NATION & WORLD IN BRIEF

Google fires 28 employees who protested Israel cloud contract

Google has terminated 28 employees after dozens of workers participated in sit-ins inside company offices earlier this week to protest the tech giant’s work in Israel amid the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The protests, organized by the No Tech for Apartheid campaign, raised concerns about Google and Amazon’s $1.2-billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government and military. The campaign is demanding that Google and Amazon drop the effort, known as Project Nimbus.

The advocacy group staged protests and sit-ins on Tuesday at Google office locations in New York and Sunnyvale, California, where nine Google employees were arrested for trespassing. The campaign said the firings included people who did not directly participate in the sit-in protests.

Google said the employees had violated company policy.

In a letter to Google staff, Google vice president of global security Chris Rackow said the workers were terminated after an internal investigation, adding that their actions ran afoul of the company’s code of conduct and harassment rules.

Kennedy family endorses President Biden in bid to counter RFK Jr.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called it an “incredible honor” as he received endorsements from more than a dozen members of the Kennedy family, in a public show of force aimed at undercutting the presidential campaign of independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Biden, flanked by his rival’s siblings on stage at the event in Philadelphia, spoke of the family’s legacy and their impact on his own political life, calling their father — the former US senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy — and Martin Luther King Jr. the

“only two political heroes I had growing up.”

“I remember to keep looking and remind myself what they would do in tough calls,” Biden said, referencing the busts of Kennedy and King he keeps in the Oval Office.

Kerry Kennedy, the sister of the third-party candidate, introduced Biden and was joined by fellow siblings including Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former Maryland lieutenant governor; filmmaker Rory Kennedy; former Congressman Joe Kennedy

II, Christopher Kennedy, and Maxwell Kennedy Sr.

Kerry Kennedy said there were “only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency” and focused her attacks on Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, including for spreading conspiracy theories on climate change, vaccines and voter fraud.

“He’s the most antidemocratic president in American history,” she said.

While she did not mention her brother by name, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promoted conspiracy theories about vaccines, antidepressants, the connection between HIV and AIDS, and whether Wi-fi can cause cancer.

An FDA warning about droopy eyelids, blurred vision and fake Botox in nine states

“Harmful reactions” from women in nine states led to alerts from the FDA and CDC this week about fake Botox, unlicensed medical facilities and unlicensed people giving the shots.

The agencies say the “adverse event” reports came from 19 women in Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Nebraska, Tennessee and Washington. The youngest was 25, the CDC said, and the oldest 59.

Nine women were hospitalized and four were given botulism antitoxin to prevent the botulinum toxin (Botox) from spreading to other parts of the body.

“Eighteen people reported receiving (Botox) injections for cosmetic purposes,” the

CDC said. “All people reported receiving these injections from unlicensed or untrained individuals or in non-healthcare settings, including homes and spas.”

Botulism commonly causes labored breathing, a hard time swallowing, weakened musculture, droopy eyelids and blurred vision or “seeing double.”

In addition to those symptoms, the CDC and FDA said, the 19 women dealt with incontinence, dry mouth, slurred speech, fatigue, difficulty raising the head; and general weakness.

Georgians claimed more than $109 million in deductions for ‘unborn dependents’

ATLANTA — More than 36,000 Georgians used a new “unborn dependents” deduction in 2022, lowering their taxable income by about $109 million, state officials say.

The new deduction is the result of Georgia’s 2019 abortion law, which allows expectant parents to claim an embryo or fetus as a dependent on their taxes. Georgia is the only state known to have that kind of deduction.

The exemption for 2022 was worth $3,000 per embryo or fetus, as it is for other minor dependents, which results in about a $170 tax benefit. Only people who were pregnant by or after July 20, 2022, when Georgia’s law took effect, were eligible for the tax break.

The General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year that would increase the per-child deduction to $4,000.

Richard Auxier, a principal policy associate in the Washington-based Urbanbrookings Tax Policy Center, said, as a ballpark estimate, Georgia lost — and parents saved — about $6 million in state revenue.

Iran tells UN it’s ready to de-escalate if Israel stops ‘adventurism’

Iran is prepared to de-escalate tensions with Israel provided that it agrees to stop further military moves against Tehran’s interests, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian said at the United Nations.

“Iran’s legitimate defense and countermeasures have been concluded,” Amir-abdollahian told the U.N. Security Council Thursday. Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests.” If not, he said, Iran will “give a decisive and proper response” that will make Israel “regret its actions.”

Amir-abdollahian said that Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend was “limited and minimal,” targeting only military bases. It was in response to an earlier Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate facility in Syria, he said. But Israeli officials have vowed to respond to the Iranian attack last weekend, even though the vast majority of incoming missiles and drones were stopped by Israel and allies including the U.S. and U.K.

US blocks full UN membership for Palestinians

WASHINGTON — The United States is once again opposing Palestinian efforts to gain full membership in the United Nations.

The U.S. vetoed a Palestinian membership application Thursday, ending the latest debate on the issue at the U.N. Security Council and again squashing Palestinian statehood aspirations, at least for now.

Despite U.S. opposition, there was overwhelming support on the 15-nation Security Council for the Palestinian bid. U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said the devastating war between Israel and the militant group Hamas in Gaza has only made the statehood goal more urgent.

The vote Thursday was 12 in favor of membership for Palestinians with one abstention plus the U.S. veto.

“Recent escalations make it even more important to support good-faith efforts to find lasting peace between Israel and a fully independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Guterres told the Security Council.

But the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomasgreenfield, said ahead of the expected vote that her country’s opposition has not changed.

“Our position is that the issue of full Palestinian membership is a decision that should be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians,” said her deputy, Robert Wood.

Source: Tribune News Service