All posts tagged: tightens

Instagram unveils new feature as govt tightens online safety rules | Science, Climate & Tech News

Instagram unveils new feature as govt tightens online safety rules | Science, Climate & Tech News

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Instagram is releasing a feature that will let users easily reset their algorithms, as the government strengthens its regulation of online safety. With the new reset feature, users can clear their recommended content from Explore, Reels and their feed, potentially reducing the amount of harmful content they are exposed to. It’s all part of Meta’s push to make the app safer for young people, after announcing more private Teen accounts in September. The feature, which will soon be rolled out globally, was announced as the government outlined its priorities for online safety. Peter Kyle, Labour’s technology secretary, said Ofcom should ensure the concept of “safety by design” is being followed by tech companies from the outset. That would ensure more harm is caught before it occurs. Image: Peter Kyle (L). Pic: Reuters He also pushed for more transparency from tech giants on what harms are occurring on their platforms. “From baking safety into social media sites from the outset, to increasing platform transparency, these priorities will allow us to monitor progress, collate evidence, innovate, and …

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Germany tightens controls at all borders in immigration crackdown

Published by Sam

Berlin last year also announced stricter controls on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Those, and controls on the border with Austria, had allowed it to return 30,000 migrants since October 2023, it said on Monday. Ms Faeser said a new model would enable the government to turn back many more – but it could not talk about the model before confidential negotiations with the conservatives. The controls could test European unity if they lead to German authorities requesting other countries to take back substantial numbers of asylum seekers and migrants. Under EU rules, countries in the Schengen area, which encompasses all of the bloc bar Cyprus and Ireland, are only allowed to introduce border checks as a last resort to avert threats to internal security or public policy. Germany shares its more than 3,700-km-long (2,300 miles) land border with Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told Bild newspaper on Monday that his country would not take in any …

Biden cease-fire plan tightens political jam for Netanyahu in Israel

Biden cease-fire plan tightens political jam for Netanyahu in Israel

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TEL AVIV — Political pressure is mounting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as more than 100,000 Israelis flooded the streets of this city on Saturday night demanding he accept a U.S.-brokered deal for a cease-fire in Gaza while members of his far-right coalition threatened that any such move would bring down the government. The proposal, revealed in a surprise speech by President Biden on Friday, calls for a six-week pause in fighting, during which hostages taken from Israel by Hamas would be released in phases in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and there would be a significant boost in aid shipments to the Gaza Strip. The key sticking point — the same one that has doomed past negotiations — is how and when the war will officially end. Netanyahu’s office said Friday that it had “authorized” the text of the proposal. On Saturday, however, it added that “Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed” and that any deal that does not allow for the complete destruction of Hamas, the release of …

Lausanne’s Institute of Technology, ‘saturated’ with French students, tightens admissions

Lausanne’s Institute of Technology, ‘saturated’ with French students, tightens admissions

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Lausanne’s Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) is buckling under the strain of its student population. Located on the northern shore of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps, the massive campus of over 500,000 square meters, with its 80 buildings, is now looking for more space. The school’s management decided on Tuesday, April 16, to cap the number of first-year bachelor students for the start of the 2025 academic year at 3,000, around 200 less than in previous years. The decision is meant to guarantee the “quality of studies” at a school “saturated” with students. As a result, the elite school will give preferential access to holders of a maturité, a Swiss high school diploma, at the expense of international students, the vast majority of whom are French. “We are always strangers to someone,” wrote the poet Tahar Ben Jelloun in Racism Explained to My Daughter (Seuil, 1998)… One of Switzerland’s top engineering schools is following in the footsteps of Belgium, where faced with an influx of young international students, some universities introduced …

Biden Administration Tightens Rules for Obtaining Medical Records Related to Abortion

Biden Administration Tightens Rules for Obtaining Medical Records Related to Abortion

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The medical records of women will be shielded from criminal investigations if they cross state lines to seek an abortion where it is legal, under a new rule that the Biden administration finalized Monday. The regulation, which is intended to protect women who live in states where abortion is illegal from prosecution, is almost certain to face legal challenges from anti-abortion advocates and criticism from abortion-rights advocates that it does not go far enough. “No one should have their medical records used against them, their doctor or their loved one just because they sought or received lawful reproductive health care,” Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, told reporters on Monday. The new regulation is an update to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which prohibits medical providers and health insurers from divulging medical information about patients. Typically, however, law enforcement can access those records for investigations. In states with strict abortion rules, the federal regulation would essentially prohibit state or local officials from gathering …

Scramble at the border as DR tightens security amid surging Haiti turmoil | Haiti

Scramble at the border as DR tightens security amid surging Haiti turmoil | Haiti

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Hundreds of Haitian women lined the road at the border with Dominican Republic, each one with a brightly coloured headscarf and a bulky package balanced on her head. Some seemed far too old to be carrying such loads, others were raw-boned girls barely into their teens, all waiting in a long queue to cross back into their country. Wiry porters pushed red-rusted wheelbarrows with loads of soft drinks or yams so high they could barely peer over them. Younger men on motorized rickshaws revved impatiently, eager to deliver their loads and rush back for more before the border closed. The people coming and going from the market in Dajabón were in a race against the clock to cart as much food and other merchandise back to the Haitian city of Ouanaminthe amid tight new border restrictions limiting them to just two market days a week. “Every Haitian who enters here buys merchandise to take back home so that people have something to eat,” said Noudy Dolisca, 49, a Haitian money-changer who lives in Dajabón. “If …

Zelenskyy seeks German, French support as Russia tightens noose on Avdiivka | Russia-Ukraine war News

Zelenskyy seeks German, French support as Russia tightens noose on Avdiivka | Russia-Ukraine war News

Published by Sam

Ukraine president’s trip to Berlin and Paris comes as battle for eastern city, one of the bloodiest in near two-year war, rages. Ukraine’s army says heavy battles are raging with pressing Russian forces in the front-line city of Avdiivka, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy embarked on a mini-European tour in a new attempt to secure much-needed aid. The army said on Friday its forces were taking up “new positions” in the eastern city as the second anniversary of the war finds Ukraine faced with battlefield challenges and a shortage of ammunition stockpiles amid delays in Western military assistance. “Fierce battles are taking place within the city,” Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy said on social media. “Our troops are using all available forces and means to restrain the enemy,” he added, calling the situation “difficult but controlled”. “New positions have been prepared and powerful fortifications continue to be prepared, taking into account all possible scenarios,” said Tarnavskiy, adding that commanders have been tasked to “stabilise the situation”. Russia has been trying to capture the city since October and …

Ofsted tightens inspection early warning alert loophole

Ofsted tightens inspection early warning alert loophole

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Watchdog has ‘made changes to its processes around how, and when, inspectors access school websites’ Watchdog has ‘made changes to its processes around how, and when, inspectors access school websites’ More from this theme Recent articles Ofsted has shaken up how and when inspectors access school websites after Schools Week exposed a loophole that offered advance notice of visits to those who monitored downloads. But the watchdog this week refused to give more details, apparently fearing doing so would allow schools to identify other ways to predict inspections. Last year, website provider Greenhouse School Websites claimed to have “developed an algorithm to accurately tell when Ofsted are looking at your school website.” It signed up thousands of its clients, though some opted out when approached about the scheme. Further investigation revealed the use of such practices was widespread and an open secret in schools, with discussions on school IT professionals forum Edugeek about setting up an “Ofsted early warning” system dating back as far as 2015. At the time, inspection teams were understood to look …

Italy regulator tightens rules on influencers after Ferragni scandal

Italy regulator tightens rules on influencers after Ferragni scandal

Published by Sam

ROME : Italy’s communications authority AGCOM has approved stringent new rules to improve transparency on social media posts made by celebrities with mass online audiences. The decision comes after top influencer Chiara Ferragni – with nearly 30 million followers on Instagram – was handed a fine of over 1 million euros ($1.10 million) by Italy’s antitrust agency over the lack of clarity in a Christmas charity initiative. The rules will initially be applied to those influencers posting in Italian and working with Italian brands who have more than 1 million followers, AGCOM said in a statement late on Wednesday. Any advertising content posted will need to be clearly labelled as such in order to be recognisable, otherwise the social media stars risk fines of up to 600,000 euros. Owing to their massive reach, online influencers can often exercise more power than traditional advertising in boosting product sales and increasing brand exposure. France introduced legislation last year to outlaw the promotion by influencers of products such as tobacco and to ensure greater transparency on paid content. …

SAG nominations snub critical darlings – and Saltburn – as Oscars race tightens

SAG nominations snub critical darlings – and Saltburn – as Oscars race tightens

Published by Sam

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free The nominations for the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards have been announced, with a handful of prominent snubs pointing towards which films could be facing a quiet awards season. The SAG Awards are seen as a useful indicator for the Academy Awards, as actors make up the largest voting bloc for the Oscars. There is significant overlap between SAG’s film and TV nominating committee, which has around 4,200 members, and the actors branch of the Academy which has close to 1,400 members. That could spell bad news for fans of Emerald Fennell’s streaming hit Saltburn who are hoping the film will receive Academy recognition, as the film failed to pick up any nominations from SAG. The same could be said of Todd Haynes’ May December, which did not receive any nominations despite the acclaim heaped on its trio of leading actors Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton. Other …