Open Newswire

Constitutional limits are increasingly being replaced with commercial transactions, putting Americans’ privacy and the free press at risk. But our representatives on Capitol Hill will soon have a chance to plug that gap.The Fourth Amendment was designed to protect us from government searches and seizures without a warrant. But government agencies can evade this requirement with the “data broker loophole” — using taxpayer dollars to buy sensitive, personal data about Americans and others from private data brokers.Although we’ve known about this problem for a while, recent reporting about the use of data brokers for immigration enforcement has shown just how invasive state surveillance fueled by data broker purchases can be. That reporting also has important lessons for how the government could use this purchased spy power to target journalists and their sources.Investigative outlets like 404 Media have been at the forefront of exposing how government agencies are using data brokers to power the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. The commercial data the government is exploiting can be drawn from everyday apps like those for weather, gaming, or news.404 Media used public records to report on Customs and Border Patrol’s purchase of online advertising data that it can use to follow people’s “precise movements over time” by tracking their phones.It also reported on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of tools based on commercial location data to monitor phones in entire neighborhoods. This kind of location tracking can identify who is using a particular device by tracking where they live or work, and can then be used to follow their movements.According to 404 Media, ICE has also turned to Palantir, a notorious data mining and surveillance company, to find neighborhoods to raid and to create dossiers on potential targets for deportation. At least one of Palantir’s tools is powered by a Thomson Reuters product called Clear, which sells “names, addresses, car registration information, Social Security numbers, and details on someone’s ethnicity.”Together, this and other reporting make it obvious that the Department of Homeland Security is ramping up surveillance capabilities based on the data broker loophole. And this tactic isn’t limited to immigration enforcement. In the past, the government has used data it purchased to track users of a Muslim prayer app and protesters in the racial justice movement, for instance.With the Trump administration determined to prosecute journalists and their sources, it’s reasonable to be concerned that the data broker loophole could be used in leak investigations, too. The Department of Justice has pledged to target leakers, and the FBI has already raided one reporter’s house in connection with a national security leak investigation.In March, FBI Director Kash Patel, who once promised to “come after” the media, testified before Congress that his agency was once again purchasing Americans’ data and location histories as part of federal investigations.Data purchased by the government for leaks investigations could reveal reporters’ contacts with sources, with potentially devastating consequences for reporter-source confidentiality and press freedom. For instance, the government could buy location data for the devices of journalists and suspected leakers to determine if they visited the same locations at the same time. It could purchase internet records to determine if a suspected source visited a news outlet’s website or searched for a particular journalist.The Fourth Amendment was designed to prevent exactly this kind of warrantless surveillance. But as the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Jake Laperruque noted recently, the government currently operates under a “spy first and ask forgiveness later mentality.”Now, Congress has a rare opportunity to fix this. A new bill, the Government Surveillance Reform Act, would reauthorize and reform the government’s foreign intelligence surveillance powers under Section 702 of FISA. Crucially, it would prohibit law enforcement and intelligence agencies from buying sensitive information that otherwise would require a warrant.Whether it’s being used for out-of-control immigration sweeps or to spy on journalists and their sources, the data broker loophole has become an insidious bypass to the Bill of Rights. The government shouldn’t be able to buy its way out of the Constitution. It’s time for Congress to close the data broker loophole.

Tijdens de krokusvakantie verandert JEF verschillende grootsteden in Vlaanderen zoals Antwerpen, Brugge, Gent, Kortrijk, Leuven, Roeselare en Hamme in een film- en gameparadijs. Het wordt georganiseerd dankzij het jaarlijkse Jeugdfilmfestival voor kinderen en jongeren van 1,5 en 18 jaar.  Het is een initiatief waar jongeren kunnen genieten van originele films, de nieuwste games uitproberen en creatieve workshops volgen. Het festival is een plaats waar je volop media kan ontdekken en kan experimenteren.

Sinds het overlijden van Ali Khamenei op 28 februari, de hoogste leider van Iran sinds 1989, reageren Iraniërs in België verdeeld. Sommigen steunen het Iraanse regime, anderen uiten kritiek en maken zich zorgen over hun familie in Iran en over de politieke situatie, waaronder de oorlog die momenteel woedt. “Ik kan mijn familie in Iran al zes dagen niet bereiken.”

De achtste finales van de UEFA Champions League staan voor de deur. Het duel tussen Manchester City en Real Madrid wordt alvast de blikvanger. Wie zal de 'round of 16' overleven en welke topploeg zal pijnlijk sneuvelen? Balgezever analyseert elke affiche van de achtste finales. Verwacht meningsverschillen, stevige takes en pure Champions League vibes.

De gruwelijke taferelen in het Midden-Oosten bereiken iedereen. Hier in Antwerpen aan de bibliotheek Permeke noemen de jongeren oorlog als eerste nieuwsfeit dat bij hen op komt. StampMedia luistert naar hoe jongeren deze moeilijke thematiek ervaren.

Met ‘Wuthering Heights’ brengt regisseur Emerald Fennell een donkere liefdestragedie naar het scherm. De film is sinds 11 februari te zien in de Belgische bioscopen en draait rond de intense relatie tussen de hoofdpersonages Heathcliff en Catherine.

Animals that cross borders often encounter conservation systems that stop at them. Migratory species move through jurisdictions with little regard for political boundaries, relying on habitats spread across large distances and governed by different rules. The result is patchy protection, overlapping threats, and declining populations. Seabirds make this problem clear. They range across entire […]

Nombroses autors de traduccions o adaptacions de faulas son gaire coneguts. N’es aital de l’abat A. Hérétié citat per Joëlle Ginestet. A publicat Fables et autres poésies en patois de Cahors – Premier fascicule a Caors en 1881. Aicesta cronica es dedicada a l’autor caorsin en mena de remembre de totes los apassionats de fablas ancorats dins lor terrador e ara gaireben oblidats.   Cobèrta del fascicul 1 (bibliotèca del CCOA)   Balham aquesta fabla complèta en grafia classica:   Las doas crabas   Quand dos testuts vòlon quicòm, N’arriba sovent, mon paure enfant, Çò qu’arribèt , nos ditz l’istoèra, A doas crabas de La Tronquièra Que per tal de non voler pas De una a l’autra cedar lo pas Anguèron totas doas acabat lor disputa Dins un país dont òm torna plus; Aquò foguèt fach a la minuta, Escotatz e veiretz: aquò èra un diluns, Precisament l’endeman de la vòta, Avián facha ribòta, Lor cap èra caudet un pauc, E lo portavan naut, Plan pus naut que las còrnas. Continua llegint

Los cercaires ara se demandan se lo chinés es pas benlèu la lenga pus anciana de la planeta. La descobèrta d’una escritura plan anciana sembla d’o confirmar. Se poiriá que lo chinés foguèsse la lenga escricha pus anciana del Mond? Segon aquela descobèrta, l’ipotèsi qu’afirma que l’escritura espeliguèt a l’encòp en divèrses lòcs del Mond es ara fòrça mai fòrta. Una còla d’arqueològs a trobat dins la província chinesa d’Hubei una amassada d’inscripcions sus ceramica que poirián èsser los caractèrs pus ancians jamai descobèrts fins a uèi lo jorn. Continua llegint

Los deputats franceses votèron dimecres passat, per 131 voses contra 100, en favor d’una proposicion de lei del grop Ensems per la Republica (centredrecha macronista) per sortir Alsàcia de la region Grand Èst. L’actuala Collectivitat europèa d’Alsàcia —sortida de la fusion dels conselhs departamentals del Bas Ren e del Naut en Ren en 2021— recobrariá las competéncias de la region, amb la creacion d’una collectivitat territoriala d’estatut particular. Continua llegint

Onion es un sistèma operatiu alternatiu per las consòlas portablas Miyoo Mini e Mini+ jos licéncia liura. Permet de lançar mai de 100 emulators, possedís de foncion d’enregistrament automatic e represa, e un fais d’opcions de personalizacion. Trobaretz las explicacions d’installacion aquí: https://onionui.github.io/docs/installation?device=mmp Vos aconselhi d’utilizar una carta SD de bona qualitat per çò qu’es de la velocitat d’escritura/lectura. Continua llegint

(The Center Square) – Georgia state Rep. Houston Gaines said he has firsthand experience with the influx of homeless people in his hometown of Athens, but he hopes a bill on Gov. Brian Kemp's desk will bring change to Athens and the rest of the state. "The reality is you're going to see a lot of homeless individuals sleeping and lying in front of businesses," Gaines said of his hometown in an interview with The Center Square. "I've heard from constituents every single day who frankly are sick of having to show up at their business to open their doors, and they have someone sleeping in front of their business, or they have loitering right outside of their business all day." The goal of House Bill 295, sponsored by Gaines and passed by the General Assembly, is to hold local governments that aren't enforcing existing laws on homeless issues, such as illegal camping, panhandling or loitering, accountable, he said. "It allows property owners, business owners to go and seek compensation or refunds on the property taxes up to either expenses incurred, if they had to put up security cameras, fencing, full-time security or if their value of their home or business was dimished as a result of that local governments inaction then they could seek a refund up to the taxes they paid," Gaines said. The effect on taxpayers depends on who you ask. The Association of County Commissioners worked with Gaines on the bill because the organization had several concerns, including the impact on taxpayers. "In the same year that the Georgia House of Representatives wants to put a cap on property taxes, at the same time they want to waive local sovereign immunity, which at the end is going to be paid for Georgia local taxpayers," said Todd Edwards, director of governmental affairs for the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia in an interview with The Center Square. Gaines said, "As long as local governments enforce the law, they have nothing to worry about." "It's my belief, what is not fair, is a local government failing to enforce its own laws, to do the job of local government, and then they send a property tax bill to a homeowner or business owner and stick them with the bill, to pay for the local government that just failed them," Gaines said. The bill passed in the last hours of the session, but not before Vidalia Republican Blake Tillery tried to add an amendment that would have waived sovereign immunity entirely for any violation of sanctuary city and immigration policies based on a bill passed in 2024 that would cut off state funding to local governments that don't enforce immigration law. The version of House Bill 295 that passed would allow individuals to petition the superior court for a writ of mandamus, a court order requiring government officials to comply with the law, instead of suing. House Bill 295 could create some unintended consequences, Edwards said. Local governments could decide to do away with their ordinances addressing homelessness so that they would not come under the scope of the waiver of sovereign immunity, he said. "We're certainly not going to encourage counties to do that, but that might be the unintended consequences," Edwards said. Local governments are not the only ones opposing the bill. The National Homelessness Law Center and other groups are asking people to contact Gov. Brian Kemp and encourage him not to sign the bill. The organization said the bill would lead to more arrests of homeless people. "We will never arrest our way out of homelessness," the organization said in a social media post. "We need lawmakers to invest in housing and resources that could help unhoused people instead of send them to jail, which only makes it harder to secure homes and jobs." Georgia included $50 million in its fiscal year budget to address homelessness. Gaines said he doesn't believe the issues are about money. "It's my belief that its enforcement and actually addressing the underlying issues is what the challenge is," Gaines said. "I think you're seeing record resources coming in from both the state and local levels but you're not seeing action taken at the local level." The General Assembly adjourned April 2, and the governor has 40 days to sign or veto the bill. Georgia is not the first state to address the enforcement of ordinances regarding homelessness. Arizona voters approved Proposition 312 in 2024, which allows property owners to obtain tax refunds if they were affected by city and county lax enforcement.

The ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran has done little so far to getting shipping through the vital waterway. It’s going to take more than just words to fix.

كشفت دراسة أُنجزت سنة 2025 عن تردّد المُدرّسين بين الرّغبة في التّكوين والمخاوف إزاء تقنية أجبرتهم على تغيير أسلوب عملهم.

El ministro de Transportes y Telecomunicaciones, Louis de Grange, lanzó una dura crítica contra el modelo comercial de las aerolíneas...

OLT spokesperson confirms the Tribunal is reviewing the matter, and declined further comment pending the outcome of that review.

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Wisconsin’s free newsletter here.Madison poll workers on Election Day counted 23 absentee ballots that arrived at four polling places after 8 p.m. Tuesday, despite a state law requiring that absentee ballots be “delivered to the polling place no later than 8 p.m.” in order to be tallied. The law provides no clear exception to that deadline and says ballots not delivered on time “may not be counted.” But court rulings have given boards of canvassers broad discretion in these cases, allowing them to count ballots as long as there’s “substantial compliance” with election laws and no evidence of “connivance, fraud, or undue influence.”A past Wisconsin Supreme Court case held that election statutes don’t need to be fully complied with, so long as election officials preserve the will of the voter.City election officials instructed poll workers to count and mark the affected ballots — which all arrived by the end of the night on Monday, the day before Election Day — in case the city, county, or state decides to exclude them. It is unclear why the ballots — which had been in the city’s possession for several hours before the deadline — were so delayed in arriving at the polling places. The late delivery marks another potentially significant error in how the city handles its ballots, after it faced extensive public scrutiny and a state investigation for disenfranchising 193 voters whose ballots were misplaced in the November 2024 election.It’s the first high-turnout election run by City Clerk Lydia McComas, hired to replace the clerk who oversaw the 2024 ballot snafu. McComas said her office had informed the Wisconsin Elections Commission of the situation.Ballots left the city late and got to polls after deadlineThose ballots were in the hands of a ballot courier, who left a city election facility around 6:30 p.m. to deliver ballots to the polls. The courier arrived at those final four polling locations after 8 p.m., reaching the final one at about 8:30 p.m, delivering a combined 23 ballots to all of them, according to a statement from the city.“Due to a longer-than-usual delivery time, the very last few ballots arrived at four polling places shortly after polls closed,” McComas said.When similar incidents happened in the past, the county board of canvassers didn’t count those votes in the final canvass based on legal advice, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said. He said he’s waiting for more details before deciding how to proceed with these ballots at Monday’s county canvass meeting.In those past incidents, the county board decided that not counting the ballots in the final county tally “was an obvious choice based on the way the statute’s written,” McDonell said. “The statute isn’t vague.”Given the ballots’ timely arrival, McDonnell said, “they should have gotten out to the polls and should have been counted on time.”Other municipalities have counted ballots discovered lateOther election officials have at times decided to count ballots discovered after the 8 p.m. deadline, but the rules for municipalities are different depending on their procedures for counting absentee ballots.In November 2020, Milwaukee workers discovered nearly 400 uncounted ballots during a recount. A campaign representative for President Donald Trump objected to those ballots being included, but the municipal canvassing board unanimously decided that they should count.At the February 2022 election, Wauwatosa election officials discovered 58 unopened ballots. After consulting the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the city attorney for advice, the city clerk convened the Wauwatosa Board of Canvassers, which included the missing ballots in the totals.But the rules that allowed Milwaukee and Wauwatosa to count those ballots may not apply to Madison. In both of those cities, absentee ballots are counted in a central location. In Madison, absentee ballots are counted at the polling locations where the registered voter would have voted in person. In cities like Madison, election workers must deliver absentee ballots to polling places by 8 p.m. For central count municipalities, by comparison, state law only says election officials there shall count ballots received by the clerk by 8 p.m., without clarifying that they must be in a certain place by that point.The Wisconsin Elections Commission has said the 193 ballots Madison missed in 2024 could have been counted had the city made the appropriate notifications to state authorities. But those ballots were likely already at polling places on Election Day — unlike the 23 ballots here, which arrived after the deadline.Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Alexander at ashur@votebeat.org.

Na manhã dessa terça-feira (7), moradores das comunidades de Córgão e Palmeiras, na zona rural de Itarantim, no sudoeste da Bahia, paralisaram as atividades de empresa de pesquisa mineral que atua no território. Segundo moradores, a ação foi organizada pelo suposto descumprimento de Lei de Iniciativa Popular, aprovada em 2025 após amplo processo de mobilização, […] Fonte

A Latino and immigrant rights group is suing the Republican leaders of the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives, accusing them of violating the constitutional rights of multiple people who were banned from visiting the state legislature for protesting.  Living United for Change in Arizona filed a lawsuit in federal court last week against Senate […]

Con el principal sospechoso prófugo y una orden de detención vigente, avanza la investigación por la muerte de Francisca Nohemí...