Month: April 2019

A YouTube channel that made malicious copyright strikes in an attempt to extort content creators has had its channel deleted.

According to a report by the BBC, Kenzo and ObbyRaidz – both of whom primarily upload Minecraft videos – allegedly received messages demanding money in exchange for dropping the spurious copyright claims lodged against them. The channel demanded payment of $75 to $400 (?60 to ?310) be sent via Paypal or Bitcoin in exchange for not lodging a third copyright claim, which – according to Google’s terms and conditions – would’ve seen the channel completely deleted.

hello @TeamYouTube

I have two false copyright strikes on my channel & someone out there is extorting me for my money to have the strikes removed. help. pic.twitter.com/pNmzNH34Ff

— Kenzo (@KenzoPvP) January 30, 2019

Rather than give in to the demands, Kenzo took to social media saying “I have two false copyright strikes on my channel & someone out there is extorting me for my money to have the strikes removed. help”, after which YouTube got in touch and said it would investigate. Later that same day, YouTube tweeted again, confirming that the takedown notice was “(obviously) abusive”, removed the copyright strike, and reinstated the video.

“This is an example of a fraudulent legal request, which we have zero tolerance for, so we also terminated this channel,” YouTube added.

Appreciate your patience ?we confirmed that this takedown notice was (obviously) abusive. The strike on your channel is resolved and the video is reinstated. This is an example of a fraudulent legal request, which we have zero tolerance for, so we also terminated this channel.

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) January 30, 2019

Google, which owns YouTube, did not respond to a request from the BBC for information on how it hopes to prevent such extortion attempts in the future.

“Anybody can [make spurious copyright claims]. They made it so easy to take somebody’s channel down – they strike a few videos and your channel is terminated,” said ObbyRaidz in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “The way I look at it, YouTube just put a Band-Aid on a much bigger issue. This is something that can affect more channels in the future and they need to fix this right now.”

TORONTO — Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea says about 150 jobs in Canada could be impacted over two years as it adjusts to changing customer behaviour.

The retailer expects to cut 7,500 jobs worldwide as it addresses urbanization, new technology and digitalization that are changing the way customers live and shop.

Ikea says the cutbacks will allow it to focus “on its e-commerce platform, to better meet the needs of its customers and be more convenient and affordable to many more people.”

“In addition, to ensure we are fit for long-term growth, we’re looking closely at all areas of the business, including how we are structured as a company,” the company said in a news release.

While new roles will be created across the Canadian network, it says some jobs will be “relocated, changed or removed.”

Of the 150 employees to be impacted, up to 50 at its Canadian national service office may be redundant, it said.

The retailer says it will explore new store formats, enhance the in-store experience, invest in its digital experience, improve its service and optimize its distribution networks.

That includes opening stores in city centres to complement its larger locations. The company is opening stores in 30 major city centres around the world to diversify its reach, but Canadian plans aren’t yet available, said spokeswoman Kristin Newbigging.

“We don’t have any specific expansion plans to announce for Ikea Canada today. However, I can share it is still our goal to grow and expand Ikea in Canada,” she wrote in an email.

Ikea Canada employs 6,500 people across the country, including 6,300 at stores.

— With files from The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY – USA Softball Women’s National Team first baseman Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif.) has been selected as a finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year award in the team sport category, the Women’s Sports Foundation announced today. A member of the USA Softball Women’s National Team since 2011, Arioto was selected based on her achievements between August 1, 2013 and July 31, 2014.

 

Arioto helped Team USA capture a Gold Medal at the Pan American Games Qualifier in August 2013, where she batted .500 with five home runs, 18 RBI and 13 runs scored. Most recently, Arioto helped lead the USA Softball Women’s National Team to a gold medal at the 2014 General Tire World Cup of Softball IX in Irvine, Calif., and a silver medal over the weekend at the ISF World Championship in Haarlem, Netherlands. The University of California-Berkley grad turned in a .400 performance at the plate, sending five balls out of the park to record 12 RBI while scoring seven runs. Arioto finished the General Tire World Cup IX with a 1.400 slugging percentage and a 1.926 on-base percentage.

A two-time USA Softball Female Athlete of the Year, Arioto also earned a silver medal at the Canadian Open Fast Pitch International this past July where she continued to shine in the batter’s box. Arioto compiled a .474 batting average with five home runs, 14 RBI and 12 runs scored.

The Sportswoman of the Year award winners will be determined by a combination of a public vote (50 percent) and the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Awards Committee’s vote (50 percent). The winners will be the two athletes – one individual sport finalist and one team sport finalist – who receive the highest combined share of a public vote and the Awards Committee vote. Balloting has already begun, and fans can visit http://wspr.tc/VoteTeamSOY2014 to cast their vote for the Sportswoman of the Year award through 11:59 p.m ET on September 8.

The winner in each category will be invited to attend the Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Gala on Wednesday, October 15 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, where they will accept their awards.

Past USA Softball Women’s National Team members who have won the Women’s Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year award include Lisa Fernandez (1994), Cat Osterman (2005), Monica Abbott (2007), and Jessica Mendoza (2008).

— courtesy ASA/USA Softball

The Japanese princess who is choosing love over royalty has Canadian connections.

Princess Ayako, the youngest child of Princess Hisako and the late Prince Takamado, is engaged to Kei Moriya, a 32-year-old commoner who works for the shipping firm NYK Line. Their marriage, which will take place at Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Shrine on Oct. 29, means the princess will have to forfeit her title.

While many people on social media are applauding Ayako for following her heart, Canadians are particularly pleased for the princess, who charmed her way into our hearts long before she met her future husband.

Ayako attended Camosun College in Victoria, B.C. from 2013 to 2015 for its English Language Development program, after graduating from Camosun’s sister school, Josai International University in Japan.

Following her studies at Camosun, Ayako completed a month of research work at the University of British Columbia and worked towards her master’s degree in social work at Josai International.

According to the Times Colonist, Ayako had a fairly regular college experience while studying in Canada, despite “subtle security measures.”

In an email interview with HuffPost Canada, Geoff Wilmshurst, Camosun’s vice-president of partnerships who also hosted the princess during her time in B.C., said, “Ayako was a very good and active student at Camosun and was engaged with a student group called Peer Connections.”

The 27-year-old princess was also a stage manager for the school’s annual talent show, and became a master at navigating Victoria’s transit system, despite getting lost on her first day.

“Today, if you ever need directions on how to use the bus system in Victoria, Princess Ayako is the person to talk to,” Wilmshurst told the Times Colonist last year.

Ayako isn’t the first Japanese royal to study in Canada. Her late father, Prince Takamado — who is known in Japan as “Canada’s Prince” — studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. “to master the English language and understand Canadian culture.”

After three years abroad, the late prince returned to Japan in 1981 and became a patron of the Canada-Japan Society, where he worked to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

Although Ayako has chosen to give up her royal title and duties to marry for love, she is still following in her father’s footsteps and carrying on his legacy. The princess is an honorary patron of the Canada-Japan Society, and in July 2017, Camosun College presented her with the President’s Award for International Partnership, which acknowledged her contribution to deepening the bond between Canada and Japan.

“We’re happy that Princess Ayako had a good experience here and that Victoria has become a second home,” Camosun College president, Sherri Bell, said at the time.

In an email to HuffPost Canada, Wilmshurst added, “My wife Branka and I enjoyed hosting in [our] home and we regard her as a member of our family. We are looking forward to hosting her and her new husband in Victoria after they are married.”

According to the Times Colonist, Ayako is very fond of Victoria and has even called it “No. 1.” Last year, before the princess met her future husband, the site noted that Ayako seemed “keen” on the idea of honeymooning in the Canadian city.

Ayako is the second Japanese royal to announce she’s giving up her status for love. Last year, Princess Mako, the eldest child of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, revealed she planned to marry law firm employee Kei Komuro. Their nuptials have been postponed to “at least 2020,” CNN reports.

TORONTO — Four months after Doug Ford delivered on his campaign promise to bring back “buck a beer,” the only brewery still offering the option appears to be one in the Ontario premier’s west Toronto neighbourhood.

When Ford announced incentives for companies selling beer at $1 for a bottle or can last August, two breweries took him up on the offer — Cool Brewery in Toronto and Barley Days Brewery in Picton, Ont.

Loblaws also offered its President’s Choice beer for a dollar a bottle for a limited time.

But now the Liquor Control Board of Ontario says the Barley Days Brewery beer that had been available for a dollar — plus the 10 cent deposit — has raised its price to $1.65.

The Crown corporation in charge of alcohol sales in the province says that as of Monday, Cool Lager was the only “buck a beer” still available on its website.

The government offered businesses that agreed to sell “buck a beer” for a dollar prime spots in LCBO stores and advertising in the store magazine’s inserts.

Earlier On HuffPost: Premier says beer policy will ‘go a long way’

TOKYO, Japan – As support for softball and baseball to be included in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games continues to grow across Japan, Federation of Diet Members have formed a political group to help the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) 2020 Olympic campaign, supported by Secretary General Tsuneo Horiuchi, a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member and legendary figure of Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants.

 

Sixty four members of the ruling LDP assembled recently in the Japanese Diet and agreed to launch a committee to support baseball-softball at the 2020 Olympics. The fact that the new political pressure group is made up of ruling LDP member is also highly significant because the Olympic host nation’s government must underwrite the costs of Olympic games.

Therefore, many argue that the host nation should have greater autonomy in selecting sports that are most relevant to the Olympic host city and nation – and in Japan, baseball and softball are by far the biggest sports. They are the sports that mean the most to the country, will fill the venues and bring in the biggest crowds and revenues for Tokyo 2020 organizers, and sponsors. In addition, it will make the Games more affordable, exciting and engage Japan, and the Asia region more than any other sport.

Baseball and softball were removed from the Olympic Games after the 2008 Beijing Games. The former Olympic sports have experienced a fresh wave of globalization in recent years and have long formed a large and history part of Japanese society, tradition and culture.

The baseball/softball family under the WBSC, along with other sports federations, is awaiting the outcome of the International Olympic Committee’s review — to be announced in December at a special session in Monte Carlo — on the process for adding/dropping sports to the Olympic program, which may allow a new opportunity for baseball and softball to be included as the only bat and ball sports at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Horiuchi is confident that the inclusion of Japan’s two most popular sports in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will serve to enhance the value and ideals of the Olympic movement, especially among young people and women. Horiuchi also said the staging of baseball and softball on the world’s biggest sporting platform will help commemorate the recovery from the 2011 disaster in eastern Japan and help symbolize Japan’s appreciation of the generous assistance and support of the global community to overcome the natural disaster.

The bat and ball sports also significantly, seem to have the support of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who was just re-elected as head of the powerful Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), and recently told media that Tokyo had all the infrastructure and facilities in place to fit baseball and softball back into the Olympic sports program.

With support for an American Olympic bid for the 2024 Games growing, the dreams of a new generation of young male and female athletes could soon come true as the arc of baseball and softball’s spectacular comeback trajectory continues to widen and collect more fans and political, community and commercial support in the process.

— Report courtesy of Sport Intern

The artist behind Friday’s Google Doodle of Viola Desmond thinks it’s a shame more Americans don’t know about the Halifax-born civil rights icon. But it was fun drawing something specifically for a Canadian audience, American illustrator Sophie Diao said.

“I could add some details that were more focused to Canada,” Diao told HuffPost Canada over the phone from her home in San Francisco. “Things that Canadian audiences would pick up on, like the flag of Nova Scotia, or a kid wearing a Canadian hockey jersey. If it were more well-known, or more countries were seeing this doodle, it would be harder to have that local flavour.”

The doodle comes in honour of Viola Desmond’s 104th birthday — she was born on July 6, 1914. She cemented her place in civil rights history in 1946, when she was in her early 30s.

Desmond challenged racial segregation at a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia by sitting in the whites-only section. When she refused to leave, she was arrested, forcibly removed, and made to spend the night in jail.

The Google Doodle slideshow illustrates Desmond’s arrest at the theatre, as well as her subsequent court appearance. She was charged with attempting to defraud the provincial government because she allegedly refused to pay the one-cent difference between the white and non-white ticket prices. She attempted to reverse her charge to no avail, but her stance against discrimination was a pivotal for Black Nova Scotians.

For decades, Desmond’s story was largely unknown to many Canadians — unlike Rosa Parks, whose arrest for standing up to segregation laws came almost 10 years after Desmond’s, her legacy had not been taught in the vast majority of Canadian schools.

But that’s starting to change: in addition to appearing on the $10, Desmond now has:

• a place on Canada’s Walk of Fame
• a star in her hometown of Halifax
• a stamp in her honour
• a Heritage minute

And here are some of the things that have been named after her:

• a ferry in Halifax
• a social justice chair from Cape Breton University
• a one-time Halifax holiday
• and the part of a street next to the Roseland Theatre is being renamed Viola’s Way on Friday

In putting together the Google doodle, artist Diao said she drew on Desmond’s identity as a businesswoman as well as her activism. Because Desmond had operated a company that sold skincare products to Black women, Diao used many 1940s beauty advertisements as inspiration. She also looked at photographs of architecture from that era, as well as newspaper clippings, particularly from The Clarion, the local newsletter in Desmond’s community. “I wanted it to feel like it was from the ’40s,” Diao said.

Diao said Desmond’s portrait was one of her favourites to draw. She saw inspiration in the way Desmond’s sister, Wanda Robson, brought an important but relatively unknown story into the public consciousness. “I thought it was really cool that something can be forgotten, but come back eventually. It always comes back, it always resurfaces,” Diao said. “It wasn’t in vain, what she did.”

With a file from Lisa Yeung.