As a leading blogger in the pre-Substack era, novelist and public-interest technologist Cory Doctorow often warned that Big Tech was rendering of cyberspace a polluted, dystopian, crassly commercial and often hostile world of limited options. Now it's happened.... Hateful trolls, violent speech and addictive algorithms thrive.... And when a user account is mistakenly or unjustly shuttered, platform automation means the aggrieved will encounter callous indifference....

Australian Federal Police inspect burnt out areas of Chinatown in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on Nov.... The riots grew from a peaceful protest that highlighted long-simmering regional rivalries, economic problems and concerns about the country's increasing links with China.... Opposition leader Matthew Wale told Parliament he brought the motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare because a political solution was needed to the nation's problems....

Solomon Islands police and Australian Federal Police patrol road blocks in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on Dec.... Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told lawmakers in a fiery 90-minute speech that he'd done nothing wrong and would not bow down to" the forces of evil" or to" Taiwan's agents." At one point he picked up his chair and banged it on the Parliament floor to emphasize a point.... In the end, Sogavare easily had the numbers, winning 32 votes to 15, with two abstentions....

The three-day competition draws students from around the country and a few from abroad.... In the quarterfinals and semifinals, held Wednesday, they needed to spell just one word.... Some drew it out, asking question after question until the screen behind them turned red, warning that only a few seconds remained....