SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Facebook Inc. is adding tools on Wednesday to make it easier for users to report so-called “revenge porn” and to automatically prevent the images from being shared again once they have been banned, the company said.
“Revenge porn” refers to the sharing of sexually explicit images on the Internet, without the consent of the people depicted in the pictures, in order to extort or humiliate them. The practice disproportionately affects women, who are sometimes targeted by former partners.
Facebook has been sued in the US and elsewhere by people who said it should have done more to prevent the practice. The company in 2015 made clear that images “shared in revenge” were forbidden, and users have long had the ability to report posts as violating the terms of service.
Beginning on Wednesday, users of the world’s largest social network should see an option to report a picture as inappropriate specifically because it is a “nude photo of me,” Facebook said in a statement.
The company also said it was launching an automated process to prevent the repeat sharing of banned images. Photo-matching software will keep the pictures off the core Facebook network as well as off its Instagram and Messenger services, it said.
Users who share “revenge porn” may see their accounts disabled, the company said.
Facing criticism, the company last year met representatives from more than 150 women’s safety organizations and decided it needed to do more, Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Facebook, said in a phone interview.
A specially trained group of Facebook employees will provide human review of each reported image, Davis said.
The process to prevent repeat sharing requires Facebook to retain the banned pictures in a database, although the images are blurred and only a small number of employees have access to the database, the company said.
Prosecutors and lawmakers have also sought ways to prevent the spread of “revenge porn,” seeking additional penalties for a practice that they said has ruined careers and families and even led to suicide. (Reporting by David Ingram)
Facebook to use photo-matching to block repeat ‘revenge porn’
Facebook to use photo-matching to block repeat ‘revenge porn’
Jacquemus unveils new campaign shot in Egypt
DUBAI: French fashion house Jacquemus on Wednesday unveiled its latest campaign, “La croisière,” set entirely in Egypt and captured over a 24-hour journey from Cairo to Aswan.
The campaign, shot by Egyptian photographer and director Mohamed Sherif, starred Brazilian-New Zealand model Angelina Kendall and Egyptian model Mohamed Hassan, and merged high fashion with Egypt’s historic and natural landscapes.
It features striking visuals in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza, along the Nile River, on a wooden riverside deck, and in lush farmlands surrounded by palm trees.
In the pictures and videos, Kendall was seen wearing pieces from Jacquemus’ collection, including a voluminous polka-dotted coat with exaggerated sleeves and a long train, a bold red dress, and a sculptural banana-printed two-piece ensemble, among other looks.
Meanwhile, Hassan wore an off-white suit with a relaxed fit, a yellow-and-white striped shirt tucked into wide-leg black trousers, and an all-black ensemble featuring an open-collar shirt and high-waisted trousers.
Accompanying the still images, a series of short videos that captured the journey, showcasing the scenery from Cairo to Aswan, were released on social media.
Lebanon’s former interior minister appears before Beirut port blast investigator
- Judge Bitar resumed his investigation earlier this year following prolonged legal and political obstacles
DUBAI: Former Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk appeared before Judge Tarek Bitar on Thursday as part of the ongoing investigation into the 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Machnouk arrived at the judge’s office accompanied by his attorney, Naoum Farah, the National News Agency reported.
The interrogation session began shortly after their arrival, marking a significant step in the judicial probe into one of Lebanon’s most devastating tragedies, which killed over 200 people and injured thousands.
Judge Bitar resumed his investigation earlier this year following prolonged legal and political obstacles.
Trump hails ‘big progress’ in Japan tariff talks
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump touted “big progress” in tariff talks with Japan on Wednesday, in one of the first rounds of face-to-face negotiations since his barrage of duties on global imports roiled markets and stoked recession fears.
Japan had not expected the president to get involved in Wednesday’s talks, viewing them as a preliminary, fact-finding mission, a sign that Trump wants to keep tight control over negotiations with dozens of countries expected over coming days and weeks.
Tokyo had also been hoping to limit the scope of the talks to trade and investment matters. But announcing his involvement early Wednesday, Trump said thorny issues including the amount Japan pays towards hosting US troops were among discussion topics.
“A Great Honor to have just met with the Japanese Delegation on Trade. Big Progress!” Trump said in a social media message that contained no details of the discussions.
Opposite Trump was Ryosei Akazawa, a close confidant of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba who serves in the relatively junior cabinet position of economic revitalisation minister.
Speaking to reporters after the talks, Akazawa gave few details but said the parties had agreed to hold a second meeting later this month and that Trump had said getting a deal with Japan was a “top priority.”
Exchange rates, which the Trump administration has said Japan and others manipulate to get a trade advantage, were not part of the talks, Akazawa added.
The dollar strengthened against the yen after his remarks on forex, up around 0.5 percent on the day. Tokyo denies it manipulates its yen currency lower to get make its exports cheaper.
Akazawa held a 50-minute meeting with Trump at the White House before another session with his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that stretched to almost an hour and a half, according to Japanese readouts of the talks.
Japan’s prime minister, who has previously said he won’t rush to reach a deal and does not plan to make big concessions, sounded a more cautious tone speaking to reporters later in Tokyo.
“Of course, the negotiations will not be easy going forward, but President Trump has stated that he wants to give top priority to the talks with Japan,” Ishiba said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni heads to the White House on Thursday to discuss tariffs imposed on the EU with Trump, while Bessent has invited South Korea’s finance minister to Washington for talks next week.
FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE
Trump has long complained about the US trade deficit with Japan and other countries, saying US businesses have been “ripped off” by trade practices and intentional efforts by other countries to maintain weak currencies.
Japan has been hit with 24 percent levies on its exports to the US although these rates have, like most of Trump’s tariffs, been paused for 90 days. But a 10 percent universal rate remains in place as does a 25 percent duty for cars, a mainstay of Japan’s export-reliant economy.
Bessent has said there is a “first mover advantage” given Washington has said more than 75 countries have requested talks since Trump announced sweeping duties on dozens of countries — both friend and foe — earlier this month.
Akazawa declined to comment on the matter, adding only that he strongly requested a revocation of the tariffs and that he believed Washington wanted to secure a deal in the 90-day window.
Washington is hoping to strike deals with countries that would cover tariffs, non-tariff barriers and exchange rates, Bessent has said, though Tokyo had lobbied to keep the latter separate.
Trump earlier this month lambasted Japan for what he said was a 700 percent tariff on rice, a figure Tokyo disputes. Levies on autos are particularly painful for Japan as they make up nearly a third of shipments to the US, its biggest export market.
Japan hopes that pledges to expand investment in the US will help to convince the US that the allies can achieve a “win-win” situation without tariffs.
Possible Japanese investment in a multi-billion-dollar gas project in Alaska could also feature in tariff negotiations, Bessent said before Wednesday’s talks.
“It sounds like the Trump administration really does want a quick deal, which suggests it will be a less substantive deal,” said Tobias Harris of Japan Foresight, a political risk advisory.
“My baseline is that if the US really starts making demands on agriculture and maybe also on some of the auto regulations, it becomes a lot more contentious and hard to do quickly.”
Cartel recruitment at heart of Mexico’s missing persons crisis
- Jalisco New Generation Cartel lures recruits with fake job adverts, according to the government
- Disappearances have soared in Mexico since the government declared war on drug trafficking
GUADALAJARA, Mexico: When Rubi Cruz recognized her husband’s belongings among personal items found at a suspected Mexican drug cartel training camp, she feared the worst – that he had become a victim of forced recruitment.
The discovery of bones, shoes and clothing at a ranch in the western state of Jalisco has shone a spotlight on the ruthless tactics of violent criminal groups in a country where more than 120,000 people are missing.
Cruz’s husband Fermin Hernandez, then 33, was kidnapped in 2021 from his home in the town of Tala near the Izaguirre ranch by gunmen who shot him in the leg.
She spotted what she believes are his personal items, including a wallet and T-shirt, in images released by a civil society group that went to look for the remains of missing persons at the site last month.
“I felt a lot of pain, a lot of sadness,” the 31-year-old restaurant worker told AFP, her husband’s image and the words “your wife is looking for you” printed on her long-sleeved T-shirt.
According to the government, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the drug trafficking groups designated terrorist organizations by US President Donald Trump, lured recruits with fake job adverts.
They were given firearms and other training at the Izaguirre ranch, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said last month, based on the testimony of an alleged cartel recruiter who was arrested.
“They even took the lives of people who resisted the training or tried to escape,” he said.
Disappearances have soared in Mexico since the government declared war on drug trafficking groups in 2006.
Around 480,000 people have been murdered in a spiral of violence since then.
Veronica Cruz – of no relation to Rubi Cruz – fears her son Robert Reyes is also a victim of forced recruitment by a drug cartel.
The teenager disappeared a year ago after traveling to Jalisco, lured by an offer of work painting houses.
Robert’s mother, 42, believes he was also at the Izaguirre ranch because he once sent a message from the area.
She had tried to keep him away from the neighborhood’s gangs and drugs, but said she never imagined her son would be forced to join a cartel.
At the age of 16, the high school dropout traveled from his home in a suburb near Mexico City to Jalisco a year ago to earn money to buy a motorcycle, disobeying his mother.
Weeks later, he called his sister, crying.
“I’m a hitman. My friend was just killed... If I don’t get out of here, I’ll watch over you from heaven,” he said, according to his mother.
Later, a man who said he was Robert’s friend wrote to his sister via social media to tell her that he had died in a shootout.
“I thought hitmen wanted to do that work. I never thought cartels were taking people away,” his mother said.
The government says it has taken down dozens of social media pages recruiting for criminal groups.
But on video-sharing app TikTok, jobs are still offered in Jalisco with “meals and lodging,” featuring nicknames for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Jalisco state accounts for 12 percent of the roughly 127,000 missing people in Mexico, mainly young men.
Many disappearances are linked to forced recruitment because gangs need armies to control their territory and to generate illicit income, according to Jorge Ramirez, a researcher at the University of Guadalajara.
The victims are often poor young people without access to education, he said.
In 2024, around 30 young people were reported to have disappeared after attending what they believed would be job interviews in the Jalisco state capital Guadalajara.
Despite her fears, Rubi Cruz still hopes to find her husband alive.
Veronica Cruz’s optimism has waned, but she still wants answers.
“Maybe I’m not looking for justice, but I want to know where my son is – whatever it takes,” she said.
