The data-collection business model fuelling Facebook and Google represents a threat to human rights around the world, Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday.
The organization argued that offering people free online services and then using information about them to target money-making ads imperils a gamut of rights including freedom of opinion and expression.
"Despite the real value of the services they provide, Google and Facebook's platforms come at a systemic cost," Amnesty said in its report, "Surveillance Giants."
"The companies' surveillance-based business model forces people to make a Faustian bargain, whereby they are only able to enjoy their human rights online by submitting to a system predicated on human rights abuse."
With ubiquitous surveillance, the two online giants are able to collect massive amounts of data which may be used against their customers, according to the London-based human rights group.
The business model is "inherently incompatible with the right 

Google, Facebook business models threat to rights: Amnesty report

PTI Automatic

Ukraine voiced concern over a US aid holdup in July, earlier than known until now, meaning Kiev was aware of the freeze at the time of a controversial telephone call with President Donald Trump, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Laura Cooper, the Pentagon official in charge of the country, testified to Congress that Ukraine reached out on July 25, the very day that Trump spoke to his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in a call that triggered an impeachment inquiry.
Under oath before the House Intelligence Committee, Cooper said she received emails on July 25 saying that both the Ukrainian embassy in Washington and the House Foreign Affairs Committee were asking about the assistance.
"I would say that, specifically, the Ukrainian embassy staff asked, 'What is going on with Ukrainian security assistance?" Cooper said.
Asked by Representative Adam Schiff if the Ukrainians had been "concerned," Cooper replied, "Yes, sir."
Trump is accused of improperly withholding aid and a summit with ...

Ukraine worried about US aid holdup on day of Trump call: Official

US lawmakers Wednesday overwhelmingly approved legislation that supports human rights and democracy in Hong Kong and also backs the territory's anti-China protesters, sending the measure opposed by Beijing to President Donald Trump.
The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed the House of Representatives by 417 to 1, one day after the Senate unanimously passed the measure, provoking an outcry from Beijing.
The bill requires the US president to annually review the favorable trade status that Washington grants to Hong Kong, and threatens to revoke the coveted status that the semi-autonomous Chinese territory enjoys with the United States if its freedoms are quashed.
The measure now heads to Trump. He has not decisively said whether he will sign it, although the passage by a strong veto-proof majority may affect his calculus on the bill.
The House, by 417 votes to 0, also approved Senate-cleared legislation that would ban sales of tear gas, rubber bullets and other equipment used 

Hong Kong rights bill clears US Congress, heads to Trump

Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez asked Congress Wednesday to approve a law that would allow for new elections, after deadly unrest following the resignation of Evo Morales and the disputed October 20 ballot.
The announcement comes after the number of people killed in clashes with security forces at a fuel plant near La Paz on Tuesday rose to eight, officials said, taking the total death toll since last month's vote to 32.
Morales, who fled to Mexico after resigning November 10, accused the Bolivian security forces of engaging in "genocide" against his indigenous supporters, and called for action by the international community.
The government earlier released an audio recording of a person it alleged to be Morales ordering a member of the opposition movement to continue road blockades around the landlocked country.
For weeks his supporters have been obstructing main roads leading from agricultural regions to La Paz and other major cities, causing severe food and fuel ...

Bolivia's president asks Congress to approve law for new elections

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled an inward-looking cabinet Wednesday, with rising star Chrystia Freeland swapping foreign affairs for a new role healing the country's internal divisions.
The former foreign minister has been promoted to deputy leader tasked, alongside new Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, with wooing western provinces alienated by Ottawa's environmental policies.
Trudeau expanded his cabinet to a slightly larger 36 members after the Liberals lost 20 seats on October 21, reducing a once-mighty juggernaut to a minority government.
The laundry list of looming issues is also longer and more complex than when Trudeau took office in 2015 -- including a slowing economy and geographic political divisions.
One particular worry for his chastened Liberals is the emergence of a separatist movement in the western province of Alberta, where the party was shut out at the ballot box.
Climate change emerged as one of the few galvanizing issues in the election, ...

Canada's Trudeau unveils domestically-focused cabinet

Attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and air raids by his ally Russia killed at least 21 civilians including 10 children in rebel-held Idlib province on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in an updated toll, said a ground-to-ground missile fired by regime forces that hit a makeshift camp for the displaced near Qah village close to the border with Turkey killed 15 civilians, including six children, and wounded around 40 others.
The missile crashed near a maternity facility in the camp, it said.
Elsewhere, "Russian military aircraft" targeted the town of Maaret al-Numan in the south of the province, the Observatory said, and "six civilians were killed, among them four children".
A number of people were wounded in the raid, some "in a critical state", and the toll there was likely to rise, the Britain-based monitor's head Rami Abdel Rahman reported.
A photographer who works with AFP saw rescue workers retrieve the dust-covered ...

Russia air raids, regime strikes in Syria kill at least 21: Monitor

At least four people died Wednesday in an explosion at a fireworks factory in Sicily, firefighters said after the incident at the family-run firm.
The late afternoon blast immediately killed two workmen and the 71-year-old wife of the owner of the Costa company in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, in Sicily's Messina region.
The owner's son was one of four people hurt and was taken to hospital in the island's capital Palermo with serious injuries.
One of the injured, whose name was not given, later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
Firefighters managed to extricate one employee who was inside the depot at the time of the explosion, but were still searching for one of his colleagues who was reported missing.
The local prosecutor's office opened an enquiry into the disaster.
Staff were preparing for New Year celebrations comprising traditional firework displays across the south of Italy designed to chase away evil spirits.
Preparations for such displays, a tradition dating back to 1540, 

At least four dead in Sicily firework depot explosion

An auction of Nazi memorabilia, including Adolf Hitler's top hat, raked in hundreds of thousands of euros in Munich Wednesday in the teeth of German and international protest.
The hammer fell on the Nazi leader's top hat at 50,000 euros (USD 55,310), according to the Hermann Historica auction house website, while items of clothing belonging to his partner Eva Braun each sold for thousands.
One buyer paid 130,000 euros for a silver-plated copy of Hitler's antisemitic political manifesto Mein Kampf that once belonged to senior Nazi Hermann Goering, emblazoned with an eagle and the party's swastika emblem.
Other lots of clothing and personal belongings from notorious World War II Nazi leaders like Heinrich Himmler and Rudolf Hess also packed the catalogue pages.
"The Nazis' crimes are being trivialised here," the German government's antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein told the Funke newspaper group.
"They're acting as if they're trading in perfectly normal historical art objects," but .

Hitler memorabilia auction rakes in thousands despite protests

President Donald Trump sought Wednesday to distance himself from US envoy Gordon Sondland as he made an explosive appearance before an impeachment hearing, while also asserting that his testimony had exonerated him entirely.
"I don't know him very well. I have not spoken to him much," Trump told reporters at the White House, after the ambassador to the EU testified that he followed the president's orders in seeking a "quid pro quo" deal with Ukraine.
In an October 8 tweet, Trump had described his ambassador to the European Union as "a really good man and great American." Trump went on to read from notes on Sondland's ongoing testimony, saying it demonstrated he did not pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.  "It was a very short and abrupt conversation that he had with me," Trump said.
"'What do you want from Ukraine,'" the president quoted Sondland as asking him.
"Here is my response, that he gave. Just gave. Ready? You have the .

Trump says exonerated by Sondland impeachment testimony

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival Benny Gantz informed the president he was unable to form a coalition government Wednesday, a statement from his Blue and White coalition said.
"Benny Gantz spoke with President Reuven Rivlin and updated him that he is unable to form a government," the statement said, on the day a 28-day deadline to form an administration expires.

Israel's Gantz declares unable to form a govt: statement

Prince Andrew on Wednesday said he was cancelling his public engagements, as the outcry from the British royal's friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein showed no sign of abating.
Queen Elizabeth II's second son has been under pressure since a television interview broadcast Saturday in which he defended his links to the disgraced financier, who was found dead in prison in August.
An increasing number of organisations and initiatives backed by Andrew have said they were not renewing or would review their support because of the revelations.
Andrew, 59, said in an emailed statement he now recognised his links to Epstein had become a "major disruption" to the royal family and the charities and organisations associated with it.
"Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty (the Queen) if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission," he added.
"I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.
"His ...

Britain's Prince Andrew to 'step back from public duties' after Epstein furore

France and Germany outlined separate proposals for reforming NATO on Wednesday after President Emmanuel Macron slammed the alliance as experiencing "brain death", causing uproar just weeks before a crucial summit.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian used the one-day meeting with his 28 NATO counterparts to explain Macron's damning verdict and offer ideas for improvement.
Macron argued in an Economist interview that Turkey's military incursion into Syria and US unpredictability under President Donald Trump indicated a failure of strategic thinking at NATO.
Le Drian suggested a "small group of eminent persons" be formed to reflect on "the vision the alliance has of its values and aims" and report back to leaders at their summit in 2021.
The experts should focus on NATO's relationship with Russia and the future challenges to alliance security -- in particular terrorism, the rise of China and the impact of new military technology, Le Drian told the ministers.
Separately, German ...

France, Germany offer NATO plans after 'brain death' row

Germany coach Joachim Loew has revealed that the side are "certain" to face Spain next March with Belgium or Portugal also potential opponents in the build-up to the Euro 2020 finals.
Serge Gnabry hit a hat-trick and Bayern Munich team-mate Leon Goretzka scored twice Tuesday in a 6-1 routing of Northern Ireland, which confirmed the Germans as winners of their qualifying group ahead of the Netherlands.
Loew revealed the German Football Association (DFB) are on the verge of confirming a friendly against Spain, which Spanish media report could be played in Madrid, with potentially Belgium or Portugal in another friendly match also in March.
"Spain is certain. The last conversations are taking place," said Loew.
"The second opponent is not yet decided. We are trying to get Portugal or Belgium.
"We are waiting until after the draw" for the Euro 2020 finals on November 30 in Bucharest.
"We're relaxed," about the draw, added Loew, "we'll take it as it comes." Germany are poised to play their 

Germany eye Spain, Portugal or Belgium for March friendlies

US diplomat Gordon Sondland said Wednesday President Donald Trump never spoke to him about stalled military aid to Ukraine or any alleged link to Trump's demands for political investigations.
"I never heard from President Trump that aid was conditioned on an announcement of (the investigations)," Sondland told a congressional impeachment inquiry.
"I don't recall President Trump ever talking to me about any security assistance, ever," he added.

Sondland: Trump 'never' discussed Ukraine aid freeze with me

A US envoy said Wednesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo directed him to coordinate Ukraine policy with President Donald Trump's lawyer, further implicating the top US diplomat in the impeachment drama.
Gordon Sondland -- the US ambassador to the European Union who, unlike previous diplomats who testified in the inquiry, is a political appointee allied with Trump -- also said that the State Department withheld documents vital for his appearance before lawmakers.
Sondland said Pompeo had directed the US pointman on Ukraine, Kurt Volker, to speak with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who was pushing Ukraine to investigate Trump's domestic rival Joe Biden.
He said Pompeo's stance did not change even after diplomats complained that Giuliani was meeting with an allegedly corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor without their knowledge.  "Even as late as September 24, Secretary Pompeo was directing Kurt
Volker to speak with Rudy Giuliani," Sondland said.  That is ...

Ambassador brings Pompeo deeper into in Trump impeachment  )

Six-time world rally champion Sebastien Ogier has quit Citroen after just one year of his contract, prompting the French constructor to announce Wednesday that it is withdrawing from the World Rally Championship (WRC).
"Following the decision of @SebOgier to leave Citroen Racing after 2019 World Rally Championship season, @Citroen decided to withdraw from its @OfficialWRC programme in 2020 due to the absence of a first-class driver available for 2020 season," the team tweeted.
The Frenchman, who won the title every year from 2013 to 2018, has been linked heavily with a move to Toyota who have just seen 2019 world champion Ott Tanak leave for Hyundai.
Ogier joined Citroen on a two-year contract at the start of the 2019 season with the aim of securing a seventh successive title.
However, he could only finish third as Tanak broke a French stranglehold on the title that stretched back 15 years with Sebastien Loeb winning nine before Ogier took up the mantle.
Ogier had previously driven ...

Ogier quits Citroen prompting French team to pull out of WRC

The Davis Cup has a new format but Andy Murray's old love of a comeback remains intact after the Scot battled from behind to avoid a shock defeat by Holland's Tallon Griekspoor on Wednesday.
Murray came from a set down and then trailed 4-1 in the decider in Madrid before beating the spirited Griekspoor, ranked 179 in the world, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
A scrappy victory gave Great Britain the lead in their opening Group E tie ahead of the second singles rubber between Dan Evans and Robin Haase, and then a third match in the doubles.
Murray had given short shrift on Tuesday to those he believes have been too quick to criticise the revamped Davis Cup, which for the first time is featuring all 18 World Group countries competing for the trophy across a single week in one venue.
And in what will be music to the ears of the organisers, among them Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, Murray was full of praise for the atmosphere inside the Caja Magica's cosy Stadium 3.
"The atmosphere was ...

Murray digs deep at Davis Cup to give Britain lead over Holland

French hotel owners attacked Airbnb on Wednesday over its new partnership with the International Olympics Committee, with some promising an ethics complaint against the deal with the US home-sharing giant.
"Airbnb doesn't play by the rules, and must be disqualified," the GNI association of independent hotels said in a statement during an industry gathering in the Atlantic coast resort town of Biarritz.
French hotels have long accused Airbnb of unfair competition by operating with only cursory regulatory oversight, and have been lobbying authorities for a crackdown on short-term tourist rentals.
The GNI said it would file a protest with the IOC's ethics commission, as well as the organising committee for the 2024 summer Games in Paris.
"This partnership is inappropriate and it is outrageous to make this company, which spurs deregulation in countries around the world, a global partner of the IOC," said the heads of the UMIH, the main trade group for French hotels, and the GCN alliance ..

French hotels protest 'outrageous' Airbnb-Olympics deal

For years, Japan's government has sought to convince consumers that food from Fukushima is safe despite the nuclear disaster. But will it serve the region's produce at the Tokyo Olympics? It's a thorny subject for the authorities.
They pitched the Games in part as a chance to showcase the recovery of areas affected by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Government officials tout strict checks on food from the region as evidence that the produce is completely safe, but it remains unclear whether athletes and sports teams from around the world will be convinced.
In the Fukushima region, producers are keen to see their products served at the Olympic village and have submitted a bid to the organisers.
"The Fukushima region has put forward food from 187 producers and is second only to Hokkaido when it comes to meeting the specified criteria in terms of range of products," said Shigeyuki Honma, assistant director general of the local government's agriculture and forestry planning ...

AFP

AFP

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