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Meta hit with mega fine: EU slaps Zuckerberg firm with $1.3B charge for shipping user data to US

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. was hit by a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) European Union privacy fine and given a deadline to stop shipping users’ data to the US after regulators said it failed to protect personal information from the American security services.The social network giant’s continued data transfers to the US didn’t address “the risks to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of people whose data was being transfered across the Atlantic, the Irish Data Protection Commission said on Monday.On top of the fine, which eclipses a 746 million euros EU privacy penalty previously doled out to Amazon.com Inc., Meta was given five months to “suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US” and six months to stop “the unlawful processing, including storage, in the US” of transferred personal EU data.Shares in Meta gained 1% Monday, closing at $248.32.The ban on data transfers was widely expected and once prompted the US firm to threaten a total withdrawal from t...

‘We’re going to need so many seedlings’ for reforestation push

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

Over the next few years, state tree nurseries across the country will build new greenhouses, expand irrigation systems, upgrade seeding equipment and bring on staff.They’re hoping to turn millions of new federal dollars into millions of new seedlings — part of a collaborative effort to reforest landscapes threatened by climate change.“We’re going to need so many seedlings,” Homer Wilkes, undersecretary for natural resources and environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told Stateline. “Helping states get where they need to be is going to be cheaper and more efficient and is going to meet our goals and needs faster, than if the Forest Service tried to build these nurseries ourselves.”Earlier this year, the department announced $10 million to support reforestation work, funded by the infrastructure law that passed in 2021. That law will provide more money for states in the years to come, as well as for federal nursery programs.About $4.5 million of the $10 million went to 29 ...

Michigan governor signs red flag gun law as questions linger over enforcement

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gave final approval Monday afternoon to a red flag law that aims to keep firearms away from those at risk of harming themselves or others as the state grapples with ways to slow gun violence in the wake of its second mass school shooting.Michigan joined Minnesota as the second state in under a week to implement a red flag law after Democrats in both states won control of both chambers and the governor’s office in November. New Mexico previously was the last state to pass a red flag law in 2020. Whitmer signed the legislation just outside of Detroit, flanked by state lawmakers and individuals affected by gun violence. Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who began campaigning for gun safety after she was shot in the head in 2011, was also in attendance.“We have heard too many times from those who knew a mass shooter who had expressed concern in advance about that mass shooter’s intentions,” Whitmer said Monday. “Wit...

Rick Hoyt, who became a Boston Marathon fixture with father pushing wheelchair, has died at 61

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Rick Hoyt, who with his father pushing his wheelchair became a fixture at the Boston Marathon and other races for decades, has died. He was 61.Hoyt died of complications with his respiratory system, his family announced on Monday.“Rick along with our father, Dick, were icons in the road race and triathlon worlds for over 40 years and inspired millions of people with disabilities to believe in themselves, set goals and accomplish extraordinary things,” the Hoyt family said in a statement.Rick Hoyt had cerebral palsy, which left him a quadriplegic, but he and his father became as much a part of the Boston Marathon as sore feet or Heartbreak Hill. With Dick Hoyt pushing, the two completed the course 32 times.The Boston Athletic Association presents a Rick & Dick Hoyt Award each April to someone who exhibits their spirit through advocacy and inclusion.“Rick Hoyt will always be remembered as a Boston Marathon icon and for personifying the ‘Yes You Can’ mentality that de...

North Carolina governor says GOP teacher pay, voucher plans a public education ‘disaster’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper launched a campaign Monday to try to beat back education and tax legislation from the Republican-controlled General Assembly that he said if enacted would crush North Carolina’s public schools and wobble the state’s economic future. “It’s clear that the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education,” Cooper said in a recorded speech released Monday. He urged voters to “take immediate action and tell them to stop the damage that will set back our schools for a generation.”In his video address, Cooper said he’s “declaring this a state of emergency” for public education but pointed out it was not an official order. He called on residents to encourage their legislators to reject a spate of GOP-backed education bills in the final weeks of the chief work period for this year’s legislative session. The legislature’s agenda for the coming weeks includes passing a state budget for the year st...

Rick Hummel, esteemed St Louis-based baseball writer, dies at 77

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rick Hummel, an esteemed writer who covered the St. Louis Cardinals and Major League Baseball for five decades for the Post-Dispatch until his retirement last year, has died. He was 77.Hummel died in his sleep at his St. Louis-area home early Saturday after a short, aggressive illness, the Post-Dispatch said Monday.“St Louis lost a legend in Rick Hummel,” Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said on Twitter. “Always fair. Always in a good mood. Always wearing some kind of goofy hat and mismatched pants that made me smile. The respect and trust he earned from players is a rare thing in our world. … Still taking hand written notes that are impossible to read, and never misquoting. Still looking for the best in people and writing the truth.”Hummel was nicknamed “The Commish” for running an American Professional Baseball Association board game with colleagues, and the moniker became so widespread throughout baseball that even baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred a...

UN urges Sudan’s warring parties to honor 7-day cease-fire that began Monday night

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy for Sudan urged the country’s warring generals to honor a seven-day cease-fire that began Monday night, warning the growing ethnic dimension to the fighting risks engulfing Sudan in a prolonged conflict.Volker Perthes told the U.N. Security Council that the conflict, which began April 15, has shown no signs of slowing down despite six previous declarations of cease-fires by both sides. All the previous truces have been violated.Monday’s cease-fire is the seventh to be announced since the conflict between the Sudanese army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out last month. Speaking hours before the cease-fire began, Perthes called on both sides to stop the fighting so that desperately needed humanitarian aid can get to those in need and civilians caught in the fighting can leave safely.The violence has been most severe in Khartoum and the western Darfur region, where the ...

Breakthrough proposal would aid drought-stricken Colorado River as 3 Western states offer cuts

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Arizona, California and Nevada on Monday proposed a plan to significantly reduce their water use from the drought-stricken Colorado River over the next three years, a potential breakthrough in a year-long stalemate that pitted Western states against one another.The plan would conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water through 2026, when current guidelines for how the river is shared expire. About half the cuts would come by the end of 2024. That’s less than what federal officials said last year would be needed to stave off crisis in the river but still marks a notable step in long and difficult negotiations between the three states.The 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes. It produces hydropower and supplies water to farms that grow most of the nation’s winter vegetables. In exchange for temporarily using less water, cities, irr...

Stock market today: Wall Street ends mixed ahead of talks to avoid U.S. default

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks drifted to a mixed close as Wall Street waits to see whether a pivotal meeting later in the day will help the U.S. government avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt. The S&P 500 closed little changed Monday. The Dow slipped 0.4% and the Nasdaq rose 0.5%. Big Tech was continuing its strong run for the year so far, including Meta Platforms. Even a record fine from the European Union couldn’t slow it. Micron Technology was on the losing end after China accused its products of risking national security amid high tensions between Washington and Beijing. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are moving tentatively Monday, as Wall Street waits to see whether a pivotal meeting later in the day will help the U.S. government avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt.The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher after coming off its best week since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 67 points, or ...

Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano spewing ash and gas closes schools

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:12:46 GMT

SANTIAGO XALITZINTLA, Mexico (AP) — Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano spewed gas, smoke and ash Monday, leading education authorities to suspend in-person classes in parts of three states, a day after the government raised the warning level on the volcano’s activity.Activity at the 17,797-foot (5,425-meter) mountain just 45 miles (about 70 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City and known affectionately as “El Popo” has increased over the past week. Evacuations have not been ordered, but authorities were preparing for that scenario and telling people to stay out of 7.5-mile (12-kilometer) radius around the peak.In Santiago Xalitzintla, one of the communities closest to the crater, alerts and preparation are regular and most people were going about their normal business Monday. An extremely fine ash was falling and was visible on vehicles’ windshields.Job Amalco, a driver, said it was normal. “It doesn’t scare us. We’re spectators of what nature gives us,” he said proudly.But anxiety was be...