British investigating Facebook experiment
LONDON – British data protection authorities are investigating revelations that Facebook conducted a psychological experiment on its users.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said Wednesday that it wants to learn more about the circumstances of the experiment carried out by two U.S. universities and the social network.
The researchers manipulated the news feeds of about 700,000 selected users to study the impact of “emotional contagion,” or how emotional states are transferred to others.
Officials approve plans for new Ukraine truce
BERLIN – Foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France agreed Wednesday on a series of steps for a resumption of the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine where fighting between government troops and pro-Russia separatists has taken more than 400 lives since April.
The steps include reopening talks no later than Saturday “with the goal of reaching an unconditional and mutually agreed sustainable cease-fire” to be monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, their declaration said.
Iraqi leader warns of new regional threat
BAGHDAD – An extremist group’s declaration of an Islamic state in territory it has seized in Iraq and Syria poses a threat to the entire region, Iraq’s prime minister warned Wednesday, saying that “no one in Iraq or any neighboring country will be safe from these plans.”
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant announced this week that it has unilaterally established a caliphate in the areas under its control.
In his weekly address, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the militant group’s announcement “is a message to all the states in the region that you are inside the red circle now.”
Associated Press
