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Amazon agreed Thursday to pay $2.5 billion to settle allegations from a US regulator that it used deceptive practices to enroll consumers in Amazon Prime and made it difficult to cancel subscriptions.The Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, alleged that Amazon knowingly tricked consumers into signing up for the $139-per-year Prime service during checkouts.”Today, we are putting billions of dollars back into Americans’ pockets, and making sure Amazon never does this again,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.The FTC, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, “is committed to fighting back when companies try to cheat ordinary Americans out of their hard-earned pay,” he added.In a statement, Amazon said the company “and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers.”The online retail giant, which admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, added that it worked “incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world.”Amazon will pay $1.5 billion into a consumer fund for refunds and $1 billion in civil penalties.The case centered on two main allegations: that Amazon enrolled customers without clear consent through confusing checkout processes, and that it created a deliberately complex cancellation system internally nicknamed “Iliad” — after Homer’s epic about the long, arduous Trojan War.The FTC alleged that Amazon’s checkout process forced customers to navigate confusing interfaces where declining Prime membership required finding small, inconspicuous links — while signing up for the service used prominent buttons.Crucial information about Prime’s price and automatic renewal was often hidden or disclosed in fine print, the FTC also alleged.- ‘Drop in the bucket’ -Under the settlement, made on what would have been the third day of testimony in front of a jury, Amazon must reform its Prime enrollment and cancellation processes.This includes introducing a clear option for customers to decline Prime membership, and refraining from vague or indirect references like “no thanks, I don’t want free shipping.”The company must also implement new disclosure requirements before charging consumers and always disclose the price and auto-renewal feature on the Prime sign-up page.Amazon said many of these changes have already been made.A top FTC official who brought the case under the previous Biden administration said Amazon and the executives named in the lawsuit got off easy with the settlement.”A $2.5 billion fine is a drop in the bucket for Amazon and, no doubt, a big relief for the executives who knowingly harmed their customers,” said former FTC chair Lina Khan.Critics maintained that the agreement came after it became clear that Amazon was on the defensive in the proceedings.In a pre-trial defeat, the court ruled last week that Amazon Prime subscriptions are subject to consumer protection laws and that Amazon had illegally obtained consumers’ billing information before fully disclosing subscription terms.The case is part of a volley of lawsuits launched in recent years in a bipartisan effort to rein in the power of US tech giants after years of government complacency.

An elderly US man who was body slammed to the ground as immigration agents raided his Los Angeles car wash said Thursday he is lodging a $50 million damages claim against the government.Surveillance video shows Rafie Shouhed being violently manhandled by several masked and heavily armed agents, who then took him into custody where he says he was held for nearly 12 hours without medical attention.”The way they treated me, the way they attacked me. I was begging (them), ‘I have a heart condition.'” Shouhed told reporters.Shouhed said he had gone out to speak to the men to find out what was happening.”They told me nothing. The only word they say: ‘You do not F with ICE,'” said Shouhed, who moved to the United States from Iran in the 1980s.ICE refers to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.The raid on Shouhed’s car wash this month was part of President Donald Trump’s ramped-up program against undocumented migrants as he looks to fulfill an election pledge to deport millions of people.The raids have been controversial, particularly in multiethnic Los Angeles, in part because they appear to target people simply because they speak Spanish or are working at locations like car washes.Video shows three masked men pinning Shouhed to the ground, with one of them appearing to put a knee on his neck.The 79-year-old said he told agents “I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.”Attorneys acting for Shouhed said their client’s pleas, including his explanation that he had recently undergone heart surgery, were ignored.”He was held nearly 12 hours without medical attention. Even after agents admitted they knew he was a US citizen, he was kept in custody,” the claim says.Shouhed, a Trump voter, was released without charge. He was later treated in hospital for broken ribs, serious elbow injuries and traumatic brain injury, lawyers said.The legal claim is a precursor to a lawsuit.A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told AFP the September 9 raid had resulted in the arrest of “five illegal aliens from Guatemala and Mexico who broke our nation’s immigration laws, including one who was removed from the country twice in 2015.””The owner of Valley Car Wash, a US citizen, impeded the operation and was arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer.”Shouhed’s lawyer, Jim Desimone, said surveillance video showed that his client had been co-operative.”How many more people have to be seriously injured or die before we have a change in the way these ICE officers are… using brutal force first and asking questions later?”

Plans for a $1 million public toilet are raising a stink in Los Angeles, where locals say the cash-strapped city is flushing money down the drain.Officials last year approved a scheme to build a bathroom with two stalls at the entrance to the city’s popular Runyon Canyon hiking trail at a cost of $960,000.But people living nearby say the eye-watering price tag seems almost corrupt in a city that had to slash its fire department budget last year.It is “an epic waste of money,” park neighbor Shira Scott Astrof told the local ABC affiliate.Scott Weil of the Runyon Canyon Guardians, an action group of nearby residents, said he had found a supplier who would fit the same two-stall unit for half the price.”How does a city that is broke… have $500,000 extra dollars?” he said.The 160-acre (65-hectare) park sits a stone’s throw from the famed Hollywood sign, attracting thousands of hikers, dog walkers and tourists every day.It is not uncommon to see celebrities climbing the hillside trails, which offer fantastic views of the sprawl of Los Angeles.A spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the park, which is currently served by some scruffy — and often smelly — porta potties, welcomes two million people a year.”A project to install a prefabricated restroom at the front of the park… was approved by the (Recreation and Parks) Board last year after community outreach,” a statement said.”The City of Los Angeles is committed to ensuring all of LA’s parks are safe, clean, accessible, and enjoyable for Angelenos and visitors alike.”The office did not immediately respond to AFP requests to explain the price.In 2022 San Francisco made global headlines after approving a plan to spend $1.7 million on a public toilet.A public backlash led to a rethink and the final project cost $200,000.

US President Donald Trump warned Thursday that a government shutdown was looming, as the White House raised the stakes in a clash with Democrats by threatening mass federal firings.Republican Trump is in a tense showdown with congressional Democrats to agree on spending plans ahead of a fiscal deadline of midnight on September 30, after which key services will be cut.”Could be, yeah,” Trump told reporters when asked in the Oval Office if a shutdown was likely. “Because Democrats are crazed, they don’t know what they’re doing.” The White House earlier ordered government agencies to prepare for layoffs that would go beyond the usual practice of temporary furloughs during government shutdowns.In a memo obtained by AFP, the White House Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies to “use this opportunity to consider Reduction in Force (RIF) notices for all employees.”The move would add to the pain of government workers after large-scale firings masterminded by tycoon Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year.Democrats have rejected Republican proposals, unless some of the spending cuts are reversed and existing health care subsidies are extended.Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded to threat of layoffs by telling the White House to “get lost.””We will not be intimidated,” he told reporters, describing OMB chief Russ Vought as “totally and completely out of control.””The Trump administration has made their intention clear: They want to continue to fire the civil servants who are hard-working American taxpayers.”- ‘Insane demands’ -A shutdown would see non-essential operations grind to a halt and hundreds of thousands of civil servants temporarily left without pay.But the White House memo also ordered agencies to submit proposed staff reduction plans, and to inform employees.It blamed “insane demands” by Democrats and accused them of breaking what it called a 10-year trend of reaching bipartisan agreement to avoid shutdowns at the same time of year.Shutdown battles have become a regular feature of US politics under both Republican and Democratic administrations in an increasingly paralyzed and polarized Washington.Senate Democrats rejected a stopgap funding bill last week that was hurriedly passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives as it sought to avert a shutdown.Trump in turn cancelled a meeting on Tuesday with Democratic leaders in Congress, saying he would not meet with them until they “become realistic” with their demands.With both chambers on recess this week and senators not returning until Monday, the day before the deadline, time is running out to keep the US government funded after the end of the fiscal year.Republicans hold a narrow majority in both chambers of Congress but, due to Senate rules, have to get some opposition support.House Republicans warned on Friday that their members will not return before the funding deadline, forcing the Senate to vote again and accept their proposal or face a shutdown.The bill, if passed, would still only be a temporary fix funding federal agencies through November 21.Congress last faced a shutdown in March, when Republicans refused talks with Democrats over Trump’s massive budget cuts and the layoff of thousands of federal employees. During the last showdown, lawmakers voted to keep the lights on through September with hours to spare, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he would back the Republican-drafted proposal.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine, while hinting that he may drop a ban on Ankara buying US stealth fighter jets.Erdogan was making his first visit to the White House since 2019 — the same year Washington kicked Turkey out of the F-35 jet program over the NATO ally’s purchase of a Russian air defense system.Trump said they would talk “very seriously” about ending the rift over the high-tech planes, and said he was ready to lift sanctions against Ankara over the Russian S-400 missiles if the meeting went well.But he also pushed the key issue of Ukraine with Erdogan, whose country has refused to join international sanctions on Moscow and has even stepped up its purchases of Russian oil. “I’d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage,” Trump told reporters at the start of the two-hour meeting in the Oval Office.Erdogan had influence over Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said, but added: “The best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia.”Turkey is Russia’s fourth-biggest trading partner, according to Europe’s Bruegel institute, which tallied $52 billion worth of exchanges last year — largely fossil fuels and electronics.Trump, who said in a major shift earlier this week that he now believed Ukraine can win the war, insists Western allies must stop buying Russian oil and gas before he imposes any more sanctions on Moscow.- ‘Rigged elections’ -It wasn’t clear if Trump and Erdogan reached a deal on the F-35s that have been a sticking point ever since Trump’s first term.Turkey was booted out of the flagship US fighter jet program six years ago out of concern that its purchase of the Russian system would give NATO’s main adversary a window into the F-35’s capabilities.But Trump said after meeting Erdogan that the talks were “very conclusive in so many different things — things that we wanted, things that he wanted.” “We’ll be announcing that sometime later, and he’ll be making an announcement too,” he told reporters.Trump added that US sanctions imposed on Turkey’s defense sector amid the Russian missiles row could be lifted “almost immediately.” Known for his admiration for forceful foreign leaders, Trump, 79, has long shown a fondness for Erdogan, 71, and is embracing him despite a crackdown in Turkey on the opposition. “This is a guy who’s highly opinionated. Usually, I don’t like opinionated people, but I always like this one, but he’s a tough one,” Trump told reporters.”He knows about rigged elections better than anybody,” Trump added about his counterpart, after saying that they had stayed friends even while the Republican was out of office due to what he called a “rigged election.”Trump and Erdogan were also seeking to paper over differences on Gaza and Syria. Erdogan has been a fierce critic of key US ally Israel over the Gaza war.”President Trump has tremendous influence. I believe that we could, hand-in-hand, overcome all the bitterness and the problems in the region,” Erdogan told reporters through an interpreter.

Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order laying out a proposed deal for a US version of TikTok that would see Chinese ownership reduced to 20 percent and put control in the hands of the president’s allies.At a signing ceremony at the White House, Trump said the US version of the app would be run by “highly sophisticated” investors including Larry Ellison, the founder of cloud giant Oracle, tech investor Michael Dell and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Investment firm Silver Lake Management and Silicon Valley powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz are also thought to be part of the deal.”The proposed divestiture would allow the millions of Americans who enjoy TikTok every day to continue using it while also protecting national security,” Trump stated in the order, which affects TikTok’s approximately 170 million American users.The lineup of investors mentioned are all Trump allies but he insisted that the app would not toe any political line.”If I could make it 100 percent MAGA I would, but it’s not going to work out that way unfortunately. No… every group, every philosophy, every policy, will be treated very fairly,” Trump told reporters.The president confirmed that the US version of TikTok would feature a homegrown model of the app’s prized algorithm, often described as TikTok’s “secret sauce” that helped it grow into one of the world’s most popular platforms in just a few years. A White House official said Monday the algorithm would be “continuously monitored” to ensure it is “not being unduly influenced.”The new set-up for TikTok is in response to a law passed under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, that has forced its Chinese owner ByteDance to sell its US operations or face a ban in its biggest market. US policymakers, including Trump in his first presidency, have warned that China could use TikTok to mine data from Americans or exert influence through its state-of-the-art algorithm.Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement through successive executive orders, most recently extending the deadline until December 16, 2025. Thursday’s order extended that deadline still further, granting a 120-day enforcement delay to complete the transaction by January 23.Vice President JD Vance, the one-time venture capitalist who led the team to find a solution for TikTok, said the US entity would be valued at about $14 billion, though he added that it would ultimately be up to the investors to figure out its price.When asked if the Chinese authorities had signed off on the deal, Trump said that President Xi Jinping gave his green light in a phone call last week.”(I have) great respect for President Xi, and I very much appreciate that he approved the deal, because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China,” he said.TikTok did not respond to a query seeking comment and confirmation, and Beijing has remained largely silent on any deal. After the Trump-Xi call, state broadcaster CCTV said Xi emphasized to his US counterpart that China supports market-based negotiations that align with Chinese laws.

A man convicted of killing a gas station clerk is to be put to death by nitrogen gas in Alabama, one of two executions scheduled in the United States on Thursday.Geoffrey West, 50, is to be executed at 6:00 pm US Central Time (2300 GMT) for the 1997 murder of Margaret Berry, a 33-year-old mother of two, during a robbery in the town of Attalla.Blaine Milam, 35, is to be put to death by lethal injection at around the same time in Texas for the 2008 killing of Amora Carson, the 13-month-old daughter of his girlfriend, during an “exorcism.”According to court documents, the child was “beaten, strangled, sexually mutilated, and had twenty-four human bite marks covering her entire body in what the medical examiner called the worst case of brutality he had ever seen.”Milam’s lawyers have sought to halt his execution on the grounds he is intellectually disabled but the appeals have been rejected by the courts.Milam’s case was among those featured in a 2013 Werner Herzog documentary called “On Death Row.”There have been 31 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2014, when 35 inmates were put to death.Florida has carried out the most executions — 12 — followed by South Carolina and Texas with four each.Twenty-six of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Washington, the nation’s capital, in appropriate cases.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan “knows about rigged elections better than anybody,” as he drew common ground with the leader often accused of autocratic behavior.Trump, who falsely claims election fraud thwarted his 2020 presidential bid, said he and Erdogan stayed friends while he was out of office — a period the American called “exile.”And Erdogan, in power since 2014, earned Trump’s praise Thursday despite a crackdown in Turkey on the opposition and the media. “This is a guy who’s highly opinionated. Usually, I don’t like opinionated people, but I always like this one, but he’s a tough one,” Trump said as he hosted Erdogan in Washington.It was Erdogan’s first bilateral visit to the White House since 2019 during Trump’s first term, with former president Joe Biden having a tense relationship with the Turkish leader he labeled an “autocrat.”Under Erdogan, authorities have targeted Turkey’s main opposition party with repeated arrests including of Istanbul’s powerful mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been detained since March on corruption allegations he denies. Trump has sought to sideline democratic checks and balances since he returned to office in January. He has also long shown admiration for autocratic leaders, often positively highlighting how long certain heads of state have managed to hold on to power. In August, Trump heaped praise on Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev — who has led the former Soviet republic for 22 years — when he visited Washington.”That’s a long time, and the only reason you can be in a country that long is when you’re very smart and very confident,” he said.Trump himself has repeatedly teased the prospect of seeking a third term — something barred by the US Constitution. 

The gunman who opened fire on an immigration facility in Dallas apparently acted alone and was seeking to “terrorize” federal agents, US officials said Thursday.Joshua Jahn, 29, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after spraying the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center with gunfire on Wednesday.One ICE detainee was killed and two others were wounded but officials said Jahn’s intended target was ICE, the agency chiefly responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump’s pledge to expel millions of undocumented migrants.Nancy Larson, acting US attorney for the North District of Texas, told a press conference that a collection of notes found at Jahn’s residence laid out his motivations.”It’s clear from these notes that he was targeting ICE agents and ICE personnel,” Larson said. “He hoped his actions would terrorize ICE employees and interfere with their work, which he called human trafficking.”The tragic irony for his evil plot here is that it was a detainee who was killed and two other detainees that were injured,” she added.FBI special agent Joe Rothrock said Jahn apparently put months of planning into the attack and legally purchased the rifle that he used in August.Jahn opened fire on the ICE facility from the roof of a nearby building and the FBI director published a photo on X of five of his unspent bullets — one of which was marked with the words “ANTI-ICE.””His words were definitively anti-ICE,” Larson said. “That said, we did not find evidence of membership in any specific group or entity.”ICE’s prominent role in the Trump immigration crackdown has sparked widespread criticism over its use of armed, masked agents to conduct raids in public places against undocumented migrants.Trump blamed the Dallas attack on rhetoric directed at ICE by “Radical Left Democrats.”After ICE immigration raids in Los Angeles spurred unrest and protests earlier this year, Trump dispatched the National Guard and US Marines to the California city.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine, while hinting that he may drop a ban on Ankara buying US stealth fighter jets.Erdogan was making his first visit to the White House since 2019 — the same year Washington kicked Turkey out of the F-35 jet program over the NATO ally’s purchase of a Russian air defense system.Trump said they would talk “very seriously” about ending the rift over the high-tech planes, and said he was ready to lift sanctions against Ankara over the Russian S-400 missiles if the meeting went well.But he also pushed the key issue of Ukraine with Erdogan, whose country has refused to join international sanctions on Moscow and has even stepped up its purchases of Russian oil. “I’d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage,” Trump told reporters at the start of the two-hour meeting in the Oval Office.Trump said Erdogan was “very respected” by both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and “could have a big influence if he wanted to. Right now he’s being very neutral.””The best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia,” Trump added.Turkey is Russia’s fourth-biggest trading partner, according to Europe’s Bruegel Institute, which tallied $52 billion worth of exchanges last year — largely fossil fuels and electronics.Trump, who said in a major shift earlier this week that he now believed Ukraine can win the war, insists Western allies must stop buying Russian oil and gas before he imposes any more sanctions on Moscow.- ‘Rigged elections’ -Known for his admiration for forceful foreign leaders, Trump has long shown a fondness for Erdogan and is embracing him despite a crackdown in Turkey on the opposition. “This is a guy who’s highly opinionated. Usually, I don’t like opinionated people, but I always like this one, but he’s a tough one,” Trump told reporters.”He knows about rigged elections better than anybody,” Trump added about his counterpart, after saying that they had stayed friends even while the Republican was out of office due to what he called a “rigged election.”But the F-35s have been a sticking point ever since Trump’s first term.Turkey was booted out of the flagship US fighter jet program six years ago out of concern that its purchase of the Russian system would give NATO’s main adversary a window into the F-35’s capabilities.The first Trump administration then imposed sanctions on Turkey’s defense sector.”He wants the F-35 and he’s wanted that, and we’re talking about that very seriously,” said Trump, who was wearing a badge of a gold fighter jet on the lapel of his suit jacket, adding that “you’ll know about that by the end of the day.” Turkey also wanted to buy more of the older F-16 jets, he said.Asked when US sanctions could be lifted, Trump replied: “If we have a good meeting, almost immediately.”Trump and Erdogan were also seeking to paper over differences on Gaza and Syria. Erdogan has been a fierce critic of key US ally Israel over the Gaza war.”President Trump has tremendous influence. I believe that we could, hand-in-hand, overcome all the bitterness and the problems in the region,” Erdogan told reporters through an interpreter.