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HUFFINGTON
12.22.13
FACEBOOK ADDS VIDEO ADS
Facebook began rolling out video ads to some
users’ newsfeeds this week. The ads will play
automatically, but without sound. People can
avoid the videos by scrolling past them, but
won’t be able to remove them from their feeds.
Many took to social media — including posting
on Facebook — to complain, saying the ads
will be annoying and could alienate users.
SHUTDOWN
AVERTED
GAY PRIDE
A bipartisan budget deal passed the Senate Wednesday,
averting another government shutdown that would have
occurred in January. The $85 billion compromise was
approved by the House last week. The deal will lessen some
of the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration.
It passed overwhelmingly in the House but faced larger
hurdles in the Senate, and some Senate Republicans
ultimately joined with Senate Democrats Tuesday to avert a
possible GOP filibuster. The GOP remains fractured on the
final deal, with conservative groups arguing that it gives up
the major gains the party made with the sequester cuts.
President Barack Obama announced Tuesday
that two of the U.S. delegates to the 2014 Winter
Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, will be Billie
Jean King, the tennis legend, and Caitlin Cahow,
an Olympic medalist in women’s ice hockey. Both
women are openly gay. The decision was seen as
a jab at Russian President Vladimir Putin in the
wake of the passage of stringent anti-LGBT laws
in his country this summer. The new legislation
makes it illegal to discuss gay relationships or
rights in front of minors and imposes fines for holding gay pride rallies. “The U.S. Delegation to
the Olympic Games represents the diversity that is the United States,” National Security Council
spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told CNN. “We are proud of each and every one of them.”