List of All Articles with Tag 'erica'

WASHINGTON The United States on Monday confirmed the death of nine Americans in Israel during the violence in

Nine US citizens have died in the conflict in Israel, a US National Security Council spokesperson said Monday.

A weekend of terror in Israel has sharpened already grave questions about the capacity of the politically fractured United States to lay out a unified and coherent response to a world spinning out of its control.

Elon Musk pleaded with X users on Sunday to try and stick to the facts, as the site and its billionaire owner come under heavy criticism for the spread of false information regarding the Israel-Hamas war. “As always, please try stay as close to the truth as possible, even for stuff you don’t like,” Mr Musk wrote on X. “This platform aspires to maximize signal/noise of the human collective.” Critics have been hammering Mr Musk for the proliferation of fake news on the site, arguing his attempts to loosen the reins on its content moderation have allowed bad actors and dubious sources to flourish. “This site is a cesspool of disinformation,” former Obama administration official and podcaster Tommy Vietor wrote on X in response to Mr Musk’s plea. “You have made it exponentially worse, and just this morning you recommended an account known to spread lies and antisemitism. Other than that, great job.” “This site is worse than useless during a breaking news story,” Aaron Kleinman, of the States Project political advocacy group, wrote recently in response to a thread collecting false information about the war in Israel and Gaza. “Actively harmful. Don’t log in if you want to be informed.” Dubious news stories have spread far and wide on the site formerly known as Twitter since the outbreak of war in Israel yesterday. A widely seen video, purporting to show a Hamas militant shooting down an Israeli helicopter, was really a clip from a video game, BBC Verify’s Shayan Sardarizadeh reports. A Taliban spokesperson had to set the record straight after a false claim spread on social media that the group was seeking to join in the conflict, Pakistan bureau chief for WIONews Anas Mallick reports. And a widely shared clip of Israel reportedly bombing a Gazan office tower really was from fighting that occured in 2021. Critics of X allege that policy changes under Mr Musk have allowed such false information to spread more easily. Since taking over, Mr Musk has disbanded Twitter’s trust and safety team, reinstated (and at times vocally endorsed the content of) known extremists and far-right commentators, removed labels noting accounts associated with foreign governments, and allowed paid access to the verification feature, a designation on Twitter previously reserved for heads of states, celebrities, journalists, and other high-profile individuals who could see their credibility abused by imitators. The Independent has contacted X for comment. Read More Israel-Palestine conflict live: Fierce gun battles rage with Hamas militants as ‘over 700 Israelis killed’ Israel suffers bloodiest day in decades as fierce gunfights rage in streets against Hamas militants US regulators seek to compel Elon Musk to testify in their investigation of his Twitter acquisition

Mike Pence led the charge for the foreign interventionist wing of the 2024 Republican primary against their isolationist rivals this weekend as new hostilities erupted between Israel and the Hamas militants of the occupied Gaza Strip. It was a banner weekend for that wing of the GOP, whose members among the 2024 primary field spent their hours one-upping each other with rhetoric endorsing an unmitigated Israeli response against the Palestinian militant group that launched attacks across the country. Mr Pence made his remarks in Iowa, where he is battling for a surprise victory (or at least a decent-enough showing) in the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Calling out Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis by name, he accused them of supporting America’s retreat from a global military, diplomatic and economic footprint he argued was previously responsible for tamping down on unrest around the world. His rebuke, he said, was directed at “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.” “This is ... what happens when you have leaders in the Republican Party signaling retreat on the world stage,” charged the former vice president. He also faulted President Joe Biden for supposedly continuing that “retreat”, as others in the hawkish wing have done, and blamed the incumbent president for not projecting the strength that would supposedly have warned Vladimir Putin off of ordering the invasion of Ukraine. Those sentiments were repeated by other figures representing the “establishment politics” wing of the Republican Party, namely Tim Scott and Nikki Haley. The former accused Mr Biden of being “complicit” in the Hamas attacks on Israeli police, military and civilian targets over the weekend. Such rhetoric used to be frowned upon in Washington. In the modern Republican Party, accusing one’s political rivals of being in bed with terrorists is no longer a rarity, but a feature of the typical GOP politician. The Biden administration and its allies have taken notice. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, rebuked Republican senator Rick Scott after a similar posting, writing: “For too many Republicans, their hatred of Democrats is their only organizing prism. Even on a day like today all they can do is attack. Senator Scott’s social media is mostly attacks on Biden instead of support for Israel. There are times for politics. There are times for unity.” Ms Haley drew her own accusations of bloodthirst from the left after she tweeted at Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to “finish them” — referring to Hamas militants. The Palestinian militant group is accused of deliberately killing hundreds of civilians over the weekend and taking others hostage; both actions are considered war crimes under international law. The scope and scale of Israel’s response has drawn similar accusations from supporters of the end of Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Donald Trump, meanwhile, focused his criticism on Joe Biden over the weekend — a sign that he continues to view the Republican primary as largely decided. “THE HORRIBLE ATTACK ON ISRAEL, MUCH LIKE THE ATTACK ON UKRAINE, WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WERE PRESIDENT - ZERO CHANCE!” wrote Mr Trump in a Sunday-morning Truth Social post. Read More White House official accuses GOP senator JD Vance of ‘shameful lies’ after he blamed Biden for Hamas attack Biden says the US ‘stands with Israel’ in TV address as he condemns ‘appalling terrorist attacks’ by Hamas Would a Speaker Jim Jordan doom the House GOP majority? Mike Pence says he is 'deeply disappointed' in vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker Former VP Pence to talk national security and foreign policy at AP-Georgetown University forum Here's where all the cases against Trump stand as he campaigns for a return to the White House

Not at all depressing.

The Supreme Court will consider the strength of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Wednesday when it hears a dispute over whether a self-appointed "tester" of the civil rights law has the right to sue hotels over alleged violations of its provisions.

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics rewards research into electrons in "flashes of light".

Every September, thousands travel to County Clare's Lisdoonvarna with hopes of finding the one.

Brazil's securities watchdog CVM said on Friday it has approved a mechanism similar to a plea bargain for

About 100,000 New Yorkers live in basement homes that climate change has remade into "death traps".

Elon Musk has cut staff from the X team that combats election disinformation claiming they were actually “undermining election integrity.” The platform, formerly known as Twitter, got rid of half of the global team, including four people at its Dublin office and its head, sources told The Information. Mr Musk later confirmed the move on X, stating: “Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.” With the 2024 US presidential election just over a year away, the team may now have only six staff members, most of them in North America, reported The Messenger. The Independent has reached out to the platform for comment on the cuts and received a message back stating, “Busy now, please check back later.” The move comes less than a month after the company announced in a blog post that it was “expanding” its “safety and elections teams to focus on combating manipulation, surfacing inauthentic accounts and closely monitoring the platform for emerging threats.” CEO Linda Yaccarino recently told The Financial Times that the platform was aiming to expand its elections and trust and safety teams. Mr Musk slashed the company’s workforce when he completed his $44bn purchase of the company, which he had repeatedly tried to back out of. In February The New York Times reported that the company had gone from 7,500 employees to fewer than 2,000 following repeated rounds of job cuts. The cuts included many from its trust and safety team, as well as senior executives in that area, such as Yoel Roth and Ella Irwin. Mr Roth, the former head of trust and safety, wrote a guest essay for the newspaper in which he revealed that following online attacks from Mr Musk and Donald Trump he has been forced to live with armed security guards outside his home and had to go into hiding for months. Read More Elon Musk to live stream himself doing ‘silly stuff’ on X Woman claiming to be Elon Musk’s wife arrested for trespassing at SpaceX plant in Texas Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claps back at Elon Musk for calling her ‘not that smart’ Musk confirms he is cutting election integrity staff from X/Twitter ahead of 2024 Woman claiming to be Elon Musk’s wife arrested at SpaceX site in Texas At US Antarctic base hit by harassment claims, workers are banned from buying alcohol at bars