack down on illegal and harmful content or else face hefty fines under the European Union’s Digital Services Act from as early as August 25. The European Commission today will designate 19 very large online platforms (VLOPs) and search engines that will fall under the scrutiny of the wide-ranging online content law. These firms will face strict requirements including swiftly removing illegal content, ensuring minors are not targeted with personalized ads and limiting the spread of disinformation and harmful content like cyberbullying. “With great scale comes great responsibility,” said the EU’s Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton in a briefing with journalists. “As of August 25, in other words, exactly four months [from] now, online platforms and search engines with more than 45 million active users … will have stronger obligation.”Th...

Biden dives back in, announces reelection bid

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally launched his campaign for a second term in 2024, asking voters to keep him in office and “finish the job” of an historic American recovery that started after he vanquished Donald Trump in 2020.Biden’s long-awaited announcement allows him to begin fundraising 18 months out from the November general election. In a video, the president echoed several familiar themes he outlined when he first took charge of the country during the spiraling Covid-19 pandemic and resulting economic turmoil, taking office days after insurrectionists seized the U.S. Capitol.

Ashland woman and 18-month-old daughter able to leave Sudan as conflict in country worsens

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

A woman from Ashland, Mass., and her daughter were able to cross the border out of Sudan as a conflict between military forces in the country continues.Trillian Clifford and 18-month-old Alma recently travelled out of the country following days of sheltering in place in Clifford’s apartment in the country’s capital, Khartoum, according to her sister-in-law Rebecca Winter.“We are thrilled to share that today Trillian and her baby, Alma, have safely crossed the border out of Sudan,” Winter said in a statement sent to 7NEWS. “Trillian, Alma, and all of the foreign nationals from her school are traveling together as private citizens.”Clifford had been working at an international school when a military conflict broke out in the north African country, with at least dozens of people killed and injured as Sudan’s army and a paramilitary group continue to clash with one another. According to her sister-in-law, the Ashland native had been teaching abr...

Tucker who? Fox News hosts avoid Carlson’s name after ouster

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The day he was fired, Tucker Carlson was nearly invisible on the Fox News prime-time lineup that he used to dominate.“We’re not talking about him,” former colleague Sean Hannity said in one of the two very brief mentions of Carlson’s name on Fox News on Monday night. In contrast, his ouster was the lead story on ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts.Carlson was abruptly bounced from his popular prime-time show earlier in the day without any explanation from Fox. It was less than one week after Fox had agreed to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s dissemination of bogus election conspiracy theories, and it came as more legal threats loom.Brian Kilmeade took over Carlson’s hour, telling viewers that Carlson and Fox had agreed to part ways, “as you may have heard.” He swiftly moved on to other stories.Hannity led his hour-long broadcast with a story on Hunter Biden, the president’...

Potentially dangerous doses of melatonin and CBD found in gummies sold for sleep

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

(CNN) — Testing of over two dozen melatonin “gummies” sold as sleep aids found some had potentially dangerous amounts of the hormone that helps regulate sleep, according to a new study.“One product contained 347% more melatonin than what was actual listed on the label of the gummies,” said study coauthor Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Somerville, Massachusetts.A jar of gummies might also contain ingredients you didn’t count on, Cohen said: “One of the products that listed melatonin contained no melatonin at all. It was just cannabidiol, or CBD.”According to the US Food and Drug Administration, “it is currently illegal to market CBD by adding it to a food or labeling it as a dietary supplement.” Yet several of the tested products containing CBD in the study openly advertised the addition of that compound to their melatonin product, Cohen said.“Four of ...

Prince Harry claims Murdoch newspapers paid ‘large sum’ to settle William hacking claim

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

(CNN) — Buckingham Palace and Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers reached a secret agreement over historical phone hacking claims, court documents filed on behalf of Prince Harry allege.The documents, which claim that NGN privately reached an undisclosed settlement with Prince William, are part of the Duke of Sussex’s lawsuit against the media group for alleged unlawful information gathering.The lawsuit includes claims that NGN illegally intercepted voicemail messages, obtained private information by deception and used private investigators to illegally gain information.It’s unclear how Prince Harry is aware of his brother’s settlement, but in his court response he writes that his information is based on a redacted document through which he is inferring that Prince William signed onto the agreement.Officials at Kensington Palace, which represents Prince William, told CNN it does not comment on legal proceedings. Buckingham Palace reite...

Jury selection begins in rape lawsuit against Trump

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, former President Donald Trump has seemed to shake off allegations, investigations and even impeachments. Now his “Teflon Don” reputation is about to face a new test: a jury of average citizens in a lawsuit accusing him of rape.Jury selection began Tuesday for a trial over former advice columnist’s E. Jean Carroll’s claim that Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room. He denies it.The trial is in a federal civil court, meaning that no matter the outcome, Trump isn’t in danger of going to jail. He isn’t required to be in court, either, and his lawyers have indicated he most likely won’t testify.But the trial, which comes as Trump is again running for president, still has the potential to be politically damaging for the Republican. The jury is poised to hear a reprisal of stories of sexual misconduct that rocked his 20...

‘A beauty in the grind’ as Heat move on to Milwaukee with stunning 3-1 lead

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

To fully appreciate this moment, the magnitude of this moment, this 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks is to appreciate the road, the recent rocky road, that led the Miami Heat to this moment.On March 29, it was walking off the court at Madison Square Garden after a 101-92 loss to the New York Knicks, any shot of a top-five playoff seed all but gone as the losing streak reached three.On April 7, it was a road loss with a shorthanded roster against the Washington Wizards that eliminated the possibility of a top-six finish, dropping Erik Spoelstra’s team into the harrowing play-in round for the first time.On April 11, it was a humbling 116-105 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in opener that reduced the season to one final winner-take-all game in order to make the playoffs.And on April 14, it was a fourth-quarter deficit to the visiting Chicago Bulls in that winner-take-all game before ra...

Why don’t Dolphins have a 1st-round pick and how can they salvage draft?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

Amid an abundance of excitement surrounding the Miami Dolphins’ offseason, the 2023 NFL draft is a painful reminder that the team was stripped of its first-round pick due to tampering violations.That’s why Thursday night’s first round will only consist of 31 picks, instead of the usual 32 — one for every NFL franchise. The league found Miami had “impermissible communication” with quarterback Tom Brady and coach Sean Payton while they were employed by other teams.The NFL, in August, docked the Dolphins their 2023 first-round draft selection and 2024 third-round pick. Owner Steve Ross was fined $1.5 million and suspended for the first six weeks of the 2022 regular season for the tampering findings.The Dolphins once held two first-round selections in the 2023 draft. They had another one from a previous trade with the San Francisco 49ers, but that one was later sent to the Denver Broncos at last season’s trade deadline for Pro Bowl outside lineb...

Harry Belafonte, groundbreaking entertainer and activist, dies at 96

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:10:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, has died. He was 96.Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife, Pamela, by his side, said Ken Sunshine, of public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” and its call of “Day-O! Daaaaay-O.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”File photo of American singer Harry Belafonte taken in November 1969 in Paris during the preparation of a TV show with French Nana Mouskouri. ...