safety

Oct. 20 (UPI) — Florida’s attorney general announced Monday that criminal subpoenas have been issued to the online children’s gaming site Roblox as he called the platform a “breeding ground for predators.”

Attorney General James Uthmeier accused Roblox of failing to verify users’ ages and failing to moderate sexually explicit content.

“We are issuing criminal subpoenas to Roblox, which has become a breeding ground for predators to gain access to our kids,” Uthmeier announced Monday in a post on X.

“We will stop at nothing in the fight to protect Florida’s children, and companies that expose them to harm will be held accountable,” the state attorney general added.

Uthmeier said recent investigations into Roblox found sexual predators have used the in-game currency on the platform to bribe minors into sending them explicit content of themselves.

Before Monday’s criminal subpoenas, Roblox has faced lawsuits, accusing the platform of failing to implement safety measures, provide proper warnings or report incidents of child victimization.

In August, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a lawsuit, which also accused Roblox of enabling online predators to endanger children after an alleged sexual predator was arrested while using the site.

“Roblox profited off of our kids while exposing them to the most dangerous of harms,” Uthmeier said. “They enable our kids to be abused.”

Uthmeier issued a subpoena against Roblox in April to get more information on how the platform moderates chat rooms and markets its site to kids.

“As a father and attorney general, children’s safety and protection are a top priority,” Uthmeier said. “There are concerning reports that this gaming platform, which is popular among children, is exposing them to harmful content and bad actors.”

It’s showdown time in City Section girls’ flag football. Unbeaten Eagle Rock (13-0) plays at unbeaten Panorama (19-0) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Eagle Rock is a little bit of a surprise. The Eagles lost to graduation perhaps the No. 1 player in the City Section, Haylee Weatherspoon, but they are showing they are not a one-person team.

Basketball players Nyla Moore and Kyla Siao have become standouts on the football field. Moore, only a junior, is the quarterback. Siao, a shooting guard, is a top receiver and safety.

Coach Julie Wilkins said, “We don’t have an all-star like Haylee, but everyone contributes.”

Eagle Rock relies on receivers who don’t drop passes. The 5-foot-11 Moore uses her height, mobility and arm to find her receivers.

This will be the first big test for Panorama, which is aiming to be an Open Division playoff team this season.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Kyiv, Ukraine – On October 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukrainian attacks had destroyed a high-voltage transmission line between the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine and Kyiv-controlled areas.

Days earlier, Ukraine’s leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russian shelling had cut the plant off from the electricity network.

The mammoth, six-reactor plant – Europe’s largest and known in Ukraine as the ZAES – sits less than 10km (6.2 miles) south of the front line. It has been shut since 2022, generating none of the electricity that once provided up to a fifth of Ukraine’s needs.

But dozens of Moscow-deployed engineers have frantically tried to restart it – so far unsuccessfully. Ukraine has long feared that Russia is trying to connect the power grid and quench a thirst for energy in Crimea and other occupied areas.

Putin purported that the alleged Ukrainian strikes caused a blackout at the plant and that it had to be fuelled by diesel generators.

The latest blackout at the plant is the longest wartime outage of power.

“On the [Ukrainian] side, people should understand that if they play so dangerously, they have an operating nuclear power station on their side,” Putin told a forum in St Petersburg.

‘The radioactivity is so powerful’

In fact, apart from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Ukraine has three operating power stations – as well as the shutdown Chornobyl facility, the site of one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.

“And what prevents us from mirroring [Ukraine’s alleged actions] in response? Let them think about it,” Putin said.

His threat had apparently already been fulfilled a day earlier. Ukraine accused Russia of shelling that damaged the power supply to the colossal protective “sarcophagus” over the Chornobyl station’s Reactor Four that exploded in 1986.

Both the Chornobyl station and the plant in Zaporizhzhia need electricity for their safety systems and, most importantly, for the uninterrupted circulation of water that cools nuclear fuel.

The fuel, thousands of uranium rods that keep emitting heat, are too radioactive to be taken anywhere else.

In Chornobyl, the fuel is spent and submerged in cooling ponds or “dry-stored” in ventilated, secured facilities.

But at the Zaporizhzhia site, the rods are still inside the reactors – and are newer, hotter, and made in the United States.

Before the war, Ukraine began a switch from the hexagonal, bee-cell-like rods made by Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear monopoly, to the square rods made by Westinghouse, an energy giant based in Pittsburgh in the US.

The US-made rods will take years to cool down enough to be removed without the risk of contamination, according to a former Zaporizhzhia plant engineer who fled to Kyiv.

“The radioactivity is so powerful that one can’t get the fuel out, [or] transport or handle in other ways until it burns out. It will take years,” the engineer told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity because of security concerns for relatives in Enerhodar.

Ukrainian forces ‘prevent’ Russia’s alleged plans

A greater challenge at the plant is a severe lack of reactor-cooling water. The Zaporizhzhia station stood less than 15km (9 miles) upstream from the mammoth, Soviet-designed Novo-Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River.

The dam created a reservoir with up to 18 cubic kilometres (4.76 trillion gallons) of water that freely flowed to the power station. In June 2023, the dam was destroyed by powerful blasts – Ukraine and Russian traded blame – and the water level dropped dramatically.

The deep cooling ponds around the plant that never froze, even in the harshest winters, had been filled to the brim, but the water keeps evaporating. There is enough to cool the shutdown reactors – but not nearly enough if the station is restarted and the uranium rods turn the water into steam to power the turbines.

“It’s absolutely impossible to switch on even one bloc,” the engineer said. “Of course, the Russians keep digging and supply some water, but it’s not enough at all.”

The biggest problem is Russia’s failure to hook the plant to the energy grid of occupied regions as Ukrainian forces pin-pointedly destroy the transmission lines Russia is building – along with fuel depots and thermal power stations, he said.

“The Russians are restoring them any way they can, but Ukrainian forces very much prevent the restoration,” the engineer quipped.

Bellona, a Norway-based nuclear monitor, said on October 2 that a “greater danger lies in Moscow’s potential use of the crisis to justify reconnecting the plant to its own grid – portraying itself as the saviour preventing a nuclear disaster”.

Should Moscow do that, the step would only “worsen [the] strategic situation, give Moscow additional leverage, and bring a potential restart closer – a move that, amid ongoing fighting, would itself sharply increase the risk of a nuclear accident,” it said.

Analysts pointed to a deal proposed by US President Donald Trump in March to transfer the plant to US management as a possible solution.

Ukrainian strikes “will go on until Russia makes a peace deal that also includes US control over the ZAES and its operation”, Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s University of Bremen, told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, blackouts in Crimea have become unpredictable and distressing, a Crimea local told Al Jazeera.

“They switch the power off and switch it back on without any warning. Then again – on and off, on and off. My fridge died,” said a resident of Simferopol, Crimea’s administrative capital, on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

Russia understands that improved power supply is a prerequisite for its efforts to restore occupied Ukrainian regions and conquer more Ukrainian land, said an observer.

Moscow needs the plant to “cover the growing [energy] consumption in the region, considering not just occupied Crimea, but also the occupied areas [above the Sea of] Azov. And also within the context of Russia’s plan to occupy part of the Zaporizhia region,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

Greenpeace said that its detailed analysis of high-resolution satellite images taken after what Putin alleged were Ukrainian strikes showed that he was bluffing.

“There is no evidence of any military strikes in the area surrounding the pylons and network of power lines in this part of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” the international environmentalist group said on October 1.

The images showed that the power towers remained in position and there were no craters left by explosions around the lines, it said.

Greenpeace concluded that the blackout at the plant is “a deliberate act of sabotage by Russia” whose aim is to “permanently disconnect the plant from the Ukraine grid and connect the nuclear plant to the grid occupied by Russia”.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday that will create new transparency measures for large AI companies, including public disclosure of security protocols and reports of critical safety incidents.

Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said Senate Bill 53 will create “commonsense guardrails” to ensure groundbreaking innovations don’t sacrifice safety and transparency amid the rapid growth of AI technologies. Newsom said the bill strikes the right balance of working with the artificial intellegence companies, while not “submitting to industry.”

“AI is the new frontier in innovation, and California is not only here for it – but stands strong as a national leader by enacting the first-in-the-national frontier AI safety legislation that builds public trust as this emerging technology rapidly evolves,” Newsom said in a statement.

The bill was introduced this year after Newsom vetoed a broader bill last year, which was also authored by Wiener. That bill, SB 1047, was supported by Elon Musk and prominent AI researchers, but opposed by Meta and OpenAI.

In his lengthy veto message last year, Newsom called SB 1047 “well-intentioned” but added that it was not the “best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.” In punting the measure last year, Newsom announced that his administration would convene a working group of AI leaders and experts to develop more workable protections that became the basis for SB 53.

The new law will require companies to disclose their safety and security protocols and risk evaluations. It mandates reporting of critical incidents — such as cyberattacks or unsafe behavior by autonomous AI systems — to the state’s Office of Emergency Services.

Cal OES would begin publishing annual reports in 2027 that anonymize and aggregate critical safety incidents it receives. SB 53 also strengthens whistleblower protections for employees who report violations.

The Attorney General in California will be able to bring civil penalties of up to $1 million against companies who violate the new law.

“With a technology as transformative as AI, we have a responsibility to support that innovation while putting in place commonsense guardrails to understand and reduce risk,” Wiener said in a statement.

The bill was opposed by the California Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Progress, a tech industry association.

“This exhaustive approach compels developers to allocate significant time and resources toward preparing for hypothetical risks rather than addressing actual, demonstrable harms,” wrote the Chamber of Progress.

The US Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration has issued a ‘Safety Alert for Operators’ (SAFO) to airlines

US-based airlines have been urged to re-examine their safety practices amidst a ‘recurring safety hazard’. The US Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration issued its message in a ‘Safety Alert for Operators‘ (SAFO), spotlighting the persistent problem of hand luggage safety.

The alert, issued on September 16, reads: “This SAFO serves to emphasise the operational and safety-critical importance of strict passenger compliance with crewmember instructions during emergency evacuations.

“Specifically, it addresses the adverse effects of passengers attempting to evacuate with carry-on items, which can significantly impede evacuation procedures and increase the potential for injury or fatality.”

The federal government agency stated that operational data and post-incident reviews have shown passengers consistently try to retrieve carry-on items during aeroplane evacuations. This behaviour creates several risks, such as overcrowding in aisles, blocking exits, and damaging evacuation slides.

Retrieving hand baggage significantly contributes to delays in evacuation, higher injury rates, and reduced chances of survival. This is particularly critical during emergencies involving smoke, fire, or structural damage plane

“Any delay caused by retrieval of baggage can significantly affect survival rates in rapidly deteriorating conditions,” the alert added.

In light of these risks, the FAA has urged operators to reassess their emergency evacuation procedures, announcements and training to tackle passenger ‘non-compliance’ in this area.

It said this could encompass bolstered communication methods to ‘highlight consequences of non-compliance with crewmember commands’ or displaying more visual content in airports to stress its importance.

The alert continued: “Operators should evaluate their emergency evacuation procedures, training and emergency announcements and commands to address passenger non-compliance particularly in relation to carry-on item retrieval.

“A coordinated approach rooted in regulatory compliance, operational best practice, and clear public communication may contribute significantly to reducing evacuation times and preserving life in time-critical emergencies.”

The FAA oversees civil aviation and commercial space transportation in the US. Similarly, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority advises passengers to leave all luggage behind during emergency evacuations.

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Its official guidance reads: “In the unlikely event of an emergency evacuation, you must follow crew instructions and leave the aircraft quickly, leaving all cabin baggage behind.

“Evacuations occur only when there is a significant safety risk. Even if the cause of the emergency is not immediately apparent, rapid evacuation is imperative. Do not block your own or others’ escape by attempting to retrieve belongings.”

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USC coaches like recruitng former high school quarterbacks because they boast deeper understanding of how plays develop.

Fitzgerald, who is in his first season at USC, leads the nation in interceptions with three so far this season.

Bishop Fitzgerald stood inside the 5-yard line at Ross-Ade Stadium, watching the eyes of Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne, waiting for the right moment to pounce. It was a critical third down Saturday, midway through the fourth quarter,

during Big Ten road games.

Fortunately, Fitzgerald knew exactly where the play was headed. The USC senior safety recognized it from film clips he studied of Purdue’s red zone offense. He knew not to bite on the play action fake and that the receiver would, in a matter of seconds, cut across the center of the field on his route.

He also knew to be patient, to lure the quarterback into a false sense of security. So when Browne finally did fire his third-down pass over the middle, Fitzgerald was there at just the right moment to snag his second interception of the game.

“I fell back on my training,” Fitzgerald said of the pick, “and I made the play that came to me.”

Arguably no defensive back in college football has made as many plays through three games as Fitzgerald, who leads the nation with three interceptions during that span. Coaches have raved about his instincts and marveled at how quickly he has picked up USC’s defensive scheme.

His high school coach says that’s a testament to his training. Just maybe not the training you’d expect.

“He could have been a college quarterback — and a good one,” says Tony Keiling, Sr., who coached Fitzgerald as a quarterback in youth football and at Gar-Field High School in Woodbridge, Va.

“He could make every throw. He could understand defenses. He could roll out and run. He was dynamic.”

USC defensive back Bishop Fitzgerald carries the ball after intercepting a Missouri State pass intended for Dash Luke at the Coliseum on Aug. 30.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Past experience as a passer isn’t entirely unique on USC’s roster. In fact, it’s become a coveted trait in recent years for coach Lincoln Riley.

“It’s something we’ve always paid attention to,” Riley said. “That’s kind of a feather in anyone’s cap that they’ve been able to run an offense, execute plays, understand and communicate to all 11. You know they’ve had to have some understanding of all 22 and what’s going on on the field to be able to play quarterback, no matter what offense you’re in. So it’s typically a good omen.”

DeCarlos Nicholson, who starts alongside Fitzgerald in USC’s secondary, was a Mississippi state champion quarterback in high school and for one season at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before flipping to the defensive backfield. On the other side of the ball, freshman running back Harry Dalton III boasts the most career yards (11,282) and touchdowns (160) of any quarterback to ever come out of Richmond, Virginia.

Fitzgerald may not have been as prolific as that pair. But Keiling, who coached him at quarterback since youth football, is still convinced that Fitzgerald could have continued at the position, if not for the unfortunate timing of the pandemic.

When Fitzgerald took over as Gar-Field’s quarterback as a sophomore, the team was coming off an 0-10 season. By his senior year, Fitzgerald led the Indians to a district title, the school’s first since 1994. He played almost every snap in the process, starting both under center and at safety.

But it was his play at quarterback that willed Gar-Field past Freedom High to win the district in 2021. In a 14-9 win, Fitzgerald threw a go-ahead, 97-yard touchdown pass down the seam from the shadow of his own end zone and also ran for an electrifying 39-yard score to knock off Freedom, a team Gar-Field hadn’t beaten in almost a decade.

Fitzgerald was named district offensive player of the year soon after that performance. In any normal year, that would’ve led to attention on the recruiting trail. But because of the pandemic, high school football in Virginia hadn’t started until February and most colleges had already finalized their recruiting classes.

“It was all just bad timing,” Keiling said.

Fitzgerald was dynamic with the ball in his hands. He could throw across his body on a bootleg. But realistically, at 5-foot-10, Fitzgerald didn’t have ideal size for the position at the college level. Even he figured his future was at safety, where at least his instincts as a quarterback could still be put to use.

So he spent the next two seasons at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas focusing on the finer points of the safety position. It took him a while, he said, to feel comfortable.

“It was a whole switch of mentality and culture and footwork,” Fitzgerald said. “JUCO is … a dog-eat-dog world. So I think that kind of heightened everything and the sense or urgency to learn it.”

North Carolina State’s Bishop Fitzgerald breaks up a pass intended for North Carolina’s Jordan Shipp on Nov. 30, 2024, in Chapel Hill, N.C.

(Grant Halverson / Getty Images)

Fitzgerald had seven takeaways in his sophomore campaign at Coffeyville, then added five more over two seasons at North Carolina State.

At USC, Fitzgerald has had to learn a scheme under defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn that’s entirely different than the one he knew at NC State. But so far, it hasn’t seemed like much of a learning curve.

Fitzgerald credits Lynn for his quick acclimation, while Riley has likened the safety’s offseason arrival to adding “a veteran in the NFL” to the secondary. Through three games at USC, Fitzgerald has been the highest-graded safety in college football, according to Pro Football Focus.

“He has a feel for the game,” safety Christian Pierce said. “He’s always at the right place, right time.”

Finally, it seems the timing is right for Fitzgerald, too. Though his next step from here is still uncertain. Keiling said it’s not clear, with the legal turmoil around junior college eligibility, whether Fitzgerald could get a waiver for another season at USC after this one.

But considering how quickly he’s progressed at the position, there’s no telling how fast Fitzgerald’s NFL stock will rise.

“To be doing something completely different your entire career and come and learn this in one offseason is hard,” Lynn said.

“He’s done an outstanding job.”

A COUNTY Championship match between Somerset and Hampshire was postponed due to a bizarre weather ruling on Monday.

Several games in the competition had been rained off elsewhere in the country, but it was the wind which was eventually deemed unplayable in sunny Taunton.

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Rain had passed through the ground overnight and into the morning and prompted a lunch-time pitch inspection of the field, but soon the rain had blown over to sunny skies.

However, it was reportedly another weather phenomena that put the final nail in the coffin of the day’s cricket action, before a single ball was bowled.

High winds in the area had reportedly made removing the covers a hazardous prospect for groundstaff at County Ground.

There is a precedent for such injuries, with groundsman Matt Page of the Western Australian Cricket Association being struck and concussed by one of his own coverings during an Ashes test in Perth in 2017.

The Times reports that umpires Ben Debenham and David Millns made an inspection of the scene as fans waited for play to finally begin.

But they were waiting in vain, with the game later being abandoned, in line with England and Wales Cricket Board health and safety guidelines.

Those in attendance were initially left in the dark as to the reason for the delay, with the eventual decision being announced after tea

The cricket world was evidently unimpressed by the situation, with several fans of the sport slamming the ECB in reply to The Times’ report.

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One fan said: “And they wonder why the County game is not in rude health? This was simply ridiculous.”

Another fan was just as harsh, saying: “This is a complete disgrace. Why is the ECB not in hot water over this ridiculous rule?

Some fans found the funny side of the ridiculous situation, with a third fan adding: “I’m surprised they allow the ball to land in the crowd…”

And a fourth fan sarcastically chimed in: “How are they allowed to play with that very hard ball?”

Like most of Monday’s postponed matches, the contest eventually got underway on Tuesday, with Somerset choosing to start off with bat in hand.

Middlesex and Lancashire however were subject to a further rain delay as they met at Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

Sept. 4 (UPI) — The Transportation Department Thursday announced $86 million in federal grants to enhance safety programs along the nation’s 3.3-million mile pipeline network, or 85% of all pipelines in the United States.

“Safety is the number one priority of the Department of Transportation,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “The grants announced today will support our existing partnerships with states to support pipeline inspection, keep communities safe, and keep our energy economy moving.”

The plan earmarks $82 million for states to monitor and update safety programs for above-ground pipelines and another $4 million for underground natural gas pipelines.

California is slated to receive nearly $12.4 million in grants, the largest share, while New York is scheduled to receive more than $8.8 million. Illinois and Massachusetts are in line for more than $5 million each.

The grant programs allow states to support federal pipeline safety standards and reimburse them up to 80% for their costs related to personnel, equipment, inspections and regulation enforcement.

California, Oregon and Washington are joining forces to insulate vaccine guidance and other public health recommendations from political interference, a direct response to turmoil at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, Tina Kotek of Oregon and Bob Ferguson of Washington announced Wednesday the creation of the West Coast Health Alliance, a pact that aims to keep their states’ health policies unified and grounded in scientific expertise. The move comes as the nation’s top public health agency is being reshaped by Kennedy and his vaccine-skeptic allies, with key leadership fired and the agency in turmoil.

“President Trump’s mass firing of CDC doctors and scientists — and his blatant politicization of the agency — is a direct assault on the health and safety of the American people,” the three governors said in a joint statement. “The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk.”

In June, the three states issued a joint statement condemning Kennedy’s decision to remove all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Among the replacements named by Kennedy are appointees who spread vaccine misinformation and relayed conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

Kennedy said the change would improve public trust by ensuring members of the committee didn’t have “any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda.”

Kennedy has warned that more turnover could be coming at the agency.

In the announcement for the newly formed West Coast Health Alliance, the states said the focus would be on providing evidence-based recommendations about who should receive immunizations while ensuring the public has access to credible information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. The alliance will share immunization recommendations, but each state will also pursue independent strategies based on “unique laws, geographies, histories, and peoples.”

Dr. Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health and the state health officer, said it’s imperative that California stand with medical professionals.

“The dismantling of public health and dismissal of experienced and respected health leaders and advisors, along with the lack of using science, data, and evidence to improve our nation’s health are placing lives at risk,” Pan said in a statement.

The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission inquiry into alleged violations of child privacy laws.

The settlement, disclosed Tuesday, covers videos that Disney uploaded to YouTube that were not properly marked as children’s content. That lapse allowed the videos to become targets for online advertising, drawing the attention of federal regulators.

The company said the violations did not occur on Disney-owned platforms.

“Supporting the well-being and safety of kids and families is at the heart of what we do,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement. “… Disney has a long tradition of embracing the highest standards of compliance with children’s privacy laws, and we remain committed to investing in the tools needed to continue being a leader in this space.”

Axios first reported the settlement.

This is a developing story.

MILLIONS of phones will sound a siren next week in one of the largest public safety exercises.

The national emergency alert test will take place at around 3pm on ­Sunday, September 7.

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Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “It will be one of the UK’s largest public safety exercises in history.”

“It is a vital tool for keeping the nation safe when lives are on the line – and every minute matters.”

Phones will vibrate and emit a siren-like tone for ten seconds, with a test message appearing on screens to make clear the alert is only a drill.

Only 4G and 5G-enabled phones and tablets will receive the alert.

The Government has used the system to issue real warnings five times, including in January during Storm Eowyn to warn people in Scotland and Northern Ireland about severe weather.

Approximately 3.5 million people across Wales and south-west England received an alert during Storm Darragh last December.

A 500kg unexploded Second World War bomb found in a Plymouth back garden triggered a warning to some 50,000 phones in February last year.

Messages can be targeted to relatively small areas to pinpoint those at risk.

Some 15,000 phones were alerted during flooding in Cumbria in May 2024, and 10,000 received a warning during flooding in Leicestershire in January this year.

The system is designed for use during the most likely emergencies to affect the UK and warnings would also be transmitted on television, radio and locally by knocking on doors.

AN EASYJET cabin manager has lost an appeal after being sacked for calling female co-workers “lovely ladies”.

Ross Barr was fired for gross misconduct after crew members and passengers logged multiple complaints about his inappropriate behaviour.

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He had worked for the airline for eight years, and defended his actions as “flirty banter”.

Mr Barr also claimed he was discriminated against or his sexual orientation, alleging it would have been accepted if “a gay colleague” have made the same remarks.

The former cabin manager appealed the decision to let him go at an employment tribunal, but lost.

Mr Barr began working at easyJet in 2014 and became a cabin manager in 2017.

He was hauled into a disciplinary hearing in 2022 and issued a final warning after a sexual harassment complaint.

More allegations of a similar nature were recorded against him in both 2023 and last year.

Customers also claimed he would refer to his team as “lovely ladies” over the PA system.

Passengers further reported he used the tannoy as an opportunity to perform his own comedy routines rather that conduct proper safety briefings.

Mr Barr had confessed to telling a stewardess “oh I have just brushed past your boobs” as he moved past her.

He was also overheard telling another cabin crew member on a separate flight: “I’m not doing anything.. I’m just staring at your ass.”

The comment was made in front of flyers, including young children, according to witnesses.

In another complaint, one woman said: “The entire shift pretty much he was talking about sex or making jokes about it.

“He explained that he had been suspended before due to a speak up speak out that someone previously put in against him because ‘all I said was that her tits would get bigger if she got pregnant, and guess what they did’.

“She also said that he had referred to her and another crew member as his ‘much more attractive colleague’.”

A different complaint was logged after he told a staff member “having a problem trying to stuff it in? Bet you’ve never had that problem”, while she was packing a bag.

Mr Barr argued he did not mean to make anyone uncomfortable and dubbed his comments “banter”.

He was sacked in September 2024 after the hearing but appealed the decision.

The former easyJet worker argued his case had been tainted by previous hearings.

But employment Judge Muriel Robison ruled: “As the cabin manager you are in a position of trust and I feel there has been a breakdown in trust in relation to these situations, you should conduct yourself in a manner that ensures your crew feel safe onboard the aircraft.

“This is not the first time you have been in this situation with regard to your conduct and comments made to female crew members.

“You raised that you were treated differently compared to others under similar circumstances due to your protected characteristics.

“My investigation did not uncover any evidence to substantiate this claim.

“It’s my belief the process followed was consistent and fair, and you were not treated any differently to your colleagues.

“On 19 March, 2024, you successfully completed training that included a thorough focus on diversity, inclusion and equality in the workplace.

“Despite this, your continued behaviour demonstrated a failure to uphold the values and principles outlined in this training.”

This comes after we reported how a mum was left furious after a British Airways flight attendant allegedly lifted her nursing blanket while she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old daughter.

Passenger Shayanne Wright made a sexual harassment complaint against the male host and said the incident left her feeling “violated.”

A British Airways spokesperson confirmed the allegations were being investigated and said the airline “have been in contact with our customer directly to resolve the matter”.

Wright said the airline did not apologise to her, however offered a $250 gift card, later increased to $1000.

Getty Images/ Carlos Barquero

Misogynists ‘rank’ leaked selfies

A rift between men and women?

When it comes to athletes who deserve to be welcomed on a red carpet walk each time they show up for classes, the name of John Michael Flint of Bishop Diego High comes to mind.

He’s 6 feet 2 and 180 pounds, was the league player of the year in volleyball, has a 38-inch vertical leap that allows him to dunk a basketball or kill a volleyball at the blink of an eye, and starts for the football team at receiver and safety. He’s also an A student and the backup quarterback.

“We’re talking to him about doing some kicking,” football coach Tom Crawford said. “He can pretty much do anything you ask. He’s the complete student-athlete.”

He’s going to be a captain for the football team and also helps out with campus ministry.

“He’s mature beyond most high school kids’ years in terms of decisions he makes and how he relates to coaches and peers,” Crawford said. “I just like him because he has a great, quiet confidence and poise about him.”

He’s expected to also play basketball this coming season after not playing last season.

So get ready for the year of John Michael Flint showing the way at Bishop Diego.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

A six-year-old boy asked his dad if they were ‘going on the slide’, and his dad corrected him – but a flight attendant on the plane wasn’t as kind and it sparked a discussion

Safety briefings happen every single time you step on an aircraft, and they’re designed to assist you should the unlikely event of an emergency occur while you’re travelling on the plane. It covers details about the brace position, oxygen masks that will drop from the overhead panel if cabin pressure falls, and chutes you might need to utilise during an emergency, among other things that would come in handy if something went wrong.

Naturally, if you have any queries, cabin crew will be delighted to share their expertise with you, as they must complete rigorous training before they’re permitted to work aboard the aircraft, for more than obvious reasons.

Nevertheless, one six-year-old lad received more than he expected when he enquired about using the slide on the plane – likely imagining it was an entertaining playground feature, rather than a potentially life-saving apparatus in the proper circumstances.

Hannah Cantile posted a clip of herself on TikTok, though you could overhear the exchange between the youngster and the flight attendant.

The little lad told his father they were “going on the slide,” and he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm.

The father responded: “No slide,” and the flight attendant supported the dad’s response, explaining the boy wouldn’t be using the slide.

The inquisitive child then enquired: “What’s the slide for?” and the flight attendant explained it’s utilised during “emergencies”.

He candidly added: “So if everybody is about to die, that’s when the slide comes out.”

Hannah awkwardly chuckled at how bluntly he explained this, but many applauded him for preventing the youngster from “asking any more unnecessary questions”.

Someone also remarked that children don’t require “sugar coating and tiptoeing” and should be told the truth – even if it’s harsh.

The slide deploys when passengers need to evacuate rapidly, such as during a fire, smoke in the cabin, a water landing, or a crash landing.

In a water landing, the slide may also serve as a life raft for passengers.

It will automatically inflate if a cabin door opens whilst the door remains in the “armed” position.

Doors are “armed” for slide deployment before take-off and landing, ensuring that during an emergency, the slide will inflate instantly when the door opens.

The slide doesn’t deploy during normal boarding or disembarking; in these instances, the doors are “disarmed” so the slide won’t activate.

Cabin crew are responsible for arming and disarming the doors and for triggering slide deployment during emergencies.

It’s a vital safety mechanism designed to help passengers exit the aircraft swiftly and securely, and it’s not routinely used.

“Roblox” faced a wave of new lawsuits this week that allege the popular gaming platform hasn’t done enough to safeguard kids from pedophiles and sexual content.

One of the latest complaints, filed in a federal court in the Northern District of California, claims that a predator posed as a child on the platform and sexually exploited a 10-year-old in Michigan. The man, who isn’t named in the lawsuit, allegedly convinced the victim to send sexually explicit images of herself after sharing some of himself.

The 10-year-old, who is anonymous in the lawsuit, met the predator last year on “Roblox” and suffered from mental health issues including anxiety, according to the complaint filed Thursday.

“What Roblox represents as a safe, appropriate space for children is, in fact, a digital and real-life nightmare for kids,” the lawsuit, filed by Dolman Law Group, stated.

Kids and teens create, explore and socialize in virtual spaces on “Roblox,” but the gaming platform has continued to grapple with child safety concerns over as its user numbers and revenue grow. On average, 111.8 million users visit the platform daily.

The San Mateo-based company’s share price closed down more than 6% at $117.34 on Friday.

“The assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is categorically untrue,” Roblox spokesperson Kadia Koroma said in a statement. “While no system is perfect, Roblox has implemented rigorous safeguards—such as restrictions on sharing personal information, links, and user-to-user image sharing—to help protect our community. Unfortunately, bad actors will try to circumvent our systems to try to direct users off the platform, where safety standards and moderation practices may differ.”

In early August, the company said it’s using artificial intelligence to help detect “child endangerment communications” earlier and alert law enforcement.

The lawsuit is among a flurry of new complaints this year that accuse the gaming platform of prioritizing its profits over the safety of its users.

On Thursday, Louisiana Atty. Gen. Liz Murrill filed a lawsuit against Roblox over child safety concerns.

“Roblox” is also under political pressure. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, has been urging people on social media to sign a petition asking the company to do more to protect children on the platform.

Since July, Dolman Law Group has filed five lawsuits against “Roblox” in courts in California, Georgia and Texas. Matthew Dolman, a Florida lawyer who is a managing partner at the law firm, said a sixth lawsuit is being filed on Friday.

The lawsuits point to several steps “Roblox” could have taken to make the platform safer, such as verifying ages through facial recognition, clearly warning parents about sexual predators and putting a higher age rating for its app.

“This is just the wild west,” Dolman said in an interview. “It’s like a hunting ground for predators.”

The company, he said, misrepresents how safe the platform is to both its users and shareholders.

“Roblox” profits from transaction fees when predators offer children Robux, a digital currency used on the gaming platform, in exchange for sexually explicit photos, according to the federal lawsuit filed on Thursday.

Predators will also tell children they won’t release these photos if they hand over Robux, the lawsuit alleges.

The complaint cites a Hindenburg Research report published last year that stated there were inappropriate games on “Roblox” that researchers were able to access by registering as a child.

Some of those experiences were modeled after criminal conduct by child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Roblox” rebutted claims made in the report and said it invested heavily in its trust and safety efforts, noting that it has rules against child exploitation on its platform.

The risk of sextortion, especially among young people, is a growing problem, child advocates say. Roughly 1 in 5 teenagers experienced sextortion, according to a report from Thorn, a child safety nonprofit.

Sextortionists have used a variety of platforms, including social media and gaming platforms such as “Roblox,” “Minecraft” and “Fortnite,” to threaten victims.

UCLA’s defense, the biggest unknown on the team a year ago, is facing even more questions.

A slew of players moved on to the NFL. No full-time starters return. Success will depend on several players with promising pedigrees but limited college production becoming playmakers.

As he stepped off a team bus Wednesday afternoon in Costa Mesa amid the warmest day of training camp, the temperature reaching 82 degrees before warmup stretches, Key Lawrence did not appear to feel any sort of heat, literal or figurative. The transfer safety who has made previous college stops at Tennessee, Oklahoma and Mississippi was humming a tune, savoring every moment of this new opportunity.

A few hours later, after practice concluded, Lawrence teased a reporter about wearing a collared shirt given the temperature, though he said it felt pleasant to him.

“I’m from the South,” said Lawrence, a native of Nashville, “so this, it feels pretty good to me. I loved it, honestly. Everybody else was saying it was pretty hot; I was the one looking at them crazy. This is what I love.”

One of nine transfer defensive backs — including four who have made multiple previous college stops — Lawrence has emerged as an immediate standout for not only his exuberance but also his initiative in pulling everyone together.

Defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe identified Lawrence as a leader on the field and in meeting rooms, saying the redshirt senior was eager to help teammates learn what amounted to a new scheme for almost everyone on the defense. Among the returners, interior defensive linemen Devin Aupiu and Siale Taupaki each started seven games last season. Edge rusher Jacob Busic made five starts. No one else coming back made more than two starts.

But in a sign of improved depth, Aupiu, Taupaki and Busic could come off the bench this season upon the return of defensive tackles Gary Smith III and Keanu Williams from injury and the possible emergence of several edge rushers.

Once rated as the top high school prospect in Tennessee by 247Sports.com, Lawrence has amassed a sporting goods store’s worth of college helmets and jerseys. He played in 10 games as a true freshman at Tennessee in 2020, appearing on special teams and as reserve defensive back.

After transferring to Oklahoma, he posted his best college season as a sophomore, making 47 tackles and forcing three fumbles to become an honorable mention All-Big 12 Conference selection. Two more productive seasons in which he never earned a full-time starting role were followed by a transfer to Ole Miss, where Lawrence played in four games in 2024 before utilizing a redshirt season.

Radiating energy in everything he does, even if it’s just bopping to the 1990s R&B girl group Xscape while getting off the bus, Lawrence appeared eager to make the most of this final college chance.

“If I have some juice and some guys may not some days, especially in camp, why not pour it into somebody else so it can affect myself as well?” he said. “You know what I’m saying? Just fake it ‘til I make it, if anything. But when I get off the bus, I’m just excited to do what I do. I just love what I do, man. I’m just excited.”

The 700 Club

As he recently positioned himself underneath the bar inside UCLA’s weight room, straining under the load of eight massive plates on each side, Smith’s teammates thrust their arms into the air while chanting, “Get it up! Get it up! Get it up!”

The defensive tackle complied, squatting 700 pounds. It was a personal record and the most of any Bruin.

His teammates swarmed him in celebration while flinging fake money into the air. In a possible nod to NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, someone handed Smith a piece of paper with “700” scribbled on it to hold up for a photo.

It was a milestone in the recovery of a player who missed all of last season because of a broken ankle.

“Having the guys there to celebrate that moment with me,” Smith said, “it meant a lot.”

Having dropped 20 pounds from his 6-foot-2 frame as the result of a “clean” diet, leaving him a relatively svelte 315 pounds, Smith said he felt a significant difference.

“I feel lighter on my feet, feel explosive,” he said. “I feel twitchy again, you know, I just feel good.”

Etc.

Malloe said JonJon Vaughns, JuJu Walls, Isaiah Chisom and Donavyn Pellot were the linebackers standing out early in camp. Vaughns could replace the production of star predecessor Carson Schwesinger, Malloe said, as long as he maintained the proper belief and confidence. … A day after they were not spotted participating during the limited media viewing window, offensive linemen Courtland Ford and Reuben Unije practiced as part of the second team. Ford had both hands taped and Unije both elbows taped. The first-team offensive line consisted of tackles Garrett DiGiorgio and K.D. Arnold, center Sam Yoon and guards Julian Armella and Oluwafunto Akinshilo. … UCLA’s move to early afternoon practices this week after exclusively practicing in the mornings, Malloe said, was a schedule change implemented by coach DeShaun Foster to test players’ discipline. … Malloe said Jalen Hargrove, a veteran transfer from Rice who recently signed with UCLA, had joined his new teammates and was rounding into form with conditioning work.

A neon green sex toy was thrown from the stands and landed on the court during the second quarter of Tuesday night’s Sparks win over the Indiana Fever at Crypto.com Arena.

With 2:05 remaining in the first half, the sex toy landed in the paint near Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who recoiled before Sparks guard Kelsey Plum kicked the object off the hardwood.

Spectators at Crypto.com Arena responded with boos, many turning toward the sections behind the basket closest to the Sparks bench where the sex toy appeared to have been thrown from. Security rushed into the stands in an apparent attempt to identify who was responsible.

“I think it’s ridiculous, it’s dumb, it’s stupid,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “It’s also dangerous and players’ safety is number one. Respecting the game. All those things. I think it’s really stupid.”

Cunningham, who was seen laughing as she walked toward the Sparks’ bench after the sex toy landed, had previously expressed concern about the trend on social media, saying that it’s “going to hurt one of us.” After Tuesday’s game, she shared that X post with the caption: “this did NOT age well.”

The game continued without interruption, but the incident added to a growing list of cases where fans have thrown inappropriate objects toward the court during WNBA games.

“We did a great job, Indiana included, just playing it off,” Plum said. “Just don’t give it any attention. And the refs — I appreciated them too — just like, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ ”

Tuesday’s incident in Los Angeles was at least the fourth time in less than two weeks that a sex toy has been thrown toward the court during a league game. On Friday in Chicago, a sex toy was tossed under the basket during a play that was stopped. On July 30, a green sex toy landed near the court and bounced forward during a Dream game in Atlanta — an incident that resulted in a fan’s arrest and one-year ban from WNBA arenas.

A fan posted on social media that a green sex toy was tossed toward the court during the Dallas Wings at New York Liberty game Tuesday night, landing in the stands and nearly hitting a child. A similar incident has been reported in Phoenix, where the toy did not reach the court.

The WNBA released a statement emphasizing that throwing objects into the court area is a violation of league policy and local laws.

“The safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league. Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans,” the league statement read. “In line with WNBA Arena Security Standards, any fan who intentionally throws an object onto the court will be immediately ejected and face a minimum one-year ban in addition to being subject to arrest and prosecution by local authorities.”

On Tuesday, no announcement was made indicating whether the individual who threw the sex toy at Crypto.com Arena was located or ejected.

Donald Trump has it in for public education.

Don’t be fooled by last week’s release of DOE billions for the coming school year. Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed that since the surprise decision in late June to withhold the funding, the government vetted all the programs to make sure they met President Trump’s approval. In reality, the White House was inundated by protests from both sides of the aisle, from teachers, parents and school superintendents all over the country. A week earlier, 24 states had filed suit against the administration for reneging on already appropriated education funding.

The reprieve will be temporary if the president has his way. Shuttering the Department of Education, and its funding priorities, was a marquee Trump campaign promise.

Already, about 2,000 DOE staff members have been fired or quit under duress. That’s half the agency’s personnel. On July 14, the Supreme Court lifted an injunction against the firings as lawsuits protesting the firings work their way through the courts. In essence, the ruling gives Trump a green light to destroy the department by executive fiat now, even if the Supreme Court later decides only Congress has that power.

The high court majority did not spell out its reasoning. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, deplored the “untold harm” that will result from the ruling, including “delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended.”

McMahon touts what she considers her agency’s “final mission”: ending federal funding for school districts that cannot prove that they have eliminated diversity, equity and exclusion initiatives, or what Trump calls “critical race theory and transgender insanity.” The stakes are high: What’s at issue is the withdrawal of nearly $30 billion in aid.

The DEI threat rejects a 60-year bipartisan understanding — based on Title 1 of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act to the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act — that Washington should invest federal taxpayer dollars in closing the achievement gap that separates privileged youth from poor and minority students and children living in poverty.

Those funds support smaller classes, after-school programs and tutoring. Research shows that Title 1 can claim credit for disadvantaged students’ improved performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — NAEP — the nation’s K-12 report card, which the administration is also targeting. The most innovative programs, including the Harlem Children’s Zone preschool, charter schools and after-school and summer-vacation programs and one-on-one, face-to-face learning through Tutoring Chicago, have recorded especially dramatic results.

Support for students with disabilities would also become history, along with the requirement that schools deliver “free and appropriate education” to youngsters with special needs. That would have a disastrous impact on these students, historically dismissed as hopeless, because needs-focused special education can change the arc of their lives.

In demanding that districts “prove” they have eliminated DEI as a condition for receiving federal funds, McMahon claims that focusing exclusively on “meaningful learning,” not “divisive [DEI] programs,” is the only way to improve achievement.

She’s flat-out wrong. DEI initiatives, while sometimes over the top, have generally proven to boost academic outcomes by reducing discrimination. That’s logical — when students feel supported and valued, they do better in school. Wiping out efforts designed to promote racial and economic fairness is a sure way to end progress toward eliminating the achievement gap.

Clearly, the studies that show the gains made by DEI programs are irrelevant to an administration whose decisions are driven by impulse and ideology. Its threats to the gold standard test of American education, NAEP — an assessment that’s about as nonpartisan as forecasting the weather — gives the game away. If you don’t know how well the public schools are doing, it’s child’s play to script a narrative of failure.

Tucked into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a nationwide school voucher program, paid for by a 100% tax deduction for donations of up to $1,700 to organizations that hand out educational scholarships. There’s no cap on the program, which could cost as much as $50 billion a year, and no expiration date.

The voucher provision potentially decimates public schools, which will lose federal dollars. Since private schools can decide which students to admit and which to kick out, the gap between the haves and haves-less will widen. Students with special needs, as well as those whose families cannot afford to participate, will be out of luck.

What’s more, vouchers don’t deliver the benefits the advocates promise. Studies from Louisiana, where “low-quality private schools” have proliferated with the state’s blessing, as well as the District of Columbia and Indiana, show that students who participate in voucher plans do worse, especially in math, than their public-school peers.

Michigan State education policy professor Joshua Cowen, who has spent two decades studying these programs, reached the startling conclusion that voucher plans have led to worse student outcomes than the COVID pandemic.

Vouchers “promise an all-too-simple solution to tough problems like unequal access to high-quality schools, segregation and even school safety,” Cohen concludes. “They can severely hinder academic growth — especially for vulnerable kids.”

The defenders of public education are fighting back. Twenty states have gone to federal court to challenge the Department of Education’s demand that they eliminate their DEI programs. “The Trump administration’s threats to withhold critical education funding due to the use of these initiatives are not only unlawful, but harmful to our children, families, and schools,” said Massachusetts Atty. Gen. Andrea Joy Campbell, announcing the lawsuit.

The White House may well lose this lawsuit. But litigation consumes time, and the administration keeps finding ways to evade judicial rulings, sometimes with the help of the Supreme Court. It could be years before the judges reach final decisions in these cases, and by then the damage will have been done.

That’s why it is up to Congress to do its job — to represent its constituents, who have consistently supported compensatory education programs and special education programs in public schools, resisting the siren song of vouchers — and to insist that the administration obey the dictates of legislation that’s been on the books for decades.

Will a supine Congress rouse itself to protect public education? After all, that’s what the rule of law — and public education — requires.

David Kirp is professor emeritus at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books on education, including “The Sandbox Investment,” “Improbable Scholars” and “The Education Debate.”

Aug. 1 (UPI) — The Elon Musk-owned social media platform X said Friday that Britain’s newly-enacted Online Safety Act “seriously” is on the cusp of violating free speech masked as the fight to protect kids from explicit online content.

“Many are now concerned that a plan ostensibly intended to keep children safe is at risk of seriously infringing on the public’s right to free expression,” the Global Government affairs wing of the Bastrop, Texas-headquartered X said Friday.

Britain’s Online Safety Act created a new set of legal duties by which tech companies must abide.

It mandated they evaluate the potential of users encountering illegal Internet content and children being exposed to online harm, which included a required safety assessment.

“When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety,'” the letter stated.

The British parliament passed it in September 2023 in the quest to improve online safety for young people.

X argues the British people may not of been aware of the “trade-off” when London passed the bill.

The OSA covers more than 130 offenses ranging from harassment and “assisting or encouraging suicide” to terrorism, fraud and “unlawful immigration.” It targets tech entities that span “social media or video-sharing platforms, messaging, gaming and dating apps, forums and file-sharing sites.”

According to the social media platform, the act’s “laudable intentions” were at risk of “being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach.”

“While everyone agrees protecting children is a critical responsibility, it is also clear that an overly rigorous statutory framework layered with a ‘voluntary’ code and heightened police monitoring, oversteps the intended mission,” it continued.

On Friday, a British watchdog group indicated that those fears may be valid.

“The BBC is now reporting that information about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, UK rape gangs, and more is being censored online due to the government’s new Online ‘Safety’ Act,” Silkie Carlo, director of Britain-based Big Brother Watch, posted on X.

“Well done, lads,” she added in jest.

X’s government affairs office says free speech will suffer without a “more balanced, collaborative approach.”

Pornhub and other major pornographic websites had a targeted end of July date to implement its age verification mechanisms in order to comply.

Musk, 54, has characterized himself as a “free speech absolutist.”

The former White House DOGE adviser, for his part, has said the act’s purpose was “suppression of the people” as he tweeted a petition calling for its repeal that got more than 450,000 signatures.

OSA’s deadline required pornographic websites to implement “robust” age-verification methods or face fines close to $20 million or equal to 10% of company proceeds.

In addition to the increased government regulations, X officials also cite Britain’s new “National Internet Intelligence Investigations” team unit company officials say “sets off alarm bells” and will further “intensify scrutiny.”

The social media company said the Internet teams “sole” focus is to monitor social media for “signs of unrest, such as anti-immigrant sentiment, to prevent real-world violence.”