US AND CANADA

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TikTok US has rejected allegations that its new American leadership is exercising excessive control over user content, attributing widespread glitches to technical hurdles. Since becoming a standalone American entity last week, the platform has been hit by thousands of user reports citing errors and posting failures. A spokesperson reiterated on Friday that these disruptions are purely a result of the complex transition to a separate entity and are not a deliberate effort to moderate or restrict viral content.

"We've made significant progress in recovering our US infrastructure with our US data center partner," the spokesperson said. "However, the US user experience may still have some technical issues, including when posting new content."

They also pushed back on users' claims they were not able to use the name "Epstein" on TikTok. It refers to Jeffrey Epstein, the dead convicted sex offender and financier. The Trump administration has continued to face fierce scrutiny for its handling of the Epstein case.

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Leaders of law enforcement organizations expressed alarm Sunday over the latest deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis while use-of-force experts criticized the Trump administration’s justification of the killing, saying bystander footage contradicted its narrative of what prompted it.

The federal government also faced criticism over the lack of a civil rights inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department and its efforts to block Minnesota authorities from conducting their own review of the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.

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Three of the world’s biggest tech companies face a landmark trial in Los Angeles starting this week over claims that their platforms — Meta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube — deliberately addict and harm children.

Jury selection starts this week in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the outcome could have profound effects on their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms. The selection process is expected to take at least a few days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day through at least Thursday. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.

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Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said Sunday she has had “enough” of Washington’s orders, as she works to unite the country after the US capture of former leader Nicolás Maduro.

Rodríguez has been walking a tightrope since being backed by the US to lead the country in the interim, balancing the need to keep Maduro loyalists on board at home while trying to satisfy the White House. Now, almost a month into her new role, she has pushed back on the US amid ongoing pressure, including a series of demands for Venezuela to resume oil production.

“Enough already of Washington’s orders over politicians in Venezuela,” she told a group of oil workers in Puerto La Cruz, in an event broadcast by state-run channel Venezolana de Televisión.

“Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and our internal conflicts. This Republic has paid a very high price for having to confront the consequences of fascism and extremism in our country.”

The White House has maintained steady pressure on Venezuela since Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized in a raid in early January and taken to the US, where the former leader faces charges.

Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, has insisted in recent weeks that the US does not govern Venezuela but has also avoided direct confrontation with Washington.

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Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration’s characterization of Alex Pretti, the second person killed this month by a federal officer in Minneapolis, as responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon.

The death produced no clear shifts in U.S. gun politics or policies, even as President Donald Trump shuffles the lieutenants in charge of his militarized immigration crackdown. But important voices in Trump’s coalition have called for a thorough investigation of Pretti’s death while also criticizing inconsistencies in some Republicans’ Second Amendment stances.

If the dynamic persists, it could give Republicans problems as Trump heads into a midterm election year with voters already growing skeptical of his overall immigration

approach. The concern is acute enough that Trump’s top spokeswoman sought Monday to reassert his brand as a staunch gun rights supporter

“The president supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens, absolutely,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

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Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, a high-ranking fugitive on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, has been arrested in Mexico and flown to the United States to face extensive drug trafficking and murder charges.

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Sir Mick Jagger's family is at the centre of a desperate search for his granddaughter Assisi Jackson's long-term partner, who has gone missing in Cornwall.

Alexander Key, a 37-year-old chef, who has two children with Assisi, 33, was last seen in Boscastle last Friday afternoon.

He was reported missing to Devon and Cornwall Police on Saturday evening, prompting an urgent public appeal.

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Dozens of immigrant families protested Saturday behind the fences of a Texas detention facility where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent this week after being detained in Minnesota.