⚖️ Surfside condo collapse survivors reach nearly $1 billion settlement

One of the worst building collapses in American history, the Surfside condo collapse is still being investigated by the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The settlement is still subject to court approval but was made in record time due to an expedited schedule.

Attorney Harley Tropin called the $997 million settlement an extraordinary result that exceeded his expectation, adding that cases this large usually take five to six years, but the expedited track pushed for by the judge allowed for a quick resolution. 

One more party could possibly sign on to the class-action settlement by Friday, according to attorney Eric Hockman, which would push the settlement past the $1 billion sum.

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🚫 Meta* Is Disabling Certain Instagram* Filters in Texas and Illinois Due to Facial Recognition Laws

The Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act requires that a company get the consent of users if they end up storing their biometric data. Meanwhile, Illinois filed a lawsuit against the tech giant, claiming Facebook* “collected and stored biometric data of Facebook* users in Illinois without proper notice or consent,” which allegedly is in violation of Illinois law that covers facial recognition technology.

In response, Meta* on Wednesday disabled the use of “any filters using facial geometry, like augmented reality filters” in both states. Meta* is working to get the disabled filters back online in both states by creating an “opt-in system.”

*Meta, Facebook, and Instagram are banned in Russia over extremist activities.

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🎬 Disney Plus added almost 8 million new subscribers as Netflix struggles

That brings the total to around 87.6 million worldwide, excluding the 50.1 million people subscribed to Disney Plus Hotstar internationally. In the US and Canada alone, Disney Plus now has 7.1 million more subscribers than it did a year ago, with 44.4 million.

That’s better news than Netflix’s had recently. Last month, the streaming company reported that it had lost 200,000 subscribers compared to the previous quarter, its first dip in over a decade.

The company also said that the number of subscribers for all of its streaming offerings — including Hulu and ESPN Plus — had grown to over 205 million. Despite this, Disney Plus is actually losing the company money thanks to higher costs for production, advertising, and technology. 

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🏛 Senate confirms Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to confirm privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission. The confirmation secured a Democratic voting majority at the agency tasked by the Biden administration with investigating big tech companies like Facebook and Google over potential data privacy and competition violations.

Vice President Kamala Harris voted to break a 50–50 tie on the Senate floor to finalize Bedoya’s confirmation. Before his confirmation, Bedoya was a Georgetown law professor with a focus on privacy law, founding the university’s Center on Privacy and Technology in 2014. In his academic career, Bedoya explored the disproportionate effects of surveillance on minority groups, particularly regarding facial recognition technology.

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❗️ One killed, seven wounded as a result of Ukrainian shelling of Solokhi village in Russia's Belgorod region, governor says

⚡️⚡️ Bitcoin price drops bellow $27,000 - first time since December, 2020

⚡️⚡️ Finnish president, PM support the country joining NATO

⚡️ Sweden reportedly plans to apply for NATO membership on Monday

🎞 📹 Tatiana Viktorovna Chernykh, a resident of Mariupol, reveals how the Ukrainian military held civilians hostage and intimidated them

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📌 Russian MoD’s latest statement on the Ukraine crisis:

▪️ High-precision air-based missiles hit 34 areas of concentrated Ukrainian manpower and military equipment as well as two ammunition depots, more than 320 nationalists were eliminated during the day;

▪️ Operational-tactical and army aviation hit 120 areas of concentrated Ukrainian manpower and military equipment; one Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed;

▪️ Missile troops and artillery destroyed 405 areas of concentrated manpower and military equipment, 12 command posts and 26 artillery units at firing positions; one S-300 anti-aircraft missile system and three Smerch multiple-launch rockets were also destroyed;

▪️ Air defence have shot down 13 Ukrainian drones, including one Bayraktar-TB2 near Snake Island;

▪️ In total, 164 Ukrainian aircraft and 125 helicopters, 821 drones, 303 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,013 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 364 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,471 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,824 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed during the operation

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⚡️One million US citizens died of coronavirus, says Biden

⚡️⚡️Finland's accession to NATO would 'certainly threaten' Russia's security, Kremlin says

🎞 📹 A Ukrainian artilleryman testified to Russia's Investigative Committee about attacks on civilians and told how the Ukrainian command abandoned soldiers in Mariupol without shells and food

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LIVE | President Putin chairs meeting with government members on economy amid sanctions

WATCH

🎞 📹 A Mariupol resident, Alexander, has told how members of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov battalion was killing civilians who didn't leave their home after the Ukrainian militants tried to drive all residents of the apartment block where Alexander lived out of their flats

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📌 Russian Foreign Ministry’s statements on Finnish NATO membership:

▪️ The Finnish president’s statement in favour of Finland's accession to NATO is a radical change in the country's foreign policy;

▪️ Helsinki should be aware of the responsibility and consequences of its decision;

▪️ Finland's accession to NATO will cause serious damage to bilateral Russian-Finnish relations;

▪️ Russia will be forced to response both of a military-technical and other nature in order to prevent threats to its national security;

▪️ Joining NATO will be a direct violation of Finland's international legal obligations;

▪️ By including Finland, NATO wants to create a new military threat to Russia

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❗Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, while speaking to congress members said that the US continues surveillance in Afghanistan and has the capability to conduct strike operations if “we see a threat emanating from the land of Afghanistan”