Roundup Newswires

Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network

Facebook agrees to ban discriminatory ads in civil rights settlement

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Admin

ACLU hails ‘sweeping changes’ after company criticized over ad targeting based on race, gender and age

Facebook is taking steps to block discriminatory ads for housing, employment and credit by preventing advertisers from targeting users based on race, gender, age and zip code.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other rights groups, which sued Facebook for violating civil rights laws with its ad practices, announced the “historic settlement” on Tuesday, saying “sweeping changes” would restrict illegal and discriminatory ad targeting.

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Quiz: can you identify these world cities from their density maps alone?

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Admin

The LSE Cities Urban Age Programme has created density diagrams showing the number of people living in each square kilometre of a 100km by 100km area for cities around the world. Can you identify them?

Which city is this?

Dhaka

Chicago

Shanghai

Lagos

Which city is this?

London

Paris

Rome

Madrid

Which city is this?

Buffalo

Accra

Marseilles

Brisbane

Which city is this?

Islamabad

Kabul

Karachi

New Delhi

Which city is this?

Mumbai

Cairo

Jakarta

Hong Kong

Which city is this?

Los Angeles

Vancouver

Cape Town

Taipei

Which city is this?

Recife

Newcastle

Havana

Dar es Salaam

Which city is this?

New Orleans

Malaga

Melbourne

Rio de Janeiro

Which city is this?

Toronto

New York

Sao Paulo

Barcelona

Which city is this?

Buenos Aires

Mexico City

Nairobi

Beijing

10 and above.

Well done!

3 and above.

Oh dear

4 and above.

Not bad

2 and above.

Oh dear

0 and above.

Oh dear

1 and above.

Oh dear

LSE Cities says: “Residential density measures how closely people live together. More compact cities have higher densities, while cities that sprawl and have wide open spaces between buildings have lower densities. The pattern of streets, squares and urban blocks – as well as how many people live in residential units – determines the density of a city alongside the height of individual buildings.

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Facebook’s local news project frustrated – by lack of local newspapers

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Admin

About 1,800 newspapers have closed in the US in the last 15 years, partly as a result of internet-based companies like Facebook

Facebook’s effort to establish a service that provides users with local news and information is being hindered by the lack of outlets where the company’s technicians can find original reporting.

Some 1,800 newspapers have closed in the US over the last 15 years, according to the University of North Carolina. Newsroom employment has declined by 45% as the industry struggles with a broken business model partly caused by the success of companies on the internet – including Facebook.

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Technology is terrorism’s most effective ally. It delivers a global audience | Jason Burke

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Admin

The suspect’s live broadcast of the New Zealand killings reveals such acts are always as much about instilling fear as inflicting violence

Terrorism is effective because it always seems near. It always seems new. And it always seems personal. Ever since the first wave of terrorist violence broke across the newly industrialised cities of the west in the late 19th century this has been true.

It feels personal because, although statistics may show we are many times more likely to die in a banal domestic accident, we instinctively conclude from an attack on the other side of the street, the city or, in the case of New Zealand, the other side of the world, we might be next.

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Major study suggests Apple Watch can detect irregular heartbeat

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Admin

More work needed to see if wearables can help screen for heart problems, but researchers call study encouraging

A huge study suggests the Apple Watch can detect a worrisome irregular heartbeat – but experts say more work is needed to tell if using wearable technology to screen for heart problems really helps.

More than 419,000 Apple Watch users signed up for the study, which was funded by Apple and the largest ever to explore screening seemingly healthy people for atrial fibrillation (A-fib), a condition that if untreated eventually can trigger strokes.

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Facebook under criminal investigation over data sharing with tech firms – report

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Admin

Investigation by federal prosecutors adds to laundry list of inquiries since the Cambridge Analytica revelations one year ago

Facebook is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors examining its data-sharing deals with other major technology companies, according to the New York Times.

A New York grand jury has subpoenaed records from “at least two prominent makers of smartphones and other devices”, the Times reported, citing two unnamed sources.

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Google’s Gmail and Drive suffer global outages

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Admin

Users in Australia, the US, Europe and Asia report problems with various applications for several hours

Google has been hit by outages in a host of countries around the world, with users reporting issues with Gmail, Google Drive, Hangouts and Google Maps for several hours.

Various websites that track Gmail problems and outages, showed a spike in users reporting problems with the email service from about 1pm AEDT (2am GMT).

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Google paid former executive $35m after sexual assault allegation

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Admin

Former search executive Amit Singhal was reportedly forced to resign after an employee claimed he groped her at an off-campus event

Google paid the former search executive Amit Singhal $35m in an exit package when he was reportedly forced to resign after a sexual assault investigation, according to court documents released on Monday.

Details of the exit package were revealed as part of a shareholder lawsuit against the company, one that followed a published report of payouts Google made to executives accused of sexual misconduct.

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Elizabeth Warren is right – we must break up Facebook, Google and Amazon | Robert Reich

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Admin

The titans of the new Gilded Age must be busted and the idea has bipartisan support. It’s time big tech was brought to heel

The presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren announced on Friday she wants to bust up giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon.

America’s first Gilded Age began in the late 19th century with a raft of innovations – railroads, steel production, oil extraction – but culminated in mammoth trusts run by “robber barons” like JP Morgan, John D Rockefeller, and William H “the public be damned” Vanderbilt.

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China warns US of ‘all necessary measures’ to protect Huawei

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Admin

Foreign minister suggests recent actions against Chinese firms are ‘deliberate political suppression’

China’s foreign minister has said Beijing will “take all necessary measures” to defend the rights and interests of Chinese companies such as Huawei, which is locked in an escalating legal dispute with the US.

Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, said in response to a question about the company suing the US: “It is not difficult to see that the recent actions against specific Chinese enterprises and individuals are not just judicial cases, but deliberate political suppression.

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Elon Musk’s security clearance under review by the Pentagon over pot use

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Admin

The SpaceX founder and Tesla chief executive smoked marijuana on a comedian’s podcast last September, a US official said

SpaceX chief executive and Tesla boss Elon Musk’s security clearance is being reviewed by the Pentagon after the billionaire smoked marijuana on a California comedian’s podcast last September, a US official said on Thursday.

An incident report was started by the Pentagon some time after the marijuana event, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The review was first reported by Bloomberg.

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Queen shares digital milestone with royal Instagram followers

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Admin

Monarch posted image of 1843 Charles Babbage letter to Prince Albert during Science Museum visit on Thursday

The Queen has proved she is in touch with the touch screen by sharing her first Instagram post in the latest personal technological milestone of her lengthy reign.

The 92-year-old monarch shared an archive image to the 4.6 million followers of @theRoyalFamily’s Instagram account during a visit to the Science Museum to formally open the new Smith Centre and summer exhibition, Top Secret.

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Huawei sues US over government ban on its products

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Admin

Chinese company files lawsuit claiming restriction is unlawful, harms consumers and violates constitution

Huawei is suing the US over a government ban on its products, raising the stakes in a protracted diplomatic incident between China, the US and Canada, where a senior Huawei executive is facing extradition.

In a statement on Thursday, the Chinese telecoms equipment and smartphone manufacturer said it had filed a lawsuit in the US district court in Plano, Texas, home to the company’s US headquarters, calling for the ban on US government agencies buying Huawei equipment or services to be overturned.

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Hotels at centre of rape allegations promoted on TripAdvisor

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Admin

Woman told by website to leave ‘first person’ review detailing sexual assault

Hotels around the world at the centre of sexual assault allegations are continuing to be promoted on TripAdvisor, despite some complainants contacting the travel company to warn them of alleged attacks by staff members.

TripAdvisor is the largest travel site in the world, with 456 million people visiting the site every month to search for accommodation and other hospitality sites ranked according user reviews.

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Facebook criticised after women complain of inaction over abuse

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Admin

Amnesty says social media firm must do more to support users who report harassment

Human rights campaigners have called for action after a survey revealed that more than half of the reports that women lodge about harassment on Facebook are met with no action from the social media company.

The Survation poll, commissioned by the feminist campaign group Level Up, found that 29% of the 1,000 women who took part had been harassed on Facebook.

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Huawei: Meng Wanzhou sues Canadian government over arrest

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Admin

Chinese CFO claims she was detained and interrogated before being told she was under arrest

Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese technology company Huawei, is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force over her high-profile detention. Meng claims they detained, searched and interrogated her before telling her she was under arrest.

Lawyers for Meng said on Sunday they had filed a notice of civil claim in the British Columbia supreme court. Canada arrested Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, at the request of the US on 1 December at Vancouver airport. US prosecutors will accuse her of misleading banks about the company’s business dealings in Iran.

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