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EU demands Meta and TikTok detail efforts to curb disinformation from Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The European Union ratcheted up its scrutiny of Big Tech companies on Thursday with demands for Meta and TikTok to detail their efforts to curb illegal content and disinformation during the Israel-Hamas war. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch, formally requested that the social media companies provide information on how they’re complying with sweeping new digital rules aimed at cleaning up online platforms. The commission asked Meta and TikTok to explain the measures they have taken to reduce the risk of spreading and amplifying terrorist and violent content, hate speech and disinformation. Under the EU’s new rules, which took effect in August, the biggest tech companies face extra obligations to stop a wide range of illegal content from flourishing on their platforms or face the threat of hefty fines. The new rules, known as the Digital Services Act, are being put to the test by the Israel-Hamas war. Photos and videos have...

European court says Italy violated rights of residents near Naples over garbage crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy violated the human rights of residents living in and around Naples by failing to manage a 15-year garbage and pollution crisis that contributed to higher mortality rates from cancer in the area, the European Court of Human Rights ruled. The preliminary verdict announced Thursday from the Strasbourg-based court is the second major one in recent years to find that Italy’s failure to collect, treat and dispose of tons of waste in the Campania region adversely affected residents’ personal well-being.Residents of the area have long complained about adverse health effects from the dumping, which has poisoned the underground wells irrigating the farmland that provides vegetables for much of Italy’s center and south. The area is known as the “land of fires,” since the accumulated waste is commonly burned, spewing toxic fumes for kilometers (miles). Authorities say at least some of the contamination is due to the local Camorra mob’s multibillion-dollar racket in disposing o...

One person injured after car flips during police chase in Brampton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

One person is in hospital with injuries after a car flipped during a police chase in Brampton on Wednesday night.Police tell CityNews officers were trying to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle with stolen plates near Brandon Gate Drive and Goreway Drive in Mississauga around 9:30 p.m.It is alleged the suspect vehicle fled and drove into plaza near Airport Road and Queen Street East in Brampton where it collided with a police cruiser and flipped over.The 36-year-old driver of the suspect vehicle was taken to hospital with injuries. He has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime and flight from a peace officer.No other injuries were reported.The investigation is ongoing.

Bottle of ‘most-sought after Scotch whisky’ to come under hammer at Sotheby’s in London next month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A bottle of “the most-sought-after Scotch whisky” is set to go up for auction next month, with an estimated price of up to 1.2 million pounds ($1.4 million), the auction house Sotheby’s said Thursday.It said the 96-year-old bottle of single malt from distiller Macallan — The Macallan Adami 1926 — will come under the hammer in London on Nov. 18, with a price estimate above 750,000 pounds. Advance bidding will begin Nov. 1.A version of The Macallan 1926 was sold by Sotheby’s in 2019 for 1.5 million pounds, a record for any bottle of wine or spirit. The appearance of three different bottle variations of the whisky at auctions in 2018 and 2019 led to the record being broken three times. “The Macallan 1926 is the one whisky that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own,” said Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s global head of spirits. “I am extremely excited to bring a bottle to a Sotheby’s auction for the first time since we set the record for this vi...

The world waits for Israel’s ground offensive, and whatever comes next

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, the Israel-Hamas war is near a tipping point. At some point Israel will have to decide to push forward with a massive and unprecedented ground offensive into Gaza in an attempt to eradicate Hamas, or find a way to back down from the stated goal of its response. A large-scale ground invasion, however, may well draw other entities into a widening conflict.Gregg Carlstrom is the Middle East correspondent for The Economist and author of How Long Will Israel Survive? The Threat From Within.“Everyone in the region, hundreds of millions of people in this region, are really waiting on tenterhooks right now because they’re nervous about what seems like a very real possibility that this will expand,” said Carlstrom.If Israel sends in ground troops, what happens next? How reliable is information coming out of Gaza right now? Will U.S. President Joe Biden’s presence in the region Wednesday accomplish anything? And is there any hope of a ceasefire?Y...

The Guardian fires longtime cartoonist after allegations of antisemitic imagery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Guardian newspaper has fired longtime editorial cartoonist Steve Bell after refusing to run a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that critics said drew on antisemitic imagery.“The decision has been made not to renew Steve Bell’s contract,” the Guardian said.“Steve Bell’s cartoons have been an important part of the Guardian over the past 40 years — we thank him and wish him all the best,” publisher Guardian News and Media said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday.Bell has contributed to The Guardian since 1983. Several of his hundreds of cartoons over the years have been accused of including anti-Jewish stereotypes. The latest cartoon, posted by Bell on social media, shows Netanyahu holding a scalpel and preparing to cut a Gaza-shaped incision in his abdomen, with the caption “Residents of Gaza, get out now.” It is labeled “after David Levine” and recalls a Vietnam War-era cartoon depicting U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson poi...

Communities can’t recycle or trash disposable e-cigarettes. So what happens to them?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the growing popularity of disposable e-cigarettes, communities across the U.S. are confronting a new vaping problem: how to safely get rid of millions of small, battery-powered devices that are considered hazardous waste.For years, the debate surrounding vaping largely centered on its risks for high school and middle school students enticed by flavors like gummy bear, lemonade and watermelon.But the recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. The devices, which contain nicotine, lithium and other metals, cannot be reused or recycled. Under federal environmental law, they also aren’t supposed to go in the trash.U.S. teens and adults are buying roughly 12 million disposable vapes per month. With little federal guidance, local officials are finding their own ways to dispose of e-cigarettes collected from schools, colleges, vape shops and other sites.“We are in a really weird regulatory place where there is no l...

Northern Europe braces for gale-force winds and extensive floods

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Much of northern Europe braced for stormy weather and gale-force winds from the east on Thursday, with authorities warning that floods could cause major problems in inland Danish waters, in the Baltic Sea and in the north of the U.K.Danish broadcaster TV2 reported that the region would likely see the worst flooding in 110 years, and the Danish Meteorological Institute said waves could reach 4 meters (13 feet) along east-facing coasts. In the U.K., the Met Office issued a rare red alert — the highest level of weather warning — for parts of Scotland, warning of “exceptional rainfall” Thursday and Friday and the possibility of a “danger to life” from extensive flooding. The last red alert in the U.K. was issued in 2020. Officials warned Scots to stay away from coastal areas.In Ireland, the storm — named Storm Babet by U.K. officials — brought flooding to several towns and villages, with some areas remaining under water and without power Thursday. Soldiers hel...

GOP lawmaker says she's received death threats over Speaker vote 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

(The Hill) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) revealed she has received death threats after reversing her support for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on the second Speaker ballot Wednesday. Miller-Meeks said she received “credible death threats” and a “barrage of threatening calls,” according to a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. She said her office is “cooperating fully” and the proper authorities have been notified. Miller-Meeks was one of four Republicans to switch their support Wednesday after voting for Jordan on the first ballot. "One thing I cannot stomach, or support is a bully," she said. "I did not stand for bullies before I voted for Chairwoman Granger and when I voted for Speaker designee Jordan, and I will not bend to bullies now." Miller-Meeks instead voted for Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), claiming the Texas Republican has demonstrated "great leadership" as chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee. The Iowa Republican said it was "a...

US vetoes UN resolution calling for 'humanitarian pause' in Gaza during Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:46 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. vetoed a U.N. resolution Wednesday to condemn all violence against civilians in the Israel-Hamas war and to urge humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the council needs to allow current diplomatic efforts, including by President Joe Biden, to unfold and to find out more facts on the ground first. She also criticized the measure for failing to underline Israel’s right to self-defense.The resolution sponsored by Brazil had wide support and would have condemned all violence against civilians, including “the heinous terrorists attacks by Hamas” against Israel. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 votes in favor and the U.S. against, with Russia and Britain abstaining.Thomas-Greenfield said that Biden was in the region engaging in diplomacy hoping to protect civilians, secure the release of hostage and prevent the conflict from spreading. “We need to let that diplomacy play out,” she said.She sai...