Facebook joined YouTube, Twitter and payment service Venmo on Wednesday in demanding that a facial recognition company stop harvesting user images to identify the people in them, which the startup does as part of its work with police. Facebook said it has demanded New York-based Clearview AI stop accessing or using information from its flagship site and Instagram. “Scraping people’s information violates our policies,” a company spokesman said. Clearview has drawn scrutiny following investigative reports in January by the New York Times and Buzzfeed detailing its work with law enforcement agencies and its practice of scraping social media and other internet platforms for images. Venmo on Wednesday said it is sending Clearview a cease-and-desist letter.

The Israeli Air Force attacked Hamas terrorist targets overnight on Wednesday in response to the firing of explosive balloons and mortars into Israel during the day, the IDF spokesperson said. Two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Wednesday evening, exploding in open areas in southern Israel and clusters of explosive balloons landed in southern Israel earlier on Wednesday. The IDF tested a new laser system designed to destroy the explosive balloons launched from the Gaza Strip by terror organizations and the tests were successful, a Kan News report said on Wednesday evening. Dozens of explosive balloons have been launched into Israel over the last two weeks, some of which have exploded in the air, causing panic and shock among residents of Israel’s south.

Today, the anti-Semitic group Rise Up Ocean County had their social media page on Facebook removed. For months now, community leaders and elected officials have been sounding the alarm on Rise Up Ocean County, urging Facebook to remove the site for violating Facebook’s own terms of service and because social media companies are responsible to ensure that hate does not fester on their platforms. Rise Up Ocean County has been operating under the pretense of opposing overdevelopment, but in reality, the group was dedicated to disparaging Orthodox Jews, often using ugly tropes that have plagued society for too long. We are thankful that Facebook has finally recognized their true motives and, at the urging of Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Grubir Grewal, removed their site.

With the final gavel banging down Wednesday on impeachment, President Donald Trump barreled ahead in his reelection fight with a united Republican Party behind him, and emboldened by reassuring poll numbers and chaos in the Democratic race to replace him. Republican senators voted largely in lockstep to acquit Trump, relying on a multitude of rationales for keeping him in office: He’s guilty, but his conduct wasn’t impeachable; his July telephone conversation with Ukraine’s president was a “perfect call”; there’s an election in 10 months and it’s up to voters to determine his fate. For Trump, there was one overriding message to draw from his acquittal: Even at a time of maximum political peril, it’s his Republican Party.

King Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge Wednesday to grant him a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live. Madoff’s attorney filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic, serious medical conditions,” including hypertension and cardiovascular disease. “There’s no cure for my type of disease,” Madoff told The Washington Post in a phone interview, expressing remorse for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Meanwhile, Axios News tweeted about this story and confused Bernie Madoff with Bernie SANDERS. They quickly deleted their tweet.

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U.S. companies added 291,000 jobs in January, a big increase from December, but much of that strength likely reflected unusually warm weather during the month. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that the January job gain, which was larger than had been expected, compared to a revised December figure of 193,000. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that warmer-than-normal weather for January played a big role in the increase. He said without that impact, the job gain would probably have been around 150,000. The ADP report is coming out ahead of the Labor Department’s release of the January jobs report on Friday. Many analysts expect that report will show a job gain of 150,000 in January, compared to 145,000 jobs in the government’s report in December.

A plane skidded off the runway Wednesday as it tried to land in bad weather in Istanbul, crashing into a field and breaking into pieces. Passengers had to evacuate through cracks in the smashed plane and authorities said 120 people were sent to the hospital with injuries. The low-cost Pegasus Airlines plane with 177 passengers and crew on board was arriving at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport from the western Turkish city of Izmir when it had what the Transportation Ministry described as a “rough landing.” The ministry said no one died in the incident. Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said the plane landed in bad weather, failed to “hold onto the runway” and skidded some 50-60 meters (yards) before crashing into a ditch from a height of some 30 meters.

A city court judge in upstate New York set bail in a misdemeanor case Wednesday, despite a new state law that eliminates cash bail for most non-violent offenses. Cohoes City Court Judge Thomas Marcelle immediately stayed his own decision to set bail at $100 cash, allowing the defendant to walk out of court while his lawyers appeal the bail ruling. But the judge’s bail decision effectively sets up a challenge to a law already facing relentless criticism from police and prosecutors around the state. Marcelle in decision on Monday reported by the Times Union of Albany questioned whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers impinged on judicial powers with the new law. Marcelle was concerned about his ability to use discretion in a case in which the defendant had missed past court dates.

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