International

International


Whistleblower allegation: Harvard muzzled disinfo team after $500 million Zuckerberg donation

A prominent disinformation scholar who left Harvard University in August has accused the school of muzzling her speech and stifling — then dismantling — her research team as it launched a deep dive in late 2021 into a trove of Facebook files she considers the most important documents in internet history. The actions impacting Joan […]

Read More


Spanish newspaper association files multimillion euro suit against Meta over advertising practices

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish association representing more than 80 newspapers has filed a lawsuit against Facebook parent Meta accusing it of unfair competition in online advertising by allegedly ignoring European Union rules on data protection. In a statement, the Information Media Association said it is demanding 550 million euros ($600 million) from the social media […]

Read More


Facebook parent Meta sues the FTC claiming ‘unconstitutional authority’ in child privacy case

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — The parent company of Instagram and Facebook has sued the Federal Trade Commission in an attempt to stop the agency from reopening a 2020 privacy settlement with the company that would prohibit it from profiting from data it collects on users under 18. In a lawsuit filed late Wednesday in federal court […]

Read More


Charges dismissed against 3 emergency management supervisors in 2020 death

WAYNESBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge has dismissed all charges against three western Pennsylvania emergency management supervisors who had been accused of obstructing an investigation into an emergency dispatcher accused of failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding about a day later. Senior Judge Katherine […]

Read More


Indiana judge dismisses state’s lawsuit against TikTok that alleged child safety, privacy concerns

NDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana county judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the state accusing TikTok of deceiving its users about the level of inappropriate content for children on its platform and the security of its consumers’ personal information. A pair of lawsuits filed in December 2022 accused the app of misleading its viewers […]

Read More


Diplomas for sale: $465, no classes required. Inside one of Louisiana’s unapproved schools

SPRINGFIELD, La. (AP) — Arliya Martin accepted her high school diploma with relief and gratitude. It was her ticket to better-paying work, she felt, after getting kicked out of high school and toiling for eight years at factory jobs to support her children. But Martin didn’t take any classes or pass any tests to receive […]

Read More


Maui residents wonder if their burned town can be made safe. The answer? No one knows

When Daniel Skousen scrubs at the ash and soot covering his Maui home, he worries about the smell. What chemicals created the burning-trash-barrel scent that has lingered since a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina in August? Should he believe government agencies’ assessment of when the air, land and water will be safe enough for his […]

Read More


CU of M ex dean `not a person who can be trusted to be a lawyer

An attorney for the Law Society of Manitoba has hinted the watchdog plans to request the disbarment of a former dean of law who is accused of filing more than $500,000 in phony work expenses. The society’s disciplinary committee — a panel of two lawyers and a public representative — heard final submissions in the […]

Read More


Stop asking questions; pay the bill’

An ex-law dean accused of embezzling more than a half-million dollars from the University of Manitoba asked an employee to set up a Swiss bank account as a payee and, on another occasion, told her to “stop asking questions” about his expense claims. The professional disciplinary hearing of Jonathan Black-Branch heard from two witnesses — […]

Read More


House Republicans issue a subpoena to federal prosecutor in Hunter Biden’s case

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans issued a subpoena Tuesday to a federal prosecutor involved in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, demanding answers for what they allege is Justice Department interference in the yearslong case into the president’s son. Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, called on Lesley Wolf, the assistant U.S. […]

Read More


California can share gun owners’ personal information with researchers, appeals court rules

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A state appeals court ruled that California can continue providing personal information of gun owners to researchers to study gun violence, reversing last year’s decision by a lower court judge who said such data sharing violates privacy rights. In 2021, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law allowing the state’s Department of Justice to share identifying information […]

Read More


K-12 schools improve protection against online attacks, but many are vulnerable to ransomware gangs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some K-12 public schools are racing to improve protection against the threat of online attacks, but lax cybersecurity means thousands of others are vulnerable to ransomware gangs that can steal confidential data and disrupt operations. Since a White House conference in August on ransomware threats, dozens of school districts have signed up for free […]

Read More