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BBC News with Moira Alderson.
A U.S. judge has ordered the social media giant Meta to pay more than $560 million for its failure to warn the public about dangers its platforms pose[s] to children. It's the largest ruling against the company over the issue of child safety. Bernadette Keogh reports. The judge in New Mexico ruled that Meta had created a public nuisance in the state and instructed the company to change how its platforms function for young users after finding it had harmed children's mental health. As well as the fine earmarked for harm reduction, Meta was ordered to impose a range of youth safety measures, including monthly limits on teens' use of Facebook and Instagram, restrictions on notifications, tighter controls on adult contact with minors and safeguards for AI chatbots. Meta said it will appeal the ruling and that it's been working to identify and remove harmful content from its platforms. U.S. researchers say they've used artificial intelligence to design completely new viruses, the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed by AI. The breakthrough has been heralded as a significant turning point in science, but has also prompted questions over safety and biosecurity. James Gallagher reports. This is a significant leap in the power of AI. It's already been used to invent new antibiotics and vaccines, but this is now a whole genome, the entire genetic code of a virus being designed by AI. The work was performed at Stanford University. The AI was trained using DNA from a range of organisms. It was then tasked with designing new viruses known as phage that infect bacteria rather than people. Out of 300 AI designs tested in the lab, 16 were able to infect and replicate inside E. coli bacteria. The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognized government says 11 civilians have been injured in a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia's border region of Najran. A spokesperson said they included seven Saudis, a Yemeni, two Egyptians and a Pakistani. The attack comes two days after the Houthi said they had carried out a drone strike on Najran Airport. Farhan Haq is from the United Nations. "We call on the Yemeni parties to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could lead to further military escalation. Renewed fighting risks reversing the hard-won gains made towards reducing violence in the past years. The parties must prioritize dialogue and engage constructively with U.N.-led efforts towards a negotiated political settlement." A former state governor has been arrested in Mexico accused of evidence tampering in the case of 43 missing students, which shocked the country more than a decade ago. Officials said Ángel Aguirre, who used to run Guerrero State, gave instructions to hide evidence with the collusion of high-level officials. BBC News. U.S.-backed talks on a potential political transition in Venezuela have begun in the capital Caracas. They're being led by the head of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, and an opposition figure, Dinorah Figuera. Charles Haviland has this report. This is the formal start of a so far preliminary dialogue supported by the United States, which in January seized the socialist former leader Nicolás Maduro, dispatching him to New York. Washington exerts a heavy influence on the interim authorities, pressurizing them to open up the oil and mining sectors to U.S. firms. The talks agenda includes strengthening democracy and the ongoing response to June's earthquake. Dinorah Figuera leads the opposition bloc that won a majority in 2015 elections, whose results were widely recognized but rejected by Mr. Maduro. The imprisoned Mr. Maduro actually issued a statement on Sunday welcoming the dialogue. President Trump has signed two executive orders aimed at restricting birthright citizenship after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his previous attempt in June in a ruling he described as unfair. The new measures expand the categories of people whose children would be ineligible for automatic U.S. citizenship and tried to prevent so-called "birth tourism" where parents seek to have children on U.S. soil. The Moroccan state news agency, citing a diplomatic source, has said the country is ready to cooperate with Spain on the return of hundreds of unaccompanied children currently in the Spanish territory of Ceuta. The agency said the government would work to identify the minors and return them to their homeland. The children were among tens of thousands of would-be migrants who crossed the Moroccan border into the tiny enclave last week. European football's governing body UEFA says its teams could still boycott FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, despite FIFA abandoning plans to sell a stake in its tournaments. The proposal had prompted UEFA to say it had lost confidence in FIFA President Gianni Infantino. BBC News. |