TikTok has been fined 345 million euro (£296 million) by Ireland’s data watchdog following an investigation into how the social media platform processed children’s data. The fine was imposed on TikTok Technology Limited (TTL) by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) after the probe into how certain privacy settings and features complied with obligations under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. The DPC inquiry examined age verification as part of the registration process and the processing of the personal data of children by the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform between July 31 and December 31 2020. Tiktok said that it “respectfully disagreed” with the level of the fine imposed and stated that it related to features and settings which were in place three years ago. The DPC adopted its final decision regarding its inquiry into TTK on September 1. We respectfully disagree with the decision, particularly the level of the fine imposed TikTok spokesperson The DPC ruling described how child users progressed through the sign-up to the TikTok platform in such a manner that their accounts were set to public by default. It said this meant that videos that were posted to child users’ account were public-by-default and comments were enabled publicly by default. In the Family Pairing feature, the DPC said a child user’s accounts could be “paired” with an unverified non-child. It said that that the non-child user had the power to enable direct messages for child users above the age of 16, thereby making this feature less strict for the child user. As part of the inquiry, the DPC also examined some of TTL’s transparency obligations, including the extent of information provided to child users in relation to default settings. The DPC has issued a reprimand as well as an order requiring TTL to bring its processing into compliance by taking specified action specified within three months and administrative fines totalling 345 million euro. A spokesperson for TikTok said: “We respectfully disagree with the decision, particularly the level of the fine imposed. “The DPC’s criticisms are focused on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and that we made changes to well before the investigation even began, such as setting all under 16 accounts to private by default.” It is the latest in a series of fines handed out by the DPC in Ireland to social media giants. Earlier this year, Facebook’s parent company Meta Ireland was fined 390 million for breaches of EU data privacy rules, one of a number of fines the DPC has imposed on the company. In Januar,y WhatsApp was fined more than five million euro over data protection breaches and last year Instagram was fined 405 million euro over the way in which it handled teenagers’ personal data. Earlier this year in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office fined TikTok £12.7 million because it “did not do enough” to make sure underage children were not using its platform and ensure that their data was used correctly. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Stadiums and tourism hotspots to test new 5G networks in £88 million scheme Chatbots ‘able to outperform most humans at creative thinking task’ Information Commissioner urges people to share data to protect at-risk children

Earth has been hit by a blast from a dead star so energetic that scientists cannot explain it. The burst of gamma rays, originating in a dead star known as a pulsar, is the most high energy of its kind ever seen. It was equivalent about ten trillion times the energy of visible light, or 20 tera-electronvolts. Scientists are unable to explain exactly what kind of a scenario could lead a pulsar to emit such intense energy, and the researchers behind the breakthrough say that it “requires a rethinking of how these natural accelerators work”. Scientists hope that they can find yet more powerful energy blasts from pulsars, with a view to better understanding how they are formed. Pulsars are formed when a star dies, exploding in a supernova and leaving behind a tiny, dead star. They are just 20 kilometres across, and spin extremely fast with a powerful magnetic field. “These dead stars are almost entirely made up of neutrons and are incredibly dense: a teaspoon of their material has a mass of more than five billion tonnes, or about 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza,” said Emma de Oña Wilhelmi, a scientist at the High Energy Stereoscopic System observatory in Namibia that detected the blast. As pulsars spin, they throw out beams of electromagnetic radiation, throwing it out like a cosmic lighthouse. That means that someone in one spot – like the Earth – will see the radiation pulses flash in a regular rhythm as they spin past. The radiation is thought to be the result of fast electrons that are produced and thrown out by the the pulsar’s magnetosphere, which is made up of plasma and electromagnetic fields that surround the star and spin with it. Scientists can search the radiation for different energy bands within the electromagnetic spectrum, helping them understand it. When scientists previously did that with the Vela pulsar examined in the new study, they found that it was the brightest everseen in the radio band, and the brightest persistent source in the giga-electronvolts. But the new research found that there is a part of the radiation with even more high energy components. “That is about 200 times more energetic than all radiation ever detected before from this object,” said co-author Christo Venter from the North-West University in South Africa. Scientists don’t know exactly how that could happen. 
“This result challenges our previous knowledge of pulsars and requires a rethinking of how these natural accelerators work,” says Arache Djannati-Atai from the Astroparticle & Cosmology (APC) laboratory in France, who led the research. “The traditional scheme according to which particles are accelerated along magnetic field lines within or slightly outside the magnetosphere cannot sufficiently explain our observations. “Perhaps we are witnessing the acceleration of particles through the so-called magnetic reconnection process beyond the light cylinder, which still somehow preserves the rotational pattern? But even this scenario faces difficulties to explain how such extreme radiation is produced.” An article describing the findings, ‘Discovery of a Radiation Component from the Vela Pulsar Reaching 20 Teraelectronvolts’, is published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. Read More ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Mystery behind massive star suddenly vanishing decoded New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Mystery behind massive star suddenly vanishing decoded New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say

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Eric Trump is being mocked for comparing his family's assets to the Mona Lisa amid their ongoing civil fraud trial. Former President Donald Trump and his family are being sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for $250 million. The Trumps are being accused of inflating the former President's own net worth and the value of his assets by billions of dollars from 2011 to 2021 to secure better deals and loans. In light of the accusations, Trump and his family have denied them and claimed prosecutors of being politically motivated and attempting to harm Trumps' 2024 presidential campaign. During a Saturday evening appearance on Fox News, Eric Trump claimed that his family properties are "worth a fortune", calling them the "Mona Lisas of the real estate world." Democratic political strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote, "I honestly didn't think Eric Trump could get any dumber." Tim O'Brien, political analyst for MSNBC said: "The kids get all their talking points from their dad." Last month, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last month that fraud was committed by Trump, his adult sons, their businesses, and executives. As a result, they will be held civilly liable to an extent to be determined throughout the rest of the trial. Other accusations include falsifying business records, insurance fraud, and conspiracy claims. Engoron himself will rule on the charges. The result could see the Trump family lose some of their famous "Mona Lisa" properties, as well as being barred from doing business in New York. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

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