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Red carpet to be rolled out for FIVB world meet
The Philippines will leave no stone unturned for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championships 2025 – in terms of hosting the event for the first time ever and competing anew after 50 long years......»»
Philippines vows hosting readiness for men’s volleyball world championship
The Philippines assured to leave no stone unturned in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championships 2025 — in terms of hosting for the first time ever and competing anew after 50 long years......»»
Philippine food firms’ sales hit $133 million in Dubai fair
Philippine food companies generated $133 million worth of export sales from a food trade show held in Dubai last month, according to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions......»»
Rappler Talk: Leila de Lima, a woman of faith
In this Holy Week episode, former senator Leila de Lima opens up about faith, forgiveness, and the godsent pets who kept her company in nearly seven years in jail.....»»
PSA opens PhilSys registration for ages 1 to 4
Children ages one to four years old can now register with the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) for the national ID......»»
Capitol opens first hemodialysis center in Camotes Islands
Capitol opens first hemodialysis center in Camotes Islands.....»»
Time to Shine: Make Your Mark for Earth Hour at SM Malls
Small actions can make a big difference. This year, SM Supermalls invites everyone to #GiveAnHourForEarth by joining millions around the world in the annual Global Lights Switch Off on March 23 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. This 2024, SM marks 16 years of commitment in supporting the annual campaign initiated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).....»»
IS parcel bomb kills 4
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed on its Telegram channel Friday that it was behind a blast at a sports club that killed four people in the Afghan capital the night before. The Sunni Muslim extremist group said it had used a parcel bomb that “IS fighters placed in a room where Shiites gather.” The explosion occurred Thursday evening at a commercial center in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul, an enclave of the historically oppressed Shiite Hazara community, according to police. Police were still investigating the cause of the explosion, Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said on Friday afternoon in a message to reporters. He added that seven people were injured in the blast, revising the initial toll of two dead and nine injured. Taliban authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the IS claim. The explosion ripped through a sports club several floors up in the commercial centre, blowing out all the sides of the space and shattering windows and causing damage throughout the block, Agence France-Presse journalists saw on Friday. An instructor at the club, which holds training in combat sports, told AFP the blast happened at the end of a busy boxing session that usually hosted some thirty people. “The explosion was extraordinarily strong. The walls fell, the metal doors, glass and windows were broken,” 26-year-old Sultan Ali Amiri, who was not in the club when the blast occurred, said. “There has been a lot of damage, punching bags and almost everything is destroyed.” AFP journalists saw several heavy bags used for combat sport training on the floor of the club, others still hanging and pocked with fragments from the blast. Afghanistan’s Hazaras have regularly faced attacks in the majority Sunni Muslim country. They have been persecuted for decades, targeted by the Taliban during their insurgency against the former United States-backed government as well as by IS. The IS group, which considers Shiites heretics, has carried out several deadly attacks in the same area in recent years targeting schools, mosques and gyms. WITH AFP The post IS parcel bomb kills 4 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
‘Shame on int’l media’
As the conflict between the state of Israel and the Hamas terror organization intensifies, international media coverage has thus far been described as dismal and heavily slanted against the Jewish nation. Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss cited as an example the Hamas missile attack on the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, which was hit directly a few days after the 7 October attack by a rocket fired from Gaza, resulting in Israeli deaths and injuries. In contrast, an explosion on 17 October at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that resulted in a massive number of fatalities and injuries was splashed all over broadcast and print media and was immediately blamed on an Israeli air strike, a narrative peddled by Hamas. Investigations by Israel and the United States proved that a missile launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based terror group more radical than Hamas, had misfired and landed on the hospital grounds. “Nobody in the media reported that an Israeli hospital was bombed in Ashkelon, which had so many patients injured and killed. The rockets were shot at the hospital. No media picked it up and condemned nobody,” Fluss lamented during an interview with Daily Tribune editors. “So, for me, this incident is a shame on the international media. These news (outfits) and (media) people sort of still live with this image that it is the ratings that must (dictate the news coverage),” Fluss said. New York Times sorry US publication The New York Times issued on Monday an unprecedented admission that it had “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas” in its reporting of an explosion at a Gaza hospital. The newspaper issued the statement five days after running a headline on its front page, above the fold, reading: “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.” “The Times’ initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast,” according to NYT’s editor’s note. “However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert, and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified,” the NYT continued. NYT editors also acknowledged that “the report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.” The note said Times reporters quickly edited the story on the website, as Israeli officials denied striking the hospital. Nonetheless, it added, “Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation and been more explicit about what information could be verified.” Islamic Jihad missile Israeli officials have vehemently denied responsibility for the explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital and have released audio files of Hamas officials admitting that the blast was caused by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad projectile that fell onto Gaza. Also provided were images showing that the parking lot where the blast occurred did not have a crater in the ground, and there was no structural damage to nearby buildings, both of which typically would have been left by an Israeli Defense Forces strike. Recurring phenomena Media bias, as Fluss indicated, is a persistent issue. Terror groups like Hamas know this and take full advantage to sway public opinion. “As a result, coverage is often selective, stories get framed misleadingly, or certain perspectives go missing,” according to the American Jewish Committee, or AJC, which is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. “Instead of focusing on Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians, Israel’s efforts to thwart terrorists, destroy terrorist headquarters and weapons sites, and prevent more civilian deaths, some major media outlets characterize Israel’s targeted response as attacks on innocent and beleaguered Palestinians — feeding an unequivocally false narrative,” the AJC said. It added that Western media outlets often use the term “militant” to describe Hamas and other terrorist groups. For example, in the New York Times coverage of Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israel on 7 October, the word “terrorists” was nowhere to be found on the front page of its website. The AJC said, “Hamas is not a militant group. It is a terrorist organization internationally designated as such by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, and others that has fired thousands of rockets and slaughtered Israeli civilians in cold blood.” Hamas has set two long-term goals articulated in its charter: The end of the Jewish state and the creation of an Islamic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. In the current conflict, Hamas has murdered over 300 Israelis and wounded nearly 2,000. “Using the term ‘militant’ to describe Hamas diminishes the true threat that the terror group poses. Media outlets need to call a terrorist a terrorist,” the AJC added. No occupation Some media accounts on the Gaza Strip often blame Israel’s “occupation” as the root cause of the conflict. Fluss pointed out, however, that Israel does not occupy the Gaza Strip and has had no presence in the coastal enclave for nearly two decades. From 1948 to 1967, the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt, which took control of the territory during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as Israel’s War of Independence. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip from Egypt. In 2005, Israel, facing huge political pushback, withdrew from the Gaza Strip, and dismantled its settlements and military forces in the name of peace and in hopes of creating a better future. However, those hopes were shattered after Hamas came to power through elections and, with it, violence and rocket attacks on Israeli civilian population centers. Since 2007, when Hamas violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip, it began launching tens of thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Hamas terrorists also infiltrated Israel through land, sea, and air incursions from Gaza to murder and abduct Israeli civilians. Over 600 Israelis were murdered on the 7 October large-scale infiltration into Israeli territory from Gaza. The post ‘Shame on int’l media’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Russian strike on Ukraine mail depot kills six
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) — At least six postal workers were killed while 17 were wounded after Russian missile strikes hit a mail depot in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said. The strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday came as Kyiv declared its positions in the embattled city of Avdiivka were “protected” despite Russian attacks, while Moscow said it had downed Ukrainian missiles targeting the Crimean Peninsula. The six killed in the depot attack were all workers at the Ukrainian postal operator Nova Poshta in Korotych, a village on the outskirts of Kharkiv city, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said. “The victims, aged between 19 and 42, received shrapnel wounds and blast injuries,” he said. Of the injured being treated in hospital, seven were in a serious condition, according to Sinegubov, who said “doctors are fighting for their lives.” The regional prosecutor’s office later updated the number of injured to 17. President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video on social media of what appeared to be a heavily damaged warehouse surrounded by rubble and a container with the Nova Poshta logo. Sergiy Nozhka, who works for Nova Poshta, described the condition of some his colleagues as “mild to moderate severity,” adding that “there are some people in a very serious condition.” He said that a rocket “flew into the neighboring depot, but at ours too — the windows and shutters flew out. This is not the first time.” According to the prosecutor’s office, Russian forces in the Belgorod region north of Kharkiv fired S-300 missiles, two of which hit the warehouse. “Debris analysis continues at the site in order to establish the exact number of injured and dead,” office spokesperson Dmytro Chubenko told Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne. Separate Russian attacks on villages near the war-battered Ukrainian city of Bakhmut killed at least two people on Sunday, officials said. Both Kyiv and Moscow are preparing for a grueling winter ahead, as Ukraine warns of renewed strikes on its energy infrastructure and Russia contends with a Ukrainian counteroffensive to regain territory. In the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s positions around the frontline city of Avdiivka were “protected”, Zelensky said in his evening address Sunday. The city has been the center of intense fighting in recent weeks as each side struggles to make advances. Ukraine’s general staff said on Friday that Russia had stepped up its military assault on Avdiivka in an ongoing bid to encircle and capture it. “The Avdiivka and Maryinka directions are particularly tough”, Zelensky said. “Numerous attacks by Russians. But our positions are protected.” Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists. It lies just 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the Moscow-held city of Donetsk, capital of the Donetsk region that Russia said last September it was annexing. Ukrainian soldiers had been bracing for a new assault after a failed Russian offensive earlier this month using columns of armored vehicles and tanks from three sides. Built around a huge coke plant, Avdiivka had a pre-war population of around 30,000 people. Around 1,600 remain, according to local authorities, living in basements converted into bomb shelters. The city center has been all but destroyed through daily Russian artillery shelling and a months-long aerial bombing campaign. Also on Sunday Russian forces shot down three missiles targeting the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, a Russian official said. The peninsula is crucial to Russia’s offensive, both for supplying troops in southern Ukraine and for carrying out missile strikes from the sea. The post Russian strike on Ukraine mail depot kills six appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
DICT warns public vs phishing attacks
The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center yesterday warned the public about popular phishing techniques used by hackers worldwide as the Department of Information and Communications Technology attached agency also called on those subject to phishing attempts or victimized by such hacks to report incidents to its hotline......»»
Israel aims to crush Hamas but vague on Gaza’s post-war future
Israel is determined to crush Hamas but has said little about what would replace its rule in Gaza after the war, with observers expecting Washington will play a decisive role. "One thing is clear: the Gaza Strip will not be ruled by Hamas once this war is over," Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy told AFP as Israel's military steps up strikes in preparation for a widely-expected ground offensive. In the wake of the 7 October attacks, when militants from the Palestinian Islamist movement began a deadly cross-border assault that has killed 1,400 people, Israel has laid out just one objective: "Destroying Hamas". Since then, it has embarked on a brutal retaliatory bombing campaign, which Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says has now killed more than 5,000 people. Despite four previous wars with Gaza's Hamas rulers -- in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021 -- Israel has never before threatened to completely overthrow the movement which rules this tiny territory of 2.4 million people. The territory, which has been languishing under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas took control in 2007, has since October 7 suffered a spiraling humanitarian crisis, largely deprived of water, food and other basic supplies and more than a million people displaced. Although Israel withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, ending an occupation that began in 1967, the international community considers it responsible for the tiny territory's primary needs -- energy, food and medicine. 'Handing over the keys' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called it a "do or die" war. And his government is hoping to end all responsibility for Gaza as part of a "new regional reality" it hopes will emerge after the war. After the current air strikes and action inside Gaza, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said a "third phase" would involve "the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel". But no minister talks about Gaza's future government. And nobody has raised the possibility of a new Israeli occupation of the enclave, the military and financial burden of such an eventuality being too high to bear. "We are discussing possibilities with our partners," said government spokesman Levy. Israel wants to "hand over the keys" to a third party, a foreign ministry source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to Eitan Shamir, a former Israeli government security specialist and now director of Jerusalem's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Washington will have a decisive say in Gaza's future. The US, he said, already has an "overview" role in Israel's action against Hamas. "The favourite option of the Americans and Israelis would be an international structure with Palestinian Authority, with Saudi funding, for example," Shamir told AFP, saying it could include US and European administrative help. Regional players silent US President Joe Biden has given Netanyahu strong support, visiting Israel last week and warning other regional players not to get involved while lining up almost $15 billion in military aid, even if he has warned Israel against letting its "rage" go too far. But Washington has also not been clear about how it sees Gaza's future. "Something needs to be found that ensures Hamas can't do this again but also doesn't reverse to an Israeli governance of Gaza which they do not want," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS television on Sunday. "There are different ideas out there about what could follow and all of that needs to be worked, even as Israel is dealing with the current threat." The Israeli foreign ministry source raised Egypt as a possible saviour, although Cairo has resisted decades of pressure to take a greater role. Egypt and Jordan are deeply concerned about the war unleashing a new flood of Palestinian refugees. No Arab or Muslim state has so far proposed an intervention. One option supported by Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid is for Mahmud Abbas' Palestinian Authority to take control. The authority already cooperates with Israel in running parts of the occupied West Bank, but the ageing Palestinian leader has faced growing criticism since the war began. But a report by the International Crisis Group said there was "little hope that the already deeply unpopular PA could return to Gaza on the back of an Israeli invasion and not be treated as an enemy. "Moreover, it is not clear that Israel would want the West Bank and Gaza under a single authority," the think tank said. The post Israel aims to crush Hamas but vague on Gaza’s post-war future appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Ukraine’s positions at Avdiivka still ‘protected’: Zelensky
Ukraine's positions around the frontline city of Avdiivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, are "protected", President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address Sunday. The city has been the center of intense fighting in recent weeks as each side struggles to advance along the frontlines. Ukraine's general staff said on Friday that Russia had stepped up its military assault on Avdiivka in an ongoing bid to encircle and capture it. "The Avdiivka and Maryinka directions are particularly tough," Zelensky said. "Numerous attacks by Russians. But our positions are protected." Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014 after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists. It lies just 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the Moscow-held city of Donetsk, the capital of the Donetsk region that Russia said last September it was annexing. Ukrainian soldiers had been bracing for a new assault after a failed Russian offensive earlier this month using columns of armored vehicles and tanks from three sides. Built around a huge coke plant, Avdiivka had a pre-war population of around 30,000 people. Around 1,600 remain, according to local authorities, living in basements converted into bomb shelters. The city center has been all but destroyed through daily Russian artillery shelling and a months-long aerial bombing campaign. The post Ukraine’s positions at Avdiivka still ‘protected’: Zelensky appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Israel says killed ‘terror operatives’ in Jenin mosque air strike
Israel said Sunday it killed "terror operatives" from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were planning attacks, in an air strike on a mosque in the West Bank's Jenin. The strike hit the Al-Ansar mosque, which the Israeli military said "was used by the terrorists as a command center to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution." The Israeli military said those targeted had already carried out "several terror attacks over the last months and were organizing an additional imminent terror attack." It said they were "neutralised", without giving details on the number killed in the strike or their identities. Dozens of people have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since October 7, when Hamas militants stormed into Israel and killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians, who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, according to Israeli officials. Israel has launched heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation, killing over 4,300 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The post Israel says killed ‘terror operatives’ in Jenin mosque air strike appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Telstra sets up cybersecurity center in Philippines for AsPac market
Australian telco Telstra has opened a cybersecurity center in Manila to provide threat intelligence to its customers in Asia and the Pacific where the volume of malicious attacks is growing......»»
Biden urges ‘national unity’ 22 years after 9/11
President Joe Biden called Monday for Americans to unite despite bitter political differences as the United States marked the 22nd anniversary of Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks. Bells were rung and the names of nearly 3,000 people were read out in somber ceremonies in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania where the hijacked planes struck. "Let's honor September 11 by renewing our faith in one another," said Biden, speaking at a US military base in Anchorage, Alaska as he traveled back from a trip to India and Vietnam. "We must never lose our sense of national unity, so let that be the common cause of our time." Speaking in front of a huge flag, Biden added that "terrorism, including political and ideological violence, is the opposite of all we stand for as a nation." His speech comes as the United States is increasingly polarized, with tensions likely to increase as Biden, a Democrat, heads into a likely election rematch next year with Republican former president Donald Trump. Trump has been indicted four times since April, including for efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, with the 6 January 2021 Capitol attack by his supporters still fresh in the public's memory. 'Never forget' In New York, Vice President Kamala Harris and current and former mayors joined victims' families at the 9/11 memorial on the site of the World Trade Center twin towers brought down by two aircraft flown by hijackers. The names of the more than 2,600 who died in New York were read out by family members and young relatives not alive at the time of the attack. "I wish I had a chance to really know you. Everyone in the family misses you. We will never forget," said the grandson of firefighter Allan Tarasiewicz, who was killed at age 45 during rescue operations at the World Trade Center. At the Pentagon in Washington, where the attackers plunged a third aircraft into the headquarters of the US military, a sailor rang a ship's bell for each of the 184 killed there. And in western Pennsylvania, where a fourth hijacked plane apparently heading toward Washington was forced to crash, bells were rung for each of the 40 passengers and crew who died. "September 11 made America a nation at war, and hundreds of thousands stepped up to serve our country in uniform," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon ceremony. "I know that it aches to remember this milestone year after year... The men and women of the Department of Defense will always remember." Across New York City, in Congress and elsewhere, a moment of silence was held to mark the attack, plotted by Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was found and killed nearly a decade later by US Navy Seals in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan. Biden noted in his speech that he himself had given the order for bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri to be sent to the "gates of hell" last year in an airstrike in Afghanistan. "The soul of America is the fortitude we found in the fear of that terrible September day," he added. "The terrorists believed they could bring us to our knees, bend our will, break our resolve. But they were wrong, they were dead wrong." The post Biden urges ‘national unity’ 22 years after 9/11 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
WTC attack death list adds 2 new victims
Americans mark today the 22nd anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City with two new victims added to the list of 1,649 identified fatalities. The identities of the two, a man and a woman, were determined through DNA analysis, the city’s mayor and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Friday. Their names were being withheld at the request of their families. “We hope these new identifications can bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims, and the ongoing efforts by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner attest to the city's unwavering commitment to reunite all the World Trade Center victims with their loved ones,” Mayor Eric Adams said, according to a statement released late Friday. The two latest identifications were made possible through the use of “next-generation sequencing technology” more sensitive and rapid than conventional DNA techniques,” the OCME statement said. The remains had been found years ago. A total 2,753 people were killed when an al-Qaeda commando crashed two hijacked civilian airliners into New York’s twin towers during 9/11. Still unidentified are 1,104 victims. When the trade center’s south tower, and then its north, collapsed in a deafening roar, raining down a deluge of fire, choking gray dust and twisted steel on the Manhattan streets below, the violence was so extreme that no identifiable trace has been found of hundreds of the missing. Nineteen jihadists, most of them Saudis, had hijacked four planes. In addition to the two that destroyed the World Trade Center, a third plane slammed into the Pentagon near Washington inflicting heavy damage, and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought with the attackers. The attacks claimed a total 2,977 lives. WITH AFP The post WTC attack death list adds 2 new victims appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Elon Musk’s X sues over having to post moderation policies
Elon Musk's X Corp. on Friday sued the state of California over a law requiring social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism. The parent company of X, formerly known as Twitter, argued in a federal suit that the law referred to as AB 587 violates its free speech rights. "The true intent of AB 587 is to pressure social media platforms to eliminate certain constitutionally-protected content viewed by the State as problematic," the suit contended. "The state is compelling social media companies to take public positions on controversial and politically charged issues." The suit railed against the law, which requires social media companies to publicly post policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment, and extremism on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of the policies. "California will not stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a country," California Governor Gavin Newsom said when he signed the bill into law a year ago. "Californians deserve to know how these platforms are impacting our public discourse, and this action brings much-needed transparency and accountability to the policies that shape the social media content we consume every day." Musk early this week said he is considering suing the Anti-Defamation League, a leading anti-hate group, arguing that its accusations of anti-Semitism have led X to lose revenue. Musk accused the US-based Jewish organization of making unfounded complaints against him and X that have scared away advertisers. "Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations," Musk wrote in a long X thread that started with a clarification that he favors free speech but is "against anti-Semitism of any kind." In a 2016 report, the ADL said anti-Semitic attacks against journalists had exploded on Twitter, "thanks to the rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign." It accused the social network of failing to control its "trolling problem." Billionaire Musk has been accused of fueling anti-Semitic tropes, including attacks against Jewish philanthropist George Soros. According to the ADL and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, problematic and racist speech has sharply risen on X since Musk completed his $44 billion takeover in October. Since then, the Tesla boss has fired thousands of the platform's employees, cut content moderation, and reinstated former president Donald Trump's account. Last month, Musk sued the CCDH, accusing it of a smear campaign that damaged the social network's relationship with advertisers. The post Elon Musk’s X sues over having to post moderation policies appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Musk threatens to sue anti-defamation group for falling revenue
Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, said he is considering suing a leading anti-defamation group, arguing that its accusations of anti-Semitism have led the company to lose revenue. Musk late Monday accused the US-based Jewish organization of making unfounded complaints against him and X that have scared away advertisers. "To clear our platform's name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League... oh the irony!" Musk wrote on X on Monday. "Based on what we've heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss," he wrote, adding that the group "would potentially be on the hook for destroying half the value of the company, so roughly $22 billion." "Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations," he wrote in a long thread that started with a clarification that he favors free speech but is "against anti-Semitism of any kind." The ADL declined to comment on Musk's legal threats but responded to the "BanTheADL" hashtag that has been trending on the website. Musk, who bought Twitter last year and rebranded it as X, has come under fire for liking posts with the hashtag. "It is profoundly disturbing that Elon Musk spent the weekend engaging with a highly toxic, anti-Semitic campaign on his platform," ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said in an email to AFP. "This behavior is not just alarming nor reckless, it is flat-out dangerous and deeply irresponsible." The hateful campaign started after the ADL participated in a civil rights march marking the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, according to the group. The ADL has for years accused the social media site of amplifying anti-Semitic hate speech and recently met with top executives at X. In a 2016 report, the group said anti-Semitic attacks against journalists had exploded on Twitter, "thanks to the rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign." It accused the social network of failing to control its "trolling problem." Billionaire Musk has also previously been accused of fueling anti-Semitic tropes, including attacks against Jewish philanthropist George Soros. According to the ADL and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, problematic and racist speech has sharply risen on X since Musk completed his $44 billion takeover in October. Since then, the Tesla boss has fired thousands of the platform's employees, cut content moderation, and reinstated former president Donald Trump's account. Last month, Musk sued the CCDH, accusing it of a smear campaign that damaged the social network's relationship with advertisers. The post Musk threatens to sue anti-defamation group for falling revenue appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Bills seek tougher rules vs scammers
Consumers will be better shielded from Internet fraud under two pending bills that seek to add teeth to agencies implementing laws on cybercrime and imposing imprisonment of individuals acting as cyber “mules.” Lawmakers recently filed House Bill 7393 or the Anti-Financial Scamming Act, and the counterpart Senate Bill 2039 or the Anti-Mule and Financial Fraud Act of 2023. The first measure penalizes person acting as a money mule or performs social engineering schemes, considered as a form of economic sabotage when carried out by a group of three or more persons. On the other hand, SB 2039 expands the punishable acts to include those who engage other persons to act as “money mules.” Likewise, phishing and account takeover are part of the prohibited acts. In both proposed bills, money mules include those who sell, buy or lend e-wallets or other financial accounts, as well as those who register e-wallets or other financial accounts using a fictitious name or stolen identity to perpetrate a crime. In a press statement on Monday, PLDT and Smart Communications president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio committed to support the legislation. State must offer protection “PLDT and Smart will support any form of timely and relevant legislation that protects our customers. For us, consumer protection is a significant part of our overall customer experience,” Panlilio said. “Since every Internet user is vulnerable to attacks that target our identity and our finances, protection by the State is equally vital to getting more Filipinos to maximize the opportunities that the Internet can offer,” he added. Based on figures provided by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, online fraud incidents in Metro Manila alone rose from 1,551 in the first half of 2022 to 4,446 in the first half of 2023, representing an increase of 186 percent. A report from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, based on the digital forensic investigation of the SIMs confiscated in raids against scammers, unscrupulous individuals have been selling their registered pre-paid SIMs with verified e-wallet accounts for use in various cybercrime operations. The post Bills seek tougher rules vs scammers appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»