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Caitlin Clark breaks Lynette Woodard's forgotten scoring record, surpassing Pete Maravich with 18 points

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Caitlin Clark breaks Lynette Woodard's forgotten scoring record, surpassing Pete Maravich with 18 points

Kaitlyn Clark broke the NCAA women's basketball scoring record two weeks ago, but it wasn't until Wednesday that she became the all-time leading scorer among women's college basketball.

Iowa star Lynette Woodard's 3,649 career points with Kansas eclipsed a notable star on the NCAA's all-time scoring list. She is 18 points shy of tying Pete Maravich's mark of 3,667 for the NCAA scoring record between men and women.

Averaging more than 30 points per game, Clark is on pace to surpass Maravich in his next game, Sunday's Iowa regular-season finale against No. 2 Ohio State.

Moments before passing Woodard, Clark set another official NCAA record, hitting his 155th 3-pointer of the season to break the single-season mark previously held by Idaho's Taylor Pierce in 2019.

Clark had 33 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds as part of a triple-double in Minnesota's 108-60 blowout of Iowa. He entered the game needing 32 points to tie with Woodard and scored nearly half in four minutes.

Woodard scored her points between 1977 and 1981, a time when women's college basketball was governed by the Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA did not officially sanction women's college basketball until 1982, and did not recognize any players or statistics prior to that year.

So for decades, Woodard was above every women's college basketball player, but not recognized as the all-time leading scorer. As one historical observer told Yahoo Sports' Eden Laws:

“When you don't know the history makers, it lets them and the current players down,” said Elizabeth Galloway-McWhotter. “One of the greats of our sport is constantly being overshadowed. I imagine Caitlin [Clark] I'd love to know whose record she's actually chasing.

Clark did more in the last few games of her Iowa career (assuming she didn't skip the WNBA for a fifth year of college ball) and put that streak in the record books.

The remainder of Clark's season includes the Hawkeyes' game against Ohio State, the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA tournament. With Iowa currently ranked third in the Big Ten and on track for a double-bye in the conference tournament, Clark still has 10 games to play.

Anheuser-Busch workers set to strike all US breweries

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The Teamsters and Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer, announced late Wednesday that the union and company have reached a tentative agreement on a contract that includes strong wage gains and significant job security protections.

Without a contract, 5,000 members of the Teamsters union were poised to strike Friday against the company's 12 breweries across the country, which make Bud Light, Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois and other brands of beer.

“Teamsters make beer, Teamsters make Anheuser-Busch successful, and our members deserve a better deal. That's what we fought for and won today,” Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a statement Wednesday.

Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch, said in a statement: “The company is incredibly pleased to have reached a tentative agreement that continues to recognize the talent, dedication and hard work of our teams, while positioning the company for long-term success. … As America's leading brewer, we have the best There are people and we offer the best jobs in the beer industry.

Union members will now have the opportunity to review the contract and vote on whether to ratify it. The new tentative contract was unanimously recommended by the Teamsters' bargaining committee. If members reject the contract, workers can still go on strike.

The Teamsters' deal includes an $8-an-hour wage increase over the length of the five-year contract, including an immediate $4-an-hour increase in the first year. This is an average wage increase of 23 percent over the contract period.

The deal includes significant job security protections for all union workers, the union said — a key demand for the Teamsters, which has fired union workers for years. The union and company did not specify what type of job security workers would receive.

Under the agreement, workers will receive a $2,500 approval bonus, increased pension contributions and reinstatement of pension benefits for current and retired members, the union said. And the union said the company would end its two-tier health care plan, where some workers receive poor benefits.

The new contract agreement is fueled by rising labor activity in the U.S., a growing job market and growing popularity for unions. In 2023, American workers led 33 major strikes — defined as involving at least 1,000 workers — over two decades, according to Labor Department data released this month.

Union workers have won contracts with double-digit raises over the past year with strikes and mere strike threats. About 340,000 UPS employees — including Teamsters members — won a new contract last year that some labor experts described as the best for workers in UPS history, including a 50 percent raise over five years for part-time workers.

The Teamsters said Anheuser-Busch agreed to meet in Washington on Wednesday for the first time in weeks to try to reach a deal before a midnight strike deadline on Friday.

Late Wednesday, Teamsters President O'Brien said in a statement that the company had made a revised offer that “continues to ignore many of the Teamsters' key issues.” The parties reached a tentative agreement later in the day after the company presented another offer.

In December, thousands of Anheuser-Busch Teamsters members voted to authorize a strike — 99 percent were in favor.

Teamster members at Molson Coors in Fort Worth have also been on strike since Feb. 17 over pay.

Michael Silva, principal of Teamsters Local 919, which represents about 500 Anheuser-Busch workers at its brewery in Houston, said this week that he was particularly concerned about job security. His facility has been around for decades and provides jobs for generations of families, although it has lost union jobs over the years.

“Our numbers have slowly dwindled. Some of that has to do with automation,” Silva said. “Let no one fear that there is no work.”

Thousands of well-paid Teamster jobs have been lost as the beer giant has automated and consolidated parts of its operations over the years, labor and supply chain experts say — a deindustrialization process that could push local economies into recession. In 2022, Anheuser-Busch sold a distribution plant in Oakland, California, eliminating 140 Teamsters jobs.

Patrick Penfield, a professor of supply chain management practice at Syracuse University, said Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian multinational beer company that owns U.S. brewing operations, excels at cutting costs through new technologies and automation.

“It's all about efficiency and automation at Anheuser-Busch,” Penfield said. “They're acquiring companies, bringing them into the fold, and then looking at how they can be more efficient and do more at a lower cost … It's a question of 'Can we make the same amount of beer with less alcohol?'

The latest news on the fast-growing Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas

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4:16 PM ET, February 28, 2024

Texas County Sheriff's Office says the fire could burn for several days

From CNN's Dave Alsup

The active firefight could continue for several days as the fire continues to grow and more adverse weather is on the horizon.

“We don't have all the fires under control. We're still fighting the fire,” Troy Zwigerath, emergency management coordinator for Pampa and Gray County, Texas, told CNN.

Pampa and Gray County are located northeast of Amarillo.

“It's going to burn forever. We're going to burn for three more days,” Troy said.

Zwickerath says the Texas Forest Service is working to contain the massive fire.

“Thank God the wind stopped,” Troy said. He says that last night the firefighters came together and managed to save the city of Bombay. Other cities were not so lucky.

There were no injuries or deaths in Gray County, Zwigerath said. It will take a few days to get an accurate account of the burns, he said.

“We lost cattle, we lost grass, we lost a fence,” Zwigerath said. “We held a meeting this morning to bring together city and county officials. We try to organize.

Troy says local leaders are trying to set up an organization to get donations.

“We need monetary donations. Fodder and hay. type of fencing material,” Troy said.

The cattle industry is big in Gray County. Troy says it is not known how many cattle were consumed in the fire.

Joe Biden's win in Michigan's Democratic primary faces resentment over Gaza

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Joe Biden's win in Michigan's Democratic primary faces resentment over Gaza

US President Joe Biden comfortably won the Democratic primary in Michigan on Tuesday, despite significant defections from voters in his party angered by his support for Israel's war in Gaza.

Progressive activists and Arab-American leaders urged Michigan Democrats to vote “undecided” instead of endorsing Biden, a warning sign for his expected re-election bid against Donald Trump in a crucial swing state.

Dissension within his own party in Michigan has emerged as one of the biggest political challenges to Biden's campaign in recent weeks, raising fears among some Democrats that he will struggle to coalesce a center-left coalition around his nomination in November.

The backlash over Gaza has thrust foreign policy into the heart of the race for the White House, along with other key issues such as immigration, the economy, the future of American democracy and the character of the candidates.

As of 6 a.m. ET Wednesday, with 98 percent of Democratic votes counted across Michigan, Biden won 81.1 percent, while 13.3 percent chose “undecided.” Long-shot candidates Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson got 2.7 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

In a statement late Tuesday after the vote, Biden did not mention the war in Gaza, but pointed to his economic policies and efforts to protect reproductive rights. “This fight for our freedom, for working families, and for democracy is going to bring us all together. I know we will,” he said.

Separately in Michigan, Trump scored another comfortable victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination against Nikki Haley, his former US ambassador to the UN, bringing him another step closer to locking down his party's support.

As of 6 a.m., Trump had 68.2 percent of the Republican vote, while Haley won 26.5 percent — showing that he is facing defections from within his party.

“We win Michigan, we win the whole thing,” Trump said after the primary, referring to the presidential election in November.

Haley vowed to continue her campaign until Super Tuesday, March 5.

The Democratic opposition is a reaction to Biden's continued support for Israel during the conflict in Gaza, where nearly 30,000 people have died, according to Palestinian officials, since Israel declared war on Hamas in response to the militant group's Oct. 7 attack.

“President Biden has funded bombs to fall on family members of people in Michigan,” said Laila Elabed, campaign manager for Listen to Michigan, which is behind the “inconclusive” protest vote. “Thousands of Michigan Democrats who voted for Biden in 2020 now feel completely betrayed.”

Michigan is a battleground state that has been decided by narrow margins in recent election cycles. Biden defeated Trump by just 150,000 votes in 2020, while Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by less than 11,000 votes four years ago.

According to the latest census, more than half of the residents of Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, the state's largest city, are Arab Americans. About 140,000 Arab Americans voted in Michigan in the 2020 presidential election.

Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American member of Congress whose constituency covers much of Dearborn, was among those encouraging Democrats to vote no. Elabed, the campaign manager for Listen to Michigan, is Thleip's sister.

“I'm proud today to pull out a Democratic ballot and cast a non-committal vote,” Tlieb said in a video posted on social media Tuesday. “Even though 74 percent of Michigan Democrats support a ceasefire, President Biden is not listening to us. This is our democracy. Listen, listen.”

Biden has long been an ardent supporter of Israel. But he has been increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks, and told reporters on Monday that he hoped a temporary ceasefire would begin in Gaza as soon as next week.

Recent polls have Trump ahead of Biden in a hypothetical contest in Michigan. He has a four-point lead in the state in an Emerson poll released last week.

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Many of Biden's public events in recent weeks have been interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, and the weekend death of a U.S. airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington made headlines across the country.

Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of Michigan up for re-election in 2022, is the co-chair of Biden's re-election campaign and is one of his loudest defenders in the state.

As the results tipped in Tuesday night, Whitmer said he was “proud” of his state's “bred diversity, ideologies and cultures,” but said there was a “stark choice.” “It's time for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to come together and go all-in on November, and we'll continue to talk every day about what's at stake,” he said.

Apple has reportedly scrapped its self-driving electric car project

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Apple has reportedly scrapped its self-driving electric car project
  • By Mariko Oi
  • Business Correspondent

image source, Good pictures

A decade after the iPhone maker was rumored to be working on the project, Apple has reportedly scrapped plans to build electric vehicles (EV).

The company never publicly acknowledged the plan, which involved about two thousand people.

According to Bloomberg News, several employees from the project will be transferred to the iPhone maker's artificial intelligence (AI) division.

Apple did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

The Apple Car team was part of its CEO Tim Cook's Project Titan, known as the Special Projects team.

With billions of dollars spent on research and development, the company was initially rumored to be working on a fully autonomous vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals.

The team is understood to be several years away from producing a vehicle.

“This is a brilliant and long-awaited decision,” Ray Wang, founder and chief executive of Constellation Research, a Silicon Valley-based consultancy, told the BBC.

“There is no market demand for EVs, AI is all the action,” he added.

Demand for EVs has fallen in recent months due to high borrowing costs, which has made the market increasingly competitive as major players try to win over customers.

In recent months, US automakers Ford and General Motors have postponed plans to expand EV production.

Last week, electric truck maker Rivian announced it would cut its workforce by 10% and said it expects no growth in production this year.

The company, led by multi-billionaire Elon Musk, has been cutting prices in key markets around the world, including Europe and China, as it faces stiff competition from Chinese rivals such as BYD.

Macy's will close 150 stores but expand Bloomingdale's and Bloommercury

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Macy's will close 150 stores but expand Bloomingdale's and Bloommercury

Macy's said Tuesday it will drastically reshape its strategy and retail footprint, closing about 150 Macy's stores over the next three years while expanding its upscale Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury chains.

The moves mark the company's new chief executive Tony Spring's efforts to improve the profitability of the largest supermarket operator in the US and fend off a potential takeover bid.

It would be the Macy's chain's second-biggest reduction after 2020 and leave the company with 350 stores, slightly more than it had before the pandemic.

Macy's called the planned closings “less productive locations” that account for 25 percent of the company's total square footage but only 10 percent of sales. The company expects to incur costs of $600 million to $750 million by selling these stores and streamlining some of its warehouses.

In a call with analysts on Tuesday, Mr. Spring said.

He said the company will begin notifying workers that day at stores it plans to close. It plans to close around 50 stores this fiscal and the rest by the end of 2026.

Macy's did not identify the locations, but one is the San Francisco store in Union Square, according to Mayor London Breed's office. The store, which has been in the shopping district for generations, will remain open next year as Macy's searches for a new owner for the property, according to the mayor's office.

Bloomingdale's is expected to open 15 locations as Macy's shrinks its retail footprint. Bloommercury, the company's beauty chain, will add 30 stores and remodel others. As of November, there were 58 Bloomingdale's and 158 Bloommercury locations.

“There's less competition out there, but the problem is that it's not clear that the luxury department store really has a bright future,” said David Schwartz, a retail analyst at financial services firm Morningstar. “A lot of luxury labels do their own direct selling.”

Bloomingdale's e-commerce sales give the company hope that adding stores will boost digital sales in surrounding areas. About 80 percent of Bloomingdale's digital sales are in markets where it has physical stores, it said.

The company will open its smaller-format Bloomingdale's stores — known as Bloomy's — and storefronts over the next three years, Mr. Spring said on the call. In recent years, the company has been opening smaller stores in strip malls than in enclosed malls, which has been losing shoppers. “That's where the whole market is going,” Mr. Schwartz said.

“It makes sense to open Macy's stores in those smaller locations, but is it too late?” he said. “Other companies are already doing the same thing.”

The decision to fix the midmarket Macy's chain, while increasing the presence of luxury chains, Mr. It's a sign that Spring wants to change the company's overall image so consumers see it as a high-profile target. But that doesn't mean the company's stores will become more expensive places to shop.

“I don't believe in paying too much for taste and style; I don't think it should be reserved for the affluent,” said Mr. Vasantham said in an interview on Tuesday. “I think we need to do a better job with our content and our presentation and our marketing so that the customer is attracted to what we're selling.”

Customer research shows people want a better shopping experience at Macy's, the company said, with improved visual merchandising or additional assistance from store employees. It will help ensure such improvements, including selling some of its assets, reorganizing its merchandise assortment and adding more employees in areas such as the footwear and women's ready-to-wear sectors.

Macy's will increase the number of workers in some of its stores, use data to determine appropriate staffing levels and train workers on how to recommend products to shoppers and better assist them in fitting rooms.

After spending four decades at Bloomingdale's, Mr. Spring took the corporate reins at a challenging time. In December, an investor group submitted a bid to take Macy's private for $5.8 billion. The investors, Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management, said they could take their offer to shareholders as long as the retailer started sharing non-public information with them.

Activists have nominated nine people to Macy's board. The company said in a statement last week that the activists did not provide financial details and instead chose to launch a proxy contest. On Tuesday, Mr. Spring told analysts that Macy's board was evaluating candidates, but asked that their questions relate only to the retailer's financial results and its announced three-year strategy.

A representative of the investor groups did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

After an initial sales boost from consumer spending on all kinds of goods early in the pandemic, Macy's had a sales slump.

On Tuesday, the company reported earnings for the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season. Net sales of $8.1 billion were in line with analysts' estimates. Sales at both Macy's and Bloomingdale's were down from a year ago, while sales at Bluemercury rose 2.3 percent — a sign that shoppers continue to gravitate toward beauty and skin care categories.

The company said it will take a $1 billion charge related to restructuring and closing stores. Shares ended the trading day up nearly 3.4 percent.

Sales have fallen as Macy's struggles to win over the next generation of shoppers and compete in a world geared toward e-commerce.

“Macy's hasn't put its best foot forward to consumers, so consumers have abandoned it and shopped elsewhere,” said Neil Sanders, managing director of research firm Global Data. “This is a turning point for Macy's.”

Mr. Sanders said.

Before he officially took charge, Mr. Vasantham began to make his mark. In January, his outgoing chief executive, Jeff Genette, sent a memo to employees saying the company planned to cut about 2,300 jobs, or 13 percent of its corporate workforce, to better align customer behavior and its resources. To make decisions quickly. The company also said it will close a few stores.

The last major restructuring at Macy's took place in February 2020, when the company said it would close 125 stores and cut 2,000 jobs. Then the pandemic left many stores dark for weeks, forcing the retailer to scramble to improve its website and e-commerce offerings and figure out how to bring people into stores once they reopen.

Mr. Spring said Tuesday that “we won't bite off more than we can chew” as the company manages the remaining Macy's stores. “We will be thoughtful, methodical and dispassionate in our approach,” he said.

J. Edward Moreno Contributed report.

Macy's is closing 150 stores as part of a major turnaround effort

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Macy's is closing 150 stores as part of a major turnaround effort

Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

Shoppers carry Macy's bags during “Black Friday” in New York, Nov. 24, 2023, the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.



CNN
—

Macy's is getting a new, smaller, but more luxurious look, designed to turn around the struggling retailer and keep the century-and-a-half-old brand relevant to the fast-changing demands of shoppers.

First, Macy's needs to be scaled down. The company is closing 150 non-performing stores – 50 by the end of 2024 and another 100 over the next few years. By 2026, the company has announced that it will prioritize investing in just 350 Macy's stores.

Second, the company will focus on its successful Bloomingdale's and Bloommercury brands — luxury stores that outperform the Macy's brand. It will open more smaller versions of those stores over the next few years.

It's part of a turnaround effort in what the store calls a “bold new chapter” designed to fend off activist investors and boost the company's ailing stock price and sales.

Macy's and the entire department store industry are affected on all sides. Department stores have been pressured by the rise of Amazon, discount chains like TJ Maxx and the growing strength of online brands.

Macy's stock price is down 75% from a peak of $73 a share in 2015. Since then, it has closed nearly 300 stores — nearly a third of its locations — but still operates about 700 across its brands.

Last month, Macy's announced it About 3.5% of its workforce was laid offOr about 2,350 employees.

The company's struggles have caught the attention of activist investors. Macy declined An unsolicited $6 billion bid from an activist investor to take the iconic department store private last month. The activist group takes another shot at Macy's and begins a proxy fight to take control of the group.

Macy's (M) shares were slightly lower in premarket trading.

New CEO Tony Spring said in a statement that the “bold new chapter,” which has the full support of the company's board, was developed after extensive market research and will reinvigorate the Macy's brand.

Specifically, the new strategy will focus on improving Macy's digital store and narrowing down its offerings.

“A bold new chapter serves as a strong call to action,” Spring said in a statement. “It challenges the status quo to create a more modern Macy's.”

Spring said Macy's will improve the shopping experience for customers by focusing on brands and products that shoppers love. Macy's, an upscale brand that has struggled with rising prices over the past few years, said it was focusing on “compulsory value.”

This will lead to steady profit growth over time, predicts Vasant.

The closing of the Macy's locations will mean opening new stores for its luxury brands, the company said.

Macy's said it will open 15 new Bloomingdale's stores and 30 new Bloommercury locations over the next three years. It also plans to remodel 30 existing Bloommercury stores.

As inflation has picked up over the past two years, the retail market has become fragmented: lower-end stores that focus on cost-savings, such as Walmart, have fared better. But luxury brands should be as well, as shoppers have been able to maintain their spending despite higher prices.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Pistons coach Monty Williams blasts officials after loss to Knicks: 'That was an abomination'

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Pistons coach Monty Williams blasts officials after loss to Knicks: 'That was an abomination'

Monty Williams sat out Monday night's Detroit Pistons loss to the New York Knicks.

The Pistons head coach was furious with the officials after what he felt was a blatant missed call in a chaotic display in the final seconds at Madison Square Garden. Williams berated the referees and the league for a full minute before he stood up and left the interview room following a 113-111 loss to the Knicks.

“Worst call of the season, no call. Enough is enough,” Williams said. “We've done it the right way, we've called the league, we've sent out clips. We're just amazed that we're hearing the same thing over and over again. We had a chance to win the game and the guy stepped into Ausser's feet and there was no call. That's an abomination. You can't miss that in an NBA game. period.”

Those comments are sure to land Williams fines from the league in the coming days.

After a messy decision that the Pistons deemed a foul call in the final seconds, Monty Williams lashed out at the referees at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.After a messy decision that the Pistons deemed a foul call in the final seconds, Monty Williams lashed out at the referees at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

After a messy decision that the Pistons deemed a foul call in the final seconds, Monty Williams lashed out at the referees at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. (AP/Adam Hunger)

In his defense, it's easy to understand why he was so upset. The finish was truly chaotic in the final seconds on Monday night. Both teams struggled to maintain possession as the Knicks missed shots as the Pistons extended their one-point lead. After several missed shots and turnovers, Auser Thompson grabbed the ball and began to drive it down the court.

But before he could make any headway, Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo dove for the ball, taking out Thompson's legs in the process. No foul was called.

Jalen Brunson grabbed the loose ball and found Josh Hart, who made a layup and eventually hit a free throw to convert the three-point play and give the Knicks the win.

Although there was plenty of contact between DiVincenzo and Thompson, officials did not call a foul.

“That situation illustrates a scenario we've been dealing with all season, fair enough,” Williams said. “You can't dive into a guy's legs in a big-time game like this and not have a call. It's ridiculous, and we're tired. We want a fair game called period. And there's nothing else I can say. We want a fair game, and it's fair. No. I'm done.”

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau didn't want to get directly into the lineup after the game, but said he thought “in general, it was very physical” between the two teams.

“You can go back the whole game and make nitpick calls,” DiVincenzo said. Via Fred Katz of The Athletic. “Do I think we dodged a bullet overall? Yes. I have a lot of respect for Monty and everyone there. Like I said, we successfully dodged a bullet.”

Committee Chairman James Williams Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press said After the game, after reviewing the final play, they should have called a foul on DiVincenzo. But it didn't matter since it wasn't called this time.

Brunson led the Knicks with 35 points and 12 assists in the win, which brought them to 35-23 on the season, tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference. Hart added 23 points and eight rebounds, and DiVincenzo finished with 21 points after shooting 5-of-10 from behind the arc.

Kate Cunningham led the Pistons in the loss with 32 points. Jalen Duran added 11 points and 16 rebounds, and Thompson finished with seven points and four rebounds. The Pistons are just 8-49 this season, the worst record in the league, and they haven't won a game coming out of the All-Star break.

The Pistons face the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.

Lee Anderson refuses to apologize for Islamist claims about Sadiq Khan

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Lee Anderson refuses to apologize for Islamist claims about Sadiq Khan
  • By Kate Vannell
  • Political Correspondent, BBC News

image caption,

Former miner Lee Anderson joins the Conservative Party after previously working for a Labor MP

Former Tory deputy leader Lee Anderson said his words were clumsy, but refused to apologize for saying Sadiq Khan was controlled by Islamists.

Mr Anderson was suspended as a Tory MP following his comments, which he says stemmed from frustration with the London mayor's record.

Rishi Sunak said the Ashfield MP's comments were wrong, but stopped short of saying if he thought they were Islamophobic.

Sir Keir Starmer said the Prime Minister lacked the “spine” to call out Islamophobia.

The Labor leader told reporters: “It's very basic. Islamophobia is something every political leader needs to call out and the Prime Minister doesn't say it because he's so weak.”

“It shouldn't be difficult to call out vague, unbiased and racist views. But people at the top of Conservative government stubbornly refuse to do so.”

The uproar was sparked by comments Mr Anderson made during a GB news debate on Friday afternoon.

Mr Anderson said: “I don't really believe the Islamists have taken control of our country, but what I do believe is that they've got control of Khan, and they've got control of London, and they've got control. Starmer too.”

He then added: “People are coming in thousands, doing whatever they want, and they are laughing at our police. It has to do with Khan, he has really left our capital to his comrades.”

Mr Anderson had replied A daily newspaper article Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, in which she said: “The reality is that Islamists, extremists and anti-Semites are now in charge.”

Ms Braverman said Islamists had “bullied the Labor Party” over its stance on the war in Gaza and that some of the pro-Palestinian marchers had links to Islamists.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Sunak said Mr Anderson's words were “unacceptable, wrong and that's why the whip was suspended”.

He said parliamentarians had a “duty” not to provoke debate “to the detriment of others”.

The Prime Minister also denied that there were any Islamophobic tendencies in his party.

Asked whether an apology for Anderson's comments would allow him to be reinstated in the party, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “I'm not going to speculate on future decisions that the leadership whip might make…that would be a good start. An apology would require Lee to think about what he said, do what he was asked to do and retract those comments.” It is also to ask.

“Whether he does that is entirely up to him and we can judge accordingly.”

In a statement released via GB News – which uses the MP as a broadcaster – Mr Anderson said he would not be apologizing.

“You should never apologize when you think you are right, because doing so is a sign of weakness.

“My words may have been clumsy, but my words were full of frustration at what is happening to our beautiful capital city.”

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper told Mr Sunak to “clarify”. [Lee Anderson] We will not be allowed back into the Conservative Party.

'hate'

Labor leader Anneliese Dodds has urged the Conservatives to accept a definition of Islamophobia. has been drawn By the All Party Parliamentary Committee on British Muslims.

However, the Conservatives wanted to use the term “anti-Muslim hatred” instead, Business Secretary Kemi Patenock said, adding that the Labour-backed definition would create “a blasphemy law through the back door”.

Baroness Warsi said, “As you well know, a definition like the International Holocaust Remembrance Coalition's definition of anti-Semitism is a non-legally binding operational definition, not a 'law'.”

He added that “the government has dragged down any work to tackle this kind of racism”.

In 2019, the Conservative Party launched an inquiry into how it handles claims of discrimination following allegations of Islamophobic behaviour.

The report found evidence of anti-Muslim sentiment at the local federation and individual level, but said claims of “institutional racism” were not substantiated by the evidence.

'No Go Areas'

Asked about Mr Anderson's comments on BBC Radio London, Conservative MP and former London minister Paul Scully said some places such as Tower Hamlets in London and Sparkle in Birmingham had become “no-go areas”. Addressed”.

He said: “Lee tends to shoot from the hip. He sometimes goes too far. It was a case of him going too far.”

Birmingham Labor MP Jess Phillips urged Mr Scully to apologize for his comments about Sparkle, which he labeled “totally impulsive”.

Conservative West Midlands mayor Andy Street said: “The idea that there is a 'no-go' zone in Birmingham is news to me, and I doubt the good people of Sparkill. It's time for people in Westminster to stop the nonsense and experience. Real world.”

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Sunak disagreed with Mr Scully's comments: “The Prime Minister has spoken before about the value of different communities and societies in England.”

Defending his comments in an interview with BBC London, Mr Scully said he was referring to a “feeling”.

“There are areas where a small minority of people have difficulty mistaking their own doctrine because they are not in their religion, in their culture,” he said.

Mr Scully added: “If I have misspoken or caused offense, I apologise.”

Supreme Court to Consider Social Media Laws from Texas and Florida

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Supreme Court to Consider Social Media Laws from Texas and Florida

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a pair of cases that could fundamentally change conversation on the Internet by defining for the first time what rights social media companies have to control what their users post.

The court's decision, expected by June, will be the most important statement about the scope of the First Amendment in the Internet era, and will have major political and economic implications. A ruling that tech platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok do not have editorial discretion to decide what posts to allow will expose users to a range of viewpoints, but will certainly amplify the ugly aspects of the digital age, including hate speech and misinformation.

That, in turn, could be a blow to the business models of platforms that rely on curation to attract users and advertisers.

Supporters of the laws said the laws were an effort to combat so-called Silicon Valley censorship, whereby large social media companies have removed posts expressing conservative views. On January 6, 2021, after the attack on the Capitol, President Donald J. The laws were prompted in part by some sites' decisions to ban Trump.

Florida and Texas laws differ in their details. Florida prohibits sites from removing any content based on a user's viewpoint, while Texas prohibits sites from permanently blocking candidates for political office.

“To generalize a bit” Judge Andrew S. Oldham wrote A decision establishing Texas lawFlorida law “prohibits All Censorship Some Speakers,” a “ban from Texas Some Censorship All Speakers” based on the ideas they express.

Two trade associations challenging the state laws — NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association — said the actions Judge Oldham called censorship constituted editorial choices that are generally protected by the First Amendment, which prohibits government restrictions on speech based on content and viewpoint.

The groups said social media companies are entitled to the same constitutional protections that newspapers enjoy, and that they are generally free to publish what they want without government interference.

States responded that websites were common carriers for everyone's messages, and that laws protected free speech by ensuring that users had access to multiple viewpoints.

Federal appeals courts in 2022 made conflicting decisions on the constitutionality of the two laws.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit Largely established Preliminary Injunction Restraining Florida Law.

“Social Media Sites Inherently Express Editorial Judgment” Judge Kevin C. Newsom Wrote to the group. “When sites choose to remove users or posts, prioritize content in visitors' feeds or search results, or permit violations of their community standards, they engage in First Amendment-protected activity.”

But a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit was divided The lower court reversed the order Blocking Texas law.

“We reject the sites' attempt to sever independent censorship from the Constitution's guarantee of free speech,” Justice Oldham wrote for the majority. “Platforms are not newspapers. Their censorship is not speech.

The Biden administration supports social media companies in both cases, Moody v. Net ChoiceNo. 22-277, et seq NetChoice v. PaxtonNo. 22-555.

The Supreme Court blocked the Texas law in 2022, while the case moved forward by a 5-to-4 vote. An unusual alliance in discontent. The three most conservative members of the court—Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas, and Neil M. Gorsuch – filed a rebuttal asking that they allow the law to take effect. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan also dissented, but she did not join the dissent and did not give her reasons.

Justice Alito wrote that the issues were so novel and significant that the Supreme Court should consider them at some point. He said he's skeptical of the argument that social media companies have the same First Amendment-protected editorial discretion as newspapers and other traditional publishers.

“It is unclear how our current paradigms from the pre-Internet age apply to large social media companies,” he wrote.

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