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A lower court had ruled that the state’s Republican-drawn map was a racial gerrymander.

The White House, in partnership with the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will reveal plans aimed at banning junk fees.

Dorothy Hoffner, a lifelong Chicagoan and centenarian who recently set a world record for being the oldest person to ever participate in a tandem skydive, has passed away just a week after her incredible jump.

Lawmakers and alumni have been angered by the letter, which blames Israel for the unfolding conflict.

We are faculty at Harvard who are deeply concerned about the events in the Middle East, as well as the safety of our students here on campus. On October 7th, Hamas launched a premeditated attack on the Israeli population. Hundreds of terrorists infiltrated Israeli towns and houses. Children were killed in front of their parents; entire families were executed. Grandmothers, mothers, and their babies were kidnapped. All in all, more than 900 Israelis were killed in a single day and the death toll is continuing to grow. There have also been deaths on the Palestinian side, including hundreds of terrorists and, tragically, civilians as well.

Every innocent death is a tragedy. Yet, this should not mislead us to create false equivalencies between the actions leading to this loss. Hamas planned and executed the murder and kidnapping of civilians, particularly women, children, and the elderly, with no military or other specific objective. This meets the definition of a war crime. The Israeli security forces were engaging in self-defense against this attack while dealing with numerous hostage situations and a barrage of thousands of rockets hidden deliberately in dense urban settings.

The leaders of the major democratic countries united in saying that “the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned” and that Israel should be supported “in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities.“ In contrast, while terrorists were still killing Israelis in their homes, 35 Harvard student organizations wrote that they hold “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” with not a single word denouncing the horrific acts by Hamas. In the context of the unfolding events, this statement can be seen as nothing less than condoning the mass murder of civilians based only on their nationality. We’ve heard reports of even worse instances, with Harvard students celebrating the “victory” or “resistance” on social media.

As a University aimed at educating future leaders, this could have been a teaching moment and an opportunity to remind our students that beyond our political debates, some acts such as war crimes are simply wrong. However, the statement by Harvard’s administration fell short of this goal. While justly denouncing Hamas, it still contributed to the false equivalency between attacks on noncombatants and self-defense against those atrocities. Furthermore, the statement failed to condemn the justifications for violence that come from our own campus, nor to make it clear to the world that the statement endorsed by these organizations does not represent the values of the Harvard community. How can Jewish and Israeli students feel safe on a campus in which it is considered acceptable to justify and even celebrate the deaths of Jewish children and families?

We recognize that Harvard has students and community members from all regions, including from the Gaza Strip. These are not easy times, and we pray for the safety of all our members and their families. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long and complex history. We hold varying opinions, but none of us endorses all of Israel's past actions. However, the events of this week are not complicated. Sometimes there is such a thing as evil, and it is incumbent upon educators and leaders to call it out, as they have with school shootings and terrorist attacks. It is imperative that our academic leadership, whose good faith we do not doubt, state this clearly and unequivocally. Further, while individuals’ free speech should be protected, our leaders should make it clear that our community rejects any statements that excuse terrorist acts.

We stand with any member of the Harvard community who feels unsafe or alone and pledge to do what we can individually and collectively. We hold our hope for better days in the future. To quote President Obama, “As we support Israel’s right to defend itself against terror, we must keep striving for a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

The richest Americans are emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with their share of wealth and income on the rise again despite some thought that the tight job market and hefty wage gains spawned by the crisis might narrow the gulf between rich and poor.

Development of the project is taking place in three phases.

The semiconductor business — typically Samsung's cash cow — is likely to see continued pressure as memory prices and demand for end products remain low.

Saudi Prince Mishaal bin Khalid al-Saud — who controls more than 200 McDonald’s outlets across Saudi Arabia — told CEO Magazine in 2018 that one of the secrets of his enterprise’s success is “ensuring a positive and favorable environment for our employees.”

Though current and former workers say independent employment agents in their home countries across Asia coerced them into paying exorbitant recruiting fees, while labor contractors and workplace supervisors in Saudi Arabia and other destination countries subjected them to abuses that included confiscating their passports and limiting their freedom to leave their jobs, a joint investigation by global media partners has found.

These practices are widely identified as indicators of labor trafficking, which is defined by the United States and the United Nations as using force, coercion or fraud to exploit workers.

Biden is skeptical that a border wall works. He’s still building a new one.

As tourism returns to Maui, those displaced by this year’s deadly fires face losing their homes again.

President Biden condemns the "unprecedented and appalling assault" as US sends military aid.

Villagers are searching through what is left of their homes with shovels and bare hands.

There are still a number of unaccounted-for U.S. citizens, U.S. officials said, as the fighting entered its third day.

"There is a clear link between the return of the Taliban in 2021 and the increase in child marriage, especially in urban centers, where, since two decades ago, there had been an evolution and families no longer felt they had to marry off their daughters as soon as possible, because girls were getting opportunities to work and study and were also contributing financially to the household,” says Mariam Safi, director of The Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS).

Open source and decentralized social network Mastodon has more users than it thought. The service, which competes with X (formerly Twitter) and other newcomers like Threads, Bluesky, Pebble, and Spill, had been undercounting its users due to a network connectivity error.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported 370 killed, including at least 20 children, and 2,200 injuries since 7 October. Three students at directly hit schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, are confirmed to be among the casualties.

Across the Gaza Strip, UNRWA provides services to 1.4 million Palestine Refugees, including food aid to nearly 1.2 million.

According to Israeli sources, at least 650 people have been killed in Israel.

The faked document first started appearing on social media accounts Saturday morning. Around noon Saturday, a collection of verified accounts on X, formerly Twitter, began disseminating it. Verified accounts are eligible for monetization on the platform.

Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Joe Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the popular voice assistant said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives.

Amazon declined to explain why its voice assistant draws 2020 election answers from unvetted sources. But "after The Washington Post reached out to Amazon for comment, Alexa’s responses changed," the newspaper writes.

Kremlin-endorsed propagandists celebrated the fighting as a distraction to tear the West’s eyes from Ukraine, produced new conspiracy theories to explain the news, and delighted in the discomfort and fear of Russian Jews who have emigrated to Israel.

There’s as yet no evidence that Russia knew of the impending attack, although it has fostered ties with Hamas. In March, Hamas reportedly sent a high-level delegation to Russia and held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, warning the Kremlin that the group’s “patience” with Israel was “running out.” Senior Hamas figures also visited Russia in May and September 2022. The group has said its attack was supported by Iran and other countries but did not name them.

Bill denial for the prescription drug price cap called ‘a major setback’ for diabetics in the state

From the article:

As false information about the rapidly changing war between Gaza Strip militants and Israel proliferated on the social media platform X over the weekend, owner Elon Musk personally recommended that users follow accounts notorious for promoting lies.

“For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors & @sentdefender are good,” Musk posted on the platform formerly called Twitter on Sunday morning to 150 million follower accounts. That post was viewed 11 million times in three hours, drawing thanks from those two accounts, before Musk deleted it.

Both were among the most important early spreaders of a false claim in May that there had been an explosion near the White House. The Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index briefly dropped 85 points before that story was debunked.

Emerson T. Brooking, a researcher at the Atlantic Council Digital Forensics Research Lab, posted that @sentdefender is an “absolutely poisonous account. regularly posting wrong and unverifiable things … inserting random editorialization and trying to juice its paid subscriber count.”

The War Monitor account has argued with others over Israel and religion, posting a year ago that “the overwhelming majority of people in the media and banks are zionists” and telling a correspondent in June to “go worship a jew lil bro.”

Information researchers said that the new conflict was an early test of how the revamped X conveys accurate data during a major crisis, and that the immediate impression was poor.

“Anecdotal evidence that X is failing this stress test is plentiful,” said Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public. “Go on the platform, do a search on Israel or Gaza — you don’t have to scroll very far to find dubious or debunked information.”

Musk left up his replies to the two accounts he had promoted, each of which have more than 600,000 followers, boosting their visibility. He also continued to fault “mainstream media,” telling users to trust X instead.

Other accounts on X drew engagement with photos or videos of unrelated attacks from years earlier and false claims that Iran or others had entered the conflict.

An account imitating the Jerusalem Post falsely reported that the Israeli prime minister had been taken to the hospital, collecting more than 700,000 views.

Numerous accounts promoted a faked document saying that the White House had approved $8 billion in aid to Israel. Others posted video of buildings collapsing in Syria in the past and said they were in Gaza.

Spokespeople for X did not return emails seeking comment.

X and other real-time sources of information are especially subject to rumors, false claims and propaganda during major events.

Researchers have said that X has gotten much less reliable since Musk took control nearly a year ago. He ended the practice of awarding “verified” checks to established media accounts, stopped labeling some accounts as government-affiliated and began sending money to accounts drawing heavy engagement, rewarding views instead of accuracy.

A recent study published by the European Commission concluded that Russian propaganda about its war in Ukraine has reached more people on X this year than it did last year.

“People who have paid for blue checks have a financial incentive to LARP [live action role-play] as war reporters by dredging up old stories or fake footage,” Brooking wrote. “Elon Musk enables this.”

Last week, Musk said he would change the way articles are shared by removing the headlines and promoting only pictures, which experts said would decrease traffic to news sites.

Musk also has been contributing to a broader legal and political campaign that has succeeded in quieting some academics and research groups who track misinformation by accusing them of fostering unconstitutional censorship. He has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League over its reports showing a rise in antisemitic posts on X since Musk bought it last October.

Biden administration officials did not respond immediately to questions about whether it was working with social media companies to identify misinformation. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is among the government agencies being targeted by Musk and some Republicans, referred questions to the State Department, which monitors foreign disinformation.

Officials there did not respond to a query. The White House also did not respond to emails.

An estimated 500 people are injured after two earthquakes struck Herat, Afghanistan Saturday, the country's national disaster authority said.