Social media algorithms should be disabled by default to protect people from “hateful, false and violent content”, the Irish and UK governments have been told. An open letter signed by over 240 organisations has called on Taoiseach Simon Harris, UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Northern Ireland leaders Michelle O’Neill and Emma-Little Pengelly to take action following a spate of anti-immigration riots. It states: “We know that people’s real lives are affected by what plays out online. Right now social media and video platforms recommend hateful, false and violent content for people to see. “The business model prioritises emotionally manipulative…
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The URBAN TECH final event, “Innovate for Europe – Greentech, Health Tech & Smart City Showdown”, took place on 6 June, as part of the Impact Days 2024, during ViennaUP, a city-wide celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship. The event provided a unique platform, for the over 20 companies of the URBAN TECH program, to meet with investors and pitch their groundbreaking solutions developed across the sectors of Greentech, HealthTech, and Smart City. The core activities of the event included two series of investor meetup sessions, where URBAN TECH companies had the opportunity to matchmake with an EU-wide network of investors, and the final…
Briefing the Security Council in New York, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya urged the international community to work to end the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year. Ms. Msuya said the civilian toll has continued to mount since her last briefing to the Council three weeks ago. Kharkiv under fire While few areas have been spared from the hostilities, the Kharkiv region has suffered the heaviest impact after Russia stepped up attacks there on 10 May. UN human rights monitors in Ukraine reported on Friday that at least 174 people were killed and 690…
Port Sudan – The humanitarian situation in Sudan is at “a catastrophic breaking point” according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The stark warning comes as famine and floods add to the catalogue of challenges facing millions of people struggling to cope in the world’s largest displacement crisis following 16 months of brutal conflict. Within the past week, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC) reported famine conditions in Zamzam camp near Al Fasher town in North Darfur – home to half a million displaced people. The camp is witnessing extreme food scarcity,…
NBG Logistics Alliance moved workers to local fast-food restaurant to obstruct investigation SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a preliminary injunction and court order forbidding a Calexico logistics company from threatening or retaliating against its workers and further interfering with an ongoing federal investigation. When the investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division showed up at NBG Logistics Alliance Inc. worksites, the company removed workers and hid them for hours at a local fast-food restaurant until the investigators left. The company then instructed employees to work across the border in Mexicali before firing them and deleting proof…
Land prices across many African cities are soaring. This is because land is a city’s key asset. As urbanisation progresses, demand for land will rise, and therefore so will land prices, because the supply of land in cities is limited. Investments in public infrastructure, and zoning regulations that convert land to alternative uses, will also boost land value. In fact, studies have shown that simply converting rural land to urban can increase its value by 400%. All these changes are driven by the government and collective action, rather than by private individuals. But the beneficiaries of higher land prices will…
Leonardo Santos Simão, who heads the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), told the Security Council that by “renouncing ECOWAS”, the three military-led governments would be “relinquishing key benefits” including regional integration, freedom of movement, security cooperation and an integrated regional economy, hurting both themselves and remaining ECOWAS members. The three transitional governments severed ties with ECOWAS after senior officers staged military takeovers in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. Military leaders have consequently “postponed the return to constitutional rule and sparked fear of prolonged uncertainty”, as civic space “continues to shrink” said the UN Special Representative. Instability…
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission also urged the authorities to thoroughly investigate a spate of grave rights violations that are currently occurring in the South American country. Venezuelans went to the polls on 28 July and President Nicolás Maduro was formally declared the winner the following day, securing a third term in office. Fierce repression, climate of fear The UN Fact-Finding Mission noted that in the weeks since the vote, street protests and criticism on social media have been met with fierce repression by the State, as directed by its highest authorities, inducing a climate of widespread fear. The independent…
Many were trying to flee the fighting in towns of Maungdaw in Rakhine state and Lashio in Shan state, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists at the daily briefing in New York. “These incidents are part of a deeply concerning trend in the intensifying conflict, with civilians bearing the brunt of a conflict that has upended millions of lives,” he said. Fierce fighting broke out in early July in several parts of the country, ending a ceasefire between the military and a coalition of three ethnic armed groups that had banded together in October last year against the junta,…
Defendants pay $171K in back wages still owed to 156 workers, $50K in department attorney fees SOUTH BEND, IN – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a permanent injunction and order forbidding the owner and operator of 61 Mega Liquor & Smoke stores in Indiana and Michigan from retaliating against workers who cooperate with U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigations and otherwise exercise their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.The action by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in South Bend on Aug. 1, 2024, restrains Bhola Singh, owner of Vishav…