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Elon Musk: Twitter (sorry, X) could go behind a paywall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he plans to start charging all users of X, his social media platform formerly known as Twitter.“We are moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system,” Musk said during a live-streamed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots.”Musk and Netanyahu discussed the rise of AI and ways to curb antisemitism and hate speech on X. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said X currently has about 550 million monthly users posting between 100 to 200 million posts per day, and “some of those are going to be bad.” When asked about ways to prevent fake accounts from amplifying hateful posts, Musk said setting up a paywall for the site is the “only defense,” as a subscription would make it harder for bots to create multiple accounts using multiple credit cards.“A bot costs a fraction of a penny … but if someone has to pay a few dollars or a minor amount,...

Residents rattled after 30-foot retaining wall collapses in Brighton

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

Emergency crews were called to an apartment building on Tremont Street in Brighton late Monday night after a 30-foot retaining wall collapsed. Residents of the building near Oak Square say the retaining wall was recently replaced and several parked cars were damaged when it came down. One woman said her vehicle was shifted 10 feet by mud that came rushing through the collapsed wall.The area of the collapse was still blocked off with caution tape early Tuesday morning and officials have not said how long it will take to repair.“There’s just a river of mud around the building,” said Wesley Ratliff, who heard the wall come down.Carla Leite, who said the wall was replaced in May, is now wondering if the people who built it considered drainage and other issues. She’s also wondering if the collapse had anything to do with new homes being constructed a street over.The cause of the collapse remains under investigation.No additional information was immediately availab...

Drying Out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

Blah! Another dose of wet weather we did not want and did not need yesterday as 2-3″ of rain fell across much of the region. Once again, prompting some basement flooding and some street flooding. Stating the obvious, we’re well above average year to date. Year to date (January 1st-today), we’re running the 11th wettest on record in Boston. In terms of wettest years (January-December) on record, we’d need about another 17″ to crack the top 5. 1878 holds the wettest year on record with the 1950s taking up the next 4 slots. This morning, we wake up to dry air in place with a busy breeze out of the west, gusting 20-30mph. That’ll help dry out the ground through the day as returning sunshine also makes for a very pleasant afternoon ahead. Humidity will be lowering too. Essentially, the next several days look great. 70s by day, 50s by night, with mostly sunny skies winning out. The next rain chance returns Saturday night/Sunday as we watch to see how f...

Boston Herald EMass Divisional football rankings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

EMASS DIVISION 11. Xaverian (2-0)2. St. John’s Prep (2-0)3. Andover (2-0)4. Franklin (2-0)5. Needham (2-0)6. Lincoln-Sudbury (1-1)7. Methuen (1-1)8. Everett (1-1)EMASS DIVISION 21. Catholic Memorial (1-1)2. King Philip (2-0)3. Barnstable (2-0)4. North Andover (1-0)5. Peabody (2-0)6. Bishop Feehan (1-1)7. Marshfield (0-2)8. Winchester (2-0)EMASS DIVISION 31. Billerica (2-0)2. Milford (2-0)3. Milton (2-0)4. Plymouth South (2-0)5. Woburn (2-0)6. North Attleboro (1-1)7. Mansfield (0-2)8. Hopkinton (2-0)EMASS DIVISION 41. Duxbury (1-1)2. Tewksbury (2-0)3. Holliston (1-1)4. Melrose (2-0)5. Wakefield (2-0)6. Scituate (1-1)7. Middleboro (1-1)8. Norwood (2-0)EMASS DIVISION 51. Hanover (2-0)2. Shawsheen (2-0)3. Foxboro (2-0)4. Bishop Fenwick (2-0)5. Dedham (2-0)6. Pembroke (1-1)7. Wilmington (2-0)8. Newburyport (1-1)EMASS DIVISION 61. St. Mary’s (2-0)2. Salem (2-0)3. Abington (2-0)4. Winthrop (1-1)5. Dennis-Yarmouth (2-0)6. Fairhaven (2-0)7. Cardinal Spellman (2-0)8. Lynnfield (2-...

Azerbaijan announces an ‘anti-terrorist operation’ targeting Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Azerbaijan announced Tuesday an “anti-terrorist operation” targeting Armenian military positions.A statement from the Azerbaijan defense ministry said the operation began hours after four soldiers and two civilians died in landmine explosions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The ministry did not immediately give details, but said “positions on the front line and in-depth, long-term firing points of the formations of Armenia’s armed forces, as well as combat assets and military facilities are incapacitated using high-precision weapons.”Armenian news agencies reported that the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert, was under bombardment but there were no immediate details on damage or casualties. The Azerbaijani statement said, “Only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated.”Earlier Tuesday, Azerbaijan said six people were killed in two separate explosions in the region that is partly under the control of ethnic Armenian forces. A statement from Az...

Americans detained for years in Iran arrive in US after their release, US official says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans detained for years in Iran arrived home Tuesday after being freed as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.The successful negotiations for the Americans’ freedom brought Biden profuse thanks from their families but heat from Republican presidential rivals and other opponents for the monetary arrangement with one of America’s top adversaries.“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” Biden said in a statement released as the plane carrying the group from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar, on Monday.In the early hours of Tuesday, a plane carrying the Americans landed in the United States, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, on hand for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, sugg...

Foreign firms in China say vague rules and tensions with Washington hurting business, surveys show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

Foreign companies operating in China say tensions with Washington over technology, trade and other issues and uncertainty over Chinese policies are damaging the business environment and causing some to reassess their plans for investing in the giant market. The results of surveys released Tuesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China largely concurred in appealing for greater certainty and clarity over China’s stance toward foreign businesses. “For decades, European companies thrived in China, benefitting from a stable and efficient business environment. However, after the turbulent past three years, many have reevaluated their basic assumptions about the Chinese market,” Jens Eskelund, the EU Chamber’s president said, in a letter that accompanied the report. Eskelund said that predictability and reliability had been undermined by “erratic policy shifts,” hurting confidence in China’s growth prospects.“At t...

China tells foreign consulates in Hong Kong to provide personal data of all local staff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s Foreign Ministry has asked all foreign consulates in Hong Kong to provide the personal details of their locally employed staff, as Beijing tightens its control over the semi-autonomous city.The Commissioner’s Office of the Foreign Ministry, in a letter seen by The Associated Press, asked the consulates to provide staffers’ names, job titles, residential addresses, identity card numbers and travel document numbers “in line with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and general international practice.”The letter, dated Monday and addressed to all consulate posts and the Office of the European Union, stated that they should comply with the request by Oct. 18, and that the details of staffers who are employed in the future should be furnished within 15 days.It wasn’t clear whether China furnishes details of its staff in foreign missions to other countries.The request comes as Beijing has tightened control over Hong Kong in recent years followin...

Network of ancient American Indian earthworks in Ohio named to list of UNESCO World Heritage sites

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A network of ancient American Indian ceremonial and burial mounds in Ohio described as “part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory” was added Tuesday to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Preservationists, led by the Ohio History Connection, and indigenous tribes, many with ancestral ties to the state, pushed to recognize the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks for their good condition, distinct style and cultural significance — describing them as “masterpieces of human genius.” UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee approved the application during a meeting in Saudi Arabia. The massive earthworks join a list of famed sites that includes Greece’s Acropolis, Peru’s Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China.Constructed by American Indians between 2,000 and 1,600 years ago along central tributaries of the Ohio River, the earthworks were host to ceremonies that drew people from across the continent, based on archeological discoveries of raw material...

Israeli military sentences commander to 10 days in prison over shooting of Palestinian motorist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Tuesday sentenced an army commander in the occupied West Bank to 10 days in military prison after an investigation into his shooting last week of a Palestinian motorist who was found to be innocent.The Israeli military said that security forces stationed at the Israeli settlement of Rimonim, east of Jerusalem, had received reports of gunshots in the area and, sometime later, spotted a Palestinian vehicle fleeing the scene that they believed to be behind the shooting. The forces opened fire at the Palestinian man’s car, the military said, hitting and wounding the driver. The army arrested him and took him to a hospital for treatment before releasing him the next day. An Israeli military investigation determined the army’s shooting was the result of mistaken identity. “This is a serious incident in which the force acted contrary to procedures,” the army said, announcing that the force’s commander had been sentenced to 10 days in military pr...