Category: News and Views

Donald Trump to extend US TikTok ban deadline, White House says | BBC News

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TikTok will live on for at least another three months in the United States, as President Donald Trump is poised to extend a sale or ban deadline for the third time since taking office this year.

“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

The popular video-sharing app was supposed to be banned in the US after its Chinese owner, ByteDance, refused to sell it to a US buyer by a January deadline.

TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the BBC.

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Car-sharing giant Zoomcar says hacker accessed personal data of 8.4 million users | TechCrunch

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Indian car-sharing marketplace Zoomcar has revealed that a hacker accessed the personal data of at least 8.4 million customers, including their names, phone numbers, and car registration numbers.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company identified the incident involving unauthorized access to its information systems on June 9, per its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company stated that it became aware of the incident after some of its employees received external communications from a threat actor who claimed to have gained access to the company’s data.

“Upon discovery, the company promptly activated its incident response plan,” said Zoomcar in its filing.

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Instagram users complain of mass bans, pointing finger at AI | TechCrunch

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Instagram users have for weeks complained about a significant increase in accounts being mistakenly banned or suspended. Many suspect, without direct evidence, that the issues may have to do with the use of AI automation.

Reached for comment, Meta has so far not offered an on-record statement.

According to a growing number of social media posts, including on sites like Reddit and X, Instagram users report that their accounts were banned even though they had not violated the company’s terms of service or other policies. In addition, when they submitted an appeal to have their account reviewed, some claimed they received no response.

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Google, Spotify Down in a Massive Outage Affecting Thousands | Entrepreneur

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Google Cloud and Spotify are down for tens of thousands of users, according to Downdetector.com. Early reports suggest a massive Cloudflare outage is to blame.

Is Google Down?

The Google Workspace Dashboard noted that the company was “investigating reports of an issue” with a slew of Google services, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, Google Cloud Search, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Google Tasks, and Google Voice.

“We will provide more information shortly,” the post says. “Our engineers are currently investigating the issue. We apologize to all who are affected by the disruption.”

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YouTube is bringing more ads to Premium Lite plans | Mashable

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When YouTube introduced its Premium Lite tier in March, the goal was to give people a way to see fewer ads on YouTube. It took only three months, but YouTube is already increasing the number of ads that Premium Lite subscribers will see, according to Dextero.

News of the ad hike spread to subscribers through email, as spotted on the TWiT Community forums and reported by German news site Deskmodder.

“We are writing to let you know that beginning 30 June 2025, ads may appear on Shorts, in addition to music content and when you search or browse,” the email reads. “Most videos will continue to remain ad-free.”

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Friday’s jobs report could show how much US employers will bend before they break | CNN Business

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Last June, after almost a full year on the job hunt, Jordan Williams landed a role at a high-growth, United Kingdom-based outdoor apparel brand that was looking to build out its US operations.

Passenger Clothing was well positioned for expansion: The company landed orders with REI, Scheels and others; and Williams, a Portland, Oregon-based outdoor industry veteran, was excited for the ride.

Until April.

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The Nintendo Switch 2 launches today. Here’s what to know | CNN Business

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It’s a big day for Nintendo fans. The gaming giant’s new console, the Switch 2, arrives on store shelves globally after being announced in April — marking Nintendo’s first major console launch since the original Switch arrived roughly eight years ago.

And fans have clearly been waiting; 2.2 million people applied for a lottery system to buy the Switch 2 in Japan, according to a translation of an X post from Nintendo in April. Nearly all US Best Buy stores opened just after midnight to accommodate eager fans.

The Switch 2, priced at $450 in the US, can be played in handheld mode, when propped up on a table; or on a TV when plugged in to its accompanying dock, like its predecessor. While the formula is the same as that of the original Switch, Nintendo has made significant upgrades to the hardware, including giving its new console a larger screen, upgraded versions of the Joy-Con controllers and new social features.

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Australian ‘trash parrots’ have now developed a local ‘drinking tradition’ | Live Science

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Wild cockatoos in Sydney, Australia have learned to drink from twist-handle water fountains, turning the knob with their feet and using their body weight to keep it open. They even queue to have a drink, waiting to take turns on the fountain, footage shows.

The behavior qualifies as a new local tradition, according to a study published Wednesday (June 4) in the journal Biology Letters that analyzed videos of these cockatoos showing off their fountain-manipulating skills.

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What if the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning? New research suggests it may have taken place inside a black hole | Live Science

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The Big Bang is often described as the explosive birth of the universe — a singular moment when space, time and matter sprang into existence. But what if this was not the beginning at all? What if our universe emerged from something else — something more familiar and radical at the same time?

In a new paper, published in Physical Review D, my colleagues and I propose a striking alternative. Our calculations suggest the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational crunch or collapse that formed a very massive black hole — followed by a bounce inside it.

This idea, which we call the black hole universe, offers a radically different view of cosmic origins, yet it is grounded entirely in known physics and observations.

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Canadian wildfires cause evacuations for over 25,000 in Manitoba | Fast Company

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More than 25,000 residents in three provinces have been evacuated as dozens of wildfires remained active Sunday and diminished air quality in parts of Canada and the U.S., according to officials.

Most of the evacuated residents were from Manitoba, which declared a state of emergency last week. About 17,000 people there were evacuated by Saturday along with 1,300 in Alberta. About 8,000 people in Saskatchewan had been relocated as leaders there warned the number could climb.

Smoke was worsening air quality and reducing visibility in Canada and into some U.S. states along the border.

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