Changing Tactics: Meta may remove ads from Insta, FB because of EU’s DSA and ad transparency laws
> #Meta may be thinking of giving users an option to completely remove ads from their feeds on #Instagram and #Facebook. This is because EU's #DSA and strict ad transparency laws are set to cause trouble for tech companies who do not handle user data properly, and target them with ads
#UK - Fake spare parts supplied to fix top-selling jet engines
> European aviation regulators have determined that an obscure London-based company supplied bogus parts for repairs of jet engines that power many older-generation Airbus SE A320 and Boeing Co. 737 planes.
Q&A: Uncovering the labor exploitation that powers AI - Columbia Journalism Review
> Investigating how tech firms like #OpenAI and Meta teach their algorithms right from wrong, TIME’s Billy Perrigo discovered routine exploitation in the Global South
https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/qa-uncovering-the-labor-exploitation-that-powers-ai.php #AI #artificialintelligence #Apple #BigTech
#California - State lawmakers clear way for controversial Berkeley housing project
> “UC will ask the Supreme Court to consider the new statute when it issues its ruling,” the spokesperson wrote. “The campus will resume construction of the People’s Park project when the lawsuit is resolved and hopes that the new law will substantially hasten the resolution of the lawsuit.”
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/state-lawmakers-clear-way-for-berkeley-project-18336756.php #peoplespark #ucberkeley #publicspace #berkeleyca #sanfrancisco
#Tennessee Governor’s Gun Law Proposal Is Spurned by #GOP Allies
> His call [..] to harden school security was embraced by #Republicans in the legislature, who flanked him during a formal announcement.
But days later, when Mr. Lee, a #Republican, decided to go further and ask for an order of protection law that could temporarily restrict an individual’s access to firearms, he stood alone [..] The legislature would wrap up its work [..] without taking a vote to pass it. https://archive.ph/2023.08.21-160319/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/us/politics/tennessee-gun-law-nashville-shooting.html
DeSantis voted against Sandy aid a decade ago. Now his state needs the help
> Ron DeSantis had just been sworn in as a member of the House in 2013 when he voted against sending $9.7 billion in disaster relief to New York and New Jersey, two states still reeling from the damage of Hurricane Sandy.
“I sympathize with the victims,” the #Florida #Republican said at the time, but objected to what he called Congress’ “put it on the credit card mentality"
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/31/desantis-florida-gop-sandy-disaster-aid-00113627 #RonDeSantis
Ecuador inmates holding 57 guards, police hostage: Minister
> Prisoners at a penitentiary in the Ecuadoran city of Cuenca are holding hostage 50 guards and seven police officers, Interior Minister Juan Zapata said Thursday.
Two arrested in Hong Kong for 'foreign collusion
>The two men, who authorities did not name, were linked to the "612 Humanitarian Relief Fund", a now-defunct group that helped pay legal and medical costs for people arrested during the 2019 protests.
https://www.gulf-times.com/article/667450/international/rest-of-the-world/two-arrested-in-hong-kong-for-foreign-collusion #China #HongKong
The EPA removes federal protections for most of the country's wetlands
>The Environmental Protection Agency removed federal protections for a majority of the country's wetlands on Tuesday to comply with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196654382/epa-wetlands-waterways-supreme-court #climatechange #SCOTUS #globalwarming #climatecrisis
Germany pledges almost $3bn in new military aid to Ukraine
>Though initially slow to provide military aid to Kyiv, Germany has since become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, crucially giving the green light for the delivery of modern battle tanks in the form of its own Leopard 1 and 2 models, along with sophisticated anti-aircraft systems needed to fend off drone and missile attacks.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/14/germany-to-give-2-95bn-military-aid-to-kyiv-zelenskyy-in-berlin #Ukraine #Russia #Germany #RussiaUkraineWar #UkraineWar #UkraineWarNews
Hollywood's working class turns to nonprofit funds to make ends meet during the strike
>Batey — who used her grant to pay her rent, phone bill and electric bill, and other expenses — is one of 2,600 film or television workers that the Entertainment Community Fund has helped during these strikes, granting $5.4 million as of Aug. 25.
https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/hollywood-s-working-class-turns-to-nonprofit-18337911.php #union #Hollywood #sagaftra #strike #labour #unions #solidarity #unionstrong #IATSE
Mark Thompson: CNN appoints former BBC director general as chief executive
>Ex-BBC and New York Times boss Sir Mark Thompson has been appointed to lead CNN following a series of crises and falling ratings at the US news network.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66656093 #CNN #NYT #BBC #US #media
Meta takes down large Chinese and Russian influence operations : NPR
>Facebook's parent company, Meta, says operations linked to China and Russia used fake accounts across social media sites to spread messages
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/29/1196117574/meta-says-chinese-russian-influence-operations-are-among-the-biggest-its-taken-d #meta #facebook #China #Russia
Workers exposed to extreme heat have no consistent protection in the US - ABC News
>A historic heat wave that began blasting the Southwest and other parts of the country this summer is shining a spotlight on one of the harshest, yet least-addressed effects of U.S. #climatechange: the rising deaths and injuries of people who work in extreme heat, whether inside warehouses and kitchens or outside under the blazing sun. Many of them are migrants in low-wage jobs
Witness in Trump docs case changed testimony after switching lawyers, special counsel says
>Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's club in Palm Beach, Florida, changed his testimony last month about efforts to delete security camera video at the club after he changed from a lawyer paid for by Trump’s Save America PAC to a public defender, Tuesday's filing says.
Climate change has doubled the chance of weather fueling wildfires in Canada: scientists
>The chance of the dry, hot weather currently fueling extreme #wildfires in Canada has at least doubled due to #climatechange. That is the conclusion drawn by an international group of climate scientists in an analysis. This type of fire-hazardous weather is no longer a rarity, the researchers from #Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom made clear in their publication.
Haiti, Dominican Republic warn of floods, landslides as Tropical Storm Franklin nears | AP News
>The storm is forecast to drop up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in both countries, with up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated areas. Heavy rainfall is of great concern to Haiti, where severe erosion in many places often leads to dangerous flooding. More than 40 people died in June following a day of heavy rain from a thunderstorm.
https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-tropical-storms-hurricane-be92f479321603502a2d67f9d5fce812 #Haiti #DominicanRepublic
Frozen $6 billion in Iranian profits transferred to Switzerland
>The funds frozen in South #Korea following #US sanctions have now been transferred to a bank in #Switzerland; Later they will be transferred to Iran, as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the US - this deal could help bring about a nuclear agreement
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/b1msrjx62 #Iran
Ecuadorians reject oil drilling in the Amazon in historic decision - ABC News
>In a historic decision, Ecuadorians voted on Sunday against the oil drilling of a protected area in the Amazon, which is home to two uncontacted tribes and serves as a biodiversity hotspot https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ecuadorians-reject-oil-drilling-amazon-historic-decision-102418558 #Ecuador #elections
Biden’s infrastructure building boom is missing one thing: Workers
Training inmates.
>“We’ve got more jobs than people,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, a Republican who leads the state’s workforce efforts, said in an interview. “In the past, someone would have said, ‘You’re spending this money [on inmates] and taking my job.’ But now, nobody wants these jobs. Nobody’s waiting in line for these jobs. They can’t find anybody to take them.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/bidens-infrastructure-building-boom-missing-one-thing-workers-rcna100209 #US #economy
