📲Florida asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Constitution permits social media companies to limit political speech on their platforms. The state requested a petition filed Sept. 21 that asks the high court to resolve conflicting rulings by two different federal appeals courts, Reuters reports.

At issue is the constitutionality of Florida and Texas laws that would bar Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies from moderating posts or banning political candidates from using their platforms.

Republicans have criticized the companies for banning former President Donald Trump after he praised his supporters for attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Although the Florida and Texas laws are similar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit struck down much of Florida’s direction while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld Texas’ law.

*Facebook is a company banned in Russia
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Eight African leaders will be speaking at the 77th UN General Assembly on Monday - the final day of High-Level Week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who spent almost a week in New York holding bilateral talks, which included meetings with African diplomats, said on Saturday that prospects of Moscow's cooperation with Africa are good. And it looks like some African politicians have similar views. @BolotskySputnik

🚓The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is hiring up to 75 civilians to respond to certain calls and take some other work off officers' hands during what is being called an ongoing staffing crisis.

NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson announced the initiative during a Thursday press conference. Some civilians hired by the department will be trained to take over detective work, and others will respond to calls that don't require a police presence, Ferguson said.

Civilian employees at the NOPD will also handle incoming online messages and phone reports. Others will aid in collecting evidence and, in some cases, work alongside investigators. Administrative tasks are reportedly also a part of some civilian positions' responsibilities within the department.

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🛰NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft hit a tiny asteroid as part of a historic planetary defense test mission.

🇧🇷🗳Brazil presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slightly widened his lead over President Jair Bolsonaro less than a week before the South American country's election, a poll by IPEC released Monday showed.

In a first-round vote scheduled for Oct. 2, Lula reached 48% of voters' support against 31% for Bolsonaro, compared with 47% and 31%, respectively, in the same poll a week ago, the survey showed.

According to the poll, Lula could win the race in the first round since he holds 52% of voters' intentions, excluding abstentions and null votes. In a potential second-round runoff, Lula's lead remained at 19 percentage points, the same as last week, indicating he would get elected with 54% of the votes versus Bolsonaro's 35%.

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🇨🇺Cubans have overwhelmingly approved a sweeping “family law” that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt, the electoral commission said, in a move that will also redefine rights for children and grandparents.

More than 3.9 million voters – 66.9 percent – voted to ratify the new code while 1.95 million or 33 percent were opposed, National Electoral Council President Alina Balseiro Gutierrez said on state-run television on Monday.

The 100-page “family code” legalizes same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows same-sex couples to adopt children, and promotes equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women. Preliminary results from the electoral commission showed that 74 percent of 8.4 million Cubans eligible to vote participated in the Sunday referendum.

“Love is now the law,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on Twitter on Monday morning.

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💻Police in London have confirmed that a 17-year-old teenager suspected of involvement in high-profile breaches at ride-hailing giant Uber and Rockstar Games, has been charged with multiple counts of computer misuse and bail violations.

“The City of London Police arrested a 17-year-old in Oxfordshire [on September 22] on suspicion of hacking, as part of an investigation supported by the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU),” said Detective Inspector Michael O’Sullivan from the City of London Police’s Cyber Crime Unit. “He has been charged in connection with this investigation and remains in police custody.”

Uber said last week that it believes a hacker affiliated with the Lapsus$ hacking group was responsible for its recent cyberattack, which forced the company to take several of its internal tools offline.

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📹 “It’s barbarism. It’s fascism”: A resident of Stakhanov in the LPR on Ukrainian shelling.

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📌LIVE UPDATES: Referendums in Donbass Republics, Zaporozhye & Kherson Regions enter final day

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📹 The state funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is taking place in Tokyo at the moment.

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✊ 🇯🇵 Social media users are posting a video showing hundreds of people taking to the streets of Japan today to protest the state funeral of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

▪️ He was killed on July 8 while speaking at a rally.

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📹 A resident of Mariupol speaks about the new apartment she received with Russian assistance.

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❗️ Russia will use nuclear weapons if it or its allies are attacked using such weapons or if there is a threat to the existence of Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Medvedev says

📹 The referenda in the Donbass republics as well as Ukraine's Zaporozhye and Kherson regions on accession to Russia enter their final day.

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📹 LPR head Pasechnik has voted in the referendum on joining Russia. "We have been waiting for this day for 8 long years," he said during the voting.

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⚡️ January will be most difficult month for EU, unknown whether UGS reserves will cope with consumption amid drop in Russian supplies - Gazprom Export

📹 Russia's MoD has published a video showing Mi-28N attack helicopters in combat.

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⚡️ WTO chief reportedly warns world edging into 'global recession'

📹 RT has published footage showing how residents of Lugansk hung Russian flags on their balconies.

▪️Today the referendums in the Donbass republics, Zaporozhye region and Kherson region on accession to Russia enter their final day.

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❗️The Nord Stream situation affects the energy security of the whole continent, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says

Catch our Fault Lines show where we’ll discuss the latest influx of fake news!
🔺Who wants to destabilize Iran and why?
🔺Where did false China coup rumors come from?
🔺The Pentagon uses Twitter for disinformation - didn't see that coming!

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