LONDON: The UK government announced plans on Wednesday to introduce age verification for users accessing social media platforms as part of efforts to protect children online.
A new online safety bill will regulate social media with terms and conditions on minimum age thresholds, while tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter will face hefty fines if they allow underage children to access their services.
Ofcom, the government-approved regulator for broadcasting and telecommunications, will be responsible for enforcing the new bill.
Currently, children under 13 are not allowed to sign up to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, while those under 12 are prohibited from creating a Google account. Meanwhile, the Facebook-owned chat service WhatsApp has a minimum age of 16.
ROME: Thousands of Muslims in Palermo gathered in the capital of Sicily’s waterfront to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr and pray for the victims in Palestine.
Several members of the Islamic community in Palermo, which counts around 20,000 members, joined early-morning prayers at the Foro Italico, a vast open-air area facing the sea.
Everyone was wearing a mask and carrying their own carpet. Stewards from the community made sure that social distancing was maintained, with Sicily still recording a high number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
Prayers were led by Mustafà Boulaalam, the imam of the mosque of Piazza Gran Cancelliere, which before 1998 was a Catholic church and was donated to the Islamic community by the late Cardinal of Palermo Salvatore Pappalardo. Imams from the city’s other mosques and Islamic centers also joined this moment of reflection.
Colonial Pipeline paid $5m ransom to cyberhackers
Fuel operator paid the ransom in untraceable cryptocurrency within hours of the attack despite reports it would not do so
13 May 2021 • 3:29pm
The company that operates America s biggest fuel pipeline has reportedly paid a ransom of nearly $5m (£3.5m) to hackers who shut down the facility last week triggering fuel shortages and price hikes across the East Coast.
Colonial Pipeline paid the extortion fee on Friday, Bloomberg reported, despite reports that it had no plans to do so and concerns that paying a ransom simply encourages hackers.
The pipeline is not yet back at full force following the cyberattack on Friday, when the criminal gang Darkside locked computers controlling the pipeline.
LONDON: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has spoken out against Iran’s use of “vague, trumped-up” charges to crack down on Kurdish journalists, and urged authorities to release three who remain in detention.
Since May 2020, Tehran’s security forces have arrested dozens of activists and students in a crackdown on perceived pro-Kurdish movements in the country, according to reports cited by the CPJ.
They have arrested at least eight Kurdish journalists, three of whom remain behind bars.
“Iranian authorities’ targeting of Kurdish journalists adds a dimension of ethnic discrimination to the country’s already dire campaign to imprison members of the press,” said the CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa researcher Justin Shilad.
Committee to Protect Journalists: Tehran should ‘release all jailed journalists immediately’
Minority activists and journalists in Iran regularly face arbitrary detention and torture
Updated 13 May 2021
May 13, 2021 17:03
LONDON: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has spoken out against Iran’s use of “vague, trumped-up” charges to crack down on Kurdish journalists, and urged authorities to release three who remain in detention.
Since May 2020, Tehran’s security forces have arrested dozens of activists and students in a crackdown on perceived pro-Kurdish movements in the country, according to reports cited by the CPJ.
They have arrested at least eight Kurdish journalists, three of whom remain behind bars.