Category: News Articles

A powerful United Nations agency has unveiled a plan to regulate social media and online communication while cracking down on what it describes as “false information” and “conspiracy theories,” sparking alarm among free-speech advocates and top U.S. lawmakers.

In its 59-page report released this month, the U.N. Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) outlined a series of “concrete measures which must be implemented by all stakeholders: governments, regulatory authorities, civil society, and the platforms themselves.”

This approach includes the imposition of global policies, through institutions such as governments and businesses, designed to stop the spread of various forms of speech while promoting objectives such as “cultural diversity” and “gender equality.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his conservative political rival was abandoning Ukraine due to ‘MAGA-influenced thinking’.

On Tuesday, all 109 Conservative lawmakers in the country blocked updated legislation for the free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine.

In response, Trudeau launched a blistering attack on Friday saying that the American MAGA movement and hard right politics was eroding support for Ukraine in Canada.

The world’s most-developed nations will be told to curb their excessive appetite for meat as part of the first comprehensive plan to bring the global agrifood industry into line with the Paris climate agreement.

The global food systems’ road map to 1.5C is expected to be published by the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization during the COP28 summit next month. Nations that over-consume meat will be advised to limit their intake, while developing countries — where under-consumption of meat adds to a prevalent nutrition challenge — will need to improve their livestock farming, according to the FAO.

School leaders in this college town just north of Chicago have been battling a sizable academic achievement gap between Black, Latino and white students for decades. So a few years ago, the school district decided to try something new at the high school: classrooms voluntarily separated by race.

Nearly 200 Black and Latino students at Evanston Township High School signed up this year for math classes and a writing seminar intended for students of the same race, taught by a teacher of color. These optional so-called affinity classes are designed to address the achievement gap by making students feel more comfortable in class, district leaders have said, particularly in Advanced Placement courses that historically have enrolled few Black and Latino students.

Hamas was preparing to release more than a dozen hostages Saturday for several dozen Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, part of an exchange on the second day of a cease-fire that has allowed critical humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and given civilians their first respite after seven weeks of war.

While uncertainty remained around the details of the exchange, there was optimism, too, amid the scenes of joyous families reuniting on both sides. On the first day of the four-day cease-fire, Hamas released 24 of the about 240 hostages taken during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, and Israel freed 39 Palestinians from prison. Those freed in Gaza were 13 Israelis, 10 Thais and a Filipino.

Families of the Americans being held hostage by Hamas must wait longer to find out if their relatives will be among those released.

President Biden said earlier this week that he expected the cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel to result in American hostages returning home, but they were not among the 24 people Hamas released in the first round on Friday. The cease-fire deal calls for Hamas to return 50 women and children in phases over four days, while Israel would release 150 imprisoned or detained Palestinian women and teenagers.

IDF spokesman R-Adm. Daniel Hagari on Friday night referred to senior Hamas officials, saying that “they are being followed around in Gaza and around the world.”

Hagari’s warning signals to the Hamas leadership in Qatar and around the world that the IDF will pursue them wherever they are.

This calls back to several famous Israeli operations to eliminate the masterminds of terror attacks against Israelis, such as those operations that took place in the wake of the Munich Massacre.

A Massachusetts high school has canceled their “U.S.A” spirit week day to avoid “politicization.”

According to reports, “U.S.A Day” was scheduled as part of a “Spirit Week” at Wellesley High School in preparation for their Thanksgiving Day football game.

During the week, events included “Throwback Thursday” and “Wild West Wednesday,” and students were urged to dress up to fit the theme of the day.

Student Unification Program member, Olivia Spagnuolo, had brought up the themes for the week including the “U.S.A” day.

She stated that “the administration was not going to let this happen, they said it was not allowed because it separated people at school.”

According to the new European legislation, the wallets, which are to be voluntary for the time being, will include digital versions of all ID cards, driving licenses, degree certificates, and medical documentation.

The European Commission insists that the system will be secure, and the current Spanish presidency of the EU is saying that this will make the EU a digital leader at a global level in protecting democratic values, but what has digitalisation got to do with European values?

On the contrary, the move actually threatens European values as argued by 504 academics and experts from 39 countries who have signed an open letter warning of the dangers to people’s online security and freedom.

The pandemic moved us in this direction when the covid-19 vaccine passports were introduced and limited the right to travel. The new wallet will move us much further in the direction of oppression.

In “The Indispensable Right,” I discuss how academics are now leading an anti-free speech movement on campuses that challenges the centrality (or even the necessity) of free speech protections in higher education. The latest such argument appeared this month in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Two Arizona State University professors — Richard Amesbury and Catherine O’Donnell — wrote that free speech concerns yield too much to the “right wing” and that free speech should not be given the protection currently afforded by universities and colleges. Indeed, they argue that free speech may be harming higher education by fostering “unworthy” ideas.

Amesbury teaches religious studies and O’Donnell teaches history at ASU. They wrote an article titled “Dear Administrators: Enough with the Free Speech Rhetoric! It Concedes Too Much to the Right-Wing Agenda.”