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Recalled Boppy lounger linked to infant deaths sold on Facebook

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Recalled Boppy lounger linked to infant deaths sold on Facebook

Loungers, which are supposed to be used when babies are awake and supervised, can put infants at risk of suffocation or asphyxiation in a matter of minutes, researchers have found.

Leila Register | NBC News

A recalled baby pillow that’s now been linked to at least 10 infant deaths is still being widely sold on Facebook Marketplace, and federal regulators are calling on the company to do more to stop the sales. 

A series of newborn loungers from The Boppy Company were recalled in September 2021 after eight deaths were linked to the product. Soon after the recall, two more infants died while sleeping on the pillows, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Tuesday said in a news release. 

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In one incident in October 2021, an infant was placed on the lounger to sleep and later died by positional asphyxia after rolling underneath a nearby adult pillow, the agency said. 

The following month, another infant was placed on a lounger in an adult bed with a parent present and was later found dead on the pillow, the agency said, adding that the cause of death was undetermined. 

The products are dangerous because infants can suffocate if they roll, move or are placed on the lounger in a position that obstructs breathing, the CPSC said. Infants can also suffocate if they roll off the lounger onto another surface, such as an adult pillow, the agency said. 

Sales of the recalled products — which include the Boppy Original Newborn Lounger, the Boppy Preferred Newborn Lounger and the Pottery Barn Kids Boppy Newborn Lounger — have been illegal for nearly two years. But the CPSC has found thousands of the recalled loungers available for sale on Facebook marketplace, the agency’s commissioners and chair wrote in a Tuesday letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook parent Meta.

The agency has formally requested — on average about a thousand times a month — that Meta take down the listings but the products are still available on the site and sales are continuing, according to the letter.

“These sales are illegal; it is against the law to sell recalled consumer products, whether new or used,” the letter states. “Far too often, the CPSC has found [recalled] products listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace even after recall information has been provided to your company. We call on you to identify recalled and violative products and to prevent their listing by your users. By allowing such products to be posted, you are putting Facebook Marketplace users at risk.” 

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In response, a Meta spokesperson told CNBC it takes this issue seriously. 

“Like other platforms where people can buy and sell goods, there are instances of people knowingly or unknowingly selling recalled goods on Marketplace,” the spokesperson said. “When we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them.” 

The company noted its policies prohibit the sale of recalled goods and said it works closely with governments, regulatory bodies and manufacturers to identify recalled products that are for sale on its platform. 

The CPSC has found thousands of the recalled loungers available for sale on Facebook marketplace.

Budrul Chukrut | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

It relies on its commerce review system, which is largely automated, to enforce its policies but said staff manually review listings in some cases.  

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The CPSC commissioners said the sale of recalled products on Facebook Marketplace has been an ongoing issue that involves more than just the baby pillows, but they called the Boppy lounger sales a “particularly egregious example.” 

In April, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, the chair of the CPSC, wrote to Meta about sales of the recalled Fisher Price Rock ‘n Play on Facebook Marketplace. In the agency’s Tuesday letter, it noted Meta had made searching for the product harder after the letter was sent, but consumers were still able to find it and buy it. 

“This is a helpful first step, but a system that prioritizes prevention of such sales should be able to spot recalled products in real time, not just restrict searches when the matter gains government attention and public notoriety,” the letter states.

“As a leading technology company, Meta can and should dedicate the necessary resources to protect consumers by preventing both the listing and sale of recalled products,” it continues. “It should also incorporate access to recall information, facilitating consumer ability to identify recalled products and obtain available remedies to address the hazards they pose.” 

Instead of embedding recall information directly into Marketplace listings, the company directs buyers and sellers to “look on the website of the item’s manufacturer” to figure out if the item in a post has been recalled. 

Meta noted it has been in contact with Boppy and is working with the company to remove any listings that are flagged to its teams. 

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The CPSC asked Meta to respond by June 30 with any changes it intends to make to address the sale of recalled products.

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Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again

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Facebook Problem Again

Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.

Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.

Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.

When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.

Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.

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During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.

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Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

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Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said.

Haroon Shahzad (right) with attorney Aneeqa Maria. | The Voice Society/Morning Star News

Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes.

Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail on Nov. 6, but the decision and his release on Nov. 15 were not made public until now due to security fears for his life, Maria said.

Shahzad told Morning Star News by telephone from an undisclosed location that the false accusation has changed his family’s lives forever.

“My family has been on the run from the time I was implicated in this false charge and arrested by the police under mob pressure,” Shahzad told Morning Star News. “My eldest daughter had just started her second year in college, but it’s been more than four months now that she hasn’t been able to return to her institution. My other children are also unable to resume their education as my family is compelled to change their location after 15-20 days as a security precaution.”

Though he was not tortured during incarceration, he said, the pain of being away from his family and thinking about their well-being and safety gave him countless sleepless nights.

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“All of this is due to the fact that the complainant, Imran Ladhar, has widely shared my photo on social media and declared me liable for death for alleged blasphemy,” he said in a choked voice. “As soon as Ladhar heard about my bail, he and his accomplices started gathering people in the village and incited them against me and my family. He’s trying his best to ensure that we are never able to go back to the village.”

Shahzad has met with his family only once since his release on bail, and they are unable to return to their village in the foreseeable future, he said.

“We are not together,” he told Morning Star News. “They are living at a relative’s house while I’m taking refuge elsewhere. I don’t know when this agonizing situation will come to an end.”

The Christian said the complainant, said to be a member of Islamist extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and also allegedly connected with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the charge because of a grudge. Shahzad said he and his family had obtained valuable government land and allotted it for construction of a church building, and Ladhar and others had filed multiple cases against the allotment and lost all of them after a four-year legal battle.

“Another probable reason for Ladhar’s jealousy could be that we were financially better off than most Christian families of the village,” he said. “I was running a successful paint business in Sargodha city, but that too has shut down due to this case.”

Regarding the social media post, Shahzad said he had no intention of hurting Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Facebook page.

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“I posted the verse a week before Eid Al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] but I had no idea that it would be used to target me and my family,” he said. “In fact, when I came to know that Ladhar was provoking the villagers against me, I deleted the post and decided to meet the village elders to explain my position.”

The village elders were already influenced by Ladhar and refused to listen to him, Shahzad said.

“I was left with no option but to flee the village when I heard that Ladhar was amassing a mob to attack me,” he said.

Shahzad pleaded with government authorities for justice, saying he should not be punished for sharing a verse from the Bible that in no way constituted blasphemy.

Similar to other cases

Shahzad’s attorney, Maria, told Morning Star News that events in Shahzad’s case were similar to other blasphemy cases filed against Christians.

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“Defective investigation, mala fide on the part of the police and complainant, violent protests against the accused persons and threats to them and their families, forcing their displacement from their ancestral areas, have become hallmarks of all blasphemy allegations in Pakistan,” said Maria, head of The Voice Society, a Christian paralegal organization.

She said that the case filed against Shahzad was gross violation of Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which states that police cannot register a case under the Section 295-A blasphemy statute against a private citizen without the approval of the provincial government or federal agencies.

Maria added that Shahzad and his family have continued to suffer even though there was no evidence of blasphemy.

“The social stigma attached with a blasphemy accusation will likely have a long-lasting impact on their lives, whereas his accuser, Imran Ladhar, would not have to face any consequence of his false accusation,” she said.

The judge who granted bail noted that Shahzad was charged with blasphemy under Section 295-A, which is a non-cognizable offense, and Section 298, which is bailable. The judge also noted that police had not submitted the forensic report of Shahzad’s cell phone and said evidence was required to prove that the social media was blasphemous, according to Maria.

Bail was set at 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US $350) and two personal sureties, and the judge ordered police to further investigate, she said.

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Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29 posted on his Facebook page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols, as Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat.

A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice.

Though Shahzad made no comment in the post, inflammatory or otherwise, the situation became tense after Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers telling people to gather for a protest, family sources previously told Morning Star News.

Fearing violence as mobs grew in the village, most Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind.

In a bid to restore order, the police registered a case against Shahzad under Sections 295-A and 298. Section 295-A relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine, or both. Section 298 prescribes up to one year in prison and a fine, or both, for hurting religious sentiments.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.

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Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.

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Individual + Team Stats: Hornets vs. Timberwolves

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CHARLOTTE HORNETS MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on X: Facebook – All Hornets X – …

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