EU opens investigation into TikTok over online content and child safeguarding (www.theguardian.com)
Video platform under scrutiny over potential breach of Digital Services Act in areas such as age verification...
Autoworkers threaten to strike again at Ford's huge Kentucky truck plant (wamu.org)
The United Auto Workers union is threatening to go on strike next week at Ford Motor Co.’s largest and most profitable factory in a dispute over local contract language....
FTC seeks to ban impersonation fraud as AI enables deepfakes (www.axios.com)
Federal regulators are poised to ban the impersonation of anyone, aiming to thwart scams in an AI-driven world....
Delay on 2nd Day of Testimony as Defense Seeks to Oust D.A. (www.nytimes.com)
Lawyers for Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants are seeking to have Fani T. Willis disqualified, accusing her of a conflict of interest because of a personal relationship with a prosecutor she hired.
Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf (wamu.org)
The plastics industry has worked for decades to convince people and policymakers that recycling would keep waste out of landfills and the environment. Consumers sort their trash so plastic packaging can be repurposed, and local governments use taxpayer money to gather and process the material. Yet from the early days of...
Greece legalizes same-sex marriage (www.cnn.com)
North Dakota takes federal government to trial over costs to police Dakota Access Pipeline protests (apnews.com)
Opening statements began Thursday in the trial of North Dakota’s lawsuit against the federal government for the costs of responding to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, the culmination of an unusual and drawn-out court fight....
Egypt reveals alleged Israeli plan to evacuate Rafah civilians (thecradle.co)
If 1.3 million Palestinians from the southern Gaza city are forced into tent camps along the sea ahead of a military offensive, Israel will be closer to its goal of expelling strip’s population to Egypt by land and other countries by boat
What's at stake in Trump's hush-money criminal case? Judge to rule on key issues as trial date nears (apnews.com)
Former President Donald Trump is expected in court Thursday for an important hearing in his New York hush-money criminal case, which now appears increasingly likely to go to trial next month....
China's BYD plans new electric vehicle plant in Mexico, says Nikkei (www.reuters.com)
China’s BYD Co Ltd will set up a new electric vehicle (EV) factory in Mexico, Nikkei reported on Wednesday, citing the company’s Mexico head, as the EV maker aims to establish an export hub to the United States....
As Biden presses on hostage deal, Israel may skip latest talks: US officials (www.msn.com)
Federal judge tosses PhRMA lawsuit challenging Medicare drug negotiations (thehill.com)
A Texas federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s Medicare drug price negotiations filed by the pharmaceutical industry lobbying group PhRMA....
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin transfers duties to deputy after being hospitalised (www.theguardian.com)
Biden’s top military adviser is receiving treatment for an ‘emergent bladder issue’, with deputy Kathleen Hicks taking over his duties...
In a Victory for Poland Spring, Maine Rejects New Groundwater Limits (www.nytimes.com)
The bottled-water company last year tried to kill legislation aimed at protecting aquifers at a time when many are at risk nationally....
One state has a shortage of marijuana and its neighbor had too much. Here’s why (apnews.com)
Marijuana retailers in Connecticut say a dearth of licensed growers in the state’s fledgling legal pot industry has left them with a shortage of product to sell....
That Electric Toothbrush Botnet Story Is Totally Fake (gizmodo.com)
Republicans are redefining the word ‘equal’ in an Iowa anti-trans bill (www.theguardian.com)
Death cuts off dreams of man recently freed after 3 decades wrongfully in prison (www.chicagotribune.com)
Archived at web.archive.org/…/lee-harris-dies-after-freed-fro…
A Confederate general refused to surrender and fled to Mexico. Now the Texas park named for him is the center of another standoff (www.cnn.com)
Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, has become a staging ground for state forces, the epicenter of a standoff with the federal government and a stark symbol of dysfunction at the border....
US won't restore protections for wolves in Rockies, proposes national recovery plan (apnews.com)
Conservationists who say wolves remain imperiled after coming back from near-extinction last century blasted the decision, complaining that Idaho and Montana have approved increasingly aggressive wolf-killing measures including trapping, snaring and months-long hunting seasons....
US auto safety agency upgrades probe into Tesla power steering loss (news.yahoo.com)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. safety regulators have upgraded their probe into Tesla vehicles over power steering loss to an engineering analysis - a required step before the agency could demand a potential recall....
Advertising agency for OxyContin agrees to pay $350 million rather than face lawsuits (www.pbs.org)
An advertising agency that helped develop marketing campaigns for OxyContin and other prescription painkillers has agreed to pay U.S. states $350 million rather than face the possibility of trials over its role in the opioid crisis, attorneys general said Thursday....
Grave peril of digital conspiracy theories: 'What happens when no one believes anything anymore?' (apnews.com)
Claims of “evidence” soon emerged: video footage on TikTok showing a beam of blinding white light, too straight to be lightning, zapping a residential neighborhood and sending flames and smoke into the sky. The video was shared many millions of times, amplified by neo-Nazis, anti-government radicals and supporters of the...
Grant program for Black women comes under tough questioning in key anti-DEI lawsuit (apnews.com)
A small venture capital firm faced tough questions from conservative judges Wednesday as it defended a grant program for Black women-owned businesses in a lawsuit that has become emblematic of a growing legal backlash against corporate diversity programs.