Ohio House passes bill that would restrict transgender student access to school bathrooms
The Ohio state Senate has passed a bill that would prevent schools from allowing students of the opposite sex into restrooms and locker rooms. The legislation, which requires Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to sign in order to become law, aims to restrict transgender students from using facilities associated with their gender identities. Senate Bill 104, the Protect All Students Act, was voted 24-7 Wednesday on a party-line vote. The House version of the bill was passed before the chamber went on summer break in June. STEPHEN A. SMITH SAYS ‘WE ARE SICK’ OF ‘TRANSGENDER ISSUES AND CULTURE WARS’ AFTER TEASING PRESIDENTIAL BID DeWine has 10 days to sign the bill into law or veto it. The governor has said he’s inclined to sign the bill, but will conduct a legal review first, the Associated Press reports. The bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event. The passage of the bill was welcomed by Republicans, including state Sen. Jerry Cirino, who said the bill “is about safety and security,” while the ACLU of Ohio condemned it as a violation of the right of privacy of LGBTQ+ Ohioans that will make them less safe. “We are incredibly disheartened by the Ohio General Assembly’s continuous attacks against transgender and gender non-conforming individuals across Ohio,” Jocelyn Rosnick, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said in a statement. INSIDE SAN JOSE STATE’S POLICE BATTLE TO PROTECT WOMEN’S ATHLETES THREATENED BY A TRANSGENDER CULTURE WAR “Senate Bill 104 is a cruel invasion of students’ rights to privacy, which could result in unwarranted governmental disclosures of private, personal information.” The group called on DeWine to veto the bill and said it is “closely considering next steps. The Center for Christian Virtue, a lobbying organization focused upon implementing conservative Christian sexual morality, commended legislators for passing the bill and called on DeWine to sign it. “Today is a huge victory for children and families in Ohio,” CCV Policy Director David Mahan said in a statement, adding that it will guarantee the only people entering young ladies’ private spaces are female, “not men claiming to be female.” Cirino, who introduced S.B. 104, which revises the state’s college credits program, says the legislation was about common sense. “It protects our children and grandchildren in private spaces where they are most vulnerable,” Cirino said, per the Ohio Capital Journal. “It is us using our legislative authority to ensure schools are, in fact, safe environments. After all, bathrooms, showers, changing rooms should all be safe places for our students.” Various battles regarding the issue of transgender people using bathrooms that align with their gender as well as participating in female sports are playing out across the nation. President-elect Trump has repeatedly vowed to keep men out of women’s sports. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s bathrooms in public schools and, in some cases, other government facilities. The laws are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. A judge’s order putting enforcement on hold is in place in Idaho. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
FBI arrests Houston man for alleged ISIS ties, terror plot on US soil
A Texas man is in FBI custody on Thursday after authorities say he attempted to support ISIS and planned a terrorist attack on American soil – all from his apartment in Houston. Authorities said 28-year-old Anas Said was searching for ways to commit violent acts on behalf of the Islamic State in the Houston area. He has been charged with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group. Said was arrested last week at the apartment complex where he lived, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams. Williams said that while in custody, Said admitted to researching how to conduct an attack on local military recruiting centers, offering his home as sanctuary for ISIS operatives, bragging that he would commit a “9/11-style” attack if he had the resources and attempting to produce ISIS propaganda. “We stopped a potential terrorist attack from happening right here in Houston! Any day we can publicly say that is a good day,” FBI Houston said. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Florida AG files lawsuit against FEMA over alleged political discrimination against Trump supporters
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has filed a lawsuit against current and former officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for allegedly ordering its workers to ignore storm victims who support President-elect Trump. The revelation made headlines following whistle-blower reports that FEMA workers in Lake Placid, Florida, were told to skip over households of storm victims who showed support for Trump. “FEMA workers followed these instructions and entered in a government database messages such as ‘Trump sign no entry per leadership,’” the lawsuit states. “According to whistleblowers, ‘at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags’ in Lake Placid, Florida ‘were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance.’” Moody vowed to investigate the allegations as Floridians still face the threat of damaging storms this season. FEMA OFFICIAL FIRED FOR TELLING STAFF TO AVOID HELPING TRUMP SUPPORTERS SAYS AGENCY SCAPEGOATING HER “Hurricane season is not over, and the federal agency in charge of emergency response is embroiled in scandal – caught withholding aid from storm victims in Florida who support President Trump,” the attorney general said. “I am taking swift legal action to find out how far this political discrimination reaches and to make sure all Americans who fall victim to devastating storms are served, regardless of their political affiliation.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he supports the legal action and further instructed other state agencies to take “any action necessary” to investigate and hold alleged wrongdoers accountable. “It’s unacceptable for the federal government to discriminate against Floridians who voted for Trump, and especially egregious in the aftermath of a hurricane,” he said. When Fox News Digital reached FEMA for comment about the legal action, a FEMA spokesperson said, “FEMA does not comment on pending litigation,” and provided a statement that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell issued over the weekend about the incident and the firing of the employee. FIRED FEMA EMPLOYEE SAYS INSTRUCTIONS TO SKIP TRUMP HOMES WERE PART OF ‘COLOSSAL AVOIDANCE’ POLICY On Saturday, Criswell confirmed to Fox News Digital that the employee had been fired, calling her actions “reprehensible” and a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. A FEMA spokesperson told Fox News on Friday that the agency was “deeply disturbed” by the fired worker’s actions but insisted it was an “isolated incident.” The fired FEMA supervisor, Marn’i Washington, has said her actions were consistent with agency guidance and were not isolated to her team alone and claimed FEMA is scapegoating her. “Why is this coming down on me? I am the person that jotted down the notes from my superiors and my notation in [Microsoft] Teams chat was exposed from their search capacity team,” Washington told “Fox News @ Night” on Wednesday. The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages against Washington and Criswell in their individual capacities. Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays, Michael Dorgan, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
Oregon Democrat unseats GOP incumbent in toss-up House race, narrowing Republicans’ majority
Oregon Republican Rep. Lori-Chavez-DeRemer has been ousted by Democratic challenger state Rep. Janelle Bynum in the state’s 5th Congressional District, The Associated Press projected Thursday, more than a week after Election Day. The win narrows the Republican majority in the House to 218 seats to Democrats’ 209. With 94% reporting as of Thursday, Bynum led by more than two points, with 184,023 votes to Chavez-DeRemer’s 174,448, a difference of 9,575 votes. The race was rated a toss-up by the Fox News Power Rankings. Chavez-DeRemer was elected to Congress in 2022, defeating her Democratic opponent by two points. With the victory, Chavez-DeRemer became the first woman to represent Oregon in the House of Representatives. Bynum, who previously defeated Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon legislature races multiple times, was elected to the Oregon House in 2016 and has served on the chamber’s small business committee. She is also the owner of four McDonald’s franchises. PACIFIC NORTHWEST COULD DECIDE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE HOUSE The two candidates engaged in a contentious race in recent months, with Bynum attempting to link Chavez-DeRemer to President-elect Donald Trump and her position on abortion, as the congresswoman hit Bynum on crime and illegal immigration. Last month, it was first reported by Fox News Digital that Bynum was the subject of an ethics complaint for allegedly failing to properly report allegations of sexual harassment and assault against a PAC staffer that worked on her campaign. Bynum has denied those allegations, which the two candidates sparred over in multiple debates. ‘INCENDIARY DEVICE’ SPARKS FIRE AT PORTLAND, OREGON BALLOT BOX Election experts predicted that the race between Chavez-DeRemer and Bynum could play a key role in deciding which party controls Congress. High-profile figures campaigned for both candidates in the campaign’s closing weeks, with GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson rallying with Chavez-DeRemer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stumping for Bynum. Oregon’s recently redrawn 5th Congressional District covers Linn County, most of Clackamas, Deschutes, and parts of Multnomah and Marion counties.
RNC files two lawsuits in Pennsylvania amid Sen Bob Casey refusing to concede race
The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed two new lawsuits in Pennsylvania after several state boards of elections voted to count several undated mail ballots following the state supreme court’s ruling on the issue. The two suits come in light of Democrat incumbent Sen. Bob Casey refusing to concede the tightly run race to his GOP challenger, Sen.-elect Dave McCormick. “Tonight the RNC is filing two new lawsuits — in Bucks County and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court — to STOP the counting of illegal ballots. We have won this court battle several times already,” GOP Chairman Michael Whatley tweeted on X Wednesday evening. “The RNC is filing a motion in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to ensure that Pennsylvania’s democratic process is not undermined by the inclusion of illegal ballots in the final vote count,” Whatley said in a statement released. “Pennsylvanians are ready to move forward with Dave McCormick representing them in the Senate as Bob Casey torches whatever legacy he had with these anti-democratic schemes.” CASEY CAMPAIGN, REFUSING TO CONCEDE, ACCUSES MCCORMICK OF TRYING TO ‘DISENFRANCHISE’ VOTERS WITH LAWSUITS The Philadelphia City Commissioners told Fox News Digital in a statement that several Pennsylvania county boards of elections, including Philadelphia, had voted to count a “relatively small number of undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots.” “Republicans filed a petition to the PA Supreme Court against all counties to attempt to stop all counties from counting these ballots,” the statement said. “They also filed a statutory appeal challenging Bucks County’s decision to count undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots. We are reviewing the filings.” The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously sided with the GOP in its effort to block the counting of undated mail-in ballots ahead of the 2024 general election. PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE TRIGGERS RECOUNT, WITH MCCORMICK PROJECTED TO WIN AND CASEY YET TO CONCEDE “It’s ridiculous,” an RNC official told Fox News Digital. “The court just ruled on this two weeks ago. And it’s just very clear to us that Democrat lawyers and officials see a way to kind of make money off of Bob Casey by trying out this process, but Dave McCormick is already in D.C. to attend Senate orientation.” Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced in a press statement Wednesday that the “unofficial results in the Nov. 5 general election race for U.S. Senate” had triggered an automatic statewide recount. As of Wednesday, Casey had won 3,350,972 votes (48.50%), while McCormick had won 3,380,310 votes (48.93%), according to the statement released. BOB CASEY REFUSES TO CONCEDE PA SENATE RACE AS SCHUMER WELCOMES REPUBLICAN MCCORMICK AMONG NEW SENATORS Once the counties have finalized counting their ballots, they must begin their recounts no later than Wednesday, Sept. 20 and finish by Nov. 26 at noon. Results reports must then be submitted to the secretary by noon on Nov. 27. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling effectively overturned a decision from a Commonwealth Court just days ahead of the Nov. 5 election, which held that the state law requiring a handwritten date was unconstitutional. The Pennsylvania GOP appealed that ruling to the state supreme court. Pennsylvania Republicans applauded the ruling at the time, saying Democrats have repeatedly tried to subvert the dating requirement. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law, and the dated ballot requirement will be in effect for this election. Democrats have repeatedly tried to eliminate this important ballot safeguard, and we have stopped them each time,” Whatley said in a statement at the time.
Democrats trash Tulsi Gabbard after Trump taps her for DNI post
Some Democratic lawmakers blasted former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard after President-elect Donald Trump tapped her to serve as director of national intelligence, a cabinet-level post. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declared in a post on X that she was “appalled” by the selection of Gabbard for the role. “Not only is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she traffics in conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators like Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin,” Spanberger claimed in a post on X. TRUMP APPOINTS TULSI GABBARD AS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘FEARLESS SPIRIT’ Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., called the choice of Gabbard as DNI “incredibly reckless,” declaring in a tweet, “Putting someone with known sympathies for foreign adversaries is not putting America’s interests first – it’s putting our security at risk.” Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., seemed to suggest that having Gabbard serve as DNI would place national secrets at risk. “Tulsi Gabbard’s deep ties to some of our nation’s most dangerous adversaries, including Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Vladimir Putin of Russia, make her an untrustworthy guardian of our nation’s most closely held secrets,” Magaziner said in the statement. “As the highest-ranking intelligence official in the federal government, she would have access to information spanning everything from our nation’s nuclear weapons program to the location and activities of our military service members, and we cannot risk this information falling into the hands of our adversaries,” he asserted. TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS WILL GET ‘RADICALLY WORSE’ UNDER A HARRIS PRESIDENCY, WARNS TULSI GABBARD Gabbard served in the U.S. House of Representatives from early 2013 through early 2021 as a Democrat. She mounted a presidential bid in 2019 but ultimately dropped out in 2020 and backed Joe Biden. The former lawmaker supported Trump during the 2024 election and announced that she was joining the Republican Party. “I’ve been a soldier for over 21 years, and currently serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve,” she noted in a post on Veterans Day this week. TULSI GABBARD SAYS TRUMP ‘LISTENS’ AND ‘RECOGNIZES’ CHALLENGES AMERICANS FACE “The best way for us to honor our veterans, not just on #VeteransDay, but every day, is to make sure that our men and women in uniform are only sent into harms’ way as a last resort when all diplomatic measures have been exhausted, and actually take care of them and their families, if and when they return home,” she noted. Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to Gabbard for comment on Thursday.
Thune says Trump’s border plan is 1st up in rigorous priority list for new Congress: ‘Real work begins’
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., is planning to make ushering in President-Elect Donald Trump’s immigration agenda the first item on his to-do list when he succeeds Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in the new Congress, when Republicans will have a majority in both the upper chamber and the House. “Now the real work begins delivering on our agenda,” he said in a floor speech on Thursday. “That starts with ending the Biden-Harris border crisis and deporting illegal immigrants.” He said repairing the economy is also near the top of his list. As crucial elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 passed by Trump are set to expire in 2025, Thune said Republicans will take action through the budget reconciliation process to renew them. MATT GAETZ FACES GOP SENATE OPPOSITION AFTER TRUMP SELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL The budget reconciliation process would allow Republicans to avoid Democrats blocking action on the economy, because it cannot be filibustered or delayed as bills can be. The 53-member incoming Republican majority would be able to push the item through without issues. The South Dakota Republican further highlighted the significant communication and procedural changes that his leadership will usher in, which have been a frequent point of criticism by senators under McConnell’s reign. According to Thune, his office would be “a resource, not a roadblock” for his conference members. THUNE WINS SECRET BALLOT TO BECOME NEW SENATE GOP LEADER, SUCCEEDING MCCONNELL In a notable win for many outspoken conservative hard-line senators, he stressed his “commitment to amendments.” “[A]ll members of the Senate, and not just the members of a particular committee, should have a voice in final legislation through amendments on the floor. Members should assume that amendment votes will be the norm,” he said. RICK SCOTT KNOCKED OUT OF SENATE LEADER RACE ON FIRST BALLOT AS THUNE AND CORNYN ADVANCE The Senate has operated in recent history by often using amendment trees, which are filled with pre-determined amendments offered by the majority leader. This prevented individual senators from offering their own amendments on the floor. In another achievement for vocal GOP critics of both McConnell and the current Congress, Thune made clear, “Members should also expect a return to regular order in the Senate next year.” This, he said, includes the appropriations process, “so that we don’t constantly wind up with an end of the year pileup and problematic continuing resolutions.” TED CRUZ GETS BEHIND RICK SCOTT FOR LEADER, IN BLOW TO FELLOW TEXAN JOHN CORNYN The Congress is notably on track for another potential stopgap spending bill ahead of Christmas when the deadline for the last continuing resolution expires. The minority whip added that confirming Trump’s nominees will also be high on his to-do list “and members should expect an aggressive schedule until those nominees are confirmed.” Further, he foreshadowed open lines of communication with both House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Trump in order to deliver on these priorities with the new federal GOP trifecta.
Biden admin bans employers from discussing unionization with ‘captive audience’ employees
The Biden administration’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an opinion on Wednesday that bars businesses from expressing their views on unionization to a “captive audience” of employees. The ruling came in response to a series of labor complaints issued against Amazon over mandatory meetings during which representatives of the company allegedly urged employees to reject unionization. According to the board, such meetings violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which was passed in 1935 to protect workers’ ability to organize. “Ensuring that workers can make a truly free choice about whether they want union representation is one of the fundamental goals of the National Labor Relations Act. Captive audience meetings—which give employers near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers under threat of discipline or discharge—undermine this important goal,” NLRB Chairman Lauren McFerran said in a Wednesday press release. “Today’s decision better protects workers’ freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights under the Act, while ensuring that employers can convey their views about unionization in a noncoercive manner.” The NLRB, an independent federal agency with leaders who were appointed by President Biden, articulated multiple reasons for why they believe “captive audience” meetings violate the law. NEW YORK TIMES TECH EMPLOYEES REMAIN ON STRIKE, GUILD TARGETS HIGH-PAID CEO MEREDITH KOPIT Among them was that these meetings violate employee rights under Section 7 of the NLRA. Section 7 protects employees’ ability to engage in, or not engage in, “concerted efforts” for the purposes of collective bargaining. The ruling did leave employers the right to engage in voluntary meetings that express their views on unionization. In a dissenting opinion, the NLRB’s only Republican member, Marvin Kaplan, wrote that the board’s ruling banning “captive audience” meetings was “flagrantly unconstitutional.” LABOR DAY A HARSH REMINDER UNIONS TURNED INTO THE BOSSES THEY PRETEND TO DISLIKE “The majority’s attempt to ban so-called ‘captive-audience speeches’ harkens back to an earlier era when the Board sought to impose on employers a policy of strict neutrality regarding unionization,” Kaplan also wrote. Meanwhile, an Amazon spokesperson echoed Kaplan’s points in a statement to Courthouse News Service. “This decision ignores over 75 years of precedent, contradicts the express language of the NLRA, and violates the First Amendment – it’s wrong on the facts and the law, and we intend to appeal,” said Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis. “Meetings like this are held by many companies because the decision about whether or not to join a union is an important one – and employees deserve to understand the facts so they can make an informed choice.” Neither the NLRB nor Amazon responded to inquiries from Fox News Digital in time for publication.
Trump’s US election leaves Ukraine scrambling for EU military assistance
Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory on November 5 has cast a sharp spotlight on what military and financial assistance Ukraine could expect from the European Union. Trump last year pressed United States lawmakers to delay a $61.4bn military aid package to Ukraine, and claimed he would end the Ukraine war “in a day” if he won. Ukraine was also concerned that the delivery of weapons promised under the administration of President Joe Biden be fulfilled before the handover of power on January 20. Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said the US had delivered 83 percent of munitions, 67 percent of critical air defences, and 60 percent of firepower capabilities committed to Ukraine under defence packages between April and mid-October. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that he did not expect the start of Trump’s presidency to change the US position on Ukraine. (Al Jazeera) But Trump has demanded that EU member states which are also NATO members raise defence spending to three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and threatened to let Russia do “whatever the hell it wants” with them if they refuse, suggesting US backing for NATO, and potentially Ukraine, would be conditional under his presidency. That has raised questions about the extent of European military autonomy and political will to continue supporting Ukraine with or without a supportive administration in Washington. EU external affairs chief Josep Borrell told European Pravda that the bloc would deliver a million artillery shells by the end of the year. Those shells were promised in spring 2023 for delivery last spring. “We almost did it. We have already delivered more than 980 thousand shells, and very soon we will deliver one million shells,” Borrell said. Shells purchased from around the world under a Czech initiative will have provided another half million artillery rounds by year’s end, he said. In addition, Borrell said, EU production capacity had now ramped up to a million shells a year. Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian missile attack in Kryvyi Rih, in the Dnipropetrovsk region [Danylo Antoniuk/Reuters] The EU has spent 122 billion euros ($129bn) supporting Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Should US aid come to a halt, the EU could hand over to Ukraine $300bn in Russian assets under management in the EU, and calls increased in the past week to do so. The EU has so far agreed to give Ukraine only the profits from those assets, fearing retaliatory effects on the bloc’s currency. Ukraine has received a first instalment of 400 million euros ($425m). At a meeting of EU directors of defence policy in Brussels on Tuesday, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Serhiy Boyev asked the EU to rush a 1.5 billion-euro ($1.6bn) tranche of profits from frozen Russian assets promised this year, for investment in Ukraine’s defence industrial base. (Al Jazeera) There was also renewed pressure on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to break ranks with the cautious US policy not to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, and supply Ukraine with 500km-range (310-mile) Taurus missiles, which could strike Russian airfields. “I think it is right, unchanged, that I have made my contribution to ensuring that there has been no escalation. And I would like to make it clear, that the country that is doing the most in Europe to ensure that Ukraine is not left alone and is supported is also a country that must ensure that an escalation does not occur,” Scholz told the Bundestag or lower house of the German parliament on Wednesday. Striking airfields would deprive Russia of its ability to launch heavy glide bombs, one of its most effective weapons against Ukrainian front lines. A grim situation on the front lines Vladyslav Voloshyn, a spokesman for Ukraine’s southern defences, on Saturday said Russia was intensifying the use of glide bombs in the south. “In October, the Russians used about 500 guided aerial bombs in the southern direction, specifically on Ukrainian positions and on populated areas near the line of combat,” he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday morning that Russia dropped 800 glide bombs across the entire front in the previous week – a rate he first reported in the first week of October – which computes to more than 3,000 glide bombs a month. In addition, Russia typically launches some 1,600 kamikaze drones and 80 missiles into Ukraine each week, Zelenskyy has said. Ukraine’s armed forces said the Russian strategy was also continuing to bomb civilian areas in Kharkiv with glide bombs to demoralise the population. A Ukrainian counter-invasion in the Russian region of Kursk last August had produced a lull in bombardment. “In the last few weeks, the enemy has started using guided aerial bombs again, said Volodymyr Degtyarev, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Guard. “Mostly in the city, on civilian infrastructure, mainly in the evening or at night, although there are also daytime shellings.” (Al Jazeera) Ukraine’s defenders continued to be under intense pressure throughout the front in the past week, with the Russian hammer falling hardest on Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, front-line towns west of Donetsk city. Ukraine’s General Staff reported 125 combat clashes on Monday, most in the direction of Pokrovsk, with Kurakhove remaining a “difficult situation”. Zelenskyy sent reinforcements to those two directions, but it appeared that by Tuesday Russian troops were advancing along Zaporizkyi Street in northeast Kurakhove. One of Ukraine’s greatest concerns has been Russia’s ability to absorb losses of men and armour in this war. Colonel Vadym Mysnyk, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Siversk group of forces, told a telethon that Russian assaults typically started with armour, followed by waves of infantry at 10-15 minute intervals, a tactic which led to high attrition rates for the Russians. Russian assaults have clearly been bloody, with Russian casualties last week at 9,800, according to Ukraine’s Ground Forces Commander Oleksandr Pavlyuk – confirming the daily rate of about 1,400 casualties observed since June. Yet reinforcements have kept coming, leading Ukraine
Meta fined 798 million euros ($846m) for breaking EU antitrust rules
EU says Meta automatically ties its ad service – Facebook Marketplace – to Facebook, creating an unfair advantage. The European Union has hit technology giant Meta with a fine just shy of 800 million euros for what it called “abusive practices” involving its Facebook Marketplace online classified ads business. The EU’s European Commission issued the fine of 797.72 million euros ($846.13m) on Thursday. It accused Meta, which owns social media platform Facebook, of marketplace practices that give its own ad service an undue advantage over competitors. The advantage stems from Meta automatically tying its ad service – Facebook Marketplace – to Facebook, creating a “substantial distribution advantage”, according to the commission. “All Facebook users automatically have access and get regularly exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not,” it said. Additionally, it said Meta imposed unfair conditions on other classified ads service providers who advertised on Facebook and Instagram, enabling it to “use ads-related data generated by other advertisers for the sole benefit of Facebook Marketplace”. Meta contended it did not “use advertisers’ data for this purpose” and has “built systems and controls to ensure that”. “It is disappointing that the Commission has chosen to take regulatory action against a free and innovative service built to meet consumer demand,” said Meta, adding it would comply with the commission’s order to end the offending conduct but also appeal. The fine is the latest in a string of hefty penalties that the commission, which regulates the 27-nation European Union, has imposed against Big Tech companies over their practices in recent years. It ranks among the 10 largest antitrust fines. The penalty takes into account the “duration and gravity of the infringement”, as well as the turnover of Meta and Facebook Marketplace, said the commission. Meta’s total revenue last year stood at around 125 billion euros ($133bn). Meta’s dominant position in the market for personal social networks comes with a special responsibility not to abuse it by restricting competition, according to the EU. Adblock test (Why?)