China’s biggest movie star was erased from the Internet, and the mystery is why

China’s biggest movie star was erased from the Internet, and the mystery is why

The Wall Street Journal reports: Zhao Wei spent the past two decades as China’s equivalent of Reese Witherspoon, a beloved actress turned business mogul. She directed award-winning films, sold millions of records as a pop singer and built a large following on social media, amassing 86 million fans on Weibo, China’s Twitter -like microblogging site. She also made a fortune as an investor in Chinese technology and entertainment companies. Today, the 45-year-old star has been erased from the Chinese internet….

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Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows

Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows

MIT Technology Review reports: In the run up to the 2020 election, the most highly contested in US history, Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms. These pages were part of a larger network that collectively reached nearly half of all Americans, according to an internal company report, and achieved that reach not through user choice but primarily as a result of Facebook’s own platform design and engagement-hungry algorithm….

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Facebook employees flag drug cartels and human traffickers. The company’s response is weak, documents show

Facebook employees flag drug cartels and human traffickers. The company’s response is weak, documents show

The Wall Street Journal reports: In January, a former cop turned Facebook Inc. investigator posted an all-staff memo on the company’s internal message board. It began “Happy 2021 to everyone!!” and then proceeded to detail a new set of what he called “learnings.” The biggest one: A Mexican drug cartel was using Facebook to recruit, train and pay hit men. The behavior was shocking and in clear violation of Facebook’s rules. But the company didn’t stop the cartel from posting…

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Drought puts 2.1 million Kenyans at risk of starvation

Drought puts 2.1 million Kenyans at risk of starvation

The Guardian reports: An estimated 2.1 million Kenyans face starvation due to a drought in half the country, which is affecting harvests. The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) said people living in 23 counties across the arid north, northeastern and coastal parts of the country will be in “urgent need” of food aid over the next six months, after poor rains between March and May this year. The crisis has been compounded by Covid-19 and previous poor rains, it said,…

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Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins

Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins

Erin Wayman writes: In The Descent of Man, published in 1871, Charles Darwin hypothesized that our ancestors came from Africa. He pointed out that among all animals, the African apes — gorillas and chimpanzees — were the most similar to humans. But he had little fossil evidence. The few known human fossils had been found in Europe, and those that trickled in over the next 50 years came from Europe and from Asia. Had Darwin picked the wrong continent? Finally,…

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Not a single G20 country is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate, analysis shows

Not a single G20 country is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate, analysis shows

CNN reports: None of the world’s major economies — including the entire G20 — have a climate plan that meets their obligations under the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to an analysis published Wednesday, despite scientists’ warning that deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are needed now. The watchdog Climate Action Tracker (CAT) analyzed the policies of 36 countries, as well as the 27-nation European Union, and found that all major economies were off track to contain global warming to 1.5…

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The California recall’s warning for democracy

The California recall’s warning for democracy

Ronald Brownstein writes: Governor Gavin Newsom of California defeated yesterday’s recall election by a large enough margin to squash earlier Republican threats to challenge the results no matter the outcome. But the proliferation of those allegations of voter fraud before the election, including ungrounded claims from former President Donald Trump that the contest was “rigged,” points toward an ominous future in which more GOP candidates challenge the results of any election that they do not win. Although Trump, Larry Elder…

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Newsom’s anti-Trump recall strategy offers Republicans a warning for 2022

Newsom’s anti-Trump recall strategy offers Republicans a warning for 2022

The New York Times reports: California basks in its clairvoyance. “The future happens here first,” says Gov. Gavin Newsom, calling his state “America’s coming attraction.” By emphatically turning back the effort to recall him from office, however, Mr. Newsom made clear that California’s cherished role presaging the politics of tomorrow was not as significant as another, larger factor in Tuesday’s results: the tribal politics of today. The first-term Democratic governor will remain in office because, in a deeply liberal state,…

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Mercer family played bigger role in 2020 election than thought, giving nearly $20 million to dark money GOP fund

Mercer family played bigger role in 2020 election than thought, giving nearly $20 million to dark money GOP fund

CNBC reports: The wealthy family led by conservative megadonors Robert and Rebekah Mercer, whose money helped propel Donald Trump to victory in 2016, invested nearly $20 million last year into a GOP-friendly dark money fund that allows donors to keep secret the ultimate destination of their contributions. The Mercers’ donation, delivered through their family foundation, went to the Donors Trust, according to a new 990 disclosure form. The hefty contribution reveals the Mercers played a much bigger role in financing…

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Words matter. So these journalists refuse to call GOP election meddling an ‘audit’

Words matter. So these journalists refuse to call GOP election meddling an ‘audit’

Margaret Sullivan writes: There’s a simple but powerful idea behind the Philadelphia Inquirer’s recent decision not to use the word “audit” when referring to an effort by the state GOP to investigate the 2020 election: Words matter. The words that a news organization chooses to tell a story make a difference. If a journalist calls something a “lie,” that’s a deliberate choice. So is “racially tinged.” Or “pro-life.” Or “torture.” Such decisions carry weight. They have power. Acknowledging this power…

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Facebook tried to make its platform a healthier place. It got angrier instead

Facebook tried to make its platform a healthier place. It got angrier instead

The Wall Street Journal reports: In the fall of 2018, Jonah Peretti, chief executive of online publisher BuzzFeed, emailed a top official at Facebook Inc. The most divisive content that publishers produced was going viral on the platform, he said, creating an incentive to produce more of it. He pointed to the success of a BuzzFeed post titled “21 Things That Almost All White People are Guilty of Saying,” which received 13,000 shares and 16,000 comments on Facebook, many from…

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Claims that Milley made ‘secret’ calls to Chinese leaders exaggerated, sources say

Claims that Milley made ‘secret’ calls to Chinese leaders exaggerated, sources say

Politico reports: Claims in an upcoming book that a frantic Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley made secret calls to his Chinese counterpart are greatly exaggerated, according to two people familiar with the discussions. A forthcoming book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa claims that Milley grew concerned about then-President Donald Trump’s instability and the possibility that he might spark a war with China, prompting him to arrange a pair of secret phone calls with Gen. Li Zuocheng of the…

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Climate change could trigger internal migration of 216 million people says World Bank

Climate change could trigger internal migration of 216 million people says World Bank

Reuters reports: Without immediate action to combat climate change, rising sea levels, water scarcity and declining crop productivity could force 216 million people to migrate within their own countries by 2050, the World Bank said in a new report on Monday. The report, Groundswell 2.0, modeled the impacts of climate change on six regions, concluding that climate migration “hotspots” will emerge as soon as 2030 and intensify by 2050, hitting the poorest parts of the world hardest. Sub-Saharan Africa alone…

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Fears that Trump might launch military strike prompted top U.S. general to reassure China

Fears that Trump might launch military strike prompted top U.S. general to reassure China

The New York Times reports: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff twice called his Chinese counterpart in the final months of the Trump administration to reassure him that Donald J. Trump had no plans to attack China in an effort to remain in power and that the United States was not collapsing, according to “Peril,” a new book by the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. “Things may look unsteady,” the chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley,…

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