Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying. These are just some of the issues young people are dealing with on social media — and children's advocates and lawmakers say companies are not doing enough to protect them. On Wednesday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a time when lawmakers and parents are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people’s lives. The hearing began with recorded testimony from kids and parents who said they or their children were exploited on social media. Throughout the hourslong event, parents who lost children to suicide silently held up pictures of their dead kids. "They’re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said in opening remarks. “Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.” Meta's initial decisions to remove 2 videos of Israel-Hamas war is reversed by Oversight Board In a heated question and answer session with Mark Zuckerberg, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Meta CEO if he has personally compensated any of the victims and their families for what they have been through. “I don't think so,” Zuckerberg replied. “There's families of victims here,” Hawley said. “Would you like to apologize to them?” Zuckerberg stood, turned away from his microphone and the senators, and directly addressed the parents in the gallery. “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered,” he said, adding that Meta continues to invest and work on “industrywide efforts” to protect children. But time and time again, children’s advocates and parents have stressed that none of the companies are doing enough. One of the parents who attended the hearing was Neveen Radwan, whose teenage daughter got sucked in to a “black hole of dangerous content” on TikTok and Instagram after she started looking at videos on healthy eating and exercise at the onset of the COVID lockdowns. She developed anorexia within a few months and nearly died, Radwan recalled. “Nothing that was said today was different than what we expected,” Radwan said. “It was a lot of promises and a lot of, quite honestly, a lot of talk without them really saying anything. The apology that he made, while it was appreciated, it was a little bit too little, too late, of course.” But Radwan, whose daughter is now 19 and in college, said she felt a “significant shift” in the energy as she sat through the hearing, listening to the senators grill the social media CEOs in tense exchanges. “The energy in the room was, very, very palpable. Just by our presence there, I think it was very noticeable how our presence was affecting the senators,” she said. Hawley continued to press Zuckerberg, asking if he'd take personal responsibility for the harms his company has caused. Zuckerberg stayed on message and repeated that Meta's job is to “build industry-leading tools” and empower parents. “To make money,” Hawley cut in. Israeli defense minister says war on Hamas will last months as US envoy discusses timetable South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, echoed Durbin's sentiments and said he's prepared to work with Democrats to solve the issue. “After years of working on this issue with you and others, I’ve come to conclude the following: Social media companies as they’re currently designed and operate are dangerous products," Graham said. The executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they’ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors. Snapchat broke ranks ahead of the hearing and is backing a federal bill that would create a legal liability for apps and social platforms that recommend harmful content to minors. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reiterated the company’s support on Wednesday and asked the industry to back the bill. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company is vigilant about enforcing its policy barring children under 13 from using the app. CEO Linda Yaccarino said X, formerly Twitter, doesn’t cater to children. “We do not have a line of business dedicated to children,” Yaccarino said. She said the company will also support Stop CSAM Act, a federal bill that makes it easier for victims of child exploitation to sue tech companies. Yet child health advocates say social media companies have failed repeatedly to protect minors. Profits should not be the primary concern when companies are faced with safety and privacy decisions, said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.” Republican and Democratic senators came together in a rare show of agreement throughout the hearing, though it’s not yet clear if this will be enough to pass legislation such as the Kids Online Safety Act, proposed in 2022 by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. “There is pretty clearly a bipartisan consensus that the status quo isn’t working," said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat. “When it comes to how these companies have failed to prioritize the safety of children, there’s clearly a sense of frustration on both sides of the aisle.” Meta is being sued by dozens of states that say it deliberately designs features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. New Mexico filed a separate lawsuit saying the company has failed to protect them from online predators. New internal emails between Meta executives released by Blumenthal’s office show Nick Clegg, the company's president of global affairs, and others asking Zuckerberg to hire more people to strengthen "wellbeing across the company” as concerns grew about effects on youth mental health. “From a policy perspective, this work has become increasingly urgent over recent months. Politicians in the U.S., U.K., E.U. and Australia are publicly and privately expressing concerns about the impact of our products on young people’s mental health,” Clegg wrote in an August 2021 email. The emails released by Blumenthal’s office don’t appear to include a response, if there was any, from Zuckerberg. In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal released the Facebook Files, its report based on internal documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who later testified before the Senate. Clegg followed up on the August email in November with a scaled-down proposal but it does not appear that anything was approved. “I’ve spoken to many of the parents at the hearing. The harm their children experienced, all that loss of innocent life, is eminently preventable. When Mark says ‘Our job is building the best tools we can,’ that is just not true,” said Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at the social media giant known for his expertise in curbing online harassment who recently testified before Congress about child safety on Meta’s platforms. “They know how much harm teens are experiencing, yet they won’t commit to reducing it, and most importantly to be transparent about it. They have the infrastructure to do it, the research, the people, it is a matter of prioritization.” Béjar said the emails and Zuckerberg's testimony show that Meta and its CEO “do not care about the harm teens experience” on their platforms. “Nick Clegg writes about profound gaps with addiction, self-harm, bullying and harassment to Mark. Mark did not respond, and those gaps are unaddressed today. Clegg asked for 84 engineers of 30,000,” Béjar said. “Children are not his priority.” Read more: Facebook parent Meta hit with record fine for transferring European user data to US

Parliament members and civil society representatives at a dialogue on Monday called for coordinated efforts to ensure rights of domestic child helping hands. Action for Social Development (ASD), a non-profit, organised the dialogue on "Rights and Protection of Domestic Child: Necessity of Law" at Parliament Members Club auditorium. The speakers said government alone can’t stop child labour or ensure rights of domestic child helping hands. All stakeholders should come forward to deal with the matter, they observed. The speakers also underlined the need for enacting a complete law in consultation of domestic workers' protection and welfare policy -2015 to remove the existing limitations. They regretted that the government prepared a policy for protection and welfare domestic workers in 2015 but the domestic works is yet to get recognition as a profession and hence the domestic workers are not getting justice even after repression. Chairman of Parliamentary Caucus on Child Rights Shamsul Haque Tuku, MP said, the government has taken an initiative to enact a law to protect the rights of the domestic helping hands. Read: Rights defenders, journalists demand release of Indian journalist Zubair He mentioned that father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken an initiative to protect the rights of children. In line with the initiative, he said, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina brought amendments to the child friendly law and policy to protect their rights. Tuku, who is also chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs Ministry, further said necessary plan of action was taken and budget was allocated in this regard. A proposal to form a separate directorate has also been finalised to protect the rights of the children. "Policy has already been taken. Now it is a matter of time to enact a law and form a separate directorate to protect the rights of the children," he added. Rezaul Karim, MP, Dr Samil Uddin Ahmed Shimul, MP, Syeda Rubina Akhter, MP and Gloria Jhorna Sarker, MP spoke the dialogue as special guests. Presided over by ASD project director Hamidur Rahman, the function was also addressed, among others, by Labonya Ahmed, director Parliament Secretariat, Rafiqul Islam Azad, former president of Dhaka Reporters Unity, MA Karim, executive director of ASD, Abdus Shahid Mahmud of Shishu Odhikar Forum, Mahbubul Haque of Don Forum, Syeda Munira Sultana, ILO representative, Nikhil Chandra Bhadra of Sundarban and Coastal Protection Movement and Moniruzzaman Mukul of SCAN.  

Lawmakers from ruling and opposition parties on Sunday came down hard on the budgetary proposal to legalise laundered money only with 7 per cent tax. They slammed Finance Minister Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for making the proposal in the budget of FY2022-23. Jatiya Party MP elected from Sunamganj Pir Fazlur Rahman demanded legal action against the money launderers. He said legal action should be taken against those who looted and smuggled money abroad.  Otherwise, there was no need for anti-money laundering law. Also read: Law bars asking questions about laundered money: Finance Minister “Money laundering has also increased.  The finance minister has tried to save the lives of the people in the budget that he presented during this coronation period.  On the other hand, thousands of crores of taka have been smuggled out of this country, which he could not stop.” He said that steps have been taken to give impunity for those who stole money, embezzled money and smuggled it abroad. “This is not supportable at all,” he said. Fazlur said that the finance minister should have prevented money smuggling during the transition period. But he failed there." He said that if laundered money is allowed to return to Bangladesh legally, then money laundering laws are not needed in Bangladesh.  He mentioned that people suspect that a large group of people are sitting around to smuggle money abroad and their ill motive will be successful. “This will encourage the people to earn money through illegal means,” he added. He said that if this amnesty given to the money launderers then they will become the highest taxpayers. Another Jatiya Party MP elected from Gaibandha Shameem Haider Patwary asked the finance minister to rethink the matter. He questioned about the fate of ongoing cases after passage of this amnesty. “There should be a policy this amnesty can not be availed if there is any specific allegation of money laundering,” he said. The Jatiya Party MP mentioned that such kind of amnesty was given in India that failed to bring any success. Gonoforum MP elected from Sylhet Mokabbir Khan demanded  punishment to the top 12 corrupts of the country. “By this we will be able to bring down 50 percent corruption in the country, otherwise I will resign from the Parliament,” he said. Also read: Budget FY23: Laundered money to be legalized by 7-15 pc tax He alleged that the government is taking actions against some small fries like clerk and driver. “But the authority has no courage to touch the big corrupt people who earned thousands of crores of taka staying in the big posts,” he said. Ruling Party MP elected from Cumilla Pran Gopal Dutta requested the finance minister to revise the proposal of giving amnesty to the money launderers. “There is no positive impact of this matter, those who siphoned money  abroad, if they were honest they would keep their money in the country,” he said. He mentioned that the finance minister should keep in mind that thieves never listen to religious message.

Lawmakers from across the aisle on Sunday expressed resentment at the Health Ministry as people are not getting health services due to the deplorable state of upazila and district health complexes in their respective areas. Speaking during the question-answer session, they alleged there are serious shortage of doctors, nurses and other health staff in different health complexes and hospitals in their constituencies causing serious hampering of providing health services to people. Also read:Bill to establish new hydrocarbons agency placed in JS The treasury and opposition MPs also raised their voices saying many doctors and nurses who are posted in upazila health complexes, do not stay there. AL MP Dhirendra Debnath and Zilluk Hakim separately said that people in their constituency are not getting health services due to lack of doctors, consultants and health staff. Another senior MP of AL, Shajahan Khan said a 50-bed hospital in his constituency was increased to 250 beds. But people are not getting benefits of this as no additional doctors and nurses were recruited for the hospital. “Earlier in parliament, I raised the same issue before the health minister and he gave me assurance to appoint additional doctors and other staff for the hospital. But no measures were taken so far,” he said. Another AL MP SM Shahzada in his speech said he is in big trouble due to the sorry state of the health complex in his constituency. He also said the lone health complex in Golachipa upazila under his constituency—Patuakhali-3 remained in a very sorry state. “This health complex was established a long time ago. It is in a dilapidated condition,” he said. He mentioned that there are several buildings inside this health complex which have been declared abandoned due to their dilapidated condition. He said that this upazila has a population of 5 lakhs. There are about two and a half lakh more people in the adjoining upazila (Rangabali). Also read:JS selects 5-member panel of chairpersons “Health services of two upazilas are managed from this health center,” he also said. The AL MP also said that he wrote to the minister two and a half years ago for a new health complex.  Jatiya Party MP and Opposition Chief Whip Moshiur Rahman Ranga said there are costly medical equipment for treatment of kidney dialysis and cancer remaining unused in a hospital in his area for years. He said those expensive medical equipment cannot be used due to not having technical staff. BNP MP Rumeen Farhana said due to inefficiency of the government, the health ministry couldn’t spend a major portion of the money allocated in the development budget. AL MP Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Moazzem Hossain Ratan, Shahiduzzaman, Bikolpodhara Bangladesh MP Abdul Mannan, Gono Forum MP Mokabbir Khan, Jatiya Party MP Kazi Firoz Rashid also strongly criticized the health minister.    In reply to MPs' outcry, Health Minister Zahid Maleque admitted that there is a shortage of doctors and other staff in different hospitals and health complexes in the country. He, however, said, the government has reappointed many doctors and nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic and more doctors and other health staff will be appointed soon.

Lawmakers appeared poised to push Prime Minister Imran Khan out of power in an upcoming no-confidence vote, after a small but key coalition partner abandoned him and joined the opposition on Wednesday. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has only five seats, but their move puts the number of Khan’s opponents in parliament at well over the 172 needed to oust him in the vote, to be held sometime next week. Read: Imran Khan visits Sri Lanka as Muslims demand burial rights It seemed likely to be the terminal blow to Khan, who already faces a revolt by a dozen lawmakers from his own Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party who’ve publicly pledged to vote against him. Nasreen Jalil, a leader of the MQM party, announced the decision to reporters early Wednesday. Khan, who came to power in 2018 by getting 176 votes of the 342-seat National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, was expected to address the nation Wednesday night.

Two women of color are President Joe Biden’s picks to lead the White House budget office, a milestone for the powerful agency after his first choice withdrew following criticism over her previous attacks on lawmakers from both parties. If confirmed by the Senate, Shalanda Young would become the first Black woman in charge of the Office of Management and Budget, while Nani Coloretti, a Filipino American, would serve as Young’s deputy, making Coloretti one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in government. “Today it’s my honor to nominate two extraordinary, history-making women to lead the Office of Management and Budget,” Biden said in a video announcement released Wednesday while he spends the Thanksgiving holiday on Nantucket island in Massachusetts. “She has continued to impress me, and congressional leaders as well,” Biden said of Young, who has been acting director for most of the year. Biden turned to Young after his first nominee for budget director, Neera Tanden, came under bipartisan criticism.  Read:Biden undergoes routine colonoscopy, Harris briefly in power Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has become a pivotal vote for Biden's agenda in a chamber split 50-50, was the first Democrat to oppose Tanden's nomination and, lacking the necessary votes, she ultimately withdrew from consideration. Biden later gave Tanden a job in the White House, where she is staff secretary and a senior presidential adviser. Young faces a Senate confirmation vote, though it was not immediately clear how soon it would be scheduled. But she was confirmed as deputy director in March on a 63-37 vote, with backing from more than a dozen Republicans. Young, who previously was staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, also has support from top Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi, in a statement issued Wednesday, said Young’s nomination is “well-deserved.” Other Democratic lawmakers expressed support for Young on Twitter. “Good call,” wrote Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Budget Committee, which will vote first on the nominations, tweeted that Young's “leadership is just what we need to implement a federal budget that prioritizes the American people.” Read: A complicated relationship: Biden and Xi prepare for meeting In Congress, Young oversaw $1.3 trillion in annual appropriations bills, disaster aid and COVID-19-related spending. The head of the Office of Management and Budget is tasked with putting together the president’s annual budget for Congress and overseeing a wide range of logistical and regulatory issues across the federal government. Coloretti would rejoin the federal government from her current post at the Urban Institute think tank, where she is senior vice president overseeing financial and business strategy. Her prior federal government service includes deputy secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, assistant secretary for management at the Treasury Department and acting chief operating officer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Biden said Young and Coloretti are “two of the most experienced, qualified people to lead” the budget office and called on the Senate to vote quickly to confirm them.

President Donald Trump is threatening to adjourn both houses of Congress if the lawmakers do not formally declare a proper recess, which would allow him to appoint some nominees without the Senate’s approval. In recent years, Congress has refused to fully adjourn during most breaks precisely to prevent the president from making recess appointments. Little or no business is conducted in such "pro-forma sessions," but they give members of bot

Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers Wednesday urged President Donald Trump to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia.