Category Archives: general

Roblox rolls out new safety features including AI age verification

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The massive online gaming platform Roblox, which is used by millions of children under the age of 13, announced it’ll soon require every player to scan their face and use AI-powered facial technology to estimate their age. Jo Ling Kent reports it comes after dozens of families have sued Roblox and Discord for allegedly failing to protect children from sexual predators on their platforms.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/roblox-rolls-out-new-safety-features-including-ai-age-verification/

Miss Universe judge resigns ahead of pageant, claims Top 30 ‘pre-selected’ by ‘impromptu jury’

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Miss Universe judge Omar Harfouch has abruptly resigned from the pageant’s official jury just days before this year’s competition is set to kick off on Nov. 21. Harfouch took to his Instagram Stories on Tuesday to claim that the Top 30 finalists had been chosen in secret long before the judges ever cast a vote. His exit has sparked a wave of confusion and frustration among contestants, many of whom say they learned about the alleged pre-selection online rather than from the Miss Universe Organization itself. Harfouch claimed he discovered that an “impromptu jury” had already chosen which contestants would move forward out of the 136 women competing. According to him, some people within this unauthorized group had personal ties to participating contestants including individuals responsible for counting votes and handling results. He argued that such connections created an undeniable conflict of interest. Harfouch also claimed that the existence of this alleged secret jury came to his attention through social media rather than any internal Miss Universe communication. “The results of this selection are currently being kept secret,” he wrote. When Harfouch pushed for answers, he said the organization responded by posting a list of names involved in the process without explaining what those people actually did. He described the move as an attempt to quiet criticism without offering any meaningful clarification and, after what he described as a tense exchange with Miss Universe leadership, ultimately stepped away from the panel. “After having a disrespectful conversation with [Miss Universe CEO] Raul Rocha about the lack of transparency in the Miss Universe voting process, I decided to resign from the jury and refuse to be part of this charade,” Harfouch announced. Harfouch also announced that he was withdrawing the musical performance he had prepared for the competition. The Miss Universe Organization, meanwhile, quickly rejected his allegations and insisted that its procedures remain legitimate and tightly controlled. “The Miss Universe Organization firmly clarifies that no impromptu jury has been created, that no external group has been authorized to evaluate delegates or select finalists, and that all competition evaluations continue to follow the established, transparent, and supervised MUO protocols,” the organization said in a statement. “Given [Mr. Harfouch’s] expressed confusion, his public mischaracterization of the program, and his stated desire not to participate, the Miss Universe Organization respectfully acknowledges his withdrawal from the official judging panel,” the pageant added. This wouldn’t be the first controversy to unfold just days before this year’s Miss Universe pageant kicks off on Nov. 21.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/18/entertainment/miss-universe-judge-resigns-ahead-of-pageant/

Federal Reserve releases new guidance for bank oversight in move praised by industry

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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and KEN SWEET WASHINGTON (AP) The Federal Reserve’s top banking regulator on Tuesday released new guidelines for the agency’s supervision of the financial system, earning praise from industry trade groups and criticism from her predecessor. In a set of sweeping changes, the principles call for bank examiners to focus on material financial risks and to “not become distracted from this priority by devoting excessive attention to processes, procedures, and documentation.” The guidelines are set out in a memo originally distributed to Fed employees Oct. 29 but released Tuesday. Michelle Bowman, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, said the principles will “sharpen” the central bank’s focus and build “a more effective supervisory framework.” “By anchoring our work in material financial risks, we strengthen the banking system’s foundation while upholding transparency, accountability, and fairness,” Bowman said in a written statement. Bowman was named vice chair by President Donald Trump in March. Since Trump took office, federal bank regulators have been rolling back regulations that govern the nation’s banking system and other financial services companies. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis, is effectively not operating presently and has negated several of the regulations it put into place under President Joe Biden. Also Tuesday, Fed governor Michael Barr, who preceded Bowman as the vice chair for supervision, sharply criticized the changes in banking oversight at the Fed and at other agencies this year. “We are now, I believe, at a moment of inflection in the regulatory and supervisory approaches that help keep banks healthy,” Barr said in a speech. “There are growing pressures to weaken supervision . in ways that will make it harder for examiners to act before it is too late to prevent a build-up of excessive risk.” The announcement by the Fed matches a similar move by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which also loosened how it measures risk among the banks it supervises as well as removed issues like reputational risk from how examiners look at the banks. Under the Fed’s new rules, banks can only be tested for material risks to their businesses or balance sheets, such as bad loans or unsound business practices. Banks will also able to self-certify on certain risk and supervision issues. These changes have been among the top priority for the banking industry since President Trump was elected into office. “Banks are most resilient when their examiners prioritize material financial risks, not check-the-box compliance exercises,” said Greg Baer, president and CEO of the Bank Policy Institute. Under the new framework, the Fed will also defer to other major bank regulators, including the OCC and state-level regulators, when it comes to who should supervise and examine these institutions. Bowman has also moved to reduce the Fed’s regulatory staffing by about 30%, mostly through attrition, a step Barr also criticized Tuesday. The cuts “will impair supervisors’ ability to act with the speed, force, and agility appropriate to the risks facing individual banks and the financial system,” Barr said. “Such a drastically reduced staff will slow response time for the public and the banks themselves, limit supervisory findings and enforcement actions, and erode supervisors’ ability to be forward-looking.”.
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/11/18/federal-reserve-bank-supervision/

Unearthed figurine in Israel bears early depiction of bestiality

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Talk about ruffling feathers. A team in Israel has uncovered a petite clay figurine barely the size of a postage stamp that seems to immortalize a goose making an indecent proposal to a woman. Dug up from a long-lost settlement in the country’s north, the cheeky artifact could be the oldest known example of human-animal hanky-panky. Laurent Davin of Hebrew University explained to the Daily Mail that encounters between animal spirits and humans pop up often in animistic cultures usually in the realm of dreams, visions or myth. The archaeologists have even whipped up a fresh illustration to decode the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details and, well, it’s a lot. The tiny carving appears to show a nude woman, who doesn’t look too thrilled, bent forward as an oversized goose climbs aboard, its beak pressed gently to her head like some prehistoric lover’s whisper. The bizarre bauble, dug up with other clay scraps at the Nahal Ein Gev II site in northern Israel, features what researchers say are clearly carved breasts and a triangular pubic patch. Some optimists have floated a tamer theory maybe she was just hauling home a freshly killed bird but the goose looks anything but dead and is very much running the show. Tests indicate the figurine was shaped from local clay and fired around 400°C roughly 12, 000 years ago, proving that ancient artisans were, indeed, cooking up some wild scenes. Back then, the region was home to the Natufians the OG Middle Eastern trendsetters who ditched the roaming life, built the first real neighborhoods and basically invented staying put. And the Holy Land keeps serving up surprises this month. As The Post previously reported, archaeologists recently uncovered Canaanite ritual artifacts plus a 5, 000-year-old winepress near Tel Megiddo. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced on November 5, revealing the dig ran alongside the construction of Highway 66 in the Jezreel Valley. Tel Megiddo aka “Armageddon” from the Book of Revelation literally means “mountain of Megiddo” in Hebrew, and the digs unearthed treasures spanning Israel’s Early Bronze Age (around 3000 B. C.) to the Late Bronze Age (circa 1270 B. C.). The crown jewel? A rock-cut winepress, officials are calling the oldest ever found in the country. Ultimately, from myth-making to geese getting frisky, the ancient area just proved the past was weirder than we imagined.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/18/science/ancient-israeli-figurine-shows-goose-love-scene/

This TikToker says New Orleans vampires aren’t just folklore, and the evidence is surprisingly convincing

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New Orleans is famous for Mardi Gras, jazz music, and beignets, but people who live there say the city is known for something else too. Vampires. And according to locals, these stories are more than just made-up tales to scare tourists. According to Bro Bible, a TikToker posted a video that got over 1. 4 million views talking about how vampire stories are everywhere in New Orleans. She says it’s not just something tour guides make up. Real people who live there have their own weird experiences to share. “The vampires in New Orleans are real,” she says in the video. She talks about how you’ll hear all kinds of stories if you ask around, like someone meeting a vampire at a bar or an Uber driver who swears he met one. This TikTok user says New Orleans vampires aren’t just folklore, and the evidence is surprisingly convincing when you hear how many people have similar tales. She points out that pretty much everyone in the city has some kind of story about something strange they can’t explain. The Carter Brothers story is probably why so many people think New Orleans has vampires The most famous vampire legend involves two men named John and Wayne Carter. They showed up in New Orleans right before the Great Depression started and got jobs working night shifts at the docks. Everything seemed normal until 1932, when a young girl ran down Royal Street looking terrified and found a police officer. What she told the police sounded crazy. She said the Carter Brothers had tied her up with other people so they could drink their blood. She only got away because they didn’t tie her ropes tight enough. The police went back with her to a house on Royal and St. Ann, where they found four more people tied to chairs who were barely hanging on. They also found over a dozen dead bodies that had been drained of blood. When John and Wayne Carter came home, the police arrested them right away. According to the story, the brothers admitted what they did almost immediately and actually asked to be executed because they said they were vampires who couldn’t stop themselves from needing blood. The legend says they were put on trial, found guilty, and killed. But here’s the weird part. When someone else in their family died later and they opened the family vault to bury them, the Carter Brothers’ bodies were gone. Most researchers say this whole story is probably fake. There are no records of John or Wayne Carter ever being executed in Louisiana. No court papers show they were even arrested or went to trial. The whole thing might just be a story that people started telling during a rough time in history. But even without any proof, people still believe it. A bartender who claims the Carter Brothers walked into her bar has become one of the most repeated stories in the city, and some folks even say they still see the brothers walking around the French Quarter today.
https://attackofthefanboy.com/news/this-tiktoker-says-new-orleans-vampires-arent-just-folklore-and-the-evidence-is-surprisingly-convincing/

OCC Permits National Banks to Hold Crypto for Gas Fees and Experiments

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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has officially permitted national banks to hold cryptocurrency on their balance sheets for paying network gas fees and conducting crypto-related experiments, marking a significant step toward integrating digital assets into traditional banking. OCC’s interpretive letter confirms banks can use crypto for permissible activities like fee payments [.] Source:.
https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/crypto/occ-permits-national-banks-to-hold-crypto-for-gas-fees-and-experiments/

Porsha Williams met by authorities after Delta flight incident, and the FBI is now looking into it

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Porsha Williams from the Real Housewives of Atlanta had an unexpected run-in with authorities after her flight landed on Sunday night. The reality TV star was flying from Las Vegas to Atlanta when something happened on the plane that got the attention of law enforcement. Video footage shows Williams walking out of the gate wearing a fur coat and Uggs. She looked pretty relaxed about the whole thing and did not seem worried. A police officer walked with her after she got off the plane, and they talked for a bit. The FBI office in Atlanta told TMZ that they know about what happened on the Delta flight on November 16th. They said Williams and maybe another person were involved in some kind of incident. The FBI is now looking into it and trying to figure out if anyone broke any federal laws that would lead to charges. The incident is still a mystery Nobody really knows what actually went down on the flight yet. The flight crew talked to two passengers during the trip. Whatever the problem was, it did not stop the plane from finishing its journey to Atlanta like normal. When the plane got to the airport, police officers were there waiting to meet it. “FBI Atlanta is aware of an incident on a Delta flight on November 16th allegedly involving Porsha Williams and/or at least one other person,” TMZ quoted an FBI spokesperson. “We are looking to see whether any federal charges may or may not apply.” Williams was in Las Vegas for the whole weekend before this happened. She went to BravoCon with the other women from Real Housewives of Atlanta. The event is a big convention where fans get to meet their favorite Bravo stars. Williams did panels and took pictures with fans throughout the weekend. Everything seemed fine during her time in Vegas. She was hanging out with her co-stars and having a good time at the convention. So the flight incident on Sunday night was a strange way for her trip to end. The involvement of federal law enforcement in travel incidents usually means something serious might have happened. Her team has not made any statements either, so people are left guessing about what really went on during the flight.
https://attackofthefanboy.com/news/porsha-williams-met-by-authorities-after-delta-flight-incident-and-the-fbi-is-now-looking-into-it/

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Star Will Return For Avengers: Doomsday

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We don’t know who Sadie Sink is playing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but she will reportedly reprise said role in Avengers: Doomsday. When Avengers: Doomsday shifted its release date to the end of 2026, it was suddenly coming out after Spider-Man: Brand New Day instead of before. With how interconnected the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become, there are a lot of little things that have to be adjusted when the order of release changes as well. One of those changes is who is going to make some sort of appearance in Avengers: Doomsday. We know the entire day hasn’t been revealed yet, but despite the hours-long chair hell, they’ve been rather quiet about confirming more cast members. However, other cast members are being low-key confirmed as they promote other projects. Sadie Sink has an unknown role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and is currently making the rounds for the final season of Stranger Things, but Deadline is reporting that Sink will be reprising said unknown role in Avengers: Doomsday. Now, a reminder that reprising the role doesn’t mean she’s going to have a significant part. There will be cast members in Avengers: Doomsday, including top-tier talent, who will appear on screen for mere minutes and wrap up their roles in just a few days. That’s the nature of the beast when it comes to these massive productions with cast lists this long. It’s still impossible to guess who Sink is playing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, even if people do have their own theories based on her hair color alone. Is Avengers: Doomsday Taking Steps Back Instead Of Forward? Over the summer of 2024, word came that Marvel and Disney were courting Anthony and Joe Russo to return and direct the next two Avengers films. It made sense in a way; they were coming off a year that didn’t exactly go to plan, and no doubt they wanted to go with what they thought would be the safest option. It turned out that the reports were spot on, and in July 2024, they were announced as the directors at San Diego Comic-Con. That was also where we learned that Robert Downey Jr. would be coming back as Doctor Doom, and it became very clear that Marvel was playing it safe by returning to what worked the first time. At the end of March, over the course of five and a half hours, Marvel announced a large portion of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, which includes, along with already confirmed Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, and Pedro Pascal. The inclusion of previous X-Men characters is more proof that Marvel is taking steps back instead of forward. The stream was also an announcement that the film had entered production. Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is set to be released on December 17, 2027.
https://bleedingcool.com/movies/spider-man-brand-new-day-star-will-return-for-avengers-doomsday/