Social media giant Meta has agreed to a $18bn (£13.3bn) settlement with US states and territories to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children.

A California judge approved the settlement, which Meta must pay to 48 states, plus the District of Columbia and three US territories, marking the company’s largest payment over child safety litigation to date.

Meta will also implement a host of changes aimed at better protecting kids online, which the states had demanded, including default daily time limits and night-time blocks.

Meta has denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said on Wednesday that the payment it agreed to “will be distributed in annual instalments over a 10-year period”.

Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews

For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#BBCNews

source

Convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić has died in a UN prison at The Hague aged 84.

He was jailed for life in 2017 for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in 1992-95.

BBC News explores the details of who Ratko Mladić was, what his crimes were, and what unfolded at his trial.

Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews

For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#BosnianSerbianWar #RatkoMladic #TheHague #Bosnia #Serbia #BBCNews

source

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told the BBC that PC Andrew Harper’s killers will remain behind bars as he announces changes to the early release scheme aimed at easing prison overcrowding. 

In an exclusive interview with BBC Breakfast, Burnham said anyone convicted of manslaughter will be excluded from changes brought in under the Sentencing Act, which would have made the killers eligible for early release. 

Burnham said extra prison spaces would be created by deporting “hundreds” of foreign prisoners and releasing some inmates serving indefinite sentences. 

Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews 

For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#BBCNews #UKPolitics

source

Twenty-seven people have been killed and almost 400 evacuated after a Russian strike hit a warehouse near Kyiv, triggering a fire and a series of explosions.

Regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said a further 42 people, including four children, were injured after the Russian drone strike in the Bucha district.

An investigation has been launched into whether ammunition was being stored at the site, where search and rescue operations were ongoing early on Saturday.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement that its forces had targeted “an ammunition depot” in the Kyiv region village of Myla, which stores “components and launch boosters for FP-1/FP-2 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of the strike, saying that more than 300 emergency respondents had been deployed to the strike area.

Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews

For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news

#Ukraine #Russia #BBCNews

source

Norway’s King Harald V has died at the age of 89, after he was taken to hospital last week for treatment for a rare blood condition.

source