Foreign News
Google accused of directing motorist to drive off collapsed bridge
The family of a US man who drowned after driving off a collapsed bridge are claiming that he died because Google failed to update its maps.
Philip Paxson’s family are suing the company over his death, alleging that Google negligently failed to show the bridge had fallen nine years earlier. The case was filed in civil court in Wake County on Tuesday.
Mr Paxson died in September 2022 after attempting to drive over the damaged bridge in Hickory, North Carolina. A spokesperson for Google said the company was reviewing the allegations.
Paxson, a father of two, was driving home from his daughter’s ninth birthday party at a friend’s house and was in an unfamiliar neighbourhood at the time of his death, according to the family’s lawsuit. His wife had driven his two daughters home earlier, and he stayed behind to help clean up.
“Unfamiliar with local roads, he relied on Google Maps, expecting it would safely direct him home to his wife and daughters,” lawyers for the family said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Tragically, as he drove cautiously in the darkness and rain, he unsuspectingly followed Google’s outdated directions to what his family later learned for nearly a decade was called the ‘Bridge to Nowhere,’ crashing into Snow Creek, where he drowned.”
Local residents had repeatedly contacted Google to have them change their online maps after the bridge collapsed in 2013, the suit claims.
Barriers that were normally placed across the bridge entrance were missing due to vandalism, according to the Charlotte Observer.
The lawsuit is also suing three local companies, arguing they had a duty to maintain the bridge.
“Our girls ask how and why their daddy died, and I’m at a loss for words they can understand because, as an adult, I still can’t understand how those responsible for the GPS directions and the bridge could have acted with so little regard for human life,” his wife, Alicia Paxson, said in a statement.
“We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family,” a spokesman for Google told AP News. “Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit.”
(BBC)
A ferry carrying around 260 people has capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus with a search underway for survivors, according to local media.
The catamaran-style boat was travelling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, and started sinking a few kilometres off the coast of the island state on Sunday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
[Aljazeera]
A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to pay more than $172,000 (£127,000) for using inside information to bet on US President Donald Trump’s speeches.
Gabriel Perez was found to have made trades on what the president would say during addresses between December 2025 and February 2026 on Kalshi – a prediction markets platform where users can bet on real-world events.
Its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said Perez would have to surrender profits of $107,539.02 (£79,452) and pay a civil penalty of $65,000 (£48,000).
The White House has not yet commented. In July then press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Perez was on unpaid leave and would not return to his post.
Announcing the settlement on Friday, the CFTC said Perez had “misappropriated” his prior knowledge of Trump’s speeches to place bets “in breach of his duty of trust and confidence”.
It said his civil penalty had been reduced due to his “exemplary co-operation” with the investigation.
Perez has also been banned from trading for three years.
Writing on X, Kalshi’s lead lawyer Bobby DeNault welcomed the decision: “It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences.”
(BBC)
Qatar’s prime minister has held meetings in the Iranian capital, discussing key issues including the future of the Strait of Hormuz, amid international hopes that dialogue between the United States and Iran on ending the war will resume.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Thursday discussed a proposed framework that includes the creation of a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a possible “joint project” to clear the strait of mines, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Iran says the mines were laid during the war.
The two officials also reviewed “the latest developments in the regional situation … along with the efforts being made to reduce escalation and create appropriate conditions for dialogue, contributing to the enhancement of regional security and stability”, the statement added.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is both prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, later met separately with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliament speaker and top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Ghalibaf emphasised the need to de-escalate regional tensions, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency. He and Sheikh Mohammed also exchanged views on the current developments in the region and efforts to create suitable conditions for resuming dialogue, the report added.
“Qatar believes that dialogue and diplomatic solutions remain the optimal path for addressing disputes and overcoming crises,” Sheikh Mohammed said in a post on X, adding that his discussions in Tehran serve as “confirmation of our continued efforts to de-escalate tensions … while opening the door to peaceful solutions – including underscoring the importance of respecting freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law.”
Sheikh Mohammed also met with Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezai.
Rezai told him the “US must first take practical steps to fulfil Iran’s conditions and then Iran will proceed to open the Strait of Hormuz”, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Rezai also reiterated previous pledges by Tehran that if Washington “starts any evil”, Iran would “bring disaster to its military and economic interests”.
Sheikh Mohamed’s visit follows a week of intense diplomacy in Iran involving separate meetings with Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi and senior Pakistani officials seeking ways to end the US-Israel war on Iran and reopen the strategic waterway through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes in peacetime.
[Aljazeera]
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