Senators promise to bring social media regulations to a vote by year's end

By Elleiana Green and Shravya Pant, 

Medill News Service

"I'm tired of waiting" for bills regulating social media, said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology during a hearing in Washington on Tuesday. 

File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A Meta whistleblower sounded the alarm to Congress in testimony Tuesday about Instagram's product design, alleging that the popular social media platform knowingly created products at the expense of teens' mental health and safety.

In response, senators on both sides of the aisle announced their commitment to bringing a floor vote to key social media regulation bills by the end of the calendar year.
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"I'm tired of waiting," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the subcommittee's chairman, joined Hawley's pledge to bring a vote before 2024.

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Former senior Meta engineer Arturo Bejar's appearance came after a federal lawsuit against the tech giant filed by 41 state attorneys general just last month.

The lawsuit was spurred by issues Bejar raised while working for the company since 2009, including internal data showing that 1-in-8 13- to 15-year-olds experienced an unwanted sexual advance within the past seven days on Instagram. But he said he was ignored when he contacted the company's executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"Meta knows the harm that kids experience on the platform," Bejar said. "The executives know that their measures fail to address it."

After seeing his own 14-year-old daughter subjected to repeated sexual advances while using the platform, Bejar said he was motivated to create change and returned to Meta in 2019.

He was appointed by Meta executives as a safety and well-being consultant and created goals for the company based on his daughter's experiences.

Bejar said Meta's safety measures, which rely on machine-learning models and automated processes to regulate user behavior, were not doing enough to catch inappropriate content.

"There are certain features being developed in response to public outcry which was, in reality, a placebo," Bejar said. "Rather than being based on user experience data, they were based on very deliberately narrow definitions of harm."

While at Meta, he developed the "Bad Emotional Experience Feedback" user survey, which found that 26% of users under 16 years old said they had a bad experience on the app due to race, religion or identity-based hostility in the past week.

The data also found that Instagram users were 100 times more likely to notify the platform that they witnessed bullying on the app than Meta's internal statistics said they would.

After sharing these suggestions with executives in 2021, Bejar said that the company was not receptive. He went public with The Wall Street Journal about his experiences and Meta's response, which ultimately prompted legislators and attorneys general to take bipartisan action.

"These are no longer companies that started in a garage with two guys tinkering around with platforms on computers in their college dorm rooms," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. "These are real lives that are being lost."

Klobuchar was joined by other lawmakers in emphasizing these statistics represent actual lives being lost. Federal health authorities, including officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the surgeon general, have pointed to the dangerous effects of social media on teen mental well-being amid rising suicide rates.

With dopamine-manipulating features and addictive algorithms, lawmakers likened the need for social media regulation to actions taken toward tobacco companies.

"Social media is looking more and more like tobacco," Blumenthal said. "We have another addictive product where Big Tech, like Big Tobacco, is saying, 'It's the parent's responsibility. It's the kids. It's not our product.'"

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., highlighted Meta's influence, noting it spent more than $19.2 million on lobbying the federal government in 2021. Graham urged his colleagues to "follow the money trail" and reject funds from these companies to curtail their power in government until they change.

"They successfully shut down every meaningful piece of legislation every year," Hawley said. "We'll get all kinds of speeches in committee, we'll get speeches on the floor about how we have to act, and then this body will do nothing. Why? Money."

By bringing bipartisan legislation to the floor for a vote, Hawley said, those lawmakers who are bought out by Big Tech would be forced to make a decision.

Lawmakers advocated for measures such as enabling users to opt out of algorithm-based recommendations and providing third-party researchers with algorithmic datasets from social media companies to better understand minors' safety.

Blumenthal assured the subcommittee that he would work with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to bring a vote for bills related to the issue before the end of the year.

RADICAL ECOLOGISTS

Javelinas repeatedly tear up the turf at Arizona golf course

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Officials at an Arizona golf course said costs are quickly mounting from vandalism by a pack of local troublemakers -- pig-like javalinas.

Javelinas, also known as peccaries, musk hogs and skunk pigs, have repeatedly ravaged the turf at the 7,000-yard Seven Canyons golf club in Sedona in their search for worms.

"When you come upon them and see them, it's like The Tasmanian devil," Seven Canyons general manager Dave Bisbee told CNN. "There's turf flying all over the place, there's grunting, there's fighting. For rather small creatures, they do a lot of damage."

Arizona law forbids the killing or injuring of javelinas, and wildlife officials will only relocate the animals as a last resort, as they rarely survive long after being taken from familiar surroundings.

Bisbee said the club put up fencing to try to keep the animals out, but officials are now considering more robust barriers after the javelinas continued to tear up the course.

"We've been working really closely with game and fish and forestry service here to figure out ways to co-exist with them," Bisbee told KSAZ-TV.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Citi fined $25.9 million for intentionally discriminating against Armenian Americans


Citi was ordered Wednesday to pay a $25.9 million fine for intentionally discriminating against Armenian American credit card applicants. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered the fine. 

Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Wednesday ordered Citi to pay a $25.9 million fine Wednesday for intentionally and illegally discriminating against Armenian American credit card applicants.

"The CFPB found that Citi purposefully discriminated against applicants of Armenian descent, primarily based on the spelling of their last name," said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a statement. "Citi stereotyped Armenians as prone to crime and fraud. In reality, Citi illegally fabricated documents to cover up its discrimination."

Citi will pay $24.5 million in fines to the CFPB's victims relief fund. It will have to pay an additional $1.4 million directly to affected customers.

According to the CFPB, from at least 2015 through 2021 Citi treated Armenian Americans as criminals who were likely to commit fraud.

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"Citi targeted retail services credit card applicants with surnames that Citi employees associated with Armenian national origin as well as applicants in or around Glendale, California," the CFPB statement said. "The bank specifically targeted surnames ending in "-ian" and "-yan." Nicknamed "Little Armenia," Glendale is home to approximately 15% of the Armenian American population in the U.S."

Denying credit intentionally to entire groups of people based on national origin is illegal

The CFPB said Citi denied credit based on borrower's ancestry and employees were instructed to avoid discussing the illegal discriminatory practice in writing or in recorded phone calls.

Citi also gave borrowers fake reasons for credit denials.

In an example cited by the CFPB, a Citi employee asked for a suggestion on how to cover up the discrimination.

"The response was to decline the credit card application due to suspected credit abuse, which essentially blamed the applicant for the denial," the CFPB statement said.

In 2018 Citi paid $100 million after an investigation by 42 state attorneys general found fraudulent conduct in manipulating a benchmark interest rate called Libor that set global lending rates.

In announcing that settlement the then-New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said Citi made millions of dollars from the alleged fraudulent conduct.

In 2016 Citi also agreed to pay fines totaling $425 million for attempting to rig benchmark interest rates to resolve claims by the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

ANOTHER ONE

NOV. 8, 2023 

GM's Cruise recalls all its autonomous vehicles after California pedestrian incident

GM-owned Cruise recalled all of its autonomous vehicles on Tuesday. 

Photo courtesy Cruise

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The General Motors-owned driverless vehicle startup Cruise recalled all 950 of its self-driving systems and issued a software update after one vehicle dragged a pedestrian struck by another car.

In a report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Cruise said the Oct. 2 incident occurred as a result of a safety response that causes its autonomous vehicles, or AVs, to pull over out of traffic after a collision.

It said the system is designed to perform a maneuver to minimize safety risks and other disruptions to the extent possible after a collision but failed to do so properly in the incident.

"In the incident, a human-driven vehicle traveling adjacent to a Cruise AV collided with a pedestrian, propelling the pedestrian across their vehicle and onto the ground in the immediate path of the AV," the report said.

"The AV biased rightward and braked aggressively but still made contact with the pedestrian. The Cruise ADS inaccurately characterized the collision as a lateral collision and commanded the AV attempt to pull over out of traffic, pulling the individual forward, rather than remaining stationary."

Cruise said it developed a software update that would ensure that the vehicle would remain stationary in the Oct. 2 incident.

"Cruise has deployed the remedy to its supervised test fleet, which remains in operation," it said. "Cruise will deploy the remedy to its driverless fleet prior to resuming driverless operations."

On Oct. 26, Cruise stopped its operations across all of its fleets, two days after California suspended the company's permit to operate driverless vehicles in the state over its handling of the Oct. 2 incident.

Cruise said at the time that the decision was not "related to any new on-road incidents" and that operations of supervised autonomous vehicles would continue as the company "take steps to rebuild public trust"

Cesar's Entertainment and Culinary Union reach tentative contract agreement

Caesars Entertainment and the Culinary Union representing about 10,000 of its workers announced Wednesday that they have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract. 

Photo courtesy of Caesars Palace

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Culinary Union and Caesars Entertainment, which runs the Caesars Casinos, have confirmed Wednesday that they have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract.

"After 20-straight hours of negotiations, Culinary Union is pleased to announce a Tentative Agreement towards a new 5-year contract has been reached with Caesars Entertainment for approx 10,000 hospitality workers at 9 Vegas properties," the Culinary Union posted to X Wednesday.

Caesars Entertainment reacted positively to the news.

"We are proud of our decades-long relationship with UniteHere and our shared commitment to the hospitality workers," Caesars said.

Last week, Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg expressed optimism at the negotiations and promised the results for workers would be significant.

"You should expect that when we reach an agreement on a contract, it's going to be the largest increase that our employees have seen in the four decades since we started interacting with the Culinary Union," said Reeg.

While both sides in the negotiations between the Culinary Union and Caesars Entertainment report a positive developments, the Culinary Union is still locked in negotiations with MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts, with 25,000 employees at nine locations affected.

Culinary Union representatives are expected to continue negotiations with MGM and Wynn in the hopes of reaching an agreement before the strike deadline of Friday.

U.S. marijuana legalization support at all-time high of 70%, polling shows


Gallup said Wednesday U.S. support for legal marijuana has hit an all-time high of 70%, reaching a broad consensus "across all major political and ideological subgroups." Pictured is a pro-marijuana legalization rally at the White House in Washington, D.C.
File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo



Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A Gallup poll published Wednesday shows national grassroots support for marijuana legalization is at an all-time high of 70%.

Legalization support had held steady at 68% for three years before this latest polling.

The poll showed 50% of Americans have tried marijuana at some point in their lives, while 17% of American say they now smoke it. Ohio voters chose to legalize recreational marijuana Tuesday, becoming the 23rd state to do so. More than three dozen states currently have medical cannabis programs, as well.

"The nation has reached a broad consensus on legalizing marijuana, with a full seven in 10 now supportive," Gallup said in a statement. "Not only do most U.S. adults favor it, but so do majorities of all major political and ideological subgroups. For the second straight year, majority support for legalization is found among all major subgroups, including by age, political party and ideology."

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The highest support for legal marijuana use is among self-identified liberals at 91% and Democrats (87%). Among conservatives, legalization support is at 52%, while 55% of Republicans support legalization, according to Gallup.

"Self-identified conservatives were the last major subgroup to express majority support, reaching 51% in 2022. Republicans first gave marijuana majority-level backing in 2017," Gallup's statement said.

Gallup said that although some health organizations and political commentators have raised medical risk concerns about marijuana, that is so far not affecting the public's support for legalization.

Gallup said its latest findings show there's no significant differences by gender, race or education on marijuana legalization.

By geographic region, the highest support for legal marijuana is in the Midwest at 75%, followed by 72% support in the West, 70% in the South and 64% in the East.

The 18-34 age group reported the highest support for legalization at 79%, while those 55 and older were at 64% support.

More men support legalization (72%) than women (68%).

Gallup said support passed the 50% mark nationally in 2013.

Just 12% reported supporting marijuana legalization in Gallup's 1969 poll.

Delaware became the 22nd U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana in April when the governor allowed two bills passed by the state legislature to become law without his signature.

UPDATE

Europe's Euclid space telescope takes detailed images of deep space


| The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope has released its first five images, including this image of the Perseus galaxy cluster.
Photo courtesy of European Space Agency

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency on Tuesday released the first images from its Euclid space telescope, which is designed to observe deep space in the hopes of unlocking the mysteries of the universe.

The five detailed images show the Perseus Galaxy Cluster, the IC 342 spiral galaxy, globular cluster NGC 6397, irregular galaxy NGC 6822, and the Horseshoe Nebula.

"Never before has a telescope been able to create such razor-sharp astronomical images across such a large patch of the sky, and looking so far into the distance universe," the European Space Agency said in a press release Tuesday.

The Euclid space telescope was launched in July aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and is tasked with collecting images that will be used to create the most detailed 3D model of the universe to date.



Researchers also hope data collected from the mission can help them understand the dark matter, which makes up most of the physical weight of the universe and dark energy, the force that appears to drive the expansion of the universe, which is accelerating faster than scientists can account for based on the mass of the universe as it is understood.

"To reveal the 'dark' influence on the visible universe, over the next six years Euclid will observe the shapes, distances and motions of billions of galaxies out to 20 billion light-years," the ESA said.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/11/europe-to-develop-commercial-space.html

Since 1978, North Greenland ice shelves have lost 35% of volume, study reveals


This photograph, taken by the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) field campaign team aboard NASA's G-III aircraft on March 26, 2016, shows Greenland's massive ice sheet from 40,000 feet. A new study published Tuesday reveals North Greenland's ice shelves have lost more than a third of their volume in the last half-century due to rising temperatures.
Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Ice shelves in North Greenland have lost more than a third of their volume in the last half-century, with three of the shelves collapsing completely, according to researchers who warn Greenland holds enough ice to raise sea level by nearly seven feet.

The study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, used satellite images and climate modeling to determine that North Greenland's ice shelves "have lost more than 35% of their total volume" since 1978, due to rising ocean temperatures.

"The observed increase in melting coincides with a distinct rise in ocean potential temperature, suggesting a strong oceanic control on ice shelves changes," researchers said in the study. "We are able to identify a widespread ongoing phase of weakening for the last remaining ice shelves of this sector."

Between 2006 and 2018, Greenland's ice sheet was the second-largest contributor to sea level rise, at more than 17%, according to scientists who say the discharge from ice shelves "could have dramatic consequences in terms of sea level rise."

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One of Greenland's ice shelves, called Steenbsy, dropped to just 34% of its previous volume between 2000 and 2013.

Ice shelves are more vulnerable to melting, than glaciers or ice sheets, because they float on the ocean which absorbs 90% of the planet's heat.

"We see that the ice shelves are getting weaker and weaker and weaker," said Grenoble Alpes University glaciologist Romain Millan, lead author of the paper. "We have observed that in response to this increased melting, the glaciers are retreating, and they are already discharging more ice into the ocean."



According to NASA, the summer of 2023 was Earth's hottest season ever recorded, as ocean temperatures around Florida soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. In August, the Mediterranean hit a record-breaking 84 degrees, according to Jordan's government.

Rising ocean temperatures throughout the world are impacting basal melt, which thins the ice from the bottom.

"These results suggest that, under future projections of ocean thermal forcing, basal melting rates will continue to rise or remain at a high level, which may have dramatic consequences for the stability of Greenlandic glaciers," researchers said.

EU: Global temperature anomalies set 2023 on track to be warmest on record

Global "surface air temperature anomalies" produced the warmest October on record with the result that 2023 is on track to be Earth's warmest ever year, the European Union's climate change service said Wednesday. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Global "surface air temperature anomalies" produced the warmest October on record with the result that 2023 is on track to be Earth's warmest ever year, the European Union's climate change service said Wednesday.

With an average temperature of 15.3 degrees Celsius, almost one degree above the 1991-2020 average and 0.4 degrees Celsius above the previous warmest October in 2019, October 2023 was the warmest since records began in 1850, The Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a news release.

The October temperature anomaly was second only to September and 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than the average October in the benchmark pre-industrial era, determined by Copernicus as 1850-1900.

Copernicus said "exceptional anomalies" in the first 10 months of the year pushed Earth's mean temperature substantially above the pre-industrial average and 0.1 degrees Celsius higher than the warmest year on record in 2016.

Copernicus' climate Deputy Director Samantha Burgess said she was virtually certain 2023 would be the warmest year on record and that the temperatures were a wake-up call for policymakers heading to the United Nations Conference of the Parties climate summit in the United Arab Emirates in three weeks.

"October 2023 has seen exceptional temperature anomalies, following on from four months of global temperature records being obliterated. We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average," said Burgess.

"The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action going into COP28 has never been higher".

The average sea surface temperature for October was also the highest on record at 20.79 degrees Celsius with air surface and sea temperatures being driven up as El Nino conditions develop in the equatorial Pacific, although anomalies remained lower than those during record El Nino years of 1997 and 2015.

September was the warmest in recorded history as average surface air temperatures reached an unprecedented 16.4 degrees Celsius triggering an increase in extreme weather events.

Global temperatures for the month eclipsed the previous heat record set in September 2020.

Ketamine marketed online using false, misleading claims, study indicates


 Hundreds of clinics may be using false and misleading statements in online advertising to sell off-label and unapproved ketamine -– an injectable, short-acting anesthetic -- to treat mental health conditions and pain, a new study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open indicates.

 Photo by Psychonaught/Wikimedia Commons

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Hundreds of clinics may be using false and misleading statements in online advertising to sell off-label and unapproved ketamine -- an injectable, short-acting anesthetic -- to treat mental health conditions and pain, a new study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open indicates.

The researchers -- at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore -- found evidence of false statements on the clinics' websites, which they say misrepresent the drug's Food and Drug Administration approval status.

"One advertiser falsely stated that ketamine was approved to treat depression, and then three falsely stated that ketamine was nonaddictive," Michael DiStefano, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the Anschutz Medical Campus, told UPI in a telephone interview.
DiStefano added that "the use of ketamine to treat a variety of mental health and pain conditions seems to be growing, and we wanted to understand how this use is being advertised to potential patients and consumers."

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Ketamine "has some hallucinogenic effects. It distorts perceptions of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control," and "it makes patients feel detached from their pain and environment," according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Off-label treatments advertised by these clinics are costly and patients typically must pay out of pocket, while the evidence for unapproved uses often isn't robust, the researchers noted. Being transparent and accurate in explaining the potential risks and benefits of these treatments is important, they said.

Not approved for mental health

The FDA has not approved ketamine for any mental health condition, but it is sometimes used off-label for such purposes. Oral formulations are unapproved drugs frequently advertised to produce a hallucinogenic experience at home.

Researchers identified online direct-to-consumer ketamine advertisers with at least one clinic in Maryland and a website by using six national ketamine databases.

They found 17 advertisers operating across 26 locations in Maryland that promoted infusions or ketamine assisted therapy for a wide range of conditions including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and chronic pain.

The advertising uncovered many misleading representations regarding treatment and safety.

Although the study centered on clinics in Maryland, DiStefano said the research team's compilation of the six directories for ketamine treatment suggests that about 800 such clinics exist across the country. Several companies will send customers oral ketamine through the mail.

DiStefano added that the researchers hope to carry out a national survey with an expanded analysis soon.

"It is not too surprising that there are misleading claims floating around" in the form of online advertisements, Dr. Michael Barnett, an associate professor of health policy and management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, told UPI in a telephone interview.

Large demand

The reasons for the claims and unapproved uses of ketamine stem from a number of factors, including enormous demand for effective mental health treatment and an inadequate supply of clinicians, Barnett said.

"There is a big market opportunity for clinics advertising a quick fix," Barnett said. "Because ketamine is being used off-label and it's not really in mainstream psychiatry right now, that's an environment where you can have these fringe clinics proliferate."

Joseph Palamar, an associate professor of population health at NYU Langone Health in New York City, told UPI via email that many practitioners meet with potential patients on Zoom and prescribe ketamine to take at home.

Palamar published an analysis in JAMA Psychiatry in May, noting that law enforcement seizures of ketamine are rising.

"This suggests that availability of illicit ketamine has been increasing," he said. "We need more research to determine whether all of the positive coverage of these ketamine clinics is encouraging recreational use."

Dr. Smita Das, a clinical associate professor and an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., told UPI in a telephone interview that a "staggering" number of clinics have been advertising ketamine for a variety of conditions without FDA approval or national practice guidelines.

Not a benign substance

"This is very concerning, and ketamine is not a benign substance," Das said. "Both from a medical and psychiatric perspective, it's important to treat it with the care that it deserves."

Because of false claims, people with depression or other mental health conditions "may forgo the actual evidence-based treatments that we have," she said. "I'm hopeful for new treatments that can help with mental health, but I would want them to be part of an evidence-based set of guidelines."

Das added that the "club drug" can commonly cause nausea, drowsiness, hallucinations and increased blood pressure. On rare occasions, it also can incite paranoia and thoughts of suicide.

Other complications include vocal cord spasms, agitation and confusion, as well as adverse effects on the bladder and kidneys, Dr. Chris Holstege, director of the University of Virginia Health's Blue Ridge Poison Center in Charlottesville, told UPI in a telephone interview.

"Patients who have mental health conditions are a vulnerable population, and we need to as a society assure that they are getting appropriate treatments," Holstege said.

Dr. Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Yale Depression Research Program at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., told UPI in a telephone interview that there is an FDA-approved version of ketamine -- esketamine, which is sold as a nasal spray under the brand name Spravato and used for two challenging-to-treat forms of major depressive disorder.

Spravato comes with very specific safety monitoring instructions, including a mandatory two hours of observation by a clinician after a patient takes the drug. The clinics marketing regular ketamine, Sanacora said, "are not always abiding by spirit of the safety regulations the FDA put in place."

Committee to Protect Journalists says 39 journalists killed in Israel-Gaza war


The Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday at least 39 journalists, mostly Palestinians in Gaza, have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war - the deadliest month for journalists since CPJ began gathering that data in 1992. Smoke billows following an Israeli strike on the houses of the Qeshta family, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 6. 

Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday that the one month since the start of Israel's war with Hamas has been the deadliest for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992.

The New York-based NGO said at least 39 journalists have been killed since the conflict began on Oct.7 including 34 Palestinians in Gaza.

Four of the journalists killed in the war were Israelis killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, while another Lebanese journalist was killed while working near Lebanon-Israel border.

Eight of the journalists who were killed in Gaza worked for what CPJ said were Hamas-affiliated outlets.

"Journalists in Gaza face particularly  high risks as they try to cover the conflict in the face of an Israeli ground assault on Gaza City, devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, and extensive power outages," CPJ said in a statement.

Eight journalists were reported injured, three were missing and nine were arrested.

CPJ said it's investigating all reports of journalists killed, injured or missing in the war.

"CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties," said CPJ's Sherif Mansour in a statement. "Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heart-breaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats. Many have lost colleagues, families, and media facilities, and have fled seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit."

Last week, Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court alleging that journalists killed during the Israel-Gaza war were victims of war crimes.

Citing nine deaths, including eight Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza and one Israeli journalist covering a Hamas attack on his kibbutz it said the recurring and serious nature of the war crimes targeting journalists calls for a "priority investigation" by the ICC.

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G7 foreign ministers call for 'urgent' humanitarian pause in Gaza


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| Palestinian families flee the Israeli bombing of Gaza City, walking south in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

 Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI |

Nov. 8 (UPI) -- G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan issued a statement Wednesday calling for "humanitarian pauses" in Israel's military offensive against Gaza to allow aid in, civilians to get out of harm's way and the freeing of hostages.

The communique stressed that urgent action was necessary to address what the leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, said was a "deteriorating humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.

The leaders did not, however, call for a cease-fire.

"All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter and access for humanitarian workers. We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and the release of hostages. Foreign nationals must also be allowed to continue to depart," the statement read.

Palestinian families flee Gaza City amid bombing

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Palestinian families flee the Israeli bombing of Gaza City as they walk south on November 7, 2023. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo

The ministers also underlined that civilians must be protected and international law, in particular international humanitarian law, must be adhered to.

They added that they condemned "unequivocally" the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas and others across Israel, as well as ongoing missile strikes against Israel, and emphasized its right to defend itself in accordance with international law.

However, they warned that a rise in extremist settler violence against Palestinians was unacceptable, undermined security in the West Bank and threatened prospects for a longer term peace, namely a two-state solution with Israel and a Palestinian state, to which G7 members were committed to making a reality.

Speaking to reporters after the ministers' meeting, Blinken challenged those calling for an immediate cease-fire to address the problem that it would leave Hamas with the capacity to fulfill its stated intention of repeating the atrocities of Oct. 7 "again and again."

The only way forward, he said, was to begin creating the conditions for a "durable peace and security."

Blinken stressed "no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza" would be a non-negotiable principle of any such plan, "not now, not after the war."

However, he also said that under no circumstance would Gaza be permitted to be used as a base for terrorism and the plan would have to include guarantees against the risk of the West Bank emerging as a platform for terrorists.

Other conditions include maintaining Gaza's existing territorial borders and no future blockades.

Blinken also ruled out Israel reoccupying the territory, which flew in the face of suggestions by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that the country would assume control for an "indefinite period" after Israel's military objectives were achieved.