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☆ ‘Problemista’ actor Laith Nakli plays an immigration lawyer. In real life he’s fighting his own case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Khalil, played by Laith Nakli, perks up and races to scribble on his notepad. And as he helps promote the film, he’s speaking out about a side of himself that few people have seen. Laith Nakli, actorThe crime could have led to his deportation. … That pressure is just completely unfair.”Actor Laith Nakli plays an earnest immigration lawyer in "Problemista." The cloud Nakli feels every day wasn’t literally depicted on-screen, but Nakli says he saw it clearly hovering over Alejandro’s every move.

Persons: CNN —, ”, tepidly, “, Julio Torres, Khalil, Torres ’ Alejandro, Alejandro, ” Alejandro, Laith Nakli, ” Khalil, Elizabeth Asencio, Tilda Swinton, Elizabeth, Jon, Torres, it’s, “ I’ve, I’ve, “ Problemista’s, Nakli, It’s, who’d, Mr, Nasim Awad, ” Nakli, he’d, Marvel, Obama, hasn’t, That’s, He’s, he’s, you’d, ” Torres, Critics, haven’t, Larry Owens, toymaker Alejandro's, Isabella Rosselini, Ramy Youssef, Nakli’s, Laith, ” Youssef, “ He’s, Uncle Naseem, Ramy Youseff, Craig Blankenhorn, who’s, Julie In, Hayley Wilson Organizations: CNN, Khalil Immigration, SNL, Customs, Craigslist, Justice, Globe, Service Locations: United States, Salvadoran, El Salvador, “, New York, Damascus, Syria, King Kong, Texas, —, Hulu, America, “ Problemista

☆ ‘Jawbreaker’ is turning 25, but the film’s costumes still represent iconic teen fashion
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-18 | by ( Scarlett Harris | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Horribly wrong, that is, in that it results in the death of the “Four’s” fourth member, Liz Purr, by the titular jawbreaker. From left: Julie Benz, Rose McGowan and Rebecca Gayheart, whose "Jawbreaker" characters turn the hallways of their high school into high-stakes runways. Columbia TriStar/Kobal/ShutterstockSartorial lines can also be drawn from “Jawbreaker” to “Gossip Girl,” “Euphoria” and “Do Revenge,” to name just a few. “The first time you see her as bad Vylette, she’s in full-on hot pink.”Why not purple like the flower she’s named after? “When Fern becomes Vylette she’s not a straight man’s fantasy… She’s essentially dressed like a drag queen!” Stein laughed.

Persons: CNN —, ”, Rebecca Gayheart’s, Julie, Queen Bee Courtney Shane, Rose McGowan, Marcie Fox, Julie Benz, Julie Freeman, Liz Purr, “, Vikki Barrett, Barrett, who’d, “ Romy, Courtney, Marcie, Rebecca Gayheart, Barrett thrifted, Jawbreaker ”, she’s, Darren Stein, ” Barrett, Courtney revamps, Fern Mayo, Judy Greer, “ She’s, Stein, —, Rose McGowan's Courtney, Judy Greer's Fern, Everett, Angelyne, Sandy Olsson, Fern, ” Stein, it’s Organizations: CNN, Queen, Michele’s, Columbia TriStar, TriStar Locations: Los Angeles

☆ Julie and Jake flirted their way through Netflix's 'The Trust,' but did they actually date after filming? Here's what we know about their relationship today
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Palmer Haasch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Julie Theis and Jake Chocholous started to build a romantic rapport in the first several episodes of "The Trust." And in turn, it started to affect the game: In episode three, Julie chooses to vote to eliminate Simone, fearing that Jay is going to vote Jake out. Eventually, Julie chooses to disclose some of that information to Jake, leading the other women to begin to distrust her. Jake and Julie are playing coy about their relationship on InstagramBoth Jake and Julie still follow each other on Instagram ahead of the finale, but they're being coy about the status of their relationship. @jakechocholous/InstagramAnother follower explicitly asked him whether or not he had a relationship with Julie.

Persons: —, Julie Theis, Jake Chocholous, Jake, Julie, Simone, Jay, she's, Jake hasn't, coy, Jake nodded Organizations: Service, Business, coy, Netflix, Cosmopolitan

☆ I made a multigenerational group of friends — from Gen Zers to Boomers — doing ski patrol
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Melissa Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I ended up joining Backcountry Ski Patrol and making an intergenerational group of friends. Two years ago, when the dank Willamette Valley winters threatened to bury me in seasonal affective disorder, I begged Julie to teach me to cross-country ski. In the mountains near my house, I discovered not only bluebird skies above snowy slopes, but a group of multigenerational friends who inspired me to join Backcountry Ski Patrol. The members of our patrol in the Willamette National Forest span four generations, from Gen Zers to Boomers. Some of us cross-country ski.

Persons: Zers, —, Julie, she's, Gen Zers, who'd, who've, Julie Polhemus, I've Organizations: Ski, Boomers, Service, Volunteers, First Locations: Los Angeles, Oregon, Willamette

Overall, China's 2023 imports are likely to reach around 12 million tons, two Singapore-based traders said, topping 2022's record 9.96 million tons, and the avid buying is expected to continue into 2024. read moreBeijing has not provided a crop quality assessment. MORE TO COMEChina's January-September wheat imports jumped 53.6% to 10.17 million metric tons, customs data showed, including 6.4 million tons from Australia and 1.8 million tons from Canada. Chinese wheat purchases have stabilised global wheat prices, one of the Singapore traders said. Given lower output in Australia, traders and analysts said China is likely to import significantly higher volumes of French wheat in the coming months.

Persons: China's, Muyuan, Stefan Meyer, Ma Wenfeng, Price, Rosa Wang, Jeffrey McPike, Naveen Thukral, Dominique Patton, Peter Hobson, Gus Trompiz, Julie Ingwersen, Tony Munroe, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Traders, Russia, Reuters, El, Beijing Orient, Shanghai JC Intelligence Co, U.S, WASDEA Commodities, Thomson Locations: China, SINGAPORE, BEIJING, Chicago, Singapore, Australia, Beijing, Sydney, StoneX, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, North America, U.S, Canberra, Paris

☆ Australia issues $386,000 fine against X over failure to cooperate with child sex abuse probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Diksha Madhok | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Australia issued a fine of $610,500 Australian dollars ($386,000) on Monday against the company formerly known as Twitter for “falling short” in disclosing information on how it tackles child sex abuse content, in yet another setback for the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. Just days earlier, the European Commission formally opened an investigation into X after issuing a previous warning about disinformation and illegal content on its platform linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Australia’s e-Safety Commission, the online safety regulator, said in a statement Monday that X had failed to adequately respond to a number of questions about the way it was dealing with the problem of child abuse materials. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment by CNN. The American tech giant has been given a formal warning to deter it from future non-compliance, it added.

Persons: X, ”, Julie Inman Grant, Inman Grant, —, “, ” Inman Grant, Lucinda Longcroft, … Organizations: CNN, Twitter, Elon Musk, European Commission, Safety Commission, Google, YouTube, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Skype Locations: Australia, Israel, New Zealand

☆ Australia fines Musk's X platform $386,000 over anti-child abuse gaps
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The logo of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is seen alongside the former logo in this illustration taken, July 24, 2023. X closed its Australian office after Musk's buyout, so there was no local representative to respond to Reuters. But the Australian regulator said that when it asked X how it prevented child grooming on the platform, X responded that it was "not a service used by large numbers of young people". X told the regulator available anti-grooming technology was "not of sufficient capability or accuracy to be deployed on Twitter". X told the regulator its proactive detection of child abuse material in public posts dropped after Musk took the company private.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, you've, Julie Inman Grant, Inman Grant, X, Grant, Musk, Lucinda Longcroft, X's noncompliance, Byron Kaye, Kim Coghill, William Mallard Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Elon, Safety, X, Twitter, Reuters, San, Google, Thomson Locations: Australian, EU, Israel, San Francisco, Australia, livestreams

☆ Australia fines X, formerly Twitter, for not answering questions on child abuse content
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-15 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Australia's eSafety commissioner on Sunday fined X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, 610,500 Australian dollars, over $380,000 U.S., for failing to properly disclose information about how it polices child abuse content. The legislation requires online service providers to report how they crack down on child abuse content on their platforms. The notices had specific questions for the companies to answer about how they handle child exploitation content. According to the eSafety commissioner, X did not answer many of the questions and left "some sections entirely blank." It said it found "serious shortfalls" in how child abuse content is policed on the five platforms it filed legal notices to.

Persons: Elon Musk, Australia's, Julie Inman Grant, X Organizations: Elon, Google, NBC News, CNBC, Trust Locations: Australia

☆ Australia to require AI-made child abuse material be removed from search results
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Australia will make search engines like Google and Bing take steps to prevent the sharing of child sexual abuse material created by artificial intelligence, the country's internet regulator said on Friday. A new code drafted by the industry giants at the government's request will require search engines to ensure that such content is not returned in search results, e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. It will also require that AI functions built into search engines cannot produce synthetic versions of the same material, she said. "The use of generative AI has grown so quickly that I think it's caught the whole world off guard to a certain degree," Inman Grant said. We asked the industry to have another go," Inman Grant added.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Bing, Julie Inman Grant, it's, Inman Grant, Byron Kaye, Stephen Coates Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Google, Microsoft, Digital Industry Group Inc, Thomson Locations: Australia

Retail pasta prices rose about 12% this year in Europe and 8% in the United States, according to market research firm Nielsen. CANADA DRYWhen the Prairies turned dry this summer, Canadian farmer Darold Niwa saw hopes of a bumper durum harvest dashed. Durum, the hardest wheat, produces pasta with the prized "al dente" firm texture, unlike soft wheat. In the meantime, Vincenzo Martinelli, president of the durum section of Italian millers association Italmopa, nervously awaits the outcome of the Canadian harvest. "Without Canada, prices will only go up," he said.

Persons: De, Continental Noodles, Vincent Liberatore, Liberatore, Darold Niwa, Jerry Klassen, Philip Werle, There's, Severine, Maisons, Vincenzo Martinelli, Gus Trompiz, Rod Nickel, Emilio Parodi, Ceyda, Julie Ingwersen, Michael Hogan, Caroline Stauffer, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Foods, Nielsen, Grains, CANADA, Prairies, Statistics, Traders, Northstar, European Union, Thomson Locations: Fara San Martino, Italy, PARIS, WINNIPEG , Manitoba, Canada, Turkey, Toronto, Continental, Spain, India, Europe, United States, Oyen , Alberta, durum, Statistics Canada, France, Algeria, TURKEY, Turkish, American, Russia, North Africa, Milan, Ceyda Caglayan, Istanbul, Chicago, Hamburg

☆ Australia is threatening to fine Elon Musk's Twitter up to $475,000, saying that a third of all online hate complaints in the country come via the platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Australia's safety watchdog said Twitter is the most complained about platform in the country for online hate. There are currently an estimated 1,000 employees left at Twitter, Insider reported in May. "A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter. "eSafety research shows that nearly 1 in 5 Australians have experienced some form of online hate. One research group even found that the use of the N-word jumped by 500% on Twitter after Musk's takeover, Insider reported in October.

Persons: Elon Musk, eSafety, Musk, Vijaya Gadde, Yoel Roth, Ella Irwin, Julie Inman Grant, Twitter, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: Twitter, Morning, Elon Musk's, First Nations Australian Locations: Australia

☆ Australia says Twitter is top platform for online hate, demands explanation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, June 22 (Reuters) - An Australian cyber regulator on Thursday said it has demanded Twitter explain its handling of online hate as the microblog has become the country's most complained-about platform since new owner Elon Musk lifted bans on a reported 62,000 accounts. Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said she has sent a legal notice to Twitter demanding an explanation after one-third of all complaints she received about online hate concerned Twitter, even though the platform has far fewer users than TikTok or Meta's (META.O) Facebook and Instagram. Twitter must respond to the eSafety Commissioner within 28 days or face a fine of nearly A$700,000 ($473,480) per day. Prominent indigenous television host Stan Grant had cited targeted abuse on Twitter when he announced a break from the media last month, the commissioner noted. Inman Grant said her letter called for Twitter to explain its impact assessments when reinstating banned accounts, how it engaged with communities who were subject to online hate, and how it was enforcing its own policies which ban hateful conduct.

Persons: Elon Musk, Julie Inman Grant, Inman Grant, Stan Grant, Byron Kaye, Christopher Cushing Organizations: SYDNEY, Twitter, Facebook, Reuters, Indigenous Television, Thomson Locations: Australian, Australia

☆ Kansas farmers abandon wheat fields after extreme drought
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Romulo Lollato, a wheat agronomist for Kansas State University, examines wheat in a field, as part of an annual crop tour, near Clay Center, Kansas, U.S., May 16, 2023. REUTERS/Tom PolansekWICHITA, Kansas, May 22 (Reuters) - Farmers in Kansas, the biggest U.S. producer of wheat used to make bread, are abandoning their crops after a severe drought and damaging cold ravaged farms. Kansas farmers are expected to abandon about 19% of the acres planted last autumn, up from 10% last year and 4% in 2021, according to the report. Soaring prices for hay also pressure wheat farmers not to harvest their fields for grain so they can be fed to cattle, Gilpin said. Kansas farmers are expected to produce just 191.4 million bushels of wheat this year, the smallest since 1963, according to the latest monthly government forecast.

☆ Explainer: Biotech corn and soy widely used, consumers still wary of GM wheat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Julie Ingwersen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But genetically modified wheat has never been grown for commercial purposes due to consumer fears that allergens or toxicities could emerge in a staple used worldwide for bread, pasta and pastries. Australia grows and exports GM cotton and canola, and the country in May approved Bioceres’ biotech wheat for use in foods. Mexico, among the largest buyers of U.S. corn, has said it will halt GM corn imports for human consumption, but walked back a deadline to ban the corn for animal feed. Recent disruptions to global wheat supplies have brought a new degree of urgency to the debate over biotech wheat. Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers, support “the eventual commercialization” of biotech wheat, according to their websites, provided that plans are implemented to minimize market disruptions.

☆ Australia tells Twitter, Google to give information on handling online child abuse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationSYDNEY, Feb 23 (Reuters) - An Australian regulator has sent legal letters to Twitter and Google telling them to hand over information about their efforts to stop online child abuse, drawing them into a crackdown that has already put pressure on other global tech firms. She said it was in Twitter's interests to show that it was acting effectively to eradicate child sexual abuse material, otherwise advertisers could turn away from the company. Apart from writing to Twitter, the commissioner also sent letters to Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google, owner of YouTube and the file storage unit Google Drive, and China's TikTok. Last year, the commissioner sent similar notices to Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O). read moreInman Grant said a 2020 joint investigation with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection found widespread publicly-available abuse material on Twitter, which those authorities reported to Twitter's head of trust and safety.

The country buys about 17 million tonnes of mostly GM yellow corn from the United States each year, mostly for animal feed. Mexico will still prohibit use of GM corn for human consumption, such as flour, dough, or tortilla made from the grain. About 20% of Mexican corn imports from the United States is white corn for food products. It will still move forward with its plan to ban imports of the herbicide glyphosate, with a transition period in effect until March 31, 2024. The United States had given the Mexican government until Tuesday to explain the science behind its proposed bans.

☆ Drought threatens U.S. wheat production despite acreage bump
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Julie Ingwersen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Mark Nelson, a scout on the Wheat Quality Council's Kansas wheat tour, checks a winter wheat field north of Minneapolis, Kansas, U.S., May 17, 2022. 3 winter wheat producer last year. Winter wheat typically represents about two-thirds of U.S. production, with the remainder planted in the spring, and the U.S. has lost market share to other wheat exporters, including Russia, in recent years. U.S. soft red wheat acres rose by 20% year-on-year and planting jumped by 45% in Illinois, the No. 8 U.S. winter wheat state by acreage.

Though a tiny fraction of the nation's plantings, the previously unreported total represents the company's biggest ever release of hybrid wheat. NEARLY 100 YEARSFarmers have used hybrid seeds since the 1930s to grow corn, followed by other crops ranging from peanuts to tomatoes. Producing hybrid wheat seeds is still more complicated and expensive than conventional wheat. Hybrid wheat can produce more uniform results across fields than conventional wheat, and may deliver better yields on poor soil, Hankey said. Syngenta projected in 2015 that its annual sales of hybrid wheat seeds could potentially reach $3 billion by 2032.

☆ Australia takes aim at Apple, Microsoft over child protection online
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The disclosure confirms gaps in the child protection measures of some of the world's biggest tech firms, building public pressure on them to do more, according to the commissioner. Meta Platforms Inc, (META.O) which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Snapchat owner Snap Inc (SNAP.N) also got demands for information. The responses overall were "alarming" and raised concerns of "clearly inadequate and inconsistent use of widely available technology to detect child abuse material and grooming", commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. Microsoft and Apple "do not even attempt to proactively detect previously confirmed child abuse material" on their storage services, although a Microsoft-developed detection product is used by law enforcement agencies. An Apple announcement a week ago that it would stop scanning iCloud accounts for child abuse, following pressure from privacy advocates, was "a major step backwards from their responsibilities to help keep children safe" Inman Grant said.

☆ Wheat up 6% after Russia quits Black Sea pact; corn, soy firm
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Julie Ingwersen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CHICAGO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat futures jumped 6%, hitting a two-week high, and corn rose 1.6% on Monday as Russia's withdrawal from a Black Sea export agreement raised concerns over global supplies. Chicago Board of Trade December wheat settled up 53 cents at $8.82-1/4 per bushel after reaching $8.93-1/4, the contract's highest since Oct. 14. CBOT December corn ended up 10-3/4 cents at $6.91-1/2 a bushel and January soybeans finished up 19-1/4 cents at $14.19-1/2 a bushel. Reuters GraphicsReuters Graphics"The grain and oilseed markets rose sharply overnight, led by wheat, as food shortage fears rise again after Russia pulls out of the Black Sea trade agreement," StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman said in a client note. Moscow suspended its participation in the Black Sea deal on Saturday in response to what it called a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Russia-annexed Crimea.

☆ U.S. winter wheat farmers plant into dust as Plains drought persists
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Julie Ingwersen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

CHICAGO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - With planting roughly halfway complete, the 2023 U.S. hard red winter wheat crop is already being hobbled by drought in the heart of the southern Plains, wheat experts said. The drought threatens Kansas, the top winter wheat growing state, and Oklahoma in two ways: discouraging farmers who have not yet planted from trying, while threatening crops already in the ground from developing properly. About two-thirds of wheat in the United States, among the top five global exporters, is grown as a winter crop rather than spring. As a result, Justin Gilpin, chief executive of the Kansas Wheat Commission, expected the number of Kansas wheat acres planted for harvest in 2023 to remain steady with the 7.3 million acres seeded for 2022. A key driver of the drought is the La Nina weather phenomenon, which tends to favor warm and dry conditions in the Plains.

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