Covid-19 vigil: Prosecution drops appeal against acquittal
The prosecution has withdrawn its appeal against a lower court's acquittal of participants in the 2021 candlelight vigil held in memory of Covid-19 victims.
According to Selangor DAP women's wing secretary Nalina Nair, the prosecution dropped its appeal today after the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate Court ruled in 2023 that a prima facie case had not been established.
In 2021, Nalina (above, left) and Sujatra Jayaraj...
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The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
YouTube loosens rules guiding the moderation of videos
SAN FRANCISCO: For years, YouTube has removed videos with derogatory slurs, misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines and election falsehoods, saying the content violated the platform's rules. But since US President Donald Trump's return to the White House, YouTube has encouraged its content moderators to leave up videos with content that may break the platform's rules rather than remove them, as long as the videos are considered to be in the public interest. Those would include discussions of political, social and cultural issues. The policy shift, which hasn't been publicly disclosed, made YouTube the latest social media platform to back off efforts to police online speech in the wake of Republican pressure to stop moderating content. In January, Meta made a similar move, ending a fact-checking program on social media posts. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, followed in the footsteps of X, Elon Musk's social platform, and turned responsibility for policing content over to users. But unlike Meta and X, YouTube has not made public statements about relaxing its content moderation. The online video service introduced its new policy in mid-December in training material that was reviewed by The New York Times . For videos considered to be in the public interest, YouTube raised the threshold for the amount of offending content permitted to half a video, from a quarter of a video. The platform also encouraged moderators to leave up those videos, which would include City Council meetings, campaign rallies and political conversations. The policy distances the platform from some of its pandemic practices, such as when it removed videos of local council meetings and a discussion between Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, and a panel of scientists, citing medical misinformation. The expanded exemptions could benefit political commentators whose lengthy videos blend news coverage with opinions and claims on a variety of topics, particularly as YouTube takes on a more prominent role as a leading distributor of podcasts. The policy also helps the video platform avoid attacks by politicians and activists frustrated by its treatment of content about the origins of Covid, the 2020 election and Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden's son. YouTube continuously updates its guidance for content moderators on topics surfacing in the public discourse, said Nicole Bell, a company spokesperson. It retires policies that no longer make sense, as it did in 2023 for some Covid misinformation, and strengthens policies when warranted, as it did this year to prohibit content directing people to gambling websites, according to Bell. In the first three months of this year, YouTube removed 192,586 videos because of hateful and abusive content, a 22% increase from a year earlier. 'Recognising that the definition of 'public interest' is always evolving, we update our guidance for these exceptions to reflect the new types of discussion we see on the platform today,' Bell said in a statement. She added, 'Our goal remains the same: to protect free expression on YouTube while mitigating egregious harm.' Critics say the changes by social media platforms have contributed to the rapid spread of false assertions and have the potential to increase digital hate speech. Last year on X, a post inaccurately said, 'Welfare offices in 49 states are handing out voter registration applications to illegal aliens,' according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which studies misinformation and hate speech. The post, which would have been removed before recent policy changes, was seen 74.8 million times. For years, Meta has removed about 277 million pieces of content annually, but under the new policies, much of that content could stay up, including comments like 'Black people are more violent than whites,' said Imran Ahmed, the center's CEO. 'What we're seeing is a rapid race to the bottom,' he said. The changes benefit the companies by reducing the costs of content moderation, while keeping more content online for user engagement, he added. 'This is not about free speech. It's about advertising, amplification and ultimately profits.' YouTube has in the past put a priority on policing content to keep the platform safe for advertisers. It has long forbidden nudity, graphic violence and hate speech. But the company has always given itself latitude for interpreting the rules. The policies allow videos that violate YouTube's rules, generally a small set, to remain on the platform if there is sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic merit. The new policies, which were outlined in the training materials, are an expansion of YouTube's exceptions. They build on changes made before the 2024 election, when the company began permitting clips of electoral candidates on the platform even if the candidates violated its policies, the training material said. Previously, YouTube removed a so-called public interest video if a quarter of the content broke the platform's rules. As of Dec. 18, YouTube's trust and safety officials told content moderators that half a video could break YouTube's rules and stay online. Other content that mentions political, social and cultural issues has also been exempted from YouTube's usual content guidelines. The platform determined that videos are in the public interest if creators discuss or debate elections, ideologies, movements, race, gender, sexuality, abortion, immigration, censorship and other issues. Megan A. Brown, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan who researches the online information ecosystem, said YouTube's looser policies were a reversal from a time when it and other platforms 'decided people could share political speech but they would maintain some decorum'. She fears that YouTube's new policy 'is not a way to achieve that'. During training on the new policy, the trust and safety team said content moderators should err against restricting content when 'freedom of expression value may outweigh harm risk.' If employees had doubts about a video's suitability, they were encouraged to take it to their superiors rather than remove it. YouTube employees were presented with real examples of how the new policies had already been applied. The platform gave a pass to a user-created video titled, 'RFK Jr. Delivers SLEDGEHAMMER Blows to Gene-Altering JABS,' which violated YouTube's policy against medical misinformation by incorrectly claiming that Covid vaccines alter people's genes. The company's trust and safety team decided the video shouldn't be removed because public interest in the video 'outweighs the harm risk,' the training material said. The video was deemed newsworthy because it presented contemporary news coverage of recent actions on Covid vaccines by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The video also mentioned political figures such as Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Megyn Kelly, boosting its 'newsworthiness.' The video's creator also discussed a university medical study and presented news headlines about people experiencing adverse effects from Covid vaccines, 'signaling this is a highly debated topic (and a sensitive political topic),' according to the materials. Because the creator didn't explicitly recommend against vaccination, YouTube decided that the video had a low risk of harm. Currently, the video is no longer available on YouTube. It is unclear why. Another video shared with the staff contained a slur about a transgender person. YouTube's trust and safety team said the 43-minute video, which discussed hearings for Trump administration Cabinet appointees, should stay online because the description had only a single violation of the platform's harassment rule forbidding a 'malicious expression against an identifiable individual.' A video from South Korea featured two commentators talking about the country's former President Yoon Suk Yeol. About halfway through the more-than-three-hour video, one of the commentators said he imagined seeing Yoon turned upside down in a guillotine so that the politician 'can see the knife is going down.' The video was approved because most of it discussed Yoon's impeachment and arrest. In its training material, YouTube said it had also considered the risk for harm low because 'the wish for execution by guillotine is not feasible.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
Colombia president hints at conspiracy after candidate shot
BOGOTÁ: Colombia's leftist leader claimed Monday that a gravely injured presidential candidate's security detail was 'strangely reduced' before he was shot, stoking suggestions of an elaborate plot. Conservative senator Miguel Uribe, 39, was shot twice in the head at close range by a 15-year-old alleged hitman while campaigning Saturday in Bogota. The brazen attack has stunned Colombians and prompted febrile speculation about who was responsible. Authorities allege the suspect was a hired gun, but admit they still have few clues about who hired him or their motive. The Glock pistol he is alleged to have used was purchased legally in the US state of Arizona in 2020, according to police chief Carlos Triana. With Uribe fighting for his life in the hospital, Petro did little Monday to lower the political temperature. The president took to social media to accuse some opponents of politicizing the tragedy. He also claimed that the number of bodyguards assigned to Uribe had been 'strangely reduced' from seven to three on the day of the attack, while calling for a full investigation. Petro said he himself was the subject of a bounty taken up by 'dark forces' and neo-nazis, and was the target of an 'extraction' plot pitched to Israeli foreign intelligence agency Mossad. Petro's opponents have accused the pugilistic left-wing leader of creating fertile ground for political violence. Petro has denied such allegations and joined politicians from across the political spectrum in denouncing the attack on Uribe. Explanations The head of Colombia's National Protection Unit, which is charged with protecting public figures, said three agents and four police officers protected Uribe on the day he was shot. Augusto Rodriguez admitted 'there were fewer people than there should have been' at the time of the attack because some had been working long hours the previous day. Lawmakers in Colombia usually have a detail of seven bodyguards and a motorcade of two armored cars, according to government officials. Rodriguez, a close confidant of Petro and fellow ex-M-19 guerrilla, insisted that a police officer was responsible for security coordination. Meanwhile a lawyer for Uribe lodged a criminal complaint against Rodriguez, stating there had been more than 20 requests to strengthen his client's security detail that had gone unheard.
New Straits Times
9 hours ago
- New Straits Times
US-China trade, minerals talks in London set to extend to second day
LONDON: US-China trade talks were set to extend to a second day in London as top economic officials from the world's two largest economies sought to defuse a bitter dispute that has widened from tariffs to restrictions over rare earths, threatening a global supply chain shock and slower economic growth. Talks at Lancaster House, an ornate UK government mansion, wrapped for the night on Monday and were set to resume at 10am BST (0900 GMT) on Tuesday, a US source familiar with the negotiations said. Washington and Beijing are trying to revive a temporary truce struck in Geneva that had briefly lowered trade tensions and calmed markets. Since then, the US has accused China of slow-walking its commitments, particularly around rare earths shipments. US President Donald Trump on Monday put a positive spin on the talks, saying that they were going well and he was "only getting good reports" from his team in London. "We're doing well with China. China's not easy," Trump said, offering no details on the substance of the discussions. Asked about lifting export controls, Trump told reporters at the White House: "We're going to see." White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett had said earlier on Monday that the US team wanted a handshake from China on rare earths after Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume shipments in a rare call between the two leaders last week. Hassett told CNBC in an interview that the US would expect export controls to be eased and rare earths released in volume immediately afterwards. The London talks come at a crucial time for both economies, which are showing signs of strain from Trump's cascade of tariff orders since his return to the White House in January. Customs data showed that China's exports to the US plunged 34.50 per cent year-on-year in May in value terms, the sharpest drop since February 2020, when the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic upended global trade. In the US, business and household confidence has taken a pummelling, while first-quarter gross domestic product contracted due to a record surge in imports as Americans front-loaded purchases to beat anticipated price increases. So far, the impact on inflation has been muted and the jobs market has remained fairly resilient, though economists expect cracks to become more apparent over the summer. Attending the talks in London are US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The Chinese contingent led by Vice Premier He Lifeng includes Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and the ministry's chief trade negotiator, Li Chenggang. The inclusion of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the US, is one indication of how central rare earths have become. Some analysts saw it as a sign that Trump is willing to put recently imposed Commerce Department export restrictions on the table. China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other. Meanwhile, the US court fight over an effort to invalidate Trump's tariffs on goods from China and other trading partners advanced on Monday with the Trump administration filing arguments in its appeal of a US trade court's ruling that the levies exceeded Trump's legal authority. The federal appeals court could rule at any time on the Trump administration's request to keep the tariffs in place while the appeal proceeds. It could go all the way to the Supreme Court. POSITIVE CONCLUSION Trump and Xi spoke by phone last week, their first direct interaction since Trump's Jan 20 inauguration. During the call, Xi told Trump to back down from trade measures that roiled the global economy and warned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, according to a Chinese government summary. But Trump said on social media the talks focused primarily on trade led to "a very positive conclusion," setting the stage for Monday's meeting in the British capital. The next day, Trump said Xi had agreed to resume shipments to the US of rare earths minerals and magnets. Reuters reported that China granted temporary export licences to rare-earth suppliers of the top three US automakers. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended the global supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors. Kelly Ann Shaw, a former White House trade adviser during Trump's first term and now a trade partner at the Akin Gump law firm in Washington, said she expected China to reaffirm its commitment to lift retaliatory measures, including export restrictions, "plus some concessions on the US side, with respect to export controls measures over the past week or two." But Shaw said she expected the US to only agree to lift some new export curbs, not longstanding ones such as for advanced artificial intelligence chips. In May, the US ordered a halt to shipments of semiconductor design software and chemicals and aviation equipment, revoking export licences that had been previously issued. The preliminary deal in Geneva sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. But Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, said while a temporary truce was possible, there was little prospect for the bilateral relationship to become constructive given broader decoupling trends and continued US pressure on other countries to take China out of their supply chains. "Everyone around Trump is still hawkish and so a breakthrough US-China trade deal is unlikely, especially in the context of other deals that are further along and prioritised," he said in an analyst note.
