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In conclusion, the case serves as a stark reminder of the complexities and challenges faced when dealing with matters of property ownership and inheritance within families. It underscores the importance of open communication, mutual respect, and careful consideration of all parties involved in such decisions to avoid the devastating consequences that can arise from misunderstandings and conflicts over property rights.Title: Police Warn: Beware of Empty Parcels with Hidden Traps - Don't Fall Victim to Lottery Scams
President Macron names a new government, putting together a team under Francois Bayrou, his fourth prime minister of the year. France has unveiled a new government , comprised of former ministers and senior civil servants that Prime Minister Francois Bayrou hopes can oversee the passage of a 2025 budget and avoid a collapse that would deepen the country’s crisis. Bayrou on Monday put together the government that enters office after months of political deadlock and pressure from financial markets to reduce France’s mounting debt. The names were read out by President Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, Alexis Kohler. Eric Lombard, 66, the head of Caisse des Depots, the investment arm of the French government, became finance minister, working with Amelie de Montchalin as budget minister. Conservative Bruno Retailleau remained interior minister. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu also remained in their posts. Elisabeth Borne, who stepped down as prime minister in January, became education minister, while former Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin will lead the Ministry of Justice. Bayrou has struggled for almost 10 days to put together a government as he looks to stave off potential no-confidence votes from the far right and left. He will need to begin work immediately on passing a 2025 budget bill after parliamentary pushback against the proposed legislation led to the toppling of his predecessor, former Prime Minister Michel Barnier. The inclusion of two former prime ministers indicates Macron’s desire for a heavyweight government that will enjoy stability and not share the fate of Barnier. The priority for 73-year-old Bayrou is to make sure his government can survive a no-confidence vote and that it passes a cost-cutting budget for 2025. The announcement came as France observed a day of mourning for the victims in the cyclone-hit Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, France’s poorest overseas territory. Bayrou, the head of the centrist MoDem group, which is allied to Macron’s party, was appointed on December 13. Many have already predicted that Bayrou will struggle to survive. France has been mired in deadlock since Macron gambled on snap elections earlier this year in the hopes of bolstering his authority. The move backfired, with voters returning a parliament fractured between three rival blocs.Letters to The Editor — December 24, 2024
By ALI SWENSON and BARARA ORTUTAY Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, which they view as increasingly leaning too far to the right given its owner’s support of President-elect Donald Trump, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms. Related Articles Supreme Court will hear arguments over the law that could ban TikTok in the US if it’s not sold What does Big Tech hope to gain from warming up to Trump? Tech consultant found guilty of second-degree murder in stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee Tech review: Earbuds and phones for those on your holiday list Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter, championed by its former CEO Jack Dorsey. Its decentralized approach to social networking was eventually intended to replace Twitter’s core mechanic . That’s unlikely now that the two companies have parted ways. But Bluesky’s growth trajectory — with a user base that has more than doubled since October — could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms. But with growth comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites. The skyrocketing user base — now surpassing 25 million — is the biggest test yet for a relatively young platform that has branded itself as a social media alternative free of the problems plaguing its competitors. According to research firm Similarweb, Bluesky added 7.6 million monthly active app users on iOS and Android in November, an increase of 295.4% since October. It also saw 56.2 million desktop and mobile web visits, in the same period, up 189% from October. Besides the U.S. elections, Bluesky also got a boost when X was briefly banned in Brazil . “They got this spike in attention, they’ve crossed the threshold where it is now worth it for people to flood the platform with spam,” said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor of computer science at Northeastern University and a member of Issue One’s Council for Responsible Social Media. “But they don’t have the cash flow, they don’t have the established team that a larger platform would, so they have to do it all very, very quickly.” To manage growth for its tiny staff, Bluesky started as an invitation-only space until it opened to the public in February. That period gave the site time to build out moderation tools and other distinctive features to attract new users , such as “starter packs” that provide lists of topically curated feeds. Meta recently announced that it is testing a similar feature. Compared to the bigger players like Meta’s platforms or X, Bluesky has a “quite different” value system, said Claire Wardle, a professor at Cornell University and an expert in misinformation. This includes giving users more control over their experience. “The first generation of social media platforms connected the world, but ended up consolidating power in the hands of a few corporations and their leaders,” Bluesky said on its blog in March. “Our online experience doesn’t have to depend on billionaires unilaterally making decisions over what we see. On an open social network like Bluesky, you can shape your experience for yourself.” Because of this mindset, Bluesky has achieved a scrappy underdog status that has attracted users who’ve grown tired of the big players. “People had this idea that it was going to be a different type of social network,” Wardle said. “But the truth is, when you get lots of people in a place and there are eyeballs, it means that it’s in other people’s interests to use bots to create, you know, information that aligns with their perspective.” Little data has emerged to help quantify the rise in impersonator accounts, artificial intelligence-fueled networks and other potentially harmful content on Bluesky. But in recent weeks, users have begun reporting large numbers of apparent AI bots following them, posting plagiarized articles or making seemingly automated divisive comments in replies. Lion Cassens, a Bluesky user and doctoral candidate in the Netherlands, found one such network by accident — a group of German-language accounts with similar bios and AI-generated profile pictures posting in replies to three German newspapers. “I noticed some weird replies under a news post by the German newspaper ‘Die Ziet,’” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “I have a lot of trust in the moderation mechanism on Bluesky, especially compared to Twitter since the layoffs and due to Musk’s more radical stance on freedom of speech. But AI bots are a big challenge, as they will only improve. I hope social media can keep up with that.” Cassens said the bots’ messages have been relatively innocuous so far, but he was concerned about how they could be repurposed in the future to mislead. There are also signs that foreign disinformation narratives have made their way to Bluesky. The disinformation research group Alethea pointed to one low-traction post sharing a false claim about ABC News that had circulated on Russian Telegram channels. Copycat accounts are another challenge. In late November, Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, found that of the top 100 most followed named individuals on Bluesky, 44% had at least one duplicate account posing as them. Two weeks later, Mantzarlis said Bluesky had removed around two-thirds of the duplicate accounts he’d initially detected — a sign the site was aware of the issue and attempting to address it. Bluesky posted earlier this month that it had quadrupled its moderation team to keep up with its growing user base. The company also announced it had introduced a new system to detect impersonation and was working to improve its Community Guidelines to provide more detail on what’s allowed. Because of the way the site is built, users also have the option to subscribe to third-party “Labelers” that outsource content moderation by tagging accounts with warnings and context. The company didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. Even as its challenges aren’t yet at the scale other platforms face, Bluesky is at a “crossroads,” said Edward Perez, a board member at the nonpartisan nonprofit OSET Institute, who previously led Twitter’s civic integrity team. “Whether BlueSky likes it or not, it is being pulled into the real world,” Perez said, noting that it needs to quickly prioritize threats and work to mitigate them if it hopes to continue to grow. That said, disinformation and bots won’t be Bluesky’s only challenges in the months and years to come. As a text-based social network, its entire premise is falling out of favor with younger generations. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that only 17% of American teenagers used X, for instance, down from 23% in 2022. For teens and young adults, TikTok, Instagram and other visual-focused platforms are the places to be. Political polarization is also going against Bluesky ever reaching the size of TikTok, Instagram or even X. “Bluesky is not trying to be all things to all people,” Wardle said, adding that, likely, the days of a Facebook or Instagram emerging where they’re “trying to keep everybody happy” are over. Social platforms are increasingly splintered along political lines and when they aren’t — see Meta’s platforms — the companies behind them are actively working to de-emphasize political content and news. The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Title: Investigation into Ongoing Internal Turmoil in South Korea: SC Sessions Pass Special Investigation Law Targeting Prime Minister and 11 OthersExcerpt from Carol Mithers’ book, ‘Rethinking Rescue’
As the investigation into Melissa Cooper's murder continues, the focus remains on bringing her killer to justice and understanding the motivations behind this senseless act of violence. The fact that the suspect is a recent graduate from a prestigious university has sparked discussions about mental health, access to firearms, and the impact of social and economic pressures on young individuals.Black Friday is among the most awaited shopping events of the year. Retailers roll out big discounts, special promotions, and doorbuster deals to draw in crowds both online and in stores. Still, many shoppers ask the question: are Black Friday discounts worth it, or just some clever marketing schemes? The article explores the truth behind Black Friday discounts and tips on how to wade through the frenzy and secure real savings. Black Friday is attractive because it is popularized as a day to save on things that do only come around once in every year. It has transcended from being purely the American phenomenon to encompass different retailers across the world, which have joined in their participation. The anticipation from the event is created through thorough advertisements, countdown to purchases, and limited-period purchase. While some of them are indeed true, others are only the fruit of increased consumer excitement. Retailers understand that urgency around Black Friday will always make people rush to shop because they will be convinced to buy stuff on the spot before discounts are gone. Black Friday discounts often fit into a couple of categories: Doorbusters: These are the very deeply discounted items that exist in limited quantities. They are usually designed to attract people to stores or onto websites fast. However, after they are sold out, other merchandise may not provide as much savings. Percentage-off sales: Some retailers have blanket percentage off of an entire category or store, like "30% off all electronics" or "buy one, get one 50% off." Bundle deals: These offers give a discount on bundles. For instance, when purchasing a laptop , there can be a discounted bundle of the accessories. Flash sales: These are time-bound offers available for only a few hours or even minutes, pushing the urgency to buy right now. While some Black Friday deals are real value, not all discounts look as impressive as they do. Retailers sometimes inflate prices in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, so the discounts seem more significant than they do. Others create "exclusive" deals that seem to be unique to Black Friday but have been available all year in other forms. A popular technique is to sell old models or items whose product cycle is ending at discounted prices. Even though these offers seem to be a bargain, the value they bring might not last long, especially with gadgets or appliances in technology that could soon be overtaken by newer models. Price tracking tools and comparison websites are so important in helping to ensure whether a deal is the real bargain or not. Advanced price monitoring helps keep one from being misled to false discounts, ensuring shopper value for their money in purchasing. To avoid traps of impulsive spending over Black Friday, follow some of these tips: Research the prices beforehand: Use price tracking tools to see the average cost of items before Black Friday. This helps identify real deals versus inflated discounts. Make a list and stick to it: Plan ahead by listing the items needed and their regular prices. This will help focus on genuine savings and avoid impulse buys. Shop early or late: Doorbuster deals are often available only for a short period, so shopping early increases the chance of getting the best bargains. Alternatively, late sales, like Cyber Monday, sometimes offer better deals as retailers try to clear remaining stock. Set a budget: Determine how much to spend and stick to it, even when tempted by seemingly great deals. See if the items purchased can be returned or exchanged easily. Some retailers have a stricter return policy when having holiday sales. Black Friday discounts are worth the hustle and bustle only if approached cautiously and with a well-thought-out strategy. While many deals do indeed offer big savings, others may not be as worthwhile as they seem. If one takes the time to research and set limits and avoids making impulsive purchases, shoppers will be able to navigate the Black Friday frenzy better and make sure that the deals they score are worth it.
In conclusion, the crisis facing Manchester City is a stark reminder of the fragility of success in professional football and the high stakes involved in the pursuit of glory. As the Premier League's accusations against the club intensify, the Blue Moon finds itself navigating uncharted waters, where the specter of punishment and repercussions looms large. The future of Manchester City hangs in the balance, with the outcome of the investigation shaping the club's destiny for years to come. Only time will tell whether the Blue Moon can weather the storm and emerge stronger from the challenges it faces.Subhashree Sahu is set to make her mark in the upcoming web series ' The Worse of Social Side ', a compelling drama that delves into the adverse effects of social media on creators and users alike. The series, which will be available in Hindi and English, features Subhashree alongside other prominent artists and promises to shed light on the darker realities of the digital age. Her involvement in the series is particularly poignant, as she herself has been a victim of social media's harmful impacts. Once celebrated as the “Viral Girl Subhashree,” she faced a harrowing experience when AI-generated videos and photographs falsely attributed to her went viral, sparking relentless trolling and scrutiny. The content, which spread like wildfire across platforms, trended for nearly two months, leaving a significant dent in her personal and professional life. Speaking out against the malicious use of AI and the cyberbullying she endured, Subhashree’s attempts to defend herself were met with further challenges. Her social media accounts, including her Instagram , were banned after mass reporting campaigns staged by trolls. “The fame that comes with social media can often feel like a double-edged sword,” Subhashree remarked in a recent interview. “While it offers immense opportunities, it also exposes creators to unimaginable harassment and exploitation. I hope this series starts a conversation about the mental toll social media can have and encourages platforms to take stronger actions against cyberbullying.” 'The Worse of Social Side' explores themes of online trolling, the psychological effects of fame, privacy violations, and the misuse of AI technology in the digital era. The series seeks to offer a nuanced perspective on the trade-offs creators face in their quest for online visibility.
American Well Corp EVP Vukasin Paunovich sells $29,631 in stock
Colby Rogers, Moussa Cisse lead Memphis to an 87-70 win over No. 16 Mississippi
Zhengzhou authorities issued a report on multiple people passing out at a bath center, all of whom have been hospitalized and are in stable condition.WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row — including two Florida men convicted of killing a family in 2006 — converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump , an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office. The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings , including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities. It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are: Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. “I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement . “Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.” Two of the 37 people whose sentences were commuted were from Florida: Richard Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya, sentenced to death three years after the execution-style killings of Luis Escobedo, 28; his wife, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25; and their children Luis Julian, 4, and Luis Damian, 3. The killings, prosecutors said, stemmed from a drug debt Escobedo accumulated from a cocaine trafficking operation. At the time, the Sun-Sentinel reported , U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley characterized the pair as “living in a Scarface fantasy” and committing “some of the most violent, anti-social conduct one could contemplate.” Sanchez and Troya’s federal death sentences marked the first being given in a Florida court since its reinstatement more than two decades prior. The decision to commute their sentences drew the ire of Sheriff Keith Pearson of St. Lucie County, where the murders took place along the Florida Turnpike. In a statement issued following the White House’s announcement, he called the decision to commute Sanchez and Troya’s sentences “an example of the woke ideology this current administration exhibits,” adding, “Where is the justice for the Escobedo family that was murdered in cold blood?” “These two earned their right to die for the heinous crimes they committed,” Pearson said. The Biden administration in 2021 announced a moratorium on federal capital punishment to study the protocols used, which suspended executions during Biden’s term. But Biden actually had promised to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats for terrorism and hate-motivated, mass killings. While running for president in 2020, Biden’s campaign website said he would “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level , and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.” Similar language didn’t appear on Biden’s reelection website before he left the presidential race in July. “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden’s statement said. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” He took a political jab at Trump, saying, “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.” Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has spoken frequently of expanding executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign , Trump called for those “caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts.” He later promised to execute drug and human smugglers and even praised China’s harsher treatment of drug peddlers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers . There were 13 federal executions during Trump’s first term, more than under any president in modern history, and some may have happened fast enough to have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus at the federal death row facility in Indiana. Those were the first federal executions since 2003. The final three occurred after Election Day in November 2020 but before Trump left office the following January, the first time federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president since Grover Cleveland in 1889. Biden faced recent pressure from advocacy groups urging him to act to make it more difficult for Trump to increase the use of capital punishment for federal inmates. The president’s announcement also comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and of 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The announcement also followed the post-election pardon that Biden granted his son Hunter on federal gun and tax charges after long saying he would not issue one, sparking an uproar in Washington. The pardon also raised questions about whether he would issue sweeping preemptive pardons for administration officials and other allies who the White House worries could be unjustly targeted by Trump’s second administration. Speculation that Biden could commute federal death sentences intensified last week after the White House announced he plans to visit Italy on the final foreign trip of his presidency next month. Biden, a practicing Catholic, will meet with Pope Francis, who recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates in hopes their sentences will be commuted. Martin Luther King III, who publicly urged Biden to change the death sentences, said in a statement issued by the White House that the president “has done what no president before him was willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action not just to acknowledge the death penalty’s racist roots but also to remedy its persistent unfairness.” Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was converted, said the execution of “the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.” “The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” Cristobal Reyes of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida.