Marjorie Taylor Greene's Personal Twitter Account Permanently Suspended

The personal twitter account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been permanently suspended for violating the social media site's COVID-19 misinformation policy, the company said Sunday.

WIN MCNAMEE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's personal Twitter account has been permanently banned after repeatedly violating the social media site's COVID19 disinformation policy, the company said on Sunday. 

The far-right Georgia Republican got the boot following what was her fifth suspension from the social media platform, resulting in her permanent deletion according to Twitter's COVID-19  guidelines.

"We have made it clear that as part of our strike system for this policy, we will permanently block accounts for repeated violations of the policy," a Twitter spokesman told HuffPost.Georgia’s 14th Congressional District remained active through Sunday. Greene replied on Twitter on Sunday calling him "an enemy of the United States".

Okay, I'm going to show America that we don't need them and that it is time to defeat our enemies. They cannot successfully complete a communist revolution when people tell the truth, She said in a statement. 

Greene's personal Twitter account was  last suspended for a week in August when she tweeted that COVID-19 vaccines are “failing” and that “the FDA shouldn't approve Covid vaccines.

Greene  posted on social media on Saturday a list of reasons America "is no longer free" due to the coronavirus pandemic. A spokesperson for Greene  told HuffPost that was the job she was penalized for. His list included, among other lies, that "unvaccinated healthy people are an underclass" and that wearing this mask makes children sick and "ruins their natural learning." Vaccination mandates are multiplying. This post remained visible on his Facebook account until Sunday morning.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3HyGSCx

Read More

EU drafts plan to label gas and nuclear investments as green

Image Credit: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

After years of fighting between governments for truly climate-friendly investments, the European Union has drawn up plans to label some natural gas and nuclear power projects as "green" investments. 

The European Commission is expected to propose rules in January to decide whether nuclear and gas  projects are included in the EU's “sustainable finance taxonomy”. 

This is a list of the economic activities and  environmental criteria that must be met in order to be labeled as a green investment.

By restricting the “green” label to really climate-friendly projects, the system aims to make these investments more attractive for private equity and to  stop “greenwashing”, in which companies or investors exaggerate their eco-friendly credentials. 

Brussels has also taken steps to apply the system to some EU funds, which means the rules could decide which projects are eligible for specific public funding. 

A draft of the Commission's proposal, seen by Reuters, would label investments in nuclear power plants as green if the project has a plan, resources and location to  dispose of radioactive waste. 

In order to be considered green, new nuclear power plants must obtain a building permit before 2045.

Investments in natural gas power plants are also considered green if they emit less than 270 g of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour (kWh), replace a more environmentally harmful power plant with fossil fuels, receive a building permit by December 31, 2030 and it is planned to switch to low-carbon gases by the end of 2035. 

Gas and nuclear  generation would be labeled green as they are "transitional activities" defined as those that are not fully sustainable but  have emissions below the industry average and do not contain environmentally harmful assets. .

"Taking into account current scientific advice and  technological progress, as well as the different transition challenges between Member States, the Commission believes that natural gas and nuclear energy play a role in facilitating the transition to a predominantly renewable future,"  the European Commission said in a statement.

To help states with different energy backgrounds make the transition, "under certain conditions, solutions that don't look 'green' at first glance can make sense," a commission source told Reuters, adding that the solutions are investments in gas and nuclear power would be subject to "strict regulations". 

EU countries and a panel of experts will analyze the draft proposal, which could change, before it is  published at the end of January. 

Once published, most EU countries or the European Parliament could vetoed it .

The policy has been mired in lobbying from governments for more than a year and EU countries disagree on which fuels are truly sustainable.

 Natural gas emits around half of coal's CO2 emissions  when burned in power plants, but gas infrastructure has also been linked to methane leaks, a potent EU adviser had recommended that gas-fired power plants shouldn't be labeled as green investments unless they hit a lower emission limit of 100g CO2e / kWh based on  deep  cuts in deep emissions scientists say are needed to avoid disastrous climate change.

Nuclear power produces very low CO2 emissions but the Commission sought expert advice this year on whether the fuel should be deemed green given the potential environmental impact of radioactive waste disposal.

Some environmental campaigners and Green EU lawmakers criticised the leaked proposal on gas and nuclear.

“By including them… the Commission risks jeopardising the credibility of the EU’s role as a leading marketplace for sustainable finance,” Greens president Philippe Lamberts said.

Austria opposes nuclear power, alongside countries including Germany and Luxembourg. EU states including the Czech Republic, Finland and France, which gets around 70% of its power from the fuel, see nuclear as crucial to phasing out CO2-emitting coal fuel power.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3EUjyxq

Read More

China to cut new energy vehicle subsidies by 30% in 2022

Image Credit: REUTERS/Aly Song

China will cut subsidies for New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) such as electric cars by 30% in 2022 and withdraw them all by the end of the year, the Treasury Department said on its website. 

The subsidies for NEVs would be reduced by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively from 2020 to 2022. For NEVs for public transport, subsidies are to be reduced by 10% in 2021 and  20% in 2022.

China, the world’s biggest auto market, has set a target for NEVs, including plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, to make up 20% of auto sales by 2025. 

Global automakers such as Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE), General Motors Co (GM.N), Toyota Motor Corp (7203. T) and Tesla Inc (TSLA .O) increase production of electric vehicles in China.

NIO (NIO.N) said on Friday that buyers of its ES8, ES6 and EC6 vehicles having posted a deposit  before December 31, 2021 and  taking delivery of their purchases before March 31, 2022, can still benefit from subsidies under the the 2021 Plan. 

Any loopholes in the 2022 policy would be borne by the Shanghai-based company, he said. 

The ministry also said that China will strengthen supervision of  safety issues of NEVs to prevent accidents. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers previously estimated  in December that NEV's sales  in China would increase 47% to 5 million in 2021.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/31jAQWX

Read More

GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER PLEDGES TAX RELIEF FROM 2023

Image Credit: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

Germany's new  government will offer personal and business tax breaks worth at least 30 billion euros ($ 34.1 billion) during this legislative period, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Sunday.

 “We will relieve people and small and medium-sized businesses by significantly more than 30 billion euros,” Lindner told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Noting that the budget for 2022  was drawn up by the previous government under Chancellor Angela Merkel, Lindner said his  2023 plan will include reliefs such as contributions to pension insurance  and the end of an electricity price surcharge.

Meanwhile, Lindner, leader of the fiscally cautious Free Democrats (FDP), said he had asked his cabinet colleagues to review the spending projects of their ministries.

“We have to go back to sound public finances. We have a responsibility towards the younger generation,” he said.

Lindner stated one manner to make financial savings would be to scrap the development of a new authorities terminal at Berlin’s BER airport, set to cost 50 million euros. He recommended a temporary constructing may be used permanently.

The minister is likewise making plans a tax invoice to assist organizations deal with the continuing coronavirus pandemic, along with permitting them to offset losses in 2022 and 2023 in opposition to income from previous years.

Due to the pandemic, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition agreed to use an emergency clause in the constitution for the third year in a row in 2022 to suspend debt limits and authorize new loans of $ 100 billion euros. 

From 2023, the coalition aims to revert to the debt brake rule in the constitution which limits new loans to a small fraction of economic output.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3sQVQ2o

Read More

RedLine Malware alert! Your accounts and passwords saved on Chrome or Edge might be hacked. Know how to check

 Hackers can steal your Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge login password through malware, experts say. Saving the Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge login password  in these internet browsers is a pretty common practice. 

Most of us save passwords in Chrome or Edge for convenient logging in next time. 

They are generally considered to be quite safe as they are stored in our Google account. This feature is designed to avoid the hassle of remembering login credentials for every site you use. 

However, some IT researchers warn internet users, especially employees who work from home, of the risk of  their Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge password being hacked. 

Users have been cautioned  against using such features in any internet browser after a recent security breach that compromised a company. According to the security expert AhnLab, an employee working remotely  fell victim to VPN access to his company network. So who is the culprit?

How RedLine Stealers stole login details and passwords

The employees of this company did their work on a device shared with other people they lived with. Little did you know you were  infected with  malware called the Redline Stealer that steals information. 

The malware  steals sensitive account  and password information from various websites, including information required to access the company's VPN. Hackers then used the data to  spy on  private business data. 

The scary part is that this malware can get inside the computer or laptop even if you have antivirus software installed Speaking of malware, AhnLab said that while the  credentials stored in browsers are very handy, there is a risk that the credentials of the Counting when malware is present. 

Redline Stealer is reasonably priced and can be purchased in shady areas of the internet for only $ 150. 

This means that it is difficult to assign the incident  to a specific group. It first appeared  on the Russian Dark Web in March 2020 when the id19 Cov pandemic began to spread, and it works by targeting the database file that stores account and password information.

How to avoid Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge malware attack

What regular users can do is  use programs from  clean and clear official sources, not some seedy vendors on the internet. 

In fact, there were many apps  on the Play Store that had malware hidden in them. Hence, users should be extra careful and do a background scan of those applications or files  they are trying to download. If there is a question, avoid it. 

The Metro news portal  reported that the malware was spread across a number of. It spreads methods including phishing emails, misuse of Google ads, and camouflage as a photo-editing program.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/32BHlVM

Read More

Telegram now has reactions, hidden text, translation and QR codes

Hours before the end of the year, Telegram Messenger announced the 12th and final update of last year that includes responses, the ability to add hidden text, automatic translation of messages, as well as QR codes  the design is configured for. 

The reaction is a quick reaction to a message in the form of an interactive or animated emojis, they are always activated in private chats and the usability is configured by administrators for groups and channels: 

You can not only allow  reactions yourself, but also set up which emoji  for this function is responsible. You can limit yourself to traditional "likes" or organize votes. 

You can change your default reaction to another emoji in Settings. Android: Chat Settings> Quick Response. iOS: Stickers and Emoji> Quick Response. 

Administrators can control reactions from their channel or group info page> Edit> Reactions. For more feedback options, try Channel Feedback and our powerful surveys.

If necessary, Messenger users received the opportunity to work with a hidden text, for example by explaining films or television series, but without digestion of stage design details.

An important innovation is the message translation function. To start this function, you must first activate it in the "Language" menu item of the "Configuration" menu. 

To translate a message, all you have to do is touch it (or pinch it with your finger on iOS). 

The settings allow you to specify the languages ​​that do not require translation. 

The function is available for every Android version  as well as iOS 15+. 

For all users who have set up a public link to their profile; now you can  generate a QR code directly in the app; the function is also available for groups, channels and bots. 

A QR code symbol appeared next to the public link on which  not only the code itself, but also its design - the required colors and patterns - can be generated. Result, print or share  in another application. 

In addition, the right-click menu in the Telegram client for macOS has  new options: Navigation has been improved and animated symbols have been displayed for each element. Finally, some emojis are interactive versions too.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/34enZ9z

Read More

Urgent Apple warning issued to 1.65BILLION iPad and iPhone users as privacy concerns mount – see if you are at risk

An urgent warning is  issued for iPad and iPhone users due to looming privacy and security concerns. 

Apple developer Kosta Eleftheriou announced that the App Store is home to a number of illegal movie streaming services. 

Movie trailers and photo filters to fool users. The app encourages users to enter codes or share the app to unlock more functions. There are also premium subscription tiers in apps that run through Apple Pay, of which Apple gets a 15-30 percent cut. 

Eleftheriou said the apps have been available on the App Store for months, although negative reviews indicate they are illegal.

Ads for the apps were promoted using social media influencers with "millions" of followers to promote them, Eleftheriou says. 

"Although Apple doesn't control its app store, these apps have had over 2 million downloads and are now generating ~ 16,000 / day, or about $ 6 million a year," said Eleftheriou. 

Legal documents in the ongoing "Eric Vs Apple" process, Eric Friedman, director of the company's Risk and Fraud Engineering Algorithms  [FEAR] department, called the App Store security,  knife to the point, "Friedman said the App Store review process is" more like the pretty lady who greets you at the Hawaiian airport than the drug dog.

Eleftheriou has also sued Apple in court, claiming the company copied its Apple Watch app, FlickType. However, the discoveries on the App Store have made iPhone and iPad users more vigilant about their devices.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/31lGJmw

Read More

Google accidentally teases more powerful Tasks sidebar

 

Google Tasks doesn't get a lot of attention, and it's not hard to see why. It has very few features and Google Keep can do all it can. However, the tasks can get a little more useful. The new version of the tasks sidebar in a blog post and some useful additions. 

The Tasks sidebar is available in products such as Gmail and Docs. The new interface, discovered by 9to5Google (above), does not reinvent the wheel. a single item list, you can view all of your lists  at the same time. 

To make it easier for you to focus, the updated sidebar has an option to collapse any list you don't need by looking down at your face. 

Adding tasks and creating lists also adds a little more meaning: they're eye-catching buttons at the top of each list and at the bottom of the control panel, respectively. For reference,  see the current Task UI below.

One last new function can be seen in the screenshot: Favorites. At the top of the sidebar you will see two tabs. 

There's one for all of your lists and a second  for the items you've marked as favorites. There is no favorite feature in the current version of Tasks, so we can only speculate  how it will work. 

We'll have to wait to find out. We don't see the new tasks live anywhere and Google hasn't officially announced them yet. I'll keep an ear to the ground

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3pIrJIt

Read More

Matrix Resurrections: Why Hugo Weaving Didn't Return As Agent Smith

Because of this, Hugo Weaving hasn't repeated his iconic role as Agent Smith in The Matrix Resurrections. After nearly 20 years, the Matrix franchise finally returned in 2021, with co-creator Lana Wachowski  at the helm.

While the resulting film  polarized both critics and fans, the backlash is certainly not as harsh as  The Matrix Revolutions, so it may in itself be a Trinity victory, or despite its apparent death, at the end of the revolution. In addition to Neo and Trinity, several other notable characters  from previous Matrix films returned for The Matrix Resurrections, played mostly  by their original actors.

Most notably, Jada Pinkett Smith was the older version of Niobe, the current leader of Io, the human city of the Matrix, who replaced Zion after Neo apparently ended the war between humans and machines.

There are new actors like Morpheus (with Yahya AbdulMateen II replacing Laurence Fishburne) and Agent Smith (with Jonathan Groff replacing Weaving).

Indeed, this is the second time Weaving has not played a major role in a hugely successful franchise, as he refused to return as Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame after taking on the role in Captain America: The first Avenger had . 

This case turned out to be pretty bitter as Weaving didn't like his experience  with Marvel, luckily that wasn't the case that he didn't appear on The Matrix Resurrections.

Instead, the absence of weaving boils down to a Hollywood staple: scheduling conflicts. In 2020, when it was time to shoot The Matrix Resurrections, director and co-writer Lana Wachowski was keen to see him  return as Agent Smith.

After a moment's hesitation, Weaving agreed to do just that.

The two parties entered into negotiations to try to get the Matrix Resurrections schedule up and running so  Weaving could complete both projects, but Weaving said Wachowski was reluctant to meet the deadlines Weaving requested.

Weaving doesn't seem to hold up against Wachowski on a personal level, but it's certainly disappointing that it went that way. While Mindhunter's Groff does an excellent job of trying to mimic aspects of Weaving's Agent Smith performance,  his Duke Smith is watched. Keanu Reeves' Neo just doesn't resonate as much as a similar comeback fight between  Smith and Weavings Neo.

However, The Matrix Resurrections is setting up a possible Matrix 5, so maybe the original  version of Smith's Weaving could return for it. Smith's nature as a rogue program within the Matrix makes any  future change in his appearance easy to explain.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3FKoENW

Read More

Washington state to require internet service disclosure when selling house in new year

Moving houses means potentially figuring out new internet connections.Getty Image

It's tough to assume home existence with out the net, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. Now a regulation going into impact in Washington kingdom is acknowledging that.

 Starting withinside the new year, home dealers in Washington may be required to percentage their net issuer on signed disclosure bureaucracy that encompass facts approximately plumbing, insulation and structural defects.

"Does the belongings presently have net carrier?" the disclosure shape will now ask, together with a area to mention who the issuer is.

The regulation would not require dealers to element get right of entry to speeds, pleasant or opportunity providers. The new disclosure is the contemporary in an array of efforts with the aid of using lawmakers throughout the U.S to reply to our growing reliance on domestic net connectivity for work, training and entertainment.

That net connection has emerge as even extra important all through the COVID-19 pandemic, which has upended the lives of billions of humans, forcing quarantines and lockdowns as humans alter to a brand new regular of each day existence.

Even earlier than the pandemic compelled us to emerge as even extra reliant at the net than we already were, hundreds of thousands of Americans lived in houses that hadn't but been hooked up.

The Federal Communications Commission estimates that extra than 14 million Americans lack get right of entry to to baseline broadband speeds, even as the net carrier tracker BroadbandNow pegs the wide variety at toward forty two million.

Much of the broadband divide is in extra rural components of the u . s ., however it additionally disproportionately hits traditionally low-earnings and numerous communities.

Even before the pandemic forced us to rely on the Internet even more  than before, millions of Americans were living in unconnected households.

The Federal Communications Commission estimates that more than 14 million Americans do not have access to benchmark broadband. Speeds, while Internet service tracker BroadbandNow estimates the number at around 42 million.

Much of the broadband gap exists in more rural parts of the country, but it also affects disproportionately low-income and heterogeneous communities.

The US government has pledged $ 65 billion to expand broadband access under its $ 1.2 trillion bill on infrastructure investment and employment.

When buying a home, internet connections were generally not treated with the same care as water, electricity, or HVAC systems. While the new Washington state rule doesn't require detailed internet connection details, it does make connections a potential ground for termination of a sales contract. within three days of receipt of the disclosure documents, unless you have waived your right to participate.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/3pHQV1Z

Read More