AUBURN, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 19, 2023--

Fans of the 'Destiny' franchise will be glad to hear that a 'Destiny' film is seemingly edging more and more closer.

Days after the US Supreme Court struck down race-conscious university admissions, civil rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit targeting so-called “legacy” admissions at Harvard University. The lawsuit, alleging widespread discrimination at the college in violation of the Civil Rights Act, is the latest challenge to the practice of prioritising university admissions for the children of alumni. “There’s no birthright to Harvard. As the Supreme Court recently noted, ‘eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.’ There should be no way to identify who your parents are in the college application process,” said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, which filed the complaint on 3 July. “Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations?” he said in a statement. “Your family’s last name and the size of your bank account are not a measure of merit, and should have no bearing on the college admissions process.” The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England and the Greater Boston Latino Network. Last week, the conservative supermajority on the nation’s highest court ruled that private and public colleges and universities may not consider race as a factor in admissions, striking down the precedent affirmed in the 2003 ruling in Grutter v Bollinger. Civil rights advocates and justices who supported the decades-long precedent, intended to promote racially diverse college campuses, derided what they argue is the court’s ongoing perversion of the 14th Amendment and the foundational concept of equal protection. The latest lawsuit points to Harvard data finding that 70 per cent of the college’s donor-related and legacy applicants are white. So-called “legacy” applicants have a roughly six times greater chance of admission, according to records, pointing to a “custom, pattern and practice” that is “exclusionary and discriminatory” and “severely disadvantages and harms applicants of color,” plaintiffs argued. The complaint calls on the US Department of Education to initiate a federal investigation into Harvard’s application process and for the federal government to declare such practices illegal. “Harvard’s practice of giving a leg-up to the children of wealthy donors and alumni – who have done nothing to deserve it – must end,” Lawyers for Civil Rights litigation fellow Michael Kippins said in a statement accompanying the complaint. Following the Supreme Court ruling, Democratic lawmakers and President Joe Biden urged universities to reconsider their legacy admissions, which he said “expand privilege instead of opportunity.” The Independent has requested comment from Harvard. Read More Biden condemns Supreme Court striking down affirmative action: ‘This is not a normal court’ Biden reveals ‘new path’ to student debt relief after Supreme Court strikes down president’s plan Pence ‘doesn’t believe’ racial inequality exists in schools as he celebrates SCOTUS affirmative action ban

Indonesia has banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms, the trade minister said on Wednesday, in a blow to short video app TikTok, which is doubling down on Southeast Asia's biggest economy to boost its e-commerce business.

Social media giant Meta on Tuesday said it intends to ask EU-based users to give their consent before allowing targeted advertising on its networks including Facebook...

GRAPEVINE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 5, 2023--

Meet Esther the first ever human scale tennis playing robot. Robots have been introduced into

By Georgina Lee and Faith Hung HONG KONG/TAIPEI Investors are putting aside geopolitical tensions to pile in to

Players can get Ahsoka Tano in Fortnite on Wednesday, Sept. 27 by completing a series of Star Wars Quests once the secret Battle Pass skin goes live.

Every year HP welcomes summer with a huge sale around July 4th weekend. This year,

Twitter trolls who suggested a ship carrying the first wave of the Windrush generation should have “sunk” have been taken down following public criticism. On June 22, 1948, HMT Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury in Essex with around 500 workers aboard from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. They were among the first of the Windrush generation – people who had travelled to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries as part of a scheme to help fill post-war labour shortages. On 75th anniversary of Windrush, Sunder Katwala, director of independent think tank British Future, told the PA news agency about a series of offensive tweets. One anonymous user with a profile image of a St George’s flag had suggested that the then-prime minister Clement Attlee “should have told the Royal Navy to sink it in the middle of the Atlantic”. The user had also argued that black and Jewish people could not be British. Initially, complaints about the account were rejected – despite MPs receiving assurances in the past that such comments probably violated Twitter rules. Mr Katwala was tagged in a further tweet by another user, which stated: “Should have sunk it just as we should be sinking the illegals coming to our shores.” He had reported that offensive post too, but on Thursday had yet to receive a response from moderators. PA had attempted to contact Twitter on Thursday for a comment. By Friday afternoon, both accounts appeared to have been removed or suspended from the micro-blogging site. Mr Katwala said: “It is good that the right decision has been made in this case after the indefensible decision to declare this incessant racism within the rules was challenged publicly. “My concern is that the Twitter moderation system is invariably getting the most clear cut cases wrong so users are not getting the protection they need most of the time.” Previously, the author and prominent social commentator had said that public figures including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, ministers and MPs “face daily racism because of the failures of social media platforms”. “So you can’t participate in public space on equal terms without experiencing racism, even though in every other sphere of life, if you’re on the train, on the bus, or in the playground, or in business, people can’t do that anymore, because we have social norms and we uphold them. “There’s no enforcement at all of the most basic social norms even when put in the most vitriolic terms,” he said. Allowing the views of a tiny minority to be amplified on social media skewed how the younger generation saw progress in the real world, leaving an impression society was “going backwards, no forwards”, he suggested. Mr Katwala had said social media does have the ability to “step up” to tackle online hate, as happened after the Christchurch terror attack in New Zealand and after Euro 2020 racist abuse. But he added on Thursday: “It is very clear to me that Twitter is now taking the most extreme content considerably less seriously than two years ago. “How far that is a policy decision under new ownership and how far a reduction in staff capacity is less clear. “The type of very extreme content they would take down when challenged is much more likely to stay up for much longer now. If the platform is not going to act, the case for external regulation gets stronger.” Mr Katwala has recently published a new book, How To Be A Patriot, which is a personal account of what it is to be British. He joined a celebration of the 75th anniversary at the National Windrush Monument in Waterloo, south London, and at a special service at Southwark Cathedral. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Meta rejects accusation of censorship of language around female body AI developing faster than laws aiming to regulate it, academic warns Facebook Marketplace is most complained-about online retail platforms

By Deborah Kyvrikosaios and Liliana Salgado ATHENS/PHOENIX Greece closed the ancient Acropolis during the hottest part of the