French government faces threat of censure over wealth tax
PARIS (AFP) — France’s prime minister on Friday urged lawmakers to reach a compromise to pass an austerity budget, after leftists threatened to oust his government if it did not include a tax on the very wealthy. Sebastien Lecornu has promised to get a spending...
Two new pathogens detected to have contributed to Napoleon army’s collapse
(CN) — In June 1812, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte led his troops into the calamitous Russian campaign in the “Patriotic War of 1812.” The French retreated, partly due to what was previously thought of as a widespread typhus outbreak among the troops. It would...
EU threatens Meta, TikTok with billions in fines over research ‘black box’ around kids’ content
BRUSSELS (CN) — European regulators slammed Meta and TikTok on Friday for systematically walling off researchers from studying what content reaches children, setting up nearly $20 billion in potential fines in Brussels’ most aggressive strike yet against the...
Scotland casts fresh eye on independence vote as UK’s political landscape shifts
MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Scotland’s main pro-independence party wants another chance to vote on leaving the United Kingdom, a decade after Scots chose to remain part of the four-nation bloc. John Swinney, leader of the Scottish National Party, said if his party wins...
How to be an unsuccessful novelist
Successful novelists tell us: Write what you know. So if you are a peach inspector, write your book about inspecting peaches. A rose gardener? The perils of aphids. Throw an unsuccessful love affair in there somewhere, because we’ve all had them. Then go back to...
Ex-judicial watchdog claims Colorado’s top officials conspired against him
(CN) — An attorney who used to run Colorado’s judicial watchdog agency claims the state’s Supreme Court justices, attorney general and governor covered up a multimillion-dollar contract scheme and punished him when he tried to expose it. Christopher Gregory, former...
Nevada ACLU cries foul over transfer of man in local jail to immigration authorities
LAS VEGAS (CN) — A man initially held in a Nevada jail said in a Thursday court filing that he was unlawfully transferred to federal authorities in violation of state law. Sergio Morais-Hechavarria initially sued last week over an agreement the Las Vegas Metropolitan...
Judge takes up Google bid to toss suit over student data tracking
(CN) — Attorneys clashed in federal court Thursday over claims that Google surveils and collects information about kids through its education products, claims Google says are vague to the point of being “nothing.” The plaintiffs, which include the parents of four...
Indigenous scholars advocate for the Land Back movement
BOULDER, Colo. (CN) — In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed the U.S. government had illegally taken the Black Hills from the Sioux Nation. Known as “the “heart of everything that is” to the native tribe, the Black Hills span the Great Plains of...