North America

USA: A Meta engineer saw his own child face harassment on Instagram. Now, he’s testifying before Congress

(AP) --- On the same day whistleblower Frances Haugen was testifying before Congress about the harms of Facebook and Instagram to children in the fall of 2021, a former engineering director at the social media giant who had rejoined the company as a consultant sent an alarming email to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the same topic.

USA: The Supreme Court seems likely to preserve a gun law that protects domestic violence victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to preserve a federal law that prohibits people under domestic violence restraining orders from having guns.

In their first guns case since last year’s expansion of gun rights, the justices suggested that they will reverse a ruling from an appeals court in New Orleans that struck down the 1994 ban on firearms for people under court order to stay away from their spouses or partners.

USA: Trump lashes out from the witness stand at judge, NY attorney general as he testifies in fraud trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A defiant Donald Trump sparred with a New York judge and slammed the state attorney general suing him Monday, using the witness stand at his civil fraud trial to defend his riches and lash out at a case that imperils his real estate empire.

The former president’s barbed testimony spurred the judge to admonish, “This is not a political rally.”

USA: Exonerated ‘Central Park Five’ member set to win council seat as New York votes in local elections

NEW YORK (AP) —Exonerated “Central Park Five” member Yusef Salaam is poised to win a seat Tuesday on the New York City Council, marking a stunning reversal of fortune for a political newcomer who was wrongly imprisoned as a teenager in the infamous rape case.

Salaam, a Democrat, will represent a central Harlem district on the City Council, having run unopposed for the seat in one of many local elections playing out across New York state on Tuesday. He won his primary election in a landslide.

USA: At least 4.4 million people are stateless, UN says

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 4.4 million people in 95 countries are stateless or of undetermined nationality, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said.

In its annual report marking the 9th anniversary of its #IBelong campaign, the UNHCR said the actual figure globally is believed to be significantly higher, “given the relative invisibility of stateless people in national statistical exercises.”

The agency noted that stateless people, often belonging to minority groups, are often deprived of human rights and access to basic services.

USA: ChatGPT-maker OpenAI hosts its first big tech showcase as the AI startup faces growing competition

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT has invited hundreds of software developers to its first developer conference Monday, embracing a Silicon Valley tradition for technology showcases that Apple helped pioneer decades ago.

The path to OpenAI’s debut DevDay has been an unusual one. Founded as a nonprofit research institute in 2015, it catapulted to worldwide fame just under a year ago with the release of a chatbot that’s sparked excitement, fear and a push for international safeguards to guide AI’s rapid advancement.

US senators seek answers from Army after reservist killed 18 in Maine

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Two senators from Maine asked the U.S. Army inspector general on Monday to provide a full accounting of interactions with a reservist before he killed 18 people and injured 13 others in the deadliest shooting in the state’s history.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, told Lt. Gen. Donna W. Martin in a letter that it’s important to understand “what occurred, or failed to occur” at the federal level, including the Army, before Robert Card opened fire at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston.

USA: ‘Amtrak Joe’ Biden is off to Delaware to give out $16 billion for passenger rail projects

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden — perhaps the nation’s biggest Amtrak fan — is set to promote new federal investments for trains on the heavily trafficked Northeast Corridor.

The Democratic president is headed to Bear, Delaware, on Monday to announce more than $16 billion in new funding that will go toward 25 passenger rail projects between Boston and Washington, the White House says. Bear is located about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Biden’s home of Wilmington.

Republican Peter Meijer, who supported Trump’s impeachment, enters Michigan’s US Senate race

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Peter Meijer, a Republican who served one term in Congress before being ousted by voters following a vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump, announced Monday that he will run for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan.

Meijer joins a field of more than a dozen candidates vying for a seat that’s been held by Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow for more than two decades. Stabenow shocked many in the state in January by announcing her retirement, creating a wide open race in the battleground state.

USA: Yellen will host the Chinese vice premier for talks in San Francisco before the start of APEC summit

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will host Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for two days of talks this week, the latest in a series of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials as the world’s two largest economies aim to ease tensions, the Treasury Department announced Monday.

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