International

Amazon faces a lawsuit for violation of minority civil rights among employees

Amazon faces a class action lawsuit that accuses the company of violating state and federal civil rights laws by intentionally working harder to protect its disproportionately white managers from COVID-19, without taking the same precautions with its African American, Hispanic and immigrant warehouse workers.

“Their reaction to the pandemic subjected these minority workers to health threats to which Amazon did not subject its primarily Caucasian management staff,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in a New York federal court by Chris Smalls, an ex-Amazon logistics center worker, in Staten Island, N.Y.

Smalls, who is black, was fired by Amazon in March, just hours after leading a protest over the company’s early pandemic response.

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“We terminated Mr. Smalls for putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of employment. Mr. Smalls received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines. He was also found to have had close contact with an associate that was COVID-19 positive and was asked to remain home with pay for 14-days. Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite further putting the teams at risk,” Amazon spokesperson, Lisa Levandowski told Business Insider in a statement.

But Smalls stated in the lawsuit that, at the time, Amazon was not taking employees’ temperature, providing biosecurity standards, imposing social distancing or following health measures established by public health officials.

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Days after Smalls was fired, a leaked memo obtained by Vice News revealed that Amazon’s top executives had planned to mount a public relations campaign against Smalls to discredit him.

In the lawsuit, Smalls claimed that the memo showed that “senior Amazon executives,” including CEO Jeff Bezos, perpetuated the company’s pervasive discriminatory animus against its minority workers across the country.

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International

Brazil offers to mediate Colombia-Ecuador tensions, calls for restraint

The government of Brazil has offered to mediate in the ongoing tensions between Colombia and Ecuador, while calling on both nations to exercise restraint.

In a statement released Wednesday, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the parties involved to act with moderation and seek a peaceful resolution to the dispute.

“Brazil encourages all sides to act with moderation in order to find a peaceful solution to the controversy. It stands ready to support dialogue efforts aimed at preserving peace and security in the region,” the statement said.

Brazil also expressed “serious concern” over reports of deaths in the border area between Colombia and Ecuador, noting that the circumstances surrounding the incidents have not yet been clarified.

The diplomatic move comes amid rising tensions between the neighboring countries, increasing regional concern over stability and security along their shared border.

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International

U.S. lowers travel advisory for much of Venezuela but keeps high-risk zones under warning

The U.S. Department of State announced on Thursday that it has lowered its travel advisory for much of Venezuela to Level 3 (“Reconsider Travel”), reflecting what it described as improved security conditions in parts of the country.

However, the agency will maintain the highest Level 4 warning (“Do Not Travel”) for several regions, including the states of Táchira, Amazonas, Apure, Aragua and Guárico, as well as rural areas of Bolívar, citing ongoing risks such as crime, kidnapping and terrorism.

The updated advisory marks a shift from December, when the United States raised the alert for Venezuela to Level 4 nationwide, warning of severe security threats.

Despite the partial downgrade, U.S. authorities continue to urge caution, emphasizing that conditions remain volatile in certain areas and that travelers should carefully assess risks before planning any trips to the country.

International

EU lawmakers move to ban AI tools that generate non-consensual nude images

Members of the European Parliament are pushing to ban across the bloc artificial intelligence services that allow users to digitally “undress” people without their consent.

The proposal, adopted on Wednesday at committee level, aims to prohibit applications that generate non-consensual explicit images. Irish lawmaker Michael McNamara, one of the sponsors, said the measure seeks to stop tools that “have caused significant harm for the benefit of a few.”

Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak welcomed the move, calling it “a major victory, especially for women and children in Europe.”

The amendment, part of broader EU legislation on artificial intelligence, was approved by the Parliament’s civil liberties and internal market committees. It specifically targets systems that use AI to create or manipulate sexually explicit or intimate images resembling identifiable individuals without their consent.

The proposal will be put to a full vote in the European Parliament on March 26. If adopted, lawmakers and European Union member states will need to agree on a final version before it can take effect.

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Separately, representatives of the 27 EU countries recently backed a Franco-Spanish amendment seeking to ban AI services used to generate non-consensual sexual images or child sexual abuse material.

The initiative follows controversy surrounding a feature introduced in Grok, developed by xAI, which allowed users to create simulated nude images from real photos. The tool sparked widespread criticism and prompted an EU investigation.

In response, xAI restricted image generation features in mid-January to paying subscribers and stated it blocks the creation of sexualized images in jurisdictions where such content is illegal.