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Twitter threatens legal action against Meta over its new rival app Threads

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over its new text-based app called Threads, which has drawn tens of millions of users since launching this week as a rival to Elon Musk’s social media platform. In a letter Wednesday 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.The move ramps up the tensions between the social media giants after Threads debuted Wednesday, targeting those who are seeking out alternatives to Twitter amid unpopular changes Musk has made to the platform since buying it last year for $44 billion.Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote Thursday on Threads: “No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing.”In the letter, which news website Semafor first reported Thursday, Spiro said Twitter “intends to strictly enforce ...

2 stolen French Bulldogs found, returned to family, DC police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

The two French Bulldogs that were stolen at gunpoint in D.C. on Monday have been found and returned to their rightful owner, D.C. police said Thursday.*Update* As a result of the Violent Crimes Suppression Division detectives’ investigation, Uno and Cartier have been recovered and returned to their family. https://t.co/cOHN57lLHo— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) July 6, 2023According to police, the dogs were stolen around 10:30 a.m. Monday. A man was walking the dogs along V Street in Southwest D.C. when multiple suspects approached the dog walker and one pulled a gun and assaulted them, police said.The group snatched the dogs and sped off in a car, according to police.The male dog’s name is “Uno” and is 1 1/2 years old, and the female dog’s name is “Cartier” and is 5 months old.Just a few minutes before Uno and Cartier were stolen, D.C. police said there was another reported attempted dognapping nearby. Police said they believed the incident...

¿Cuáles son las municiones de racimo que se espera que Estados Unidos suministre a Ucrania y por qué son tan controvertidas?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

(CNN) — Se espera que Estados Unidos anuncie un nuevo paquete de ayuda militar para Ucrania este viernes que, por primera vez, incluirá municiones de racimo, dijeron funcionarios de Defensa a CNN.CNN informó por primera vez la semana pasada que la administración del presidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, estaba considerando seriamente aprobar la transferencia de las controvertidas armas a Ucrania, cuyas fuerzas han enfrentado dificultades para lograr avances significativos en la contraofensiva que lleva semanas de duración.Esto es lo que debes saber sobre las armas y por qué son controvertidas.¿Qué es una munición en racimo?Las municiones de racimo, también llamadas bombas en racimo, son cartuchos que transportan de decenas a cientos de bombetas más pequeñas, también conocidas como submuniciones. Los cartuchos pueden lanzarse desde aviones, lanzarse desde misiles o dispararse desde artillería, cañones navales o lanzacohetes.Estos cartuchos se abren a una altura prescrita, de...

10 years after record Oscar nod, Quvenzhané Wallis still has ‘Swagger’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

(new Image()).src = "https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384&cid=c2ffed0c-3624-46c0-b10f-97c976d290a3";cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384",mediaId: "b8452759-8be3-42fb-a7bf-16830a130e45"}).render("747fe7306e64448398ba7e7faa6253b2"); });Hear our full chat on my podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.” toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley chats with the creators of 'Swagger' (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ...

MSD shooting survivors, victims’ families retrieve belongings, honor lost loved ones on 2nd-day site visit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

On the second day, survivors and families of the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School went inside the building, where everything remains as it was that tragic day.The 1200 building is surrounded by a chain-link fence. It has not been changed, cleaned, or used since the day of the massacre on Feb. 14, 2018. Families and those connected with the building began going inside the building since it reopened for private visits on Wednesday.They decided to make the visit for several reasons — some to retrieve belongings, others to reflect and close this painful chapter as best as possible. It was their first time entering since the Valentine’s Day massacre, and possibly their last, because of a potential demolition in the upcoming months. “To feel, to be there with him. This was the last place that Alex took his breath,” said Max Schachter, who lost his 14-year-old son that day. “I felt Alex there, but I also felt the horror, the terro...

Short sleep negates benefits of exercise for the brain, study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

(CNN) — One of the most important ways to keep your body healthy is by exercising — it has been shown to help prevent chronic disease, lengthen life, ward off dementia, slow cognitive decline and much more.However, the amount of sleep you get may be just as important — at least when it comes to the benefits of exercise and how well your brain functions as you age.In a new study, researchers discovered people with more frequent, higher-intensity physical activity who slept less than six hours a night on average had faster overall cognitive decline than short sleepers who exercised infrequently.“Our study suggests that getting sufficient sleep may be required for us to get the full cognitive benefits of physical activity,” said lead author Dr. Mikaela Bloomberg, a research fellow at the Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care at University College London.“It shows how important it is to consider sleep and physical activity together when thinking about cognitive health,” she said i...

Here’s what Americans say they need to earn to feel rich, or even just financially secure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

(CNN) — They are age-old questions: How much do you need to feel financially secure? How much would you need to feel rich?More than 2,500 US adults said they would need to earn, on average, $233,000 a year to feel financially secure and $483,000 annually to feel rich or to attain financial freedom, according to a new survey from Bankrate.Just for comparison’s sake, the median earnings for a full-time, year-round worker in 2021 was $56,473, according to the US Census Bureau.Of course, there is no objective or “right” answer to these questions. What it takes for one person to feel financially comfortable – or like they’re set for life– can depend a lot on their early childhood experiences with money, how much they perceive those around them to have, their current financial situation, the cost of living in their area and, if they’ve thought about it, what is most important to them in life.Plus, a big income isn’t necessarily a guarantee of financial security if you’re living paycheck t...

UK’s energy department overrun with insects

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

LONDON — Four floors of the U.K.’s energy and climate change department were shut to staff Friday in a bid to battle an insect infestation.A message to staff — seen by POLITICO’s London Playbook — confirms that unspecified “insects” were spotted this week on the second, third, fourth and fifth floors of 1 Victoria Street, home to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The site is also the workplace for some officials from the business and trade department.In an “important update on the steps being taken to manage the situation,” the department’s estates team says it received “a couple of reports from colleagues of insects on 4th floor” earlier this week.But, despite a “deep clean,” followed by a “specialist clean” and the placing of “monitoring devices,” the battle inside 1 Victoria Street continues.The note said “further sightings of insects have been reported in some areas on floors 2, 3,...

France to the EU: Don’t tell us how to run our police force

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

Paris has an answer to Brussels’ concerns over police violence: It’s none of your business.“I’m going to be very clear,” France’s State Secretary for Europe Laurence Boone said in a video clip of a hearing at the French Senate published Friday on Boone’s Twitter account. “It’s not up to [Justice Commissioner] Didier Reynders or the European Commission to take an interest in the way France manages its police force.”In an interview on Belgian radio on Wednesday, Reynders said there was a need to “reflect on [French] policing” given the “striking level of violence” the country has witnessed over the past few years, which culminated in a week of riots after the death of a teenager, Nahel M., who was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop.“We need to examine the very high level of violence, because it sometimes poses a challenge in the behavior of a certain number of police officers — as we&...

Needham residents warned not to use outdoor USPS mailboxes after mail phishing incident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:40 GMT

Needham police are telling residents not to use outdoor blue US Post Office mailboxes and warning those who used several mailboxes in town to check to make sure their payments went through after a mail phishing incident. Officers responded to the incident at the US Post Office boxes on Great Plain Avenue early Monday morning, where they say suspects were “actively engaging in stealing mail, specifically looking for checks to ‘wash.’” Mail was found scattered outside the mailbox.Police wrote, “We are asking anyone who has placed their mail into those specific boxes to check to see if your payments have made it to their intended destination. If they have not or you think they may be delayed, please place a STOP PAYMENT on your account AND close your account immediately. Please monitor your financial accounts going forward if you did use these boxes.”Residents are being asked to bring their outgoing mail directly into the Post Office during office hours.If...