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Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over Threads

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new, text-based app called Threads, according to a letter obtained by Semafor.In a Wednesday letter addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Spiro, an attorney representing Twitter, accused Meta of unlawfully using Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property by hiring former Twitter employees to create a “copycat” app.Since launching Threads Wednesday night, Meta’s new app has collected tens of millions of sign ups. The app, which was created by the company’s Instagram team, arrives at a time when many are looking for Twitter alternatives to escape Elon Musk’s raucous oversight of the platform since acquiring it last year for $44 billion.Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded to the report of Spiro’s letter on Threads Thursday afternoon, writing, “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing.”In the letter, which Semafor fi...

AP PHOTOS: Russia’s war in Ukraine reaches the 500-day mark

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s war in Ukraine is set to reach the 500-day mark this weekend, a grim milestone for a conflict that rages with no end in sight.While the fighting has fallen largely into a stalemate — there has been no significant movement in battle lines control in months — the war continues to take a heavy toll on the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. And the stakes are only getting higher.A month ago, a major dam that Russia controls in southern Ukraine collapsed, flooding an entire region with a toxic torrent that left death and destruction in its wake as well as long-term environmental consequences.Fears of a nuclear disaster have increased, particularly this week after Ukraine and Russia accused each other of planning to attack one of the world’s largest atomic power plants.Meanwhile, dozens of civilians in Ukraine have been killed by sporadic missiles launched by Russia, including many who were killed and wounded while dining in a pizza res...

Badji leads Cincinnati against Charlotte FC

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

FC Cincinnati (13-2-5, first in the Eastern Conference) vs. Charlotte FC (6-8-7, ninth in the Eastern Conference)Charlotte, North Carolina; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. EDTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLS LINE: Charlotte FC +127, FC Cincinnati +204, Draw +247; over/under is 2.5 goalsBOTTOM LINE: Dominique Badji leads Cincinnati into a matchup with Charlotte FC after scoring two goals against the New England Revolution.Charlotte is 5-5-5 in Eastern Conference games. Karol Swiderski leads the eighth-ranked scoring team in the Eastern Conference with five. Charlotte has scored 28 goals.Cincinnati is 8-1-4 in Eastern Conference games. Cincinnati has scored 32 goals while conceding 21 for a +11 goal differential.The teams meet Saturday for the first time this season.TOP PERFORMERS: Swiderski has scored five goals with three assists for Charlotte. Justin Meram has three goals and three assists over the last 10 games.Luciano Acosta has scored nine goals with six assists for Cincinnati. Badji has four goals a...

Dodgers beat the Pirates 5-2 to pull within a half-game of NL West-leading Arizona

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Muncy and Freddie Freeman homered and Julio Urias pitched six innings to help the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Thursday night.The Dodgers took three of four from Pittsburgh to pull within a half-game of slumping Arizona for the NL West lead with two games left before the All-Star break.Freeman, who will participate in his seventh All-Star Game, was 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs. He made a sliding catch, turned a double play and stole a base.“That was a good fantasy night with steals and stuff,” Freeman joked. “It’s good. You just try to do the best you can every single night and I was able to be at the right spot at the right time.”Muncy hit the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning, a two-run shot to center field for his 20th of the season. Freeman led off the inning by legging out a double to the left-field corner, and Muncy then hit a 414-foot home run.Urias (6-5) allowed two runs on three hits, struck out eight and walked o...

Más de 70 personas quedan atrapadas en el teleférico de Quito

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

(CNN en Español) — Hay más de 70 personas atrapadas en las góndolas del teleférico de Quito luego de que se registrara una falla en el sistema, informó este viernes el municipio de la capital de Ecuador.El municipio agregó en su comunicado que 11 personas ya han sido rescatadas.Las autoridades informaron que los bomberos fueron alertados alrededor de las 4:00 p.m. hora local de un desperfecto que afectó al sistema de góndolas del Teleférico de Quito y acudieron al lugar para comenzar las labores de rescate de las personas atrapadas en las góndolas en las partes altas.El comunicado añade que hay unidades de rescate y ambulancias, además de un contingente de 40 personas atendiendo la emergencia entre paramédicos, equipos de alta montaña, monitoreo aéreo con la unidad de drones y personal de apoyo aplicando un plan de contingencia y emergencia.El municipio de Quito añadió que las personas rescatadas están siendo trasladadas hacia un lugar seguro para recibir una evaluación médica...

¿Murió el jefe guerrillero “Iván Márquez”? Gobierno de Colombia pide prudencia mientras verifica

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

BOGOTÁ – El ministro de Defensa de Colombia, Iván Velásquez, dijo este jueves que por el momento “no hay confirmación” sobre la supuesta muerte de “Iván Márquez”, máximo cabecilla de la Segunda Marquetalia, una de las disidencias de las FARC, y añadió que las autoridades están tratando de verificar esa información.“No hay confirmación, estamos con las verificaciones (…) Estamos atentos para, cuando tengamos confirmada una noticia de esa naturaleza, informar”, dijo el ministro a periodistas.El noticiero CM& informó que Iván Márquez, que fue el jefe negociador de las FARC en los diálogos que condujeron a la firma del acuerdo de paz de noviembre de 2016, murió como consecuencia de las graves heridas sufridas en un atentado que le hicieron en julio del año pasado en Venezuela.En este sentido, el ministro indicó que las fuerzas de seguridad colombianas están trabajando en la verificación y pidió prudencia hasta “que haya una verif...

Yellen criticizes Chinese treatment of US companies during visit to revive relations

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticized Chinese treatment of U.S. companies and new export controls on metals used in semiconductors during a visit Friday to Beijing to try to revive strained relations. Talking with a group of businesspeople, Yellen defended U.S. controls on technology exports that irk Beijing, saying they are necessary for national security. She rejected suggestions Washington is trying to decouple, or separate the U.S. economy from China’s. “The U.S. seeks healthy economic competition with China,” Yellen said, according to a transcript released by her department. “I am communicating the concerns that I’ve heard from the U.S. business community — including China’s use of non-market tools like expanded subsidies for its state-owned enterprises and domestic firms, and barriers to market access for foreign firms,” Yellen said.U.S.-Chinese relations are at their lowest level in decades due to disputes over technology, security, Beijing’s m...

Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinians in shootout in the occupied West Bank

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank Friday, days after Israel concluded a major two-day offensive meant to crack down on militants.The Israeli domestic security agency Shin Bet said the two men, which it claimed were behind a shooting attack this week, were killed in a shoot out in the heart of the city of Nablus. The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men were killed by Israeli fire, identifying them as Khayri Mohammed Sari Shaheen, 34, and Hamza Moayed Mohammed Maqbool, 32.The deaths are part of a year-long spiral violence that shows no signs of abating, despite the fierce Israeli operation this week in the Jenin refugee camp. They follow a shooting on Thursday near an Israeli West Bank settlement that killed an Israeli soldier.Israel has been staging raids in the West Bank for 16 months, in response to a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last spring. Over 140 Palestinians have been killed this year i...

A fire in a nursing home in Italy has killed 6 residents and injured some 80 others

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

MILAN (AP) — A fire that broke out in a Milan nursing home early Friday killed six of the residents and injured about 80 others, Italian firefighters said.Firefighters said the blaze began about 1:30 a.m., apparently in the room of two female residents, who were among the dead. Also dead were three other women and a man. Among the injured, two were in critical condition, while most of the others were being treated for smoke inhalation, firefighters told Italian state radio.Luca Cari, a spokesperson for Italy’s national firefighters corps, said firefighters were investigating the cause of the blaze, which was contained by early morning. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, who came to the scene, told reporters that the 100 or so residents of the nursing home who weren’t injured were being transferred to other facilities in the northern Italian city.People who lived nearby told state radio that they saw people inside at the windows holding cloths to their faces against the smoke.Rome daily La R...

Drones sweep for sharks along New York’s coast during rise in encounters with beachgoers

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:37:14 GMT

WANTAGH, N.Y. (AP) — Off the coast of Long Island, drones sweep over the ocean, patrolling the water for any danger that might lurk below the surface as beachgoers grow more vigilant because of a recent spate of shark encounters.Over two days this week, five people reported being bitten by sharks at some of New York’s most popular beaches, leading to heightened surveillance of the area’s waters.The sighting of a 10-foot (3-meter) shark on Thursday prompted officials to keep people out of the water at Robert Moses State Park, the same Long Island beach that delayed its opening July 4 after a drone spotted a group of 50 sand sharks off the coast.“We are now more vigilant than ever,” said George Gorman, the state’s park director in Long Island. “We have drones in the sky that watch over the waters. We have lifeguards on WaveRunners that watch over the waters.”Just a few years ago, encounters with sharks were rare. But more recently, reports of sharks biting people hav...