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Big Tech’s to-do list under new EU content rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s effort to crack down on illegal and harmful digital content in the bloc is about to take off. As soon as Friday, a total of 19 very large online platforms and search engines — called VLOPs — visited by more than 45 million Europeans every month will have to comply with the EU’s online content rulebook adopted in 2022, the Digital Services Act (DSA). Social media platforms in the crosshairs include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Online marketplaces Amazon, Booking, AliExpress, Zalando, Google Shopping, as well as Wikipedia and Google Maps, will also face the new regulatory music. The new rules will also apply to Google and Apple’s app stores, and to Google Search and Microsoft’s Bing.Companies will have to swiftly take down illegal content, like photos of child sexual abuse, as well as assess and propose concrete measures to counter major risks their platforms pose for soci...

Kyle Tucker homers to back up a strong start by Justin Verlander as the Astros beat the Red Sox

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer and Justin Verlander threw six scoreless innings to help the Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3 on Tuesday night.Boston manager Alex Cora and right fielder Alex Verdugo were both ejected for arguing balls and strikes as the Red Sox lost a second straight game at Houston. Verdugo was ejected in the top of the fourth by plate umpire Pat Hoberg, who also tossed Cora after the manager objected to the call of ball four to Alex Bregman in bottom of the seventh.It was the second ejection in three games for Cora, who stood the plate and kicked dirt before yelling in Hoberg’s face after he was tossed.Verlander (9-6) allowed five hits and struck out a season-high nine in his fourth start since returning to the Astros in a trade with the Mets.There was one out in the first when Tucker connected off Tanner Houck (3-7) for his team-leading 25th home run this season to make it 2-0.Houck allowed four hits and three runs in five innin...

Cora, Verdugo ejected from sloppy 7-3 Red Sox loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

“Every (expletive) pitch counts,” Alex Cora told reporters on Sunday.He’d gotten himself ejected arguing balls and strikes in the series finale in the Bronx, though his frustration with home-plate umpire Junior Valentine’s egregious calls was more than justified.Less so in Houston Tuesday night, when the Red Sox manager again argued himself out of the team’s game before its eventual completion, a 7-3 loss in which his team made as many errors as they plated runs.Cora wasn’t the only one. Home-plate umpire Pat Hoberg ejected Alex Verdugo as the right fielder milled about the Red Sox dugout in the fourth.Making his first start since getting hit in the face with a line drive on June 16, Tanner Houck looked rusty early on. After striking out leadoff man Jose Altuve, the first inning went downhill quickly. The right-hander allowed a single to Alex Bregman and a two-run homer to Kyle Tucker before getting the second out.Rafael Devers then prolonged the ...

Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed ahead of Fed Chair speech and Nvidia earnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian markets were trading mixed Wednesday ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s highly anticipated speech later in the week. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.3% in morning trading to 31,957.35. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained nearly 0.7% to 7,168.30. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.4% to 2,506.38. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost nearly 0.1% to 17,777.65, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.8% to 3,095.91. Powell is set to speak Friday at an event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the site of several major policy announcements by the Fed. The Fed has already hiked its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001 in hopes of grinding high inflation down to a 2% target. High rates work by slowing the entire economy bluntly and hurting prices for investments.Inflation has come down considerably from its peak above 9% in summer 2022, but economists say getting the last percentage point of improvement may be the most difficult.The hope among traders ...

Chinese-backed port project in Peru to be the ‘gateway from South America to Asia,’ official says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

CHANCAY, Peru (AP) — Dozens of cranes lift blocks weighing several tons and drop them to compact the soil of a roughly one-square-mile area on Peru’s Pacific coast, part of China’s most ambitious port project in Latin America designed to facilitate trade between the regions. The port of Chancay, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the Peruvian capital of Lima, will be “the gateway from South America to Asia,” said Mario de las Casas, institutional affairs manager of COSCO Shipping, a Chinese state-owned company that is the majority owner of the project.De las Casas said the $1.3 billion project will offer a direct route to China with a travel time reduction for ships of 10 days. COSCO officials say ships traveling from South America to China normally take more than 45 days with stops in Central America, Mexico or the United States. Offering a deep water port, Chancay will be able to handle container ships that can’t dock elsewhere in South America.De las Casas said the port is part of...

Thousands of discouraged migrants are stranded in Niger because of border closures following coup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — After three months of crossing the desert and then watching other migrants die at sea in his failed attempt to reach Europe, Sahr John Yambasu gave up on getting across the Mediterranean and decided to go back home.The 29-year-old from Sierra Leone reached Niger in June on his return journey, but United Nations officials said he had to wait for packed migrant centers to empty before he could be repatriated. Then mutinous soldiers toppled Niger’s president a few weeks later, bringing regional tensions and the shuttering of the borders. Yambasu was trapped.He is one of nearly 7,000 discouraged migrants trying to get home elsewhere in Africa that the U.N. estimates have been stranded in Niger since late July when members of the presidential guard overthrew the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamad Bazoum. Niger’s junta closed its airspace and regional countries closed border crossings as part of economic and travel sanctions, making ...

1 dead 3 injured in North Lawndale shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

One person is dead and three others are injured, including a teenager, after a shooting in North Lawndale on Tuesday night, according to Chicago police.Officers say the shooting happened in the 1500 block of South Trumbull Avenue.  Man charged with attempted murder in shooting of Bolingbrook police officer Police say they were called to the area just before 7:50 p.m. in response to a shooting that happened outdoors. Upon arrival, officers found several victims.Police say a 25-year-old man, who was shot several times in the chest, was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.  Woman dies after fall from apartment window in Uptown According to police, three others suffered gunshot wounds including a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the arm, a 27-year-old woman who was shot in the leg, and a 38-year-old man who was shot twice in the back. The 38-year-old was taken to the hospital in serious condition, while the other two are in good condition.  ‘Now he...

Man accused of assuming dead brother's identity in 1965 convicted of several charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An 86-year-old man accused of assuming his brother’s identity decades ago and using it to double dip on Social Security benefits has been convicted of several charges, caught by facial recognition technology that matched the same face to two different identities, authorities say.Napoleon Gonzalez, of Etna, assumed the identity of his brother in 1965, a quarter century after his sibling’s death as an infant, and used the stolen identity to obtain Social Security benefits under both identities, multiple passports and state identification cards, law enforcement officials said.A U.S. District Court jury in Bangor on Friday convicted him of mail fraud, Social Security fraud, passport fraud and identity theft. Mail fraud carries the greatest potential prison sentence, up to 20 years.His attorney said Tuesday that he intends to appeal and will seek to keep Gonzalez out prison until the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a ruling.Gonzalez's benefits were previou...

Storm Chasers turn nine walks into 14-4 rout of Saints

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. — St. Paul Saints pitchers walked nine batters and hit another, and eight of those 10 baserunners scored to give the Omaha Storm Chasers all the help they needed Tuesday night to pull off a 14-4 International League victory at Werner Park.The Saints, who entered the game leading the West division, fell to 26-20. The Storm Chasers, last in the division and second-to-last in the International League, are 2-15 in August.Andrew Stevenson got the Saints off to a quick start in the first inning, hitting the second pitch of the game out of the park for a leadoff home run, his 16th of the season. No. 2 hitter Austin Martin followed that with a home run of his own to put St. Paul up 2-0.But that’s when everything went bad for the Saints.Omaha scored five runs off St. Paul starting pitcher Louie Varland in the second inning, making the most of a couple of walks and a costly Saints error.The Storm Chasers added two more runs in the third inning, then scored seven in the fifth...

Location of new Lake Elmo Elementary School decided; contract contingent upon passage of Nov. 7 bond vote

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:10 GMT

If Stillwater Area School District voters approve a November bond measure providing money to build a new Lake Elmo Elementary School, the new school will be built about three miles south of the century-old building.Stillwater school board members on Tuesday night unanimously approved a resolution to enter into a $4.5 million purchase agreement, contingent upon passage of the $175 million bond referendum, for a 47-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North. The undeveloped, wooded land is owned by Tom Kindler.“It’s a really good location,” said Carissa Keister, chief of staff and executive director of strategic communications. “It’s right in the center of the district’s population growth.”District officials looked at several different locations in Lake Elmo and worked closely with Lake Elmo officials to identify a workable site, Keister said.District officials say they will need more space for students in the next few years to keep up with developme...