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‘Lowest of the low’: Mysterious website under fire, accused of stealing content

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

Journalists across Canada have been sounding the alarm bell about a website that’s accused of swiping content from legitimate outlets on a daily basis.“It’s just wholesale theft,” said Ethan Cox, co-founder of Ricochet Media, based in Montreal. “We specialize in investigative, in-depth, context rich journalism.”Original reporting that takes countless hours to uncover and report. So, he was shocked when he noticed an exclusive story they broke, appear on another so-called news website claiming it as their own.“I was on Reddit and saw the headline of an article we had just published with a different URL. And so I went, ‘What is this?’ And I clicked on it. Now I’ve been down that rabbit hole for the last five days,” he said.What he uncovered is alarming. The website is full of stories stolen from media outlets across the globe.“We did an audit of the site. We verified the top 18 articles published on the site and every single one of them we could track back to the original ...

Argentina and Brazil charged by FIFA after fan violence delays World Cup qualifying game at Maracana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA opened disciplinary cases against Argentina and Brazil on Friday after fan violence at the Maracana Stadium delayed the start of a World Cup qualifying game.The Argentine soccer federation was charged with crowd disturbances and the late kick off at Tuesday’s game in Rio de Janeiro.The Brazilian federation was charged with failures of managing security at a game it organized, FIFA said.Fights among fans broke out after the national anthems. The teams were led back to the locker rooms and the game started 27 minutes late.“There was family of the players (there). We were more worried about that than playing the match,” Argentina captain Lionel Messi said.Argentina won the game 1-0.FIFA gave no timetable to judge the case and impose sanctions.The teams’ next World Cup qualifying games are in September. Brazil hosts Ecuador and Argentina hosts Chile.Brazil and Argentina could next meet at the 2024 Copa America, a tournament that will be played in the United Stat...

Internet casinos thrive in 6 states. So why hasn’t it caught on more widely in the US?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — In the 10 years that it has been operating in New Jersey, internet casino gambling has generated nearly $7 billion in revenue for casinos and their affiliates, sent over a billion dollars in tax revenue to the state’s coffers and helped keep Atlantic City’s nine casinos afloat while they were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.So why hasn’t it caught on more widely across America?Currently, only six states offer internet casino gambling: New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia. (Nevada offers internet poker but not online casino games; Rhode Island has passed an online casino bill, but it is not expected to go into effect until March 2024.)Casino operators, online gambling companies, analysts and elected officials offer a number of reasons why they think it has yet to expand more widely: among them, including fears (unfounded, analysts say) that internet gambling will draw gamblers away from physica...

Toronto man wanted for assaulting woman, vandalizing victim’s residence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a man behind the alleged assault of a woman known to him and returning to her residence to vandalize it and threaten the victim.Authorities were called to the Danforth Avenue and Pape Avenue area in Toronto’s Greektown neighbourhood on Tuesday for reports of an assault.It’s alleged that on Nov. 18, a woman was assaulted by a man who is known to her. Days later, the suspect unlawfully entered the victim’s residence, vandalized the woman’s residence and threatened her.He then fled the area.Authorities said 33-year-old Kenneth Kingston of Toronto is wanted on multiple charges, including assault, threatening death, unlawfully in a dwelling, mischief and failing to comply with a release order.Photo: Toronto police.Kingston is described as five-foot-seven with a heavy build, long brown shoulder-length hair, brown eyes, a scruffy beard and a thick mustache. He was last seen wearing a dark-coloured baseball cap with a square white log...

Amazon workers strike in multiple countries on Black Friday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

Amazon workers in multiple countries went on strike for Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, to protest the e-commerce giant's labor practices. The strike is organized by the UNI Global Union, which represents workers around the world and said it has mobilized workers from more than 30 countries, including Italy, Germany and the U.S., to speak out against Amazon's treatment of employees.Hundreds of workers were striking on Friday at warehouses in Coventry, U.K., and in multiple German cities, Reuters reported. Additional walkouts were expected later in the day in other countries.Officials with the GMB Union, a large trade union in the U.K. that organized protesters there, wrote on the platform X that the strike on Friday was the "the biggest industrial action in Amazon's history."The effort is part of the "Make Amazon Pay" campaign, which has organized strikes for the past four years. Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union, said workers around the worl...

19 year-old obliterates world record for pull-ups

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. (KTVI) – While many people struggle to do even one full pull-up, a teenager in Illinois has just completed thousands within 24 hours.Nineteen year-old Brandon Garrett grew up playing several sports and was a serious runner. At one point, he ran 10 miles every morning. A few months after becoming a personal trainer at Club Fitness in O’Fallon, Illinois, Garrett set a new goal.Garrett wanted to break the world record for the most pull-ups in 24 hours: 8,600. To break it down, Garrett would do 10 pull-ups a minute to get to 5,000 before switching his rep pace. Wanna get paid to watch Hallmark Christmas movies? One company is offering $2K "Once I'm committed to something, I'm going to get it," Garrett said.Nexstar's KTVI reports he spent eight months training while juggling clients at the gym. During that time he committed 25 hours per week doing pull-ups, completing 70,000 every seven days.Last Friday, it was time for Garrett to test his limits.At 4 p.m. at Clu...

Woman invents new luggage to avoid airline baggage fees

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) -- Sick of checked bagged fees? So was Amber Waldeier. That is, until she invented luggage which doubles as a neck pillow.Inside a Zipplicity bag, Waldeier said she's ready for a five-day vacation. She said it can hold about five pounds worth of clothing."I've got three pairs of leggings, five shirts and six socks," Waldeier said, holding up one bag. Kansas drivers riled by ‘Mizzou colors’ on new default license plate Waldeier designed the fabric sleeve suitcase with a zipper specifically to cut costs on luggage at the airport. Instead of checking a bag, she and her family now carry on "neck pillows.""I didn't want to spend the money on the baggage fees," Waldeier said. "I wanted to spend the money on memory making, like all the money on fun."The idea came to her in 2019 during a family trip where they were celebrating good health. Qaldeier had battled a bladder disease and hip issues for the three years prior. When she finally got cleared to walk on the be...

World's tallest Christmas tree structure lights up in southern U.S.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

STONEWALL, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Do you know where the tallest Christmas tree structure in the world is?You may think of the 140-foot tall tree in Enid, Oklahoma, or the 284-foot tall tree in Indianapolis, but DeSoto Parish, Louisiana is about to take the title. The plan is to make Christmas history Friday when the DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Office lights up a towering 300-foot structure. That's the equivalent of a 28-story building. At 6:30 p.m. local time, officials are set to flip the switch on The Spirit of DeSoto Tree and its 10,250 LED holiday lights. The event will include hot cocoa and a visit with Santa Claus. Decorating for Christmas early can make you feel happier The "tree" is actually the parish's new Stonewall Government Plaza communications tower, but plans have been in the works since last December to give it a once-a-year holiday façade. Sheriff Jayson Richardson thought it would be possible to put DeSoto at the top of the list and began contacting the FAA, FCC, Kay Radi...

How much money your generation says it needs to be happy: study

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — The saying has always been “money can’t buy happiness,” but a new poll shows that may not actually be the case. Empower, a financial services company, surveyed more than 2,000 Americans about their financial happiness. Almost 60% said that money can indeed buy happiness, but it comes with a hefty price tag: $1.2 million. The “magic number” varied across generations, according to Empower. It was Millennials that had the steepest ask at almost $1.7 million. That vastly outweighed almost every other generation. The slightly older Gen X age group said, on average, that it would take slightly more than $1.2 million to make them financially happy. For the Boomer generation, it would take just less than $1 million. The youngest, Gen Z, had the lowest price point at $487,711. Here’s the average net worth of Americans by age. How do you stack up? Researchers pointed to the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID pandemic, and our current inflation as likely pain po...

Gophers football vs. Wisconsin: Keys to game, how to watch and who has edge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:52:02 GMT

WISCONSIN vs. MINNESOTAWhen: 2:30 p.m. SaturdayWhere: Huntington Bank StadiumTV: Fox Sports 1Radio: KFAN, 100.3 FMWeather: 31 degrees, cloudy, 9 mph northeast windBetting spread: Wisconsin, -2Records: With a 37-3 defeat to No. 2 Ohio State last week, he Gophers (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) have lost three straight games. The Badgers (6-5, 4-4) ended a three-game losing streak with 14-point comeback for a 24-17 overtime win against Nebraska last Saturday.History: With a win, Minnesota will possess Paul Bunyan’s Axe for a third consecutive time, a streak unseen since winning four in a row in from 1984-87. College football’s most-played rivalry sits dead even at 62-62-8.Key matchup: P.J. Fleck vs. Luke Fickell. Fleck is 3-3 vs. the Badgers, while Fickell has not played Minnesota. The rivalry between the two schools was rekindled off the field when Fleck accused Wisconsin’s new staff of negative recruiting in December. On the field, will Fleck call the necessary shots to get a positive result?Who...