FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
PARIS – On the evening of November 13, 2015, Nohemi Gonzalez, 23, met American and French friends at the tables at Carillon, the bar at the intersection of Via Bichat and Via Alibert in east Paris. The daughter of Mexican immigrants from Whittier near Los Angeles, the first in the family to go to college, was about to end her six-month exchange degree in France and was due to return to California in February to study design.

At 9:25 p.m., after the explosions at the Stade de France, the second Islamic State terrorist cell went into action and shot at the boys sitting in front of the bar. A few hours later, her mother Beatrice received the news in her hair salon in Whittier: Nohemi was killed, she is the only American victim of the attacks on the restaurants and the Bataclan.

In the weeks and months that followed, the world tried to understand the nature of the Islamic State, how the organization recruited its soldiers, how children born and raised in Belgium or France could choose to massacre the innocent. Apparently, areas of study included the internet and social media and their clever use first by al Qaeda and then by Isis. An Israeli NGO, Shurat HaDin, which fights terrorism through lawsuits, has suggested Nohemi Gonzalez’s parents sue Google, YouTube’s parent company: The Islamic State is allowed to distribute its propaganda videos on the site, and if the YouTube algorithm then rejects them had come to the fore, Google would have been responsible for the involuntary complicity with the terrorists.

The case, which has been ongoing for years, arrives today before the US Supreme Court, which must rule on the “26 words that form the foundation of the Internet”: ie Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 statute which prohibits platforms for content created by others are punishable. According to Section 230, YouTube, but also Twitter or Facebook, are not regarded as publishers, but as simple distributors of third-party material.

The lawyers for the Gonzalez family and the NGO Shurat HaDin deny precisely this form of irresponsibility: “The videos consulted on YouTube are the main way in which Isis has received support and new recruits outside the territories of Syria and Iraq”. Therefore, according to the complainants, Section 230 must be repealed or at least amended: sites with billions of users could not limit themselves to banning pornographic content as they do today, but would also have to control other dangerous content such as Islamist propaganda videos.

The petition to the Supreme Court is based on a fundamental aspect: automatic algorithms suggest specific videos based on users’ preferences and what they have seen before. If YouTube, albeit unwittingly, favors certain images over others, it’s difficult to argue that the platform has no editorial function. But Section 230 defenders point out that without this protection, the Internet as we have known it could no longer function. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and Jack Dorsey, former head of Twitter, have spoken out in favor of an overhaul in the past, but so far without consequences.

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MADRID, February 20 (RHC) – The directors of the Union of Ibero-American Capitals (UCCI) began a meeting in Madrid on Monday with the aim of consolidating relations between Europe and Latin America.

Also, at the 18th Meeting of the Group’s International Relations Directors here, they will attempt to outline the objectives of the UCCI General Assembly, which will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the second half of 2023.

The Mayor of Madrid and co-chair of the organization, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, met with the event’s delegates and regional coordinators today.

The Secretary General of the UCCI, Almudena Maíllo, was responsible for opening the event, which will set the bases for the actions to be carried out in the coming months.

The official expected the imminent signing of new agreements with some of the most important universities in Spain and Latin America, as well as an increase in technical cooperation promoted by the UCCI.

The Ibero-American Bank of Good Practices, a reference point for the entire universe of international local management, and the Atlas of Ibero-American cities and capitals are tools promoted by the UCCI, he said.

For their part, the Director General of the UCCI, Ana Román, and the participants of the conference spoke about the topics to be debated and will vote in São Paulo.

The meeting in Madrid will be attended by representatives from Andorra la Vella, Asunción, Barcelona, ​​Bogotá, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Cádiz, Guatemala City, La Paz, Lima, Lisbon, Madrid, Mexico City, Montevideo, and Quito Rio de Janeiro, San Jose, San Juan, San Salvador, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Sucre and Tegucigalpa. (Source:PL)

The president of the Spanish state railway company Renfe and a member of the government fell into an embarrassing affair. The railroad ordered 31 trains worth a total of 258 million euros, too large for some of the tunnels in the intended area of ​​operation in the north of the country.

About three weeks after the scandal was discovered, Renfe president Isaías Táboas resigned on Monday, state television broadcaster RTVE reported. The Secretary of State for the Ministry of Transport, Isabel Pardo, has also made her position available.

two years late

Transport Minister Raquel Sánchez accepted both resignations, she said, citing the Madrid government. According to the authorities, the error will lead to a delay in the commissioning of the new trains by at least two years until 2026. The prime ministers of the affected regions of Cantabria and Asturias wanted to meet with Sánchez in Madrid late Monday afternoon to negotiate financial compensation.

Although the request had already been made in 2020, the Spanish train disaster only came to light at the end of January through a report by the regional newspaper El Comercio. The central government has already admitted the error, but stated that the taxpayer did not suffer any financial loss because the trains, which were very wide, had not yet been built. After several warnings, the entire production process ended up being stopped. Madrid published the new order for transport manufacturer CAF on Saturday.

network renewal

The new trains are intended to replace the outdated fleet in regions that are not as well connected to the national rail network. The rail network in Cantabria and Asturias dates mainly from the 19th century and runs through a mountainous landscape. The tunnels in the two regions still have different dimensions, which do not always correspond to modern railway standards in Spain.