Google blames Wikipedia for linking California GOP to Nazism

US Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (right) leaves with House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy after a post House Republican Conference meeting news briefing on May 22, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)
Updated 01 June 2018
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Google blames Wikipedia for linking California GOP to Nazism

SAN FRANCISCO: Google is blaming “vandalism” at Wikipedia for search results that incorrectly said the ideology of the California Republican Party included “Nazism.”
The results appeared in a Google information box screen-captured by Vice Media on Thursday. Google quickly removed the section on ideology.
Wikipedia’s publicly available change logs show that users added the term “Nazism” to the entry for the California GOP twice in the past week. Both changes were reversed by other editors, although the first one wasn’t fixed for almost a week.
California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, tweeted that the results were a “disgrace.” California Republican Party executive director Cynthia Bryant called the situation “unfortunate” in a statement and said Google and Wikipedia should “take more ownership of what is published on their sites.”


Foreign press group welcomes Israel court deadline on Gaza access

Updated 22 December 2025
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Foreign press group welcomes Israel court deadline on Gaza access

  • Supreme Court set deadline for responding to petition filed by the Foreign Press Association to Jan. 4
  • Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the Strip

JERUSALEM: The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Sunday welcomed the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to set January 4 as the deadline for Israel to respond to its petition seeking media access to Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Israel has instead allowed, on a case-by-case basis, a handful of reporters to accompany its troops into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the supreme court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip.
On October 23, the court held a first hearing on the case, and decided to give Israeli authorities one month to develop a plan for granting access.
Since then the court has given several extensions to the Israeli authorities to come up with their plan, but on Saturday it set January 4 as a final deadline.
“If the respondents (Israeli authorities) do not inform us of their position by that date, a decision on the request for a conditional order will be made on the basis of the material in the case file,” the court said.
The FPA welcomed the court’s latest directive.
“After two years of the state’s delay tactics, we are pleased that the court’s patience has finally run out,” the association said in a statement.
“We renew our call for the state of Israel to immediately grant journalists free and unfettered access to the Gaza Strip.
“And should the government continue to obstruct press freedoms, we hope that the supreme court will recognize and uphold those freedoms,” it added.
An AFP journalist sits on the board of the FPA.