Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent messages to all members of Congress terminating their positions, stating “Your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment.” All Democratic and independent members of Congress, as well as two Republicans, found themselves locked out of their offices after everything inside had been confiscated.   read more

The next president of the United States will start with a huge following on Twitter but a clean slate of tweets. It's all part of the peaceful transition of power in the social media age. The White House said Monday that Obama's official @POTUS account will be taken over by the next president. Obama is leaving office with far more digital content to archive than any previous president. Thousands of hours of video and millions of photos will have to be transferred.   read more

In Seattle, the researchers found, African-American users had to wait as much as 35 percent longer for some Uber rides, while in Boston, people with African-American-sounding names were more than twice as likely to have their Uber rides canceled compared with people with white-sounding names. Claims against these newer tech companies — which have garnered multibillion-dollar valuations and often a global footprint — could tarnish their reputations if such practices are not addressed quickly.   read more

Obesity specialists said the survey paints an alarming picture, going against evidence about the science behind the disease and shows that outdated notions about obesity persist, to the detriment of those affected. “It’s frustrating to see doctors and the general public stigmatize patients with obesity and blame these patients, ascribing attributes of laziness or lack of willpower,” said Prof. Dr. Donna Ryan. “It’s so revealing of a real lack of education and knowledge.”   read more

Imagine if, during the Jim Crow era, a newspaper gave advertisers the option to place ads only in copies for white readers. That’s what Facebook is doing nowadays. It not only allows advertisers to target users by their interests, it allows them to exclude specific groups by “Ethnic Affinities.” Seeing this racial exclusion policy, a civil rights lawyer said, “This is horrifying. This is massively illegal. This is about as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find.”   read more

Since 1975, more than 40,000 Vietnamese are believed to have been killed and about 60,000 maimed by unexploded ordnance — land mines, artillery shells, cluster bombs that failed to detonate decades ago. Unexploded yet active remains of the Vietnam War now lie in wait for unsuspecting children at play. There are no time limits to their destructive abilities. “This was our responsibility,” said one ex-U.S. intelligence officer. “We had created the problem.”   read more

A recent report found “there was little evidence” that the introduction of genetically modified crops in the U.S. had led to yield gains beyond those seen in conventional crops. At the same time, herbicide use has increased in the U.S., even as major crops like corn, soybeans and cotton have been converted to modified varieties. And the U.S. has fallen behind Europe’s biggest producer, France, in reducing the overall use of pesticides, which includes both herbicides and insecticides.   read more

More than 10,000 New York City residents are using solar power to reduce their electric bills. But hardly any of those people converting the sun’s rays into savings are poor. The reason so few New Yorkers with low incomes are tapping into the power of the sun is not a lack of interest, but rather a lack of access. Simply put, most poor New Yorkers — like many other city residents — do not have a roof of their own on which they could install solar panels, even if they could afford to do so.   read more

MacNaughton traveled to Washington with his boss and then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. MacNaughton has recounted, as a young functionary, having lunch with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In 2005, MacNaughton became president of Strategy Corp., a government relations firm. He also served as board chairman of Comcare, a home care provider, and Aereus Technologies, a startup in Ontario. MacNaughton remained at Strategy until being appointed ambassador.   read more

Walker quotes civil rights leaders and employs soaring rhetoric to call for a more just and equitable society. So it seemed discordant to some critics when, this month, Walker joined the board of Pepsi, which makes the bulk of its money by selling sugary drinks and fatty snacks. What’s more, there is a well-established link between obesity and economic inequality. His new Pepsi connection raised the question: Would Walker’s day job and his new board duties be working at cross-purposes?   read more

Most telling was that 76% of the voters said they watched at least one of the presidential debates when they aired. But a third of those who watched were simultaneously engaged online, whether it was to check what was being said about the debate on Twitter or to see what fact checkers were saying. The takeaway is that candidates will need to increasingly tailor approaches to the internet for what were once staples of television. “Television is not going to cut it alone,” Blizzard said.   read more

Carter saw a memo showing that a Pentagon consultant recommended that the Air Force chop up and melt down a fleet of C-123 aircraft that had once sprayed the toxic herbicide Agent Orange across Vietnam. It seemed he’d uncovered a government-sanctioned plan to destroy evidence of any connection between the aircraft, Agent Orange and U.S. soldiers' illnesses. And the cover-up looked like it had been set in motion by one man: Alvin L. Young.   read more

The Democratic party and voters sued to block the new law, saying it violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act because it hurt minorities' ability to cast ballots. The legislation was enacted by the Republican-dominated Arizona Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Doug Ducey. Judge Thomas dissented, writing that "Arizona has criminalized one of the most popular and effective methods by which minority voters cast their ballots."   read more

in 2002 Agius served as diplomatic counselor to then-President Guide de Marco. In 2004, he went to Vienna as Malta’s deputy head of mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the UN organizations there and the International Atomic Energy Agency. In 2007, he was named special envoy in Slovenia. The following year, he assumed his first ambassadorial post, in Belgium. He held ambassadorships to Luxembourg in 2009 and subsequently to NATO.   read more

Two studies of U.S. news coverage suggest that this is a presidential campaign with little substance — unless groping women, tax returns and email servers are your idea of major issues. The coverage has become a referendum on Trump and Hillary Clinton's fitness for office, said Tyndall. But he suggests the broadcasters should be making more of an effort to strike out on their own. The MRC report said the newscasts have spent 785 minutes on Trump coverage, 478 minutes on Clinton.   read more

PEER says the draft omits mention of potentially dangerous concentrations of radioactive contaminants that would be allowed in water deemed safe to drink. PEER believes the undisclosed concentrations far exceed what is known to be safe. PEER says the EPA is stonewalling on producing the requested documents, frustrating its efforts to educate the public about the proposed policy changes in an "arbitrary and capricious" violation of federal law.   read more

New privacy rules may make it easier to escape at least some online tracking. Several consumer-advocacy groups hailed the action, while saying it should go further. "I think the new FCC rules are a step in the right direction," said Mark Bartholomew, a law professor at the University of Buffalo who studies advertises law and privacy. "But ultimately I think people will go ahead and let themselves be tracked."   read more