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From blizzards to tornadoes, US braces for wild weather week

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest was braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions, while states farther to the south were warned of the risk of flash flooding and tornadoes from a massive storm blowing across the country.

An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Meanwhile, ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.

The National Weather Service warned that up to about half an inch (2.5 centimeters) of ice could form and winds could gust up to 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour) in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions all threatened the region.

“This is a ‘we are not kidding’ kind of storm,” the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said Monday in a tweet urging people to stock up on essentials, then stay home once the storm hits.

Portions of Interstate 90 and Interstate 29 through South Dakota were expected to be closed by mid-morning Tuesday due to “freezing rain, substantial snow totals, low visibility, drifting snow and high winds,” the state’s Department of Transportation said. Secondary highways will likely become “impassable,” it said.

Those farther south in Texas and Louisiana could get heavy rains with flash flooding, hail and tornadoes by Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. The storm was forecast to continue southeast into Florida later in the week.

“It will be a busy week while this system moves across the country,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s headquarters in College Park, Maryland.

The weather is part of the same system that dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada over the weekend before moving east.

In northern Utah, a tour bus crashed Monday morning as snow and frigid temperatures blanketed the region. The bus flipped onto its side in Tremonton after the driver lost control while switching lanes, the state’s Highway Patrol said in a statement. The Highway Patrol said 23 passengers were injured, including some seriously.

Thousands of students from Native American communities across Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas were traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota, for this week’s Lakota Nation Invitational, a high school athletic event. Brian Brewer, one of the organizers, said he had urged schools and participants to travel early.

“We told them with this storm coming — if you leave tomorrow, there’s a good chance you might not make it,” he said Monday.

In Northern California, most mountain highways had reopened Monday. Remaining warnings in the Southern California mountains were expected to expire late Monday night, the National Weather Service said.

With winter still more than a week away, it was the latest fall storm to bring significant precipitation to California, which is dealing with the impacts of years of drought that have spurred calls for water conservation.

The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab northwest of Lake Tahoe reported that the storm dropped 54.5 inches (138.5 centimeters) of snow.

The Sierra snowpack, which on average is at its peak on April 1, is normally a significant source of water when it melts in the spring. Throughout the drought experts have cautioned about optimism over early season storms as climate change makes what were once average conditions rare.

Last year, a powerful atmospheric river dumped huge amounts of rain on California in October and a wet stretch in December left parts of the Sierra Nevada buried in snow. Then the state experienced its driest January through April on record.

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Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Salt Lake City, Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed reporting.

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California reparations task force to talk eligibility

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s committee to study reparations for African Americans will meet in Oakland Wednesday to discuss what form reparations could take and eligibility requirements to receive possible payments.

The first-in-the-nation task force previously voted to limit reparations to Black California residents whose ancestors were living in the United States in the 19th century. This week, the group will talk about whether there could be additional eligibility requirements and what time frame reparations could hinge on.

The group will also discuss how the state may address its impact on Black families whose property was seized through eminent domain, a topic that garnered renewed attention after lawmakers last year voted to allow the return of a beachfront property known as Bruce’s Beach to descendants of Black residents from whom it was taken in the 20th century.

Kamilah Moore, the task force’s chair, doesn’t expect the group to come to any final decisions at this week’s two-day meeting.

“We’re still in the exploratory phase,” she said.

The task force has a July 1 deadline to complete its final report for the Legislature listing recommendations for how the state can address its legacy of discriminatory policies against Black Californians. The group’s work contrasts from similar efforts that have stalled in Congress.

Lawmakers in other parts of the country have pushed their states and cities to study reparations without much progress. But Evanston, Illinois became the first U.S. city last year to make reparations available for Black residents, and public officials in New York will try anew to create a reparations commission in the state.

Officials from Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles and other California cities will talk about local reparations efforts during a panel Wednesday.

That will include Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad, vice-chair of Los Angeles’ Reparations Advisory Commission, who said the commission — created last year under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti — doesn’t have a date set in stone to complete its work.

The goal of the commission is to advise the city on a pilot program for distributing reparations to a group of Black residents.

“A lot of our first year has really just been laying the groundwork to have a strong commission,” she said.

In September, economists started listing preliminary estimates for what could be owed by the state as a result of discriminatory policies. But they said they need more data to come up with more complete figures.

Moore said the task force has not decided on any dollar amounts or what form reparations could take, but the public’s interest in those estimates shows optimism about the group’s work. The group hasn’t discussed where money for reparations could potentially come from.

About 30 people gathered Saturday at a Black-owned coffee shop in Sacramento for a reparations information session led by the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, said Chris Lodgson, an organizer for the group.

The coalition is focused on advocating for reparations for Black residents. It has been supportive of reparations largely targeted at the descendants of enslaved African Americans.

“Generally speaking, Black folks can support other Black folks in the things that they want and need even if not everybody is benefitting equally from it or directly from it,” Lodgson said.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a former assemblywoman, authored the bill that created the state’s task force, and the group began its work last year. The bill was signed into law in September 2020 after a summer of nationwide protests against racism and police brutality following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in Minnesota.

In June, the task force released a 500-page report describing discriminatory policies that drove housing segregation, criminal justice disparities and other realities that harmed Black Californians in the decades since the abolition of slavery.

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Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna

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Ukraine Army repels enemy attacks near 14 settlements

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Ukrainian forces have repelled enemy assaults in close proximity to 14 settlements in a few areas above the previous day.

The relevant assertion was made by the Basic Workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent experiences.

“Over the earlier day, Ukraine’s Defense Forces have repelled assaults by Russian invaders in close proximity to the Kharkiv region’s Hrianykivka the Luhansk region’s Novoselivske, Chervonopopivka, Serebrianske and Bilohorivka and the Donetsk region’s Bilohorivka, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Kurdiumivka, Nevelske, Marinka, Pobieda and Novomykhailivka,” the report states.

The enemy launched just one air strike and 11 missile strikes, together with three on civil infrastructure in the Kharkiv area, Donetsk region and Zaporizhzhia area. In addition, Russian troops opened fire with numerous start rocket techniques (MLRS) around 60 times.

In the Volyn and Polissia directions, the circumstance remained rather unchanged. No indicators of enemy offensive groupings currently being shaped ended up detected.

In the Siverskyi and Slobozhanskyi directions, Russian troops opened fire near the Chernihiv region’s Leonivka, Buchky and Hai the Sumy region’s Kucherivka and Kindrativka and the Kharkiv region’s Strilecha, Starytsia, Tykhe, Ambarne, Vilkhuvatka, Khatnie, Milove, Dvorichna and Krasne.

In the Kupiansk and Lyman directions, Russian invaders shelled the Kharkiv region’s Kupiansk, Kotliarivka, Tabaivka and Berestove the Luhansk region’s Novoselivske, Stelmakhivka, Miasozharivka, Hrekivka, Ploshchanka, Nevske, Chervonopopivka and Pishchane and the Donetsk region’s Novosadove Terny with tanks, mortars, cannon and rocket artillery.

In the Bakhmut course, Russian invaders inflicted fireplace destruction, specifically close to the Donetsk region’s Serebrianka, Verkhniokamyanske, Spirne, Bilohorivka, Vesele, Yakovlivka, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Opytne, Klishchiivka, and Kurdiumivka.

In the Avdiivka route, Russian occupiers made use of tanks and artillery to strike about 20 settlements, such as the Donetsk region’s Avdiivka, Pervomaiske, Nevelske, Heorhiivka, Marinka and Novomykhailivka.

In the Novopavlivka and Zaporizhzhia directions, Russian troops inflicted fire destruction in the vicinity of the Donetsk region’s Vremivka, Vuhledar, Neskuchne, Prechystivka and the Zaporizhzhia region’s Plavni, Huliaipole, Dorozhnianka and Olhivske.

In the Kherson way, Russian occupiers continue on to shell Ukrainian positions and civil infrastructure in settlements located together the suitable bank of the Dnieper. Over 20 settlements arrived under enemy fireplace, which includes the Kherson region’s Chornobaivka, Antonivka, Mykilske, Tokarivka, Novokairy, Respublikanets, Mylove, and the metropolis of Kherson.

According to the Standard Staff members, in look at of a important selection of the invaders wounded, Russian ccupation authorities issued the so-called ‘decree’, transferring Hospital No. 15 in the Luhansk region’s Yuvileine and Clinic No. 3 in the metropolis of Luhansk for the demands of the military.

On the night of December 13, 2022, more than 15 Russian invaders were being eradicated near the Luhansk region’s Novoaidar. In the Zaporizhzhia location, Russian troops dropped up to 100 troopers in wounded and just one ammunition depot.

About the earlier day, Ukraine’s missile and artillery models have struck two Russian command posts and four staff clusters .

Image: Normal Team of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

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Long COVID Has Contributed to More Than 3,500 U.S. Deaths

Long COVID—a condition with symptoms ranging from respiratory to neurological, from crushing fatigue to chronic pain—can be debilitating. And in some cases, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Long COVID may even be fatal.

From January 2020 through June 2022, Long COVID contributed to more than 3,500 deaths in the U.S., according to death-certificate data analyzed by NCHS researchers. About 0.3% of death certificates that listed COVID-19 as an underlying or contributing cause of death also mentioned Long COVID, for an age-adjusted death rate of 6.3 per 1 million people.

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“The good news is that…by and large, post-COVID is not a fatal condition,” says Dr. Aaron Friedberg, an internal-medicine physician who treats Long COVID patients at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (and who was not involved in the new research). “Most people do get better with post-COVID.”

But Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, an assistant professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a Long COVID researcher (who also wasn’t part of the NCHS report), fears the problem may be worse than it looks on paper.

Read More: Long COVID Isn’t the Only Post-Viral Illness

In the report, researchers looked at death certificates that mentioned COVID-19 as a contributing or underlying cause of death, then zoomed in on those that explicitly mentioned Long COVID or a related term, such as “post-COVID” or “long-haul COVID.” That process overlooks anyone who had but didn’t test positive for COVID-19 or was never properly diagnosed with Long COVID, Al-Aly says. The number of death certificates that mention Long COVID has increased with time, which suggests that awareness of the condition was lower earlier in the pandemic, he adds.

Plus, some post-COVID complications are less visible than common symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog. Studies suggest COVID-19 survivors are at increased risk of serious health issues including organ failure, heart attack, and blood clots—but those things may not be attributed to the virus on a death certificate, Al-Aly says.

“Our data systems are built on this archaic assumption that…if you have a viral infection, most of the action happens in the first 30 days,” Al-Aly says. In reality, though, many viruses can trigger long-lasting health consequences, whether they’re linked to the initial infection or not.

Chronic illnesses, including Long COVID, can also exacerbate pre-existing conditions, potentially pushing a patient from stable to critical, Friedberg notes. According to the NCHS’ report, heart disease was the underlying cause of almost 9% of deaths related to Long COVID, while cancer, Alzheimer’s, respiratory disease, and diabetes each accounted for between 2% and 3%. There have also been documented cases of people with Long COVID dying by suicide.

Almost 80% of the deaths involving Long COVID were among adults ages 65 and older, according to the NCHS report, and a similar percentage were among white adults. Though Long COVID seems to be more prevalent among women than men, just under half of related deaths were recorded among women.

Regardless of the exact numbers in the report, Friedberg says its findings underscore a familiar message: do whatever you can to avoid getting COVID-19, which is the best way to reduce the risk for Long COVID. Vaccines, masks, and ventilation are important tools, both for your current and future health.

“We don’t really have any way to stop post-COVID right now. It’s a lottery every time you get COVID,” Friedberg says. “I’d love to be able to cancel that lottery.”

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Kyiv mayor reports explosions in center of Ukrainian capital

FILE - A woman passes by anti-tank hedgehogs in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Ukraine has been fighting with the Russian invaders since Feb. 24 for over nine months. The mayor of Kyiv is reporting multiple explosions, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in the Ukrainian capital, the first such time in weeks during Russia’s ongoing war against the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - A woman passes by anti-tank hedgehogs in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Ukraine has been fighting with the Russian invaders since Feb. 24 for over nine months. The mayor of Kyiv is reporting multiple explosions, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in the Ukrainian capital, the first such time in weeks during Russia’s ongoing war against the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - A woman passes by anti-tank hedgehogs in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Ukraine has been fighting with the Russian invaders since Feb. 24 for over nine months. The mayor of Kyiv is reporting multiple explosions, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in the Ukrainian capital, the first such time in weeks during Russia’s ongoing war against the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE – A woman passes by anti-tank hedgehogs in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Ukraine has been fighting with the Russian invaders since Feb. 24 for over nine months. The mayor of Kyiv is reporting multiple explosions, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in the Ukrainian capital, the first such time in weeks during Russia’s ongoing war against the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE – A woman passes by anti-tank hedgehogs in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Ukraine has been fighting with the Russian invaders since Feb. 24 for over nine months. The mayor of Kyiv is reporting multiple explosions, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in the Ukrainian capital, the first such time in weeks during Russia’s ongoing war against the country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Kyiv is reporting multiple explosions in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, the first such time in weeks during Russia’s ongoing war against the country.

Vitali Klitschko wrote in a post on Telegram that there were explosions in a central district of the capital that is home to many government agencies and buildings. He said municipal teams were in place and more details were expected.

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Climate change will fuel humanitarian crises in 2023 -study

2022-12-14T05:07:30Z

People sit atop a bus roof while others wade through the flooded road during monsoon rain, as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Karachi, Pakistan August 27, 2020. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo

Climate change will accelerate humanitarian crises around the world in 2023, adding to the issues created by armed conflict and economic downturns, according to a study by the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC).

The agency, based in New York and led by former UK politician David Miliband, flagged that the number of people in humanitarian need has skyrocketed in the last decade, approaching 339.2 million versus the 81 million seen in 2014.

Climate change is among the key factors accelerating humanitarian emergencies, the IRC noted, despite the fact that the 20 countries on its emergency watchlist – like Haiti and Afghanistan – contribute just 2% to global CO2 emissions.

“2022 has shown that the role of climate change in accelerating the global humanitarian crisis is undeniable,” the report noted.

It pointed to record-long periods of rains, which has “brought catastrophic food insecurity to Somalia and Ethiopia,” and killed thousands in Pakistan.

The IRC also flagged to need to more “proactively invest in climate change prevention and mitigation.”

Meanwhile, food insecurity is already rife due to growing conflict as well as the economic crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic, it said.

In addition, the gap between humanitarian needs and its financing has grown to a global deficit of $27 billion as of November 2022.

“Donors are failing to respond proportionately,” the report said. “The result is that communities affected by the crisis are unable to access the services they need to survive, recover and rebuild.”

The study – titled “Emergency Watchlist 2023”- also highlighted that the number of people forced to flee their homes has risen to more than 100 million today, up from 60 million in 2014, with Venezuela among the biggest drivers.

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Iran likely to be ousted from U.N. women“s body

2022-12-14T05:11:44Z

A woman walks after the morality police shut down in a street in Tehran, Iran December 6, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran appears set to be ousted from a U.N. women’s body on Wednesday for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls, but several countries are expected to abstain from the vote requested by the United States, diplomats said.

The 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution to “remove with immediate effect the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.”

The 45-member Commission on the Status of Women meets annually every March and aims to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. A U.S. official told Reuters they had “consistently seen growing support” to remove Iran.

Iran, 17 other states and the Palestinians argued in a letter to ECOSOC on Monday that a vote “will undoubtedly create an unwelcome precedent that will ultimately prevent other Member States with different cultures, customs and traditions … from contributing to the activities of such Commissions.”

The letter urged members to vote against the U.S. move to avoid a “new trend for expelling sovereign and rightfully-elected States from any given body of the international system, if ever perceived as inconvenient and a circumstantial majority could be secured for imposing such maneuvers.”

Only five of the signatories to the letter are currently ECOSOC members and able to vote on Wednesday.

The Islamic Republic on Monday hanged a man in public who state media said had been convicted of killing two members of the security forces, the second execution in less than a week of people involved in protests against Iran’s ruling theocracy.

Nationwide unrest erupted three months ago after the death while in detention of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code laws.

The demonstrations have turned into a popular revolt by furious Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the most significant legitimacy challenges to the Shi’ite clerical elite since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest.

The Geneva-based U.N. Rights Council voted last month to appoint an independent investigation into Iran’s deadly repression of protests, passing the motion to cheers of activists. Tehran accused Western states of using the council to target Iran in an “appalling and disgraceful” move.

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EU seeks firm words on Russia at first summit with ASEAN

2022-12-14T05:03:26Z

The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet for their first summit on Wednesday to deepen economic ties, with European leaders pressing for firm, shared language critical of Russia.

The leaders of 27 EU countries and nine of 10 ASEAN leaders have been invited to a commemoration of 45 years of diplomatic relations. Military-ruled Myanmar has been excluded.

The leaders are set to discuss areas of future cooperation, including trade, the green and digital transitions and health. The two blocs have already signed a deal to allow their airlines to expand services more easily.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to commit 10 billion euros ($10.6 billion) of public funds to 2027 for investment in projects in ASEAN, such as in renewable energy and sustainable agriculture.

“We see a lot of demand in the region to diversify their sources of investment and work with reliable partners,” an EU official said of the region where links with China have grown.

The EU wants to expand its trade ties beyond its free trade agreements with Singapore and Vietnam and negotiations with Indonesia. The regional groupings are each other’s third largest trading partners.

They are also expected to demonstrate a commitment to a rules-based international order.

The European Union is keen for a statement to describe the war in Ukraine as an act of aggression by Russia. An EU official said the bloc was very positive on prospects for the wording, while admitting it was not an easy task.

Singapore is imposing sanctions on Russia, while Laos, Thailand and Vietnam abstained in a United Nations vote in October to condemn Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian regions.

Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) nations agreed at a meeting chaired by ASEAN nation Indonesia last month that “most members” condemned the war.

The summit statement is likely also to call for calm in the South China Sea and address the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar and instability on the Korean peninsula.

($1 = 0.9422 euros)

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European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

A worker adjusts an ASEAN flag at a meeting hall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/File Photo
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Jack Dorsey apologizes for his Twitter moderation choices, saying he did the ‘wrong thing for the internet and society’ despite calling his decisions the ‘right thing’ at the time

A collage of Elon Musk (left) and Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey.Jack Dorsey acknowledged he made key mistakes while running Twitter after Elon Musk’s repeated condemnation of the company’s previous content moderation policies.

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

  • In a blog post, Jack Dorsey said he should be solely blamed for Twitter’s content-related failures.
  • Dorsey condemned attacks on his former colleagues and laid out his thoughts for the future of social media. 
  • As CEO, Dorsey said he led Twitter to do the “wrong thing for the internet and society.”

In a Tuesday blog post, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey weighed in on the revelations made in the “Twitter Files” and said that under his leadership he led the social media platform to do the “wrong thing for the internet and society.” 

The post first outlined Dorsey’s thoughts on “principles” about social media he has come to believe: (1) That social platforms “must be resilient to corporate and government control,” (2) “only the original author may remove content they produce,” and (3) “moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.”

“The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone,” Dorsey wrote in the post, saying he “gave up pushing for” the principles when an unnamed “activist entered stock in 2020.” 

That year, The New York Times reported activist hedge fund Elliott Management acquired a $1 billion stake in Twitter and called for Dorsey’s ousting, though it is unclear if Dorsey was referring to the company in his post.

Dorsey went on to write that he believes social media companies have amassed too much power and Twitter’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump, under his own leadership, was evidence of that power taken to an extreme. 

“As I’ve said before, we did the right thing for the public company business at the time, but the wrong thing for the internet and society,” Dorsey wrote.

The “Twitter Files” have provided some insight into the content moderation practices of the social media giant under Dorsey’s leadership, revealed through emails and internal documents released by Musk to independent journalists including Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss

Included in the “Twitter Files” are back-and-forth conversations between employees debating whether to ban Trump for inciting violence following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, proof the platform limited the reach of the NY Post’s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop — which was previously known — and acknowledgment that Twitter accepted requests from both the Biden campaign and Trump administration to remove content from the site. 

While some of the content contained in the Twitter Files revealed additional details and internal discussion about the platform’s content moderation practices, many of the policy decisions surrounding Trump’s ban, and the rationale behind them, had previously been reported or acknowledged in Dorsey’s 2020 statement to the Senate or congressional testimony after January 6.

Backlash over the content revealed by the Twitter Files has resulted in increased threats being levied against Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety. In a series of tweets, Musk added to the criticism of Roth, posting an excerpt of a paper written by the former Twitter executive where he appears to advocate for a teen-friendly version of Grindr for young queer adults and agreeing with tweets calling Roth a “creep.”

The threats, which Dorsey condemned in his post without addressing Musk’s behavior, have reportedly gotten so bad that Roth was forced to flee his home out of fear for his safety

“The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn’t solve anything,” Dorsey wrote. “If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.”

In recent months, Dorsey has apologized (after massive layoffs by Musk) for growing “the company size too quickly,” said shutting down the video clip platform Vine was his “biggest regret,” and agreed with Musk’s decision to reverse Trump’s Twitter ban, saying it was “a business decision.” In April, Dorsey said that he was “partially to blame” for “really damag[ing] the internet.”

His latest apologies are in contrast to his initial statement banning Trump, saying it was “the right decision,” and his 2021 congressional testimony in which he acknowledged “some” responsibility for misinformation spreading on Twitter that contributed to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but “the broader ecosystem,” not just Twitter, had to be considered.

When he co-founded Twitter in 2006, Dorsey’s approach to content moderation was seen as pro-free speech and the company “had to be dragged” into content moderation, J.M. Berger, a researcher on extremism on social media like Twitter, told Insider.

“Because of Jack Dorsey’s personal views about freedom of speech and whatever his sympathies are ideologically Twitter had to be dragged — kicking and screaming — into the age of content moderation,” Berger told Insider. “So Twitter was really the last of the big three platforms to implement any kind of robust moderation.”

Flaws in controversial decisions Dorsey made while attempting to moderate Twitter content, such as banning Trump or censoring the Hunter Biden Laptop story, have drawn ire from critics, including Musk. Since his acquisition, citing flaws in Dorsey’s approach, Musk has implemented a more stringent approach toward “free speech absolutism” and has diminished content moderation on the platform. 

“The way that Twitter’s content moderation has changed since [Elon has] taken over has definitely skewed towards favoring the far-right,” Berger told insider, adding that he believes the billionaire is “intentionally empowering right-wing extremists.”

Dorsey, Musk, and representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

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Sumy region struck with 28 Russian projectiles

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On December 13, 2022, Russian troops fired 28 projectiles at a few border communities in the Sumy region.

The related assertion was created by Sumy Regional Army Administration Head Dmytro Zhyvytskyi on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent stories.

In specific, using an unmanned aerial vehicle, Russians dropped two explosive things on the Khotin neighborhood.

The Bilopillia group was struck with mortars. 8 explosions were recorded.

Additionally, the enemy fired 18 projectiles with self-propelled artillery on the Esman neighborhood.

According to Zhyvytskyi, Russian projectiles prompted problems to a fireplace station and a car parked there. A village corridor was also influenced.

A reminder that, in accordance to the Ukrainian Point out Border Guard Services, Russia has attacked the Sumy region and the Chernihiv location 70 moments because early December 2022. In November 2022, the enemy opened hearth on Ukraine’s border places 230 instances.

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