At a time when US federal government is pushing for a ban on TikTok, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a law restricting children's access to social media. The law will come into effect on January 1, 2025. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a bill restricting social media access for minors, as concerns grow over the negative effects such platforms are having on teens in the United States. The signing came barely two weeks after federal lawmakers in the House and Senate passed a bill that could see the Chinese-owned video platform TikTok banned in the US.  DeSantis on Monday said his administration is "trying to help parents navigate this very difficult terrain that we have now with raising kids." What we know so far The law, which will go into effect on January 1, 2025, will bar Florida children 13 and under from having social media accounts, and 14- and 15-year-olds will need parental consent to use them. "Governor Ron DeSantis signs HB3 to protect children from the harms of social media," the Florida Representative wrote on his official X account, formerly Twitter. Monday's bill was a watered down version of one previously put forth by Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner that would have banned all children under 16 from social media. The new version of the bill also dropped wording that detailed exactly how platforms would have to verify a user's age. Though most social media platforms require users to be 13 or older, they do little in terms of enforcement. The new law does not target any one company but is aimed at restricting access to platforms that use "addictive" features such as "likes," push notifications, auto-play videos and those that encourage "infinite scrolling." According to Speaker Renner, social media is fraught with risks from traffickers and pedophiles. He also claimed "social media platforms have caused a devastating effect in the mental well being of our children." "Our bill is focused on addiction," said Renner. "Unlike an adult who can make an adult decision… a child, in their brain development, doesn’t have the ability to know they are being sucked into these addictive technologies, and to see the harm and step away from it." Child protection vs. free speech: battle lines drawn The law has sparked concern among those who fear it sets a precedent for restricting free speech online.  At the same time, there has also been growing concern across the country about the effects of social media on child and teen development. While proponents claim the social media ban gives parents oversight in the matter, others say the government should stay out of such issues altogether. Renner said he expects social media companies will, "sue the second after this is signed. But you know what? We're going to beat them. We're going to beat them and we're never, ever going to stop." DeSantis, former Republican presidential candidate and a combative "culture warrior," has seen similarly ambitious legislation overturned before. Just recently, for instance, a majority Republican appeals court struck down his signature 2022 "Stop Woke Act" for violating free speech rights. Those opposing the new law, among them giant tech companies like Meta, say it not only violates free speech rights, it also strips away parental authority — something DeSantis and fellow Republicans claim to champion. "This bill goes too far in taking away parents' rights," Democratic Representative Anna Eskamani said in a statement Monday. "Instead of banning social media access, it would be better to ensure improved parental oversight tools and improved access to data to stop bad actors — alongside major investments in Florida's mental health systems and programs."

Reacting to the massive cellular outage across the United States, Florida Senator Marco Rubio has warned that the situation can be even more precarious in case China launches a cyberattack while 'invading' Taiwan. "I don't know the cause of the ATT outage But I do know it will be 100 times worse when China launches a cyber attack on America on the eve of a Taiwan invasion And it won't be just cell service they hit, it will be your power, your water and your bank," Rubio posted on X. This comes after a massive outage was reported after ATT's network went down for many of its customers across the country, leaving customers unable to place calls, text or access the internet. On Thursday morning (local time), more than 74,000 ATT customers reported outages on digital-service tracking site DownDetector, with service disruptions beginning around 4 am ET (local time), as reported by CNN. Although Verizon and T-Mobile customers also reported some network outages, those appeared far less widespread. These two firms said their networks were unaffected by ATT's service outage and customers reporting outages may have been unable to reach customers who use ATT. ATT acknowledged that it had a widespread outage but did not provide a reason for the system failure. "Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them," ATT said in a statement. "We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored. "By late morning, ATT said most of its network was back online. "Our network teams took immediate action and so far, three-quarters of our network has been restored," the company said. "We are working as quickly as possible to restore service to remaining customers."ATT provided no official reason for the outage, but the issue appears to be related to how cellular services hand off calls from one network to the next, a process known as 'peering', CNN reported, citing an industry source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. However, there is no indication that Thursday's outage was the result of a cyberattack or other malicious activity, the industry source said. Notably, China (People's Republic of China) considers the self-ruled territory of Taiwan as part of its territory and claims there is only "one China". China has increased military activities around Taiwan in recent years, including near-daily incursions into the country's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) and sending military ships near its maritime borders, according to CNN. Especially after former US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei in 2022, China has ramped up its flow of military jets over the self-ruled territory. Over time, Beijing has repeatedly said that Taiwan "would be reunified" with China. In this year's New Year Address, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, "China will surely be reunified, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose."Amid concerns over a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, US President Joe Biden said that Washington would "intervene militarily" if Beijing attempts to take Taipei by force, CNN reported. But it is pertinent to note that under the "One China" policy, the US also acknowledges China's position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing's claim to the self-governing island of 23 million.   Source: ANI

Lawmakers in the US state of Florida have passed a ban on most abortions after six weeks. Meanwhile, the US Justice Department said it would ask the Supreme Court to stop abortion pill restrictions. Florida's Republican-dominated legislature has approved a ban on most abortions after six weeks. The bill passed 70 votes to 40 in the state's lower house, a week after approval in the Senate, and was then signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. It marked the second time in a year that the legislature in the southeastern US state voted to shorten the timeframe for a legal abortion. Last April, DeSantis signed a law reducing the window from 24 weeks to 15 weeks of pregnancy. Even with the 15-week limit, Florida is one of the more permissive states in the southeastern US, and many women have traveled there from neighboring states to obtain abortions in recent months. Last year's reversal of Roe v. Wade prompted more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright. White House slams the move The White House slammed the measure which it said "flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out of step with the views of the vast majority" of Americans. "This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks before many women even know they're pregnant," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The new bill establishes that women will not be able to have an abortion in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy unless the fetus is not viable, the pregnancy endangers the health of the mother, or is the result of rape or incest and does not exceed 15 weeks. Republican supporters of the bill said the law safeguarded women's health by making exceptions for dangerous pregnancies. Democrats said the bill would harm women and accused Republicans of prioritizing their religious beliefs over the health of their constituents. Supreme Court to decide on abortion pill Meanwhile, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to intervene to stop restrictions set by a federal judge on the abortion pill mifepristone. President Joe Biden's administration is seeking to defend access to the drug, which is the most common method of abortion in the US.  The administration will seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the US Food and Drug Administration's "scientific judgment and protect Americans' access to safe and effective reproductive care," Garland said in a statement. Last week, a US District Court judge in Texas overturned the FDA's two-decades old approval of the drug. But on Wednesday, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals put part of that order, which would have removed the drug from the market, on hold. The Texas judge's order was set to take effect on Saturday, according to the Justice Department.

Rescue teams combed through the rubble of an oceanfront apartment block near Miami Beach that partially collapsed Thursday, killing at least one person and leaving another 99 unaccounted for amid fears of a much higher death toll. An unknown number of residents are feared to have been asleep in the 12-story building, in the town of Surfside, when the collapse in the wee hours of Thursday morning reduced a large portion of it to a pile of debris, exposing the interiors of gutted apartments. "One side of the building just fell completely. It doesn't exist anymore," said Nicolas Fernandez, 29, an Argentinian resident of Miami who had yet to hear from friends who were staying overnight in his family's unit in the building. "I don't know about them. I don't know if they are alive," he told AFP. Authorities said they were still without news of 99 people who may have been inside the building when part of it came crashing down. So far 102 others have been accounted for, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. Search and rescue teams with sniffer dogs will work through the night, Levine Cava said. "As the day comes to an end, their day does not," she said at an evening news conference, the last until Friday morning. At a Surfside community center, relatives of the missing cried as they waited for news. Tenants of the ruined building who were lucky enough to have been away when disaster struck pondered sudden homelessness. Erick de Moura, 40, happened to spend Wednesday night at his girlfriend's house. "I just came back and the scene is shocking," he said. "There is a lot of pain. I'm blessed that I am alive." Around 55 apartments were affected by the collapse, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah who told a news conference that emergency services arrived at the scene at around 1:30 am, evacuating 35 people from the building. The building was occupied by a mix of full-time and seasonal residents and renters, and officials have stressed it is unclear how many people were actually inside at the time. "It's hard to get a count on it," Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman told CNN. "You don't know between vacations or anything else," she said. "The hope is still there, but it's waning." - 'Bracing for bad news' - Some residents were able to walk down the stairs to safety while others had to be rescued from their balconies. One death was confirmed by Surfside mayor Charles Burkett, and Heyman said some 14 survivors had been recovered from the rubble. "It's a really, really tragic situation so we'll hope for the best in terms of additional recoveries, but we are bracing for some bad news just given the destruction that we're seeing," Governor Rob DeSantis told a news conference. As hope receded of finding more survivors, the focus was on the recovery of possible victims amid the rubble, in a massive operation assisted by drones and dogs and involving dozens of police and firefighter units. "Apparently when the building came down it pancaked, so there's just not a lot of voids that they're finding or seeing from the outside," Burkett said on NBC's Today show. After speaking with mayor Levine Cava, President Joe Biden told reporters his administrationstood ready to send emergency resources to Florida "immediately" if requested. "I say to the people of Florida, whatever help you want, that the federal government can provide, just ask us, we'll be there," he said. - 'Like a bomb went off' - Surfside's mayor said the reasons for the collapse were still unclear. "It looks like a bomb went off, but we're pretty sure a bomb didn't go off, so it's something else," Burkett said. Fernandez, the Argentinian resident of Miami, said that when his mother called him in the early hours to say the building had collapsed, he thought it was a joke -- and hung up. "She calls me again and tells me: 'Nico, you know I would never joke about this. I need you to go over there.' We came running." One witness, 25-year-old Julian Targowski, described the sound of the collapse. "It was like a very bass-y, like boom boom, boom boom, that kind of thing," he told local television WFOR. "Like, a ton of bass on a subwoofer, basically, like just two of them," he said. "Then my friend texted me that a building had exploded." Local media said records showed the block was built in 1981 and had more than 130 units inside. Heyman told CNN the building had been undergoing construction work on its roof, although she also stressed the reasons for the collapse were not clear Source: AFP/BSS AH

A shooter opened fire at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola Friday morning in an attack that left three people dead including the assailant. The gunfire prompted a massive law enforcement response to the base, which was locked down. The U.S. Navy tweeted that a second victim was dead. Area hospital representatives told The Associated Press earlier that at least 11 people were being taken to hospitals. Five people were taken to Baptist Health Care in Pensacola, hospital spokeswoman Kathy Bowers said. Six more were expected at Ascension Sacred Heart, spokesman Mike Burke said. Neither spokesperson had information on their conditions that they could share with The Associated Press. NAS Pensacola employs more than 16,000 military and 7,400 civilian personnel, according to its website. One of the Navy's most historic and storied bases, it sprawls along the waterfront southwest of downtown Pensacola and dominates the economy of the surrounding area. It's home to the Blue Angels flight demonstration team, and includes the National Naval Aviation Museum, a popular regional tourist attraction. Escambia County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who works at the Naval Air Station as a civilian contractor, told the Pensacola News Journal he was in line to go through the gate Friday morning when it was shut down due to the active shooter report. "There's probably been 100 or so various law enforcement vehicles zooming down the wrong side on Navy Boulevard," Bergosh told the newspaper. "There's been ambulances, fire trucks. It's my understanding there's multiple causalities. The shooting is the second at a U.S. naval base this week. A sailor whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, opened fire on three civilian employees Wednesday, killing two before taking his own life. Source: AP/UNB AH

A gunman killed five people in a bank in central Florida on Wednesday. The gunman later called police himself and eventually surrendered, local authorities said, reports Reuters. At a news conference, Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said the shooting occurred at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 95 miles south of Orlando, around 12:30 pm ET (1730 GMT),. The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Zephen Xaver, called police and said he had fired shots inside the bank, according to authorities. After negotiators failed to convince the suspect to leave the bank, the Highlands County Sheriff's Office SWAT team entered the building and continued to talk to him, police said. He eventually surrendered and is in custody. Police did not offer any details about a possible motive. "Today has been a tragic day in our community," Hoglund said. "We've suffered significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime." No information has been released about the victims. It was not clear whether anyone was wounded. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has asked the state's department of law enforcement to assist local police officials in the investigation. "We are working closely with officials and seeking to take care of everyone affected at our Sebring, Florida branch," said Sue Mallino, a spokeswoman for the bank. MHK

At least four people have been found dead in the rubble of a collapsed pedestrian bridge in south Florida. Vehicles were crushed as newly constructed span came down on highway, reports BBC. The structure toppled over an eight-lane motorway on Thursday afternoon, crushing at least eight vehicles, according to police. It is still unclear how many people were under the bridge at the time. Miami-Dade Fire Chief Dave Downey said on Thursday night he could confirm at least four people were killed. "This is going to be a long incident. We are going to have rescuers here through the night, if not longer," Chief Downey said. At least 10 people were treated for injuries at theKendall Regional Medical Center, including two who were in "extremely critical condition", according to Dr Mark McKenney, director of general surgery. The 950-ton (862-tonne), 174-foot (53m) bridge was erected on Saturday in just six hours over the highway, according to a story posted on the college website. Gov. Rick Scott spoke to reporters, saying "everybody is working hard to make sure we rescue anyone who can be rescued." The Florida governor added that an investigation will get to the bottom of "why this happened and what happened." He adds that if anyone had done anything wrong, "we will hold them accountable." The span, which connected the college to a student housing area in the city of Sweetwater, had long been requested by students and staff at the university so they could avoid the traffic below, according to the Miami Herald.   FU