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The attorney general of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, accusing the platform of failing to implement basic safety controls and making the site the “perfect place for pedophiles.” The lawsuit, filed on Thursday by Attorney General Liz Murrill, alleges that Roblox “has and continues to facilitate the distribution of child sexual abuse material and the sexual exploitation of Louisiana’s children.” It also accuses the platform of purposely not rolling out basic safety controls to protect children from predators and failing to notify parents of risks. Roblox, which launched in 2006, has 82 million daily active users. The lawsuit…
Facebook Tweet Email Link Reuters — The African Union has backed a campaign to end the use by governments and international organizations of the 16th-century Mercator map of the world in favor of one that more accurately displays Africa’s size. Created by cartographer Gerardus Mercator for navigation, the projection distorts continent sizes, enlarging areas near the poles like North America and Greenland while shrinking Africa and South America. “It might seem to be just a map, but in reality, it is not,” AU Commission deputy chairperson Selma Malika Haddadi told Reuters, saying the Mercator fostered a false impression that Africa…
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Thomas has not one but two big shoes to fill when he goes out on the road this summer in a celebrated one-man show.The Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee is portraying the great American writer Mark Twain in a play written and performed for decades by the late Hal Holbrook.Thomas immediately accepted the offer to star in the 90-minute “Mark Twain Tonight!” that tours more than a dozen states this summer and fall before wondering what he’d gotten himself into.“I walked down to the street and I said, ‘Are you crazy? What are…
Facebook Tweet Email Link EDITOR’S NOTE: Mary Frances Ruskell graduated in May from her high school in Columbia, South Carolina. The first round of admissions decisions for Clemson University came out on a December evening, days before midterms at my South Carolina high school. Everything that day felt like a waiting game. Nearly my entire senior class had applied early action, one of the many admissions plans that schools offer to apply to college. It requires submitting applications early to get an early answer, with decisions from colleges coming around mid-December. We all knew that there was a possibility of…
Universal Orlando Resort has unveiled details for the 2025 fall edition of its Volcano Bay Nights.The event will run from September 5 to October 31, offering visitors after-dark access to the water theme park and an array of other experiences including all-new fun with Scooby-Doo and the Gang as they confront villains within the lava-lit park. Beginning at 4 p.m., guests will have access to the exclusive, limited-capacity event taking place from 7-11 p.m. and enjoy:Lower wait times at favorite attractions: TeAwa the Fearless River—where guests take a thrilling whitewater ride along a roaring river of rapids, Ko’okiri Body Plunge…
Perplexity, the AI search startup that hasn’t even cracked 100 million monthly users, just made a $34.5 billion cash offer to buy Chrome from Google. The unsolicited bid comes as the DOJ prepares its remedy decision after ruling Google illegally maintained a search monopoly. The timing makes sense, but questions remain. Perplexity won’t name its backers for the massive deal, and the offer is worth far more than the company has raised. The move fits Perplexity’s broader push for distribution after earning plenty of buzz in tech circles but struggling with mainstream user adoption. The company has also explored acquiring…
Facebook Tweet Email Link Paris AP — French President Emmanuel Macron pledged Friday that no effort will be spared to track down and prosecute unknown attackers who chopped down an olive tree planted in homage to a French Jew murdered in 2006. The commemorative tree for Ilan Halimi, planted 14 years ago in the northern Paris suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine, was felled on Wednesday night, seemingly with a chainsaw. The town posted a photo on its Facebook page showing the tree’s leafy, bushy top completely severed from its base, leaving just the stump poking from the ground. “Cutting down the tree…
When Michelle Yeoh first saw “Ne Zha 2” in Hong Kong, she walked away dreaming about a dubbed version. The Chinese blockbuster, which this year became the highest-grossing animated film of all time with over $2.2 billion in ticket sales, had seemed to her like an ideal movie for a global, all-ages audience. But even she, who had the benefit of knowing Mandarin, was having trouble keeping up with the subtitles and all the spectacular things happening on screen. How would a kid stand a chance?The Oscar winner, who is fluent in English, Malay and Cantonese, wasn’t alone in thinking…
ChatGPT’s mobile app is raking in the revenue. Since launching in May 2023, ChatGPT’s app for iOS and Android devices has reached $2 billion in global consumer spending, according to a new analysis by app intelligence provider Appfigures. That figure is approximately 30x the combined lifetime spending of ChatGPT’s rivals on mobile, including Claude, Copilot, and Grok, the analysis indicates. So far this year, ChatGPT’s mobile app has made $1.35 billion, up 673% year-over-year from the $174 million it made during the same period (January-July) in 2024, per the data. On average, the app is generating close to $193 million…
GENEVA (AP) — Negotiations to reach a major treaty to end growing plastic pollution around the world fell apart on Friday, with delegates in Switzerland adjourning with no immediate plans to resume. The consequence of the failed talks is devastating, as it leaves no clear path for nations to collectively address the mountains of plastic that are filling landfills, clogging oceans and showing up in chunks on beaches and other public places.“Consensus is dead,” Bjorn Beeler, international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, upon adjournment. Every year, the world makes more than 400 million tons of new plastic, and…