Holding the Internet – and ourselves – to a higher standard

December 14, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

After recent terrorist attacks, there's a push to regulate the Internet more tightly. That's a positive sign, especially since it seems to be coming from users.

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Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front collapsed in French regional elections Sunday after dominating the first round of voting, pollsters projected. The conservatives appeared to have surged against the governing Socialists, with the far right relegated to its traditional third place in the polls. Le Pen had been riding high after extremist attacks and an unprecedented wave of migration into Europe, and the party came out on top in six of France's 13 newly drawn regions in the first-round vote a week ago. But projections by France's major polling firms suggested the party lost in all of the regions Sunday, including decisive losses for both Le Pen and her popular niece.

Diplomats trying to help Libya emerge from the chaos that terrorists have exploited said Sunday that rival political factions in the North African country need to accept an immediate cease-fire and embrace a UN-brokered plan aimed at creating a "secure, democratic, prosperous and unified state." "We refuse to stand by and watch a vacuum filled by terrorists because all of us are unwilling to do what's necessary to help people who want their freedom, want their independence, want their country back," US Secretary of State John Kerry said after a conference that drew officials from 17 countries, the European Union, the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations, as well as 15 Libyan leaders.

CNN is inviting Gov. Chris Christie back to prime-time in the upcoming Republican presidential debate. The New Jersey governor, who had been dropped from the main stage during the last debate, is one of nine Republican presidential candidates to qualify for the network's prime-time event on Tuesday. Also among them: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who was "on the bubble" of qualifying late last week, the network said. Front-runner Donald Trump will appear at center stage, flanked by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz, who is surging in Iowa. Other GOP hopefuls who qualified for the main stage include Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Violence from coordinated attacks on three Burundian army installations killed 87 people, an army spokesman said Saturday, showing the escalating turmoil over the disputed third term of President Pierre Nkurunziza. More than 150 armed men raided the army facilities Friday and 79 of them were killed, army spokesman Col. Gaspard Baratuza said Saturday. Eight security agents, four from the army and four from police, also died in the fighting and 21 security officers were wounded, he said. Baratuza said forces arrested 45 members of the unidentified group that attacked the military installations. At least 240 people have been killed since April and about 215,000 others have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.

Two days of high-level talks between North and South Korea ended Saturday with no breakthroughs, South Korean officials said, leaving mixed signals about reconciliation efforts the rivals have made since stepping away from a military standoff in August. The meeting of vice-ministerial officials in the town of Kaesong was not expected to produce any substantial results, but analysts had considered the talks a sign that the rivals were working to keep alive an atmosphere of dialogue — something they've often failed to do in the wake of conflict. After the talks stretched in the evening on Saturday, as they had done on Friday, they ended without any statement from either side. The countries were also unable to fix a date for a further meeting, South Korean officials said.

Seattle may soon become the first city to let drivers of ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft collectively bargain over pay and working conditions, a move opposed by the companies and one seen as a test case for the changing 21st century workforce. The city council is to vote Monday on whether to extend collective bargaining rights for drivers of taxis, for-hire transportation companies and app-based ride-hailing services that are part of the growing on-demand economy. A national leader on workers' rights, Seattle was among the first cities to pass laws to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 and require most employers to provide paid sick leave.

What’s preventing a mid-air collision between drones and manned aircraft? Not much. Last week, a report showed 241 close encounters between drones and manned aircraft have been reported. In 28 of incidents meeting the Federal Aviation Administration’s definition of a near-collision, pilots had veer out of the way of an incoming drone. Analysis of the incidents conducted by Bard College’s Center for the Study of the Drone found that 90 of the near-misses involved commercial jets.

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