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Meta considering a standalone social network that sounds a lot like Twitter

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

(CNN) — Facebook-parent Meta is exploring building a new, standalone platform for sharing text updates, the company confirmed to CNN on Friday, in what could mark the most high-profile new contender to take on Twitter as it falters under Elon Musk.“We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to CNN, which essentially described Twitter’s mission statement without naming the platform.The platform, plans for which were earlier reported by Platformer and MoneyControl, would be decentralized, meaning users could ostensibly create different servers or communities, each with their own rules rather than one central platform controlled by Meta. The concept is similar to Reddit or Discord, but a departure from how Meta’s other platforms function.If Meta’s new platform were decentralized, it could allow third parties to ...

Lineker meets his Match? Football ace steps back from TV gig after Tory tweet row

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

LONDON — Top British TV host Gary Lineker will step back from presenting the flagship “Match of the Day” football show until a “clear position” is agreed on his social media usage, the BBC has announced, after a major row with Conservative MPs.The footballer-turned-sports presenter has been embroiled in a days-long row over his tweets on Rishi Sunak’s proposals to tackle cross-Channel migration. Lineker claimed the language used to announce the bill was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ’30s.”Multiple Tory MPs and ministers have criticized Lineker, who is one of the BBC’s highest-paid employees. Critics argued his comments — and subsequent public arguments with ministers — breached the BBC’s strict impartiality rules.Reacting publicly to the story for the first time, the broadcaster announced Friday that Lineker would step back from his presenting duties. “The BBC has been in extensive discussions with Gary and his team in ...

Boris-style knighthood for Sunak’s dad? He’ll be lucky to get a card

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

PARIS — The U.K. prime minister sought to distance himself from Boris Johnson’s reported attempt to nominate his own father for a knighthood, saying his dad would only get a “card” for Fathers’ Day.Johnson has reportedly included his father Stanley in the list of honors he can grant as an outgoing prime minister. The Times said the list includes as many as 100 nominations.Speaking to reporters on his way to a U.K.-France summit in Paris, Rishi Sunak declined to comment on what he described as “speculation” when asked if honors should go to family members and if he as prime minister would ever nominate a family member for one of these awards, which include knighthoods, damehoods, and places in the U.K.’s unelected House of Lords. “For me a big success is remembering to get my dad a card on Fathers’ Day, so that is probably about my limit of it,” he replied.Asked if that should be interpreted as a “no,” Sunak said: “Yes. As I said, if I am doing a card, I’m doing well. There is a...

This nostalgic childhood drink is now a boozy beverage

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

(CNN) — SunnyD, the flavorful orange drink chugged from childhood by millennials, is embracing one of its more collegial cocktail combinations.There’s now a vodka seltzer version of the drink that was created because of “popular demand,” the brand said. SunnyD Vodka Seltzer becomes the latest entrant into the canned cocktail craze that has customers thirsting for flavor-packed adult beverages over their malt-based seltzer siblings.The vodka seltzer is 4.5 percent alcohol by volume, has 0 grams of sugar and only 95 calories. But there’s not actual SunnyD in the drink, rather the company said it has the “same great orange taste” as SunnyD that uses “real fruit juice and natural ingredients.”SunnyD was first developed in 1963, but later boomed in popularity in the 1990s garnering it a loyal fan base because of its tangy orange flavor that is likened to a much sweeter tasting (and sugar packed) version of regular orang...

Patrick Williams is finding his forcefulness in the final stretch for the Chicago Bulls: ‘Just scratching the surface’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

Whenever Patrick Williams drops his chin, cleaves his shoulder into an opponent’s sternum and shoots through the contact, the move earns the same repeated refrain: “Every time.”For years, Williams has heard this urging from every person in his corner in Chicago — coaches, teammates, fans — who have grown weary of the 21-year-old passing up opportunities he could take for himself.Williams’ 18-point performance in Wednesday’s win over the Denver Nuggets highlighted the impact of when he plays unafraid. It was a product of a seasons-long growth to become the most confident version of himself, a journey that’s been driven first and foremost by his Bulls teammates.“It’s hard not to be (confident) when you’ve got teammates who are always on your ass to be honest about staying aggressive, shooting the ball,” Williams said. “If I pass up one, they’re on me.”DeMar DeRozan kept the praise private after t...

Silicon Valley Bank shutters amid nationwide modern-day bank run

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

It’s 1929 all over again as one of the nation’s largest banks, SVB Financial, shuts down.A local police officer exited the bank’s branch in Wellesley at around 11:35 a.m. today to announce to the throng of people desperate to access their savings that the FDIC had closed the bank and there would be no more money.But it wasn’t just in Massachusetts, it was nationwide as the FDIC announced Friday morning that it had closed all 17 Silicon Valley Bank locations in California and Massachusetts.“All insured depositors will have full access to their insured deposits no later than Monday morning, March 13, 2023. The FDIC will pay uninsured depositors an advance dividend within the next week,” the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the agency created to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system, announced.“Uninsured depositors will receive a receivership certificate for the remaining amount of their uninsured funds. As the FDI...

UK, France mend ties, leaders agree to tackle Channel boats

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

PARIS (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed Friday to strengthen the military ties between their countries and step up efforts to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel, at a summit that signaled a thaw in relations after years of Brexit-induced chill.Sunak traveled to Paris as part of efforts to mend relations with France and other European Union members following the tensions created by the U.K.’s departure from the EU. At a cordial joint news conference, Sunak said his meeting with Macron, the first French-British summit since 2018, marked “a new beginning, an entente renewed.”It was also a chance to signal to Sunak’s Conservative Party and British voters that the government is making progress on its promise to stop migrants reaching the U.K. in small boats.Britain agreed to pay France more than 500 million euros over the next three years for measures including a detention center for migrants in northern F...

Stocks fall on worries about banks, pain of higher rates

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling Friday as worries flare about the banking system and the painful effects of high interest rates meant to drive down inflation. The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in midday trading. It’s heading for its worst week since September even though a highly anticipated report on Friday showed pay raises for workers are slowing and other signals Wall Street wants to see of cooling pressure on inflation.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 159 points, or 0.5%, at 32,095, as of 12:10 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower. Some of the market’s sharpest drops were again coming from the financial industry, where stocks tanked for a second day. SVB Financial, which ran Silicon Valley Bank and served the industry surrounding startup companies, plunged more than 60% this week as it raised cash to relieve a crunch. Analysts have said it is in a relatively unique situation, but it’s still led to concerns a broader banking cri...

Another US hiring surge: 311,000 jobs despite Fed rate hikes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a substantial 311,000 jobs in February, fewer than January’s huge gain but enough to keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively to fight inflation.The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, from a 53-year low of 3.4%, as more Americans began searching for work but not all of them found jobs.Friday’s report from the government made clear that the nation’s job market remains fundamentally healthy, with many employers still eager to hire. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told Congress this week that the Fed would likely ratchet up its rate hikes if signs continued to point to a robust economy and persistently high inflation. A strong job market typically leads businesses to raise pay and then pass their higher labor costs on to customers through higher prices.February’s sizable job growth shows that so far, hiring is continuing to strengthen this year after having eased in late 2022. From October through December, the average m...

Lineker won’t present BBC soccer show after Twitter post

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:37:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former England captain Gary Lineker will not present a soccer highlights show on the BBC until an agreement is reached on his social media use, the network said on Friday.Lineker criticized the British government’s new asylum policy in a Twitter post, comparing lawmakers’ language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.The BBC considers Lineker posting such views on social media as a breach of its guidelines and has been in discussions with him over his involvement in the “Match of the Day” program that is broadcast on Saturday nights and shows highlights of English Premier League games that day.Lineker will not present “Match of the Day,” the BBC said, “until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.”Lineker has yet to make an official comment.Ian Wright, a former Arsenal and England player who works as a pundit on “Match of the Day,” said on Twitter he would not be appearing on the program this weekend out of “solidarity” with Lineker.Co...