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Teams of employees at Twitter who were responsible for monitoring the upcoming midterm elections on the platform have been decimated as part of mass layoffs implemented today by new owner Elon Musk. Those that remain say they do not have access to critical tools used for certain content moderation decisions, sources in a position to know told Forbes. As part of his takeover of Twitter, Musk dramatically slashed the company’s workforce on Friday, just days before the 2022 midterm elections. Employees were told Thursday night that they would receive notice the next morning stating whether they were still employed. Multiple...

2 minutes for hilarious punchline

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and his fellow agents were not under orders to refrain from using lethal force in the gunbattle that led to Agent Terry’s death in December. Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Miss Napolitano said agents are allowed to use lethal force “if you are under threat of serious injury or death.” She said she herself has asked if the agents involved in the December shootout with bandits on the border in Arizona had their hands tied by orders, and she said the answer is “absolutely not.

Badass ole Stevie, I miss him...

Recent electoral successes, including Scott Brown’s landmark victory in Massachusetts, have positioned Republicans once again for a role in governing, and far sooner than they might have supposed. But are they ready to govern? It all depends, for the problem with many Republicans (and I am a Republican) is that they, along with liberals, subscribe at a visceral level to The Narrative. What is The Narrative? The Narrative is the official story about America. It is a story composed by the political left, which entered American public life with the progressive movement in the early 20th century and was elaborated...

EXHAUSTED doctors have confessed to killing and harming patients, falling asleep during surgery and crashing their cars because of marathon shifts. The public hospital medicos claim to be so tired on the job that they are working "like drunks". More than 100 doctors vented guilt and anger in a confidential Queensland survey. Almost 60 per cent admitted to fatigue-induced errors while performing procedures.

We're on the way to defeating Taliban By Patrick Bishop (Filed: 12/09/2006) Whatever doubts are being entertained at home about the war in Afghanistan, the Briton driving the Nato-led campaign is adamant that the good guys are winning. "The governor of Kandahar came up to me the other day with a huge grin on his face and hugged me," said Lt Gen David Richards, commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is helping the Afghan government to establish its authority. "He said there is no longer any doubt down in the south that Nato can fight and win....

Bush: We're facing fight for civilisation By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 12/09/2006)US President Bush and first lady Laura Bush place a wreath to mark the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Pentagon President George W Bush last night linked the nuclear showdown with Iran to the fight against terrorism as he called on Americans to unite to spare their children a terrible future. In a speech from the Oval Office marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he told Americans they faced not a "clash of civilisations" but "a struggle for civilisation". "If we do not...

Contact: Hannah Johnson hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk 44-117-928-8896 University of Bristol How modern were European Neanderthals? Neandertals were much more like modern humans than had been previously thought, according to a re-examination of finds from one of the most famous palaeolithic sites in Europe by Bristol University archaeologist, Professor Joao Zilhao, and his French colleagues. Professor Zilhao has been able to show that sophisticated artefacts such as decorated bone points and personal ornaments found in the Châtelperronian culture of France and Spain were genuinely associated with Neandertals around 44,000 years ago, rather than acquired from modern humans who might have been living nearby....

ARAB JABUR, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 3, 2006) – In an effort to provide safety for local residents, reduce the number of IEDs and deny safe havens and supply routes for terrorists, Soldiers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s Troop B, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, worked alongside Iraqi soldiers from 5th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division to conduct dismounted cordon and knock missions in support of Operation River Falcon. “This is the first time we’ve had a lot of troopers out here (Arab Jabur) in force,” said 1st Lt. Patrick Rice, scout platoon leader,...

We're not stopping now, say defiant Israelis By Isambard Wilkinson in Jerusalem and Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 24/07/2006) Israel brushed aside mounting calls yesterday for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Its army made clear that it planned to keep up its assault for at least a week and had not ruled out a ground invasion. Buoyed by support from Washington for rooting out Hizbollah rockets from southern Lebanon, the army treated parts of the border area as a free-fire zone. It hit at least two cars with rockets as they sought the relative safety of the city of Tyre. Israeli...

Bog bodies found were society's elite 19:45pm 20th June 2006 Research into Iron Age bog bodies discovered in the midlands of Ireland has revealed they were elite members of society who may have met violent deaths as part of kingship rituals. As the bodies discovered in 2003 went on display at the National Museum of Ireland, Eamonn Kelly, the keeper of Irish antiquities, said they were placed along significant boundaries of ancient kingdoms linking them to sovereignty and kingship rituals during the Iron Age. "The bodies fit in, in that they are also offerings, they are offerings to the territorial...

Basques were fishermen more than 8,000 years ago 06/13/2006 The Basques that settled 8,300 years ago in the Jaizkibel Mountain near the Basque coast were skillful enough to go fishing two kilometres out to sea. The human beings that lived in the Basque Country in the Mesolithic, more than 8,000 years ago, set sail out to sea fishing, something which meant 50 percent of their diet, Aranzadi society of sciences reported Tuesday after examining archaeological remains found in Gipuzkoa. They did not hunt whales, as their descendants many years after, neither tuna nor anchovy as the current Basque fishermen but...

Muggings were rife in New Stone Age 11 May 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition. Emma Young IF YOU are worried about being attacked or killed by a violent criminal, just be glad you are not living in Neolithic Britain. From 4000 to 3200 BC, Britons had a 1 in 14 chance of being bashed on the head, and a 1 in 50 chance of dying from their injuries. Grisly figures from the first systematic survey of early Neolithic British skulls reveal that life then was no rural idyll. "It's certainly more violent than we'd considered," says Rick Schulting of...

Rumsfeld: We're trying to figure out what to do if Iraq falls into civil war By James Langton in Washington (Filed: 19/03/2006) America has begun making plans to deal with a civil war in Iraq, three years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. As sectarian violence continues to claim lives every day, Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, has disclosed that United States military intelligence is holding war games to predict what might happen in such a situation. Donald Rumsfeld: War games Mr Rumsfeld's admission that "the intelligence community are thinking about this and analysing it" comes despite the...

The ruins of the synagogue at Umm al-Umdan. (Alex Levac) The Hasmoneans were here - maybe By Ran Shapira In late 1995, not far from the city of Modi'in, whose construction had begun a short time earlier, several excavated burial caves were found. The find aroused tremendous excitement initially, mainly because on one of the ossuaries an engraved inscription was interpreted to read "Hasmonean." Had they found a burial plot belonging to the family of the Hasmoneans? When the discovery was announced, the archaeologist digging there, Shimon Riklin, explained that this was not the grave built by Simon the son...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — About 2,000 sailors, veterans, community leaders and guests bowed their heads Wednesday in remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor that hurled the U.S. into World War II 64 years ago. Four F-15s flown by the Hawaii Air National Guard roared above the bay, including one jet that veered off from the group to symbolize the 2,390 people killed.

Oakland grocers set to fight vandals Police say they will have more details this week in the attacks on two liquor stores By William Brand, STAFF WRITER NATION OF ISLAM minister Tony Muhammad, standing in front of Muhammad Mosque 26 in Oakland on Saturday, says the Nation had no part in the destruction inside two West Oakland liquor stores Wednesday night. (GREG TARCZYNSKI) OAKLAND — The president of the Yemini American Grocery Association said Saturday that grocers have the right to defend themselves if their stores are invaded like two West Oakland markets were hit Wednesday night. The association, which...

(IsraelNN.com) A secondary school teacher in Saudi Arabia was charged with "dubious ideology, mocking religion, saying the Jews were right, discussing the Gospel and preventing students from leaving class to wash for prayer," according to the Saudi newspaper Al-Madina. The teacher, Mohammed Al-Harbi, was sentenced to 40 months in jail and 750 lashes for his "crimes". He was denounced by colleagues and students at his school. The Saudi authorities and Arab newspapers are presenting it as a case of the teacher "mocking religion" and receiving the appropriate penalty.