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Federal judge hints that Big Tech companies may have to face consumer allegations of mental health harm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

Washington, DC (CNN) — A federal judge in California hinted Friday that Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok could very likely have to face allegations by consumers that the social media companies harmed young Americans’ mental health with addictive features built into their respective platforms — and that Big Tech’s signature liability shield, known as Section 230, may not be enough to deflect those claims.The judge overseeing the litigation — which includes nearly 200 individual cases against the social media companies — said repeatedly that the tech companies may be unable to escape liability for what the consumer plaintiffs allege are vast harms to America’s children posed by algorithmic rabbit holes, image filters that encourage eating disorders or limitless content feeds.Should the claims be allowed to proceed, it could mark a significant blow to the tech industry, which is currently fending off a nationwide legal assault on their services linked to mental health allegations. An...

NFL Notes: The secret behind the Patriots’ No. 1 defense against No. 1 WRs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

For most Patriots practices, all Jalen Reagor needs is a standard uniform.He grabs a helmet, shoulder pads, cleats, the same faded jersey, and a couple other pieces of equipment common to every NFL player.But last week, in order to properly prepare for Buffalo, he needed more.Reagor requested four sweatbands from the team’s equipment staff, two for each forearm. He slid one under each elbow, then tugged the leftovers above each wrist. Because in those practices, he would no longer be Jalen Reagor.He was the second-most targeted receiver in the league, a three-time Pro Bowler and armband enthusiast: Bills star Stefon Diggs. The coaching staff tasked Reagor with simulating Diggs on the scout-team offense, his home for most of the season as a practice-squad player (the Patriots signed Reagor to their active roster Thursday). Each week, the Patriots’ scout-team offense practices against their starting defense, running plays the coaches expect to see from their next opponent....

Maine embarks on healing and searches for answers a day after mass killing suspect is found dead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — The city of Lewison, Maine, embarked upon a healing process — and a search for answers — on Saturday, a day after the body was found of a U.S. Army reservist who authorities said opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar and killed 18 people.Thirteen people were also injured when 40-year-old Robert Card of Bowdoin — a firearms instructor who grew up in the area — was found dead in nearby Lisbon from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.Maine Gov. Janet Mills at a Friday night news conference called for the healing process to begin.“Like many people I’m breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that Robert Card is no longer a threat to anyone,” Mills said on Friday night.Whitney Pelletier hung a hand-drawn “Lewiston Strong” sign in the glass door of her downtown cafe, Forage, on Saturday morning.Like other local businesses, Forage has been closed for days as police searched for the man who fatally shot 18 people at a bar and a bowling alley in Maine’s second largest ...

Mass graves, unclaimed bodies and overcrowded cemeteries. The war robs Gaza of funeral rites

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — It was neither the place nor the time for a proper goodbye, said Omar Dirawi. Not here, in this dusty field strewn with dead people wrapped in blankets and zipped up in body bags. And not now, as Israeli airstrikes crashed around him for the third week, erasing more of his neighborhood and sundering hundreds of families and friendships.Yet on this October week in Gaza’s central town of Zawaideh, the 22-year-old Palestinian photojournalist buried 32 members of his family who were killed in Israeli air raids last Sunday.Dirawi’s aunts, uncles and cousins from Gaza City had heeded Israeli military evacuation orders and taken refuge in his home farther south. Days later Dirawi was unloading their bodies from the back of a truck, digging a narrow trench partitioned with cinder blocks and reciting abbreviated funeral prayers before nightfall, when Israeli warplanes screeched and everyone ran indoors.“There’s nothing that feels right about this,” Dirawi sai...

North Macedonia police intercept a group of 77 migrants and arrest 7 suspected traffickers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Police in North Macedonia said Saturday they found 77 migrants in the country’s south and arrested seven Pakistanis suspected of human trafficking.Police said in a statement the arrests took place late Thursday near the southern town of Negorci when they responded to reports of a large group of people on the move.The 77 included 52 Syrians, 13 Pakistanis, five Iraqis, five Turks and two Indians.Seven of the Pakistanis, believed to be the organizers of the group’s illegal entry into North Macedonia from neighboring Greece, were arrested and criminal charges were filed against them.It was the first large group of migrants crossing into North Macedonia in recent months.The migrants were being sheltered in a reception center in the border town of Gevgelija pending deportation back to Greece.According to the police, a total of 5,280 attempts at illegal crossing were prevented in the first six months of 2023, the vast majority of them at the southern border ...

Less boo for your buck: For the second Halloween in a row, US candy inflation hits double digits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

Spooked by the high price of Halloween candy? There’s not much relief in sight.For the second year in a row, U.S. shoppers are seeing double-digit inflation in the candy aisle. Candy and gum prices are up an average of 13% this month compared to last October, more than double the 6% increase in all grocery prices, according to Datasembly, a retail price tracker. That’s on top of a 14% increase in candy and gum prices in October 2022.“The price of candy has gotten to be outrageous,” said Jessica Weathers, a small business owner in Shiloh, Illinois. “It doesn’t make sense to me to spend $100 on candy.”Weathers said she usually buys plenty of candy for trick-or-treaters and events at school and church. But this year, she only bought two bags and plans to turn off her porch light on Halloween when she runs out. Other consumers are changing what they buy. Numerator, a market research firm, said its surveys show about one-third of U.S. consumers plan to trade down to value or store brands...

8 injured after hit and run crash on Lake Shore Drive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

CHICAGO -- Eight individuals were injured after a hit and run crash on DuSable Lake Shore Drive overnight, police said. According to police, an unknown male driver was travelling southbound on Dusable Lake Shore Drive around 2: 22 a.m. when he lost control of the vehcie and struck two other cars. Pregnant woman injured in shooting on West Side Police said the eight individuals sustained minor injuries and were transported to local hospitals for observation. The driver of the car was described as a man wearing a green jacket. There is currently no one in custody and police are still investigating the incident.

4 people injured after drive by shooting in Hanson Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

CHICAGO -- Four people are injured after a shooting in the city's Hanson Park neighborhood overnight. According to police, a group of individuals were leaving a gathering near the 2000 block of North Lorel Avenue when an unknown vehicle approached and an individual fired shots from the vehicle. An 18-year-old woman sustained a gunshot wound to the right leg and left thigh and was transported to Stroger Hospital in critical condition. 8 injured after hit and run crash on Lake Shore Drive Another 22-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to Stroger Hospital in good condition/ A 19-year-old man also sustained a gunshot wound to the thigh and is in good condition. A fourth victim, a 27-year-old man sustained a gunshot wound to the right leg and left thigh and was transported to Stroger Hospital in good condition. There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.

Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

(The Conversation) - Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected] it possible for there to be ghosts? – Madelyn, age 11, Fort Lupton, ColoradoCertainly, lots of people believe in ghosts – a spirit left behind after someone who was alive has died.In a 2021 poll of 1,000 American adults, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they had personally experienced them. If they’re right, that’s more than 50 million spirit encounters in the U.S. alone.(Getty Images)That includes the owner of a retail shop near my home who believes his place is haunted. When I asked what most convinced him of this, he sent me dozens of eerie security camera video clips. He also brought in ghost hunters who reinforced his suspicions.Some of the videos show small orbs of light gliding around the room. In others, you can hear faint voices and loud bumping sounds when nobody’s there. O...

Why can’t a European leader express full support for Israel in the face of Hamas barbarity?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:32 GMT

Ursula von der Leyen, and Roberta Metsola visited kibbutz Kfar Aza where Hamas committed a massacre.Why is support for the State of Israel in the face of the Nazi barbarism of Hamas terrorists who came from Gaza to massacre Israelis and other innocent citizens of various countries on 7 October the subject of such controversy and criticism when it is so obvious, writes Yossi Lempkowicz.This is the question I ask myself in view of the positions taken in some European circles and in some media after the visit to Israel of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the day after the massacre, accompanied by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, who came to express Israel’s “right and even duty to defend and protect its population” and to call for the release of all the hostages kidnapped by Hamas.They also expressed their horror after visiting Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where babies, children, women and the elderly were murdered in a manner unimaginable by any normal human being...