How Gen Z is fighting online misinformation in Asia-Pacific

Last week marked the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week— perfect timing for our recently concluded Google News Initiative (GNI) Youth Verification Challenge. The Challenge is for those aged 15 to 24 across the Asia Pacific region, and presents teams with a series of tutorials and quizzes on identifying online misinformation. This year, over…

The White House deleted a tweet that credited Biden for an increase in Social Security payments after a Twitter feature gave it a fact-check label

President Joe Biden speaks about threats to democracy ahead of next week’s midterm elections, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, at the Columbus Club in Union Station, near the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Alex Brandon/Associated Press In a tweet Wednesday, the White House credited President Biden with raising Social Security payments. The tweet was deleted after users…

Brittney Griner met with US officials in Russia for the first time since her appeal was denied

Brittney Griner, waits for the verdict inside a defendants’ cage during a hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, on August 4, 2022. Photo by EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images US officials were able to meet with Brittney Griner in person Thursday for the first time in weeks. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said Griner displayed “tenacity”…

Twitter’s mass layoffs are set to begin Friday morning

According to an internal memo sent to Twitter employees, the new management under Elon Musk will begin conducting layoffs Friday morning. These layoffs have been rumored since before Musk’s takeover, with the most recent report estimating that half of the 7,500 employees will lose their jobs. On Thursday evening, all employees received an email stating…

Teens with obesity lose 15% of body weight in trial of repurposed diabetes drug

Enlarge / Woman on a kg weight scale (credit: Getty | BSIP) A repurposed Type 2 diabetes drug helped teens with obesity lose a significant amount of body weight,  lowered their risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and improved their weight-related quality of life over a 68-week clinical trial, researchers reported this week in the New…

More than 700 dolphins in the Black Sea have died since the war in Ukraine began. Scientists believe the fighting cripples their ability to navigate, find food, and talk to each other.

A bottlenose dolphin in the Black Sea near Ukraine. imageBROKER/Andrey Nekrasov/Getty Images There’s been an increase in dolphin strandings around the Black Sea since the war in Ukraine began. Dolphins and porpoises talk and navigate via sound, which may be disrupted by the loud noises of war. The long term impacts are not yet clear,…

Read the first memo from Elon Musk’s Twitter to employees confirming plans for layoffs and ordering the temporary closure of all offices

Elon Musk. Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Elon Musk has broken his silence with Twitter employees. After seven days of hearing nothing from their new boss, Twitter employees on Thursday received an email from the company confirming that there would be layoffs on Friday. It also said all of the company’s offices were being “temporarily closed and…