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[VIDEO]: Morocco’s Earthquake Aftermath: Death Toll Rises As Rescue Efforts Continue

(CTN NEWS) – A powerful earthquake has unleashed havoc and despair in Morocco, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

The grim toll of fatalities and injuries continues to climb as rescue teams tirelessly work to unearth survivors and casualties from the debris of once-thriving villages, now reduced to ruins.

In response to this catastrophe, a joint effort involving Moroccan authorities and international humanitarian organizations has swiftly mobilized to assist the affected region located south of Marrakech.

The earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, struck on Friday night, followed by a series of unsettling aftershocks. As a result, the local populace is grappling with urgent needs such as access to sustenance, clean water, and electricity.

Furthermore, the perilous mountain roads leading to these areas have been blocked by massive boulders, posing additional challenges for the relief efforts.

Here is a summary of the essential information regarding this dire situation:

Which Areas Were Most Severely Impacted?

The earthquake’s epicenter was located high in the Atlas Mountains, approximately 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Marrakech in Al Haouz province.

This predominantly rural region is characterized by its striking red-rock mountains, picturesque gorges, and shimmering streams and lakes.

For residents like Hamid Idsalah, a 72-year-old mountain guide from the Ouargane Valley, the future appears uncertain.

Idsalah relies on Moroccan and foreign tourists who visit the area due to its proximity to both Marrakech and Toubkal, North Africa’s tallest peak, attracting hikers and climbers.

As he watches rescue teams navigate the unpaved valley roads for the first time since the earthquake, he reflects, “I can’t rebuild my home. I don’t know what I’ll do. Still, I’m alive so I’ll wait.”

The earthquake’s impact extended beyond Al Haouz, affecting various provinces, including Marrakech, Taroudant, and Chichaoua, causing injuries and fatalities.

Who Suffered the Most?

Of the 2,122 reported deaths as of Sunday evening, a staggering 1,351 occurred in Al Haouz, a region with a population exceeding 570,000, according to Morocco’s 2014 census.

In this predominantly rural area where a blend of Arabic and Tachelhit, Morocco’s most common Indigenous language, is spoken, villages constructed from clay and mud brick, nestled into mountainsides, have been reduced to rubble.

While tourism contributes to the economy, the province primarily relies on agriculture.

Prior to the earthquake, Al Haouz, like much of North Africa, grappled with a record drought that had desiccated rivers and lakes, jeopardizing the predominantly agricultural economy and way of life.

Outside a demolished mosque in Amizmiz, Abdelkadir Smana expressed concerns that the disaster would compound existing struggles in the area, which had already been dealing with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and the drought.

“Before and now, it’s the same,” said the 85-year-old. “There wasn’t work or much at all.”

Who Is Providing Assistance?

Morocco has swiftly deployed ambulances, rescue teams, and military personnel to the affected region to aid in emergency response efforts.

While aid groups have reported that the government has not issued a broad appeal for help and has only accepted limited foreign assistance, the Interior Ministry has acknowledged international aid focused on search and rescue operations from countries including Spain, Qatar, Britain, and the United Arab Emirates.

Notably, offers of assistance from French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden were bypassed.

President Biden, during his visit to Vietnam, expressed the United States’ readiness to provide any necessary assistance for the Moroccan people.

What Is the Significance of Marrakech?

The earthquake inflicted damage on parts of the ancient walls that encircle Marrakech’s old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site dating back to the 12th century. Videos captured dust emanating from sections of the Koutoubia Mosque, one of the city’s renowned historic landmarks.

Marrakech is Morocco’s most popular tourist destination, celebrated for its palaces, spice markets, tanneries, and Jemaa El Fna, a bustling square teeming with food vendors and musicians.

How Does This Compare to Previous Earthquakes?

Friday’s earthquake was the strongest in Morocco in over a century. Nevertheless, while such powerful tremors are rare, it is not the deadliest in the country’s history.

Just over six decades ago, Morocco experienced a magnitude-5.8 earthquake that claimed the lives of over 12,000 people on its western coast, particularly in the city of Agadir, southwest of Marrakech, which suffered extensive damage.

That disaster prompted changes in construction regulations in Morocco, but many buildings, especially rural dwellings, are still not designed to withstand such seismic events.

Before Friday’s earthquake, no earthquakes stronger than magnitude 6.0 had occurred within 310 miles (500 kilometers) of the epicenter in at least a century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Northern Morocco, however, has experienced earthquakes more frequently, including tremors of magnitude 6.4 in 2004 and magnitude 6.3 in 2016.

Elsewhere this year, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Syria and Turkey resulted in the tragic loss of more than 21,600 lives.

The most devastating earthquakes in recent history have typically exceeded magnitude 7.0, including a 2015 tremor in Nepal that claimed over 8,800 lives and a 2008 quake in China that resulted in 87,500 casualties.

What Are the Next Steps?

Emergency response efforts are anticipated to persist as teams navigate challenging mountain roads to reach the most affected villages. Many communities are grappling with urgent needs, including access to food, water, electricity, and shelter.

However, once aid teams and military personnel withdraw, the challenges confronting the hundreds of thousands of residents in the area are likely to endure.

The Moroccan Parliament is scheduled to convene on Monday to establish a government fund for earthquake response at the request of King Mohammed VI.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

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Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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Scientists Awarded MicroRNA The Nobel Prize in Medicine.

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