News of the World

[kyonides]

Well, first of all let me tell you now that I truly hope you all have enjoyed a nice Christmas, eve, dinner, etc. this year.

Russian court slaps Google, Meta with massive fines

A Moscow court on Friday slapped Google with a nearly $100 million fine and also fined Facebook’s parent company Meta $27 million over their failure to delete content banned by local law, as Russia seeks to step up pressure on technology giants.

The Tagansky District Court ruled that Google repeatedly neglected to remove the banned content, and ordered the company to pay an administrative fine of about 7.2 billion rubles (about $98.4 million).

Google said it would study the court documents before deciding on its next steps.

Later Friday, the court also slapped a fine of nearly 2 billion rubles ($27.2 million) on Meta for failure to remove banned content.Are 

Russian courts had previously imposed smaller fines on Google, Facebook and Twitter this year, and Friday’s rulings marked the first time the size of the fine was calculated based on revenue.

Russian state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Google and Meta were specifically accused of violating the ban on distributing content that promotes extremist ideology, insults religious beliefs and encourages dangerous behavior by minors, among other things.

Aren't you glad you don't live in Russia?

Spanish eruption’s end brings ‘emotional relief,’ rebuilding

Authorities on one of Spain’s Canary Islands declared a volcanic eruption that started in September officially finished Saturday following 10 days of no lava flows, seismic activity or significant sulfur dioxide emissions.

But the emergency in La Palma, the most northwest island in the Atlantic Ocean archipelago, is not over due to the widespread damage the eruption caused, the director of the Canaries’ volcanic emergency committee said in announcing the much-anticipated milestone.

“It’s not joy or satisfaction - how we can define what we feel? It’s an emotional relief. And hope,” Pevolca director Julio Pérez said. “Because now, we can apply ourselves and focus completely on the reconstruction work.”

Fiery molten rock flowing down toward the sea destroyed around 3,000 buildings, entombed banana plantations and vineyards, ruined irrigation systems and cut off roads. But no injuries or deaths were directly linked to the eruption.

Pérez, who is also the region’s minister of public administration, justice and security, said the archipelago’s government valued the loss of buildings and infrastructure at more than 900 million euros ($1 billion).

Anyway, it's good to hear that the volcano is no longer erupting lava like crazy. 

Space telescope launched on daring quest to behold 1st stars

The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away Saturday on a high-stakes quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies and scour the universe for hints of life.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope soared from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, riding a European Ariane rocket into the Christmas morning sky.

“What an amazing Christmas present,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science mission chief.

The $10 billion observatory hurtled toward its destination 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, or more than four times beyond the moon. It will take a month to get there and another five months before its infrared eyes are ready to start scanning the cosmos.

First, the telescope’s enormous mirror and sunshield need to unfurl; they were folded origami-style to fit into the rocket’s nose cone. Otherwise, the observatory won’t be able to peer back in time 13.7 billion years as anticipated, within a mere 100 million years of the universe-forming Big Bang.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson called Webb a time machine that will provide “a better understanding of our universe and our place in it: who we are, what we are, the search that’s eternal.”

U.S. Navy warship remains in port
after COVID-19 breaks out among '100% immunized' crew

A U.S. Navy warship held off on deploying to South America last week after an outbreak of COVID-19 among its vaccinated crew.

USS Milwaukee, a littoral combat ship, remained in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay following positive tests from some of its sailors, some of whom exhibited mild symptoms, according to a Friday announcement from the U.S. Navy.

"The crew is 100% immunized and all COVID-19 positive sailors are isolated on board and away from other crew members," the release explained. "A portion of those infected have exhibited mild symptoms."
...
The Navy did not say how many sailors had tested positive from the ship's crew, which contains a little more than 100 people, but said the ship "is following an aggressive mitigation strategy in accordance with Navy and CDC guidelines."

The USS Milwaukee began its deployment from Mayport, Fla., on Dec. 14 and was scheduled to head to the U.S. Southern Command region until the outbreak.

Spider-Man: No Way Home becomes the top movie of 2021

The latest Marvel movie unseated its previous hit 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'

Peter Parker’s good fortune continued over the holiday weekend as Hollywood prepares to close the books on a turbulent 2021. Even with some mighty competition from new "Matrix" and "Sing" movies, and rising concerns over the omicron variant, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" stayed in the No. 1 spot and netted a few more milestones too including crossing the $1 billion mark globally.

According to studio estimates Sunday "Spider-Man" added $81.5 million over the three-day weekend, down 69% from its first weekend. The Sony and Marvel film has now grossed $467 million from North American theaters, more than doubling the domestic grosses of 2021′s previous No. 1 film, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."

With $587.1 million from 61 overseas markets, in just 12 days of release, "Spider-Man" has grossed $1.05 billion globally. It's the first film of the pandemic to cross $1 billion and is tied with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" for being the third-fastest film ever to do so — and this without the benefit of its release in China.

Universal’s "Sing 2" came in second place with an estimated $23.8 million, while Warner Bros.' "The Matrix Resurrections" grossed $12 million to take third place.

I personally don't like movies that are full of logical loopholes and a few lame battles except for one.
Anyway, I guess fans do love it or they wouldn't have hit the $1 billion mark globally.