Messenger will soon send users alerts every time someone screenshots their chats.

The Meta-owned messaging service is following in the footsteps of Snapchat by upping its security with the new feature for disappearing messages.

In a blog post, Meta explained: “We think it’s important that you are able to use encrypted chats and feel safe, so we want to keep you informed if anyone takes screenshots of your disappearing messages.”

As well as the update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats, Mark Zuckerberg announced they are adding GIFs, stickers, and reactions to encrypted chats.

What’s more, users will be able to reply to a DM by either swiping or tapping and holding it to select Reply.

Tom Holland thought Mark Wahlberg had given him a “self-pleasure” device.

The 25-year-old actor – who is dating his ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ co-star Zendaya – was left “confused” when he met his ‘Uncharted’ co-star for the first time and he handed over a massage gun as a gift.

Tom told ‘Access Hollywood’: “Essentially Mark Wahlberg was kind enough to give me a massage gun after I left his house in LA and he drove me back to my hotel.

“I was confused as to what kind of massage gun this was having never seen one before … and I thought it was the type of self-pleasure.

“I thought Mark Wahlberg was driving me back to my house for other reasons than just being a gentleman. I didn’t know, it’s Hollywood baby … who knows what’s going to happen.”

But the 50-year-old actor insisted there was nothing sexual about his gift, he simply owns a stake in a company named Power Plate, which he believes make “the best massage guns out there”, so he wanted to introduce them to his new friend.

Meanwhile, Tom recently revealed while he “will” wait to start a family, he is excited at the idea of being a parent in the future because he loves being around children.

He added: “I love kids. I can’t wait to be a dad — I can wait and I will, but I can’t wait!

“If I’m at a wedding or a party, I’m always at the kids’ table hanging out.”

The ‘Chaos Walking’ star would even have become a teacher if he hadn’t made it as an actor.

He said: “My dad’s been such a great role model for me. I think I’ve got that from him. So I think I’d be a primary school teacher or something like that [if I wasn’t acting].”

iPhone users will be able to unlock their devices while wearing face masks.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, those wanting to use Face ID while on the go have had to scramble to take their face coverings down for the feature to work.

However, the new iOS 15.4 update comes bearing a new AI tool that will make it possible to unlock iPhones with a mask on by scanning only the details of a person’s eyes.

The new operating system will also feature a new batch of emojis, among other bug fixes.

In November, the tech giant promised to fix a problem with the iPhone 13, which saw screen repairs performed by unofficial parties cause glitches and breaks with its Face ID feature.

Currently, the model contains a chip that “pairs” a screen with a specific phone and requires special software tools to “match” a new one, and third-party repair firms found that without these tools, the facial-identification security function stops working.

Apple vowed to release a software update to combat the issue, after the feature was widely criticised by right-to-repair advocates, who suggested it was included to limit who could repair iPhones.

The issue was first reported by iFixit, a company specialising in tools, parts and tech repair guides, who labelled the new link between screen replacements and Face ID as a “dark day for fixers, both DIY and professional”.

The repair firm discovered that the new chip ensures that unless the replacement screen is “matched” to the phone’s unique serial number, FaceID does not work.

Apple told news outlets a solution would be made available in a future update.

(Reuters) – Several Black colleges and universities in the United States received bomb threats and put their campuses on lockdown on Tuesday, a day after a rash of similar threats forced the cancellation of classes for the day at other schools.

Howard University in Washington, University of the District of Columbia, Kentucky State, Xavier University of Louisiana and Fort Valley State in Georgia were among the schools reporting receiving threats, according to Twitter postings and local media.

“Campus is currently on lockdown. Residential students remain in dorms. Non-residential students and staff should NOT report to campus until further notice. Campus operations are suspended for the day,” Fort Valley State said in a Tweet.

Howard gave the all clear Tuesday morning after the campus received a threat at around 2:55 a.m., it said on Twitter.

The bomb scares come after several other HBCUs told students and staff on Monday to shelter in place and canceled classes for the day after similar threats. Authorities said they did not find any suspicious devices, allowing the schools to reopen.

“The FBI is aware of the series of bomb threats around the country and we are working with our law enforcement partners to address any potential threats,” the FBI said in a statement on Tuesday. It encouraged members of the public to report anything suspicious to the bureau.

Students at Xavier University in Louisiana were told to stay in their dorm rooms until further notice and to monitor university channels.

“ALERT! XULA has received a bomb threat & is working w/ authorities. Campus will be remote until 12 p.m.,” the school said in a Tweet.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mark Porter)

Da Brat is expecting her first child with Jesseca Dupart.

The 47-year-old rap star has taken to social media to announce that her and her fiancee are expecting their first child together.

Alongside a photo of Da Brat with her arms wrapped around Jessica, she wrote on Instagram: “We are EXTENDING the family [baby-bump emoji] (sic)”

The rap star – who got engaged last year – previously revealed that she’s been thinking about the name of her future daughter.

Da Brat – who has not yet revealed the sex of their baby – said in 2020: “My child will have all of my names, honey.

“Her name would be Legacy Shawntae Dupart. Shawntae is my first name and Dupart is my baby’s last name. Yes honey, carry on the legacy of your parents darling.”

The veteran rapper also explained why it took her 25 years to come out as bisexual.

She shared: “I’ve always felt like being private is the better way to go, because then you don’t have so many people in your business.

“I was fine staying quiet, but my partner is a social media mogul – that’s how she became who she is. And when you get with somebody, you have to meet in the middle. So to me, the middle was just letting everybody know: ‘Hey, she’s the one.'”

The rapper also stressed that it was her choice to remain tight-lipped about her sexuality.

She said: “I was always told you want to be f******* to men and women to sell records – you don’t want anybody to discriminate.

“It was absolutely my decision. I mean, you saw what happened to people like Ellen: Remember when she lost her TV show, and all these horrible things were happening? People were totally against it.”

Researchers have discovered abnormalities in the lungs of long Covid patients who have breathlessness which cannot be detected with routine tests.

The Explain study uses xenon, an odourless, colourless, tasteless and chemically non-reactive gas, to investigate possible lung damage in the patients who have not been admitted to hospital, but continue to experience the symptom.

The initial results of the study suggest there is significantly impaired gas transfer from the lungs to the bloodstream in the long Covid patients despite other tests – including CT scans – coming back as normal.

The study’s chief investigator, Fergus Gleeson, professor of radiology at the University of Oxford and consultant radiologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We knew from our post-hospital Covid study that xenon could detect abnormalities when the CT scan and other lung function tests are normal.

“What we’ve found now is that, even though their CT scans are normal, the xenon MRI scans have detected similar abnormalities in patients with long Covid.

“These patients have never been in hospital and did not have an acute severe illness when they had their Covid-19 infection.

“Some of them have been experiencing their symptoms for a year after contracting Covid-19.

“There are now important questions to answer. Such as, how many patients with long Covid will have abnormal scans, the significance of the abnormality we’ve detected, the cause of the abnormality, and its longer-term consequences.

“Once we understand the mechanisms driving these symptoms, we will be better placed to develop more effective treatments.”

In the study, the patients were required to lie in an MRI scanner and breathe in one litre of the gas that has been tweaked so that it can be seen using MRI.

Because xenon, which is safe to inhale, behaves in a very similar way to oxygen, radiologists can observe how it moves from the lungs into the bloodstream.

The scan takes just a few minutes and, as it does not require radiation exposure, can be repeated over time to see changes to the lungs.

While the full Explain study will recruit about 400 participants, the initial pilot had 36 participants making up three groups.

This included those diagnosed with long Covid who had been to long Covid clinics and who had normal CT scans, and people who had been in hospital with coronavirus and discharged more than three months ago, who had normal or nearly normal CT scans and who were not experiencing long Covid.

The third group was an age and gender-matched control group who did not have long Covid symptoms and were not admitted to hospital with the virus.

Dr Emily Fraser, respiratory consultant who leads the Oxford Post-Covid Assessment Clinic, said: “These are interesting results and may indicate that the changes observed within the lungs of some patients with long Covid contribute to breathlessness. “However, these are early findings and further work to understand the clinical significance is key.”

Asked what people suffering from the symptom can take from the findings, she added: “I think that the message should be that we are actively researching what is driving long Covid.”

But Fraser also said people should not give up on the current exercises and rehab they are working on, as this is also helpful. The method and clinical applications were developed by Professor Jim Wild and the Pulmonary, Lung and Respiratory Imaging Sheffield (Polaris) research group at the University of Sheffield.

“Xenon follows the pathway of oxygen when it is taken up by the lungs and can tell us where the abnormality lies between the airways, gas exchange membranes and capillaries in the lungs,” Wild said.

The study, which received Government funding, is supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The findings, which have not been peer-reviewed, were posted on the bioRxiv pre-print server.

Apple has unveiled an updated safety guide for AirTag devices.

The company recently released the new portal, with the Personal User Safety Guide giving tips for people protecting themselves and their data.

The devices – which can be attached to items like a wallet or keys – are used to locate lost items via Apple’s Find My service.

However, there have been concerns that AirTags can – and have – been misused as trackers on people.

In the Personal User Safety Guide, Apple said: “This user guide is a personal safety resource for anyone who is concerned about or experiencing technology-enabled abuse, stalking, or harassment.

“It can help you sever digital ties with those you no longer want to be connected to and outlines the personal safety features that are built into Apple devices.”

The guide itself gives “step-by-step” instructions to protect yourself while using the device.

This includes a section outlining what action to take if they’re alerted to an unwanted AirTag, or if you hear or find one belonging to someone else.

(Reuters) – The U.S. National Weather Service Miami-South Florida warned the public on Sunday that immobilised iguanas could fall out of trees due to unusual cold temperatures across the region.

“Iguanas are cold-blooded. They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s (4-9 Celsius). They may fall from trees, but they are not dead,” the service said on Twitter.

Temperatures in South Florida reached a low of 25 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service, and high temperatures on Sunday were expected to remain in the upper 50s to low 60s.

The nation’s Northeast was walloped on Saturday by a deadly winter storm that prompted several states to declare emergencies and forced the cancellation of more than 1,400 flights.

Zoologist Stacey Cohen, a reptile expert at Palm Beach Zoo in Florida, explained the iguana phenomenon to television station WPBF.

“Their bodies basically start to shut down where they lose their functions and so they are up in the trees on the branches sleeping and then because it gets so cold, they lose that ability to hang on and then they do fall out of trees a lot,” Cohen said.

Although most of the reptiles will likely survive this period of immobilisation, Cohen said freezing temperatures were a threat to their survival and pointed to a cold snap in 2010 that wiped out a large number of the population.

“Cold is a very, very life-threatening thing for them because they are from parts of Central and South America close to the equator where it always stays very warm,” she said.

Green iguanas are not native to Florida, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They were accidentally introduced as stowaways in cargo ships and are considered an invasive species. They can weigh up to 17 pounds (7.5 kg) and measure over five feet (1.50 metres) in length.

These iguanas are not the first animals to suffer the cold this winter. Hundreds of thousands of farmed fish died from thermal shock in a lagoon in northwestern Greece after a heavy snowstorm crippled the country last week.

(Editing by Karishma Singh and Sandra Maler)

Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst has died.

The 30-year-old lawyer’s family have confirmed she passed away over the weekend, though they did not confirm reports she took her own life after jumping from the 60-storey apartment building in New York where she lived on the ninth floor.

Her family said in a statement on Sunday (30.01.22): “In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our beloved Cheslie. Her great light was one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength. She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined.

“Cheslie embodied love and served others, whether through her work as an attorney fighting for social justice, as Miss USA and as a host on Extra. But most importantly, as a daughter, sister, friend, mentor and colleague – we know her impact will live on.”

The beauty queen was also a reporter for ‘Extra’ and they have sent their condolences to her family.

A statement read: “Our hearts are broken. Cheslie was not just a vital part of our show, she was a beloved part of our Extra family and touched the entire staff.

“Our deepest condolences to all her family and friends.”

Cheslie – who was crowned Miss USA as Miss North Carolina – along with Nia Imani Franklin, Kaliegh Garris, and Zozibini Tunzi – who were Miss America, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe respesctively – became the first group of Black women to hold the titles in a single year.

The attorney previously spoke of her pride in the group “breaking barriers” but admitted she was disappointed that some didn’t see the significance of their collective success.

She said at the time: “People will comment on our social media and be like, ‘Why are we talking about your race? You guys are just four, amazing women’. And I’m like, ‘Yes, we are four amazing women, but there was a time when we literally could not win!’ “

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the most common form of which is known as BA.1 – now accounts for nearly all of the coronavirus infections globally, although dramatic surges in COVID cases have already peaked in some countries.

Scientists are now tracking a rise in cases caused by a close cousin known as BA.2, which is starting to outcompete BA.1 in parts of Europe and Asia. The following is what we know so far about the new subvariant:

“STEALTH” SUBVARIANT

Globally, BA.1 accounted for 98.8% of sequenced cases submitted to the public virus tracking database GISAID as of Jan. 25. But several countries are reporting recent increases in the subvariant known as BA.2, according to the World Health Organization.

In addition to BA.1 and BA.2, the WHO lists two other subvariants under the Omicron umbrella: BA.1.1.529 and BA.3. All are closely related genetically, but each features mutations that could alter how they behave.

Trevor Bedford, a computational virologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who has been tracking the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, wrote on Twitter on Friday that BA.2 represents roughly 82% of cases in Denmark, 9% in the UK and 8% in the United States, based on his analysis of sequencing data from the GISAID database and case counts from the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford.

The BA.1 version of Omicron has been somewhat easier to track than prior variants. That is because BA.1 is missing one of three target genes used in a common PCR test. Cases showing this pattern were assumed by default to be caused by BA.1.

BA.2, sometimes known as a “stealth” subvariant, does not have the same missing target gene. Instead, scientists are monitoring it the same way they have prior variants, including Delta, by tracking the number of virus genomes submitted to public databases such as GISAID.

As with other variants, an infection with BA.2 can be detected by coronavirus home tests kits, though they cannot indicate which variant is responsible, experts said.

MORE TRANSMISSIBLE?

Some early reports indicate that BA.2 may be even more infectious than the already extremely contagious BA.1, but there is no evidence so far that it is more likely to evade vaccine protection.

Danish health officials estimate that BA.2 may be 1.5 times more transmissible than BA.1, based on preliminary data, though it likely does not cause more severe disease.

In England, a preliminary analysis of contact tracing from Dec. 27, 2021, through Jan. 11, 2022, by the UK Health Security Agency (HSA) suggests that household transmission is higher among contacts of people infected with BA.2 (13.4%) compared with other Omicron cases (10.3%).

The HSA found no evidence of a difference in vaccine effectiveness, according to the Jan. 28 report.

A critical question is whether people who were infected in the BA.1 wave will be protected from BA.2, said Dr. Egon Ozer, an infectious disease expert at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

That has been a concern in Denmark, where some places that saw high case counts of BA.1 infections were reporting rising cases of BA.2, Ozer said.

If prior BA.1 infection does not protect against BA.2, “this could be sort of a two-humped camel kind of wave,” Ozer said. “It’s too early to know if that will happen.”

The good news, he said, is that vaccines and boosters still “keep people out of the hospital and keep people from dying.”

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A handful of Republicans pushed back against former President Donald Trump’s weekend offer to consider pardoning people convicted of joining the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, saying it showed he would “do it all again” if he regains the White House in 2024.

“Trump uses language he knows caused the Jan. 6 violence; suggests he’d pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy; threatens prosecutors; and admits he was attempting to overturn the election,” U.S. Representative Liz Cheney posted on Twitter on Monday. “He’d do it all again if given the chance.”

Cheney is one of just two Republicans taking part in the U.S House of Representatives’ official investigation of Jan. 6.

Cheney and a few other Republicans spoke out after a weekend in which former President Trump at a Saturday rally in Conroe, Texas, offered to consider pardoning people convicted of joining the attack if elected to a second term in 2024 and called for protests against prosecutors in New York and Georgia investigating him and his company.

He followed up Sunday evening with a statement repeating his false claims that his vice president, Mike Pence, “could have overturned the Election” that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

He also lambasted a bipartisan effort led by Republican Senator Susan Collins to reform the federal law that allows Congress members to dispute presidential election results.

Representative Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the Jan. 6 committee, wrote on Twitter late on Sunday that it was “time for every Republican leader to pick a side … Trump or the Constitution, there is no middle on defending our nation anymore.”

Trump’s comments on targeting prosecutors led Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating whether Trump tried to influence the state’s handling of the election, to ask the FBI for additional security for her office.

She noted in a Sunday letter to the FBI’s Atlanta field office that her concerns were driven by Trump’s comments in Texas attacking “radical, vicious racist prosecutors” and encouraging protests in Washington, New York and Atlanta.

Trump was impeached in the House but acquitted in the Senate last year on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 attack, in which thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol in the worst assault on Congress since the War of 1812. Cheney and Kinzinger voted for his impeachment, and Collins voted to convict him.

Fueled by Trump’s false claims that his November 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud, the attackers sought to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory and threatened to hang Pence for refusing to overturn the results. More than 700 people have been charged with joining in the assault.

Other Republicans on Sunday also rejected his remarks about pardons.

“The folks that were part of the riots and, frankly, the assault on the U.S. Capitol, have to be held accountable. There is a rule of law,” New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu told CNN.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, voiced his own concerns about the potential for repeated violence.

“I don’t want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was OK. I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future,” he told CBS.

(Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

(Corrects paragraphs 4 and 12 to show hearings are before U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood, not U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheesbro)

(Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors have reached plea agreements with two of the three men facing federal hate-crime charges for the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man killed after running through a mostly white neighborhood in southern Georgia.

The three white men — Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan — were convicted last November in a state court in Brunswick, Georgia, of murder in the death of Arbery.

The killing of Arbery, 25, sparked national outrage when cellphone video of his shooting emerged months later and the public learned that local authorities had declined to arrest his pursuers.

The McMichaels’ plea agreements must be accepted by U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood at hearings set to start at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) if they are to avoid a federal trial, which had been scheduled to start next week.

The attorney for Arbery’s family, Lee Merritt, said in a statement that he will oppose the deals in the hearings on Monday at the U.S. District Court in Brunswick and that Arbery’s family was “devastated.”

“The DOJ has gone behind my back to offer the men who murdered my son a deal to make their time in prison easier to serve,” Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said in statement provided by Merritt. “I have been completely betrayed by the DOJ lawyers,” she said, referring to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Federal prisons are perceived to be generally safer than state prisons, and Arbery’s family said the McMichaels were motivated to improving the conditions of their custody.

The McMichaels were sentenced to life in prison https://www.reuters.com/world/us/three-men-be-sentenced-life-prison-ahmaud-arbery-murder-2022-01-07 without parole by a state judge on Jan. 7. Bryan was also sentenced to life in prison, but the judge ruled that he could seek parole after 30 years.

State prosecutors told the court that they had evidence that “racial animus” had been behind the men’s decision to jump in their pick-up trucks and chase Arbery through their quiet, leafy neighborhood on a sunny afternoon in Feb. 23, 2020. In the end, they decided against showing any of that evidence to the jury.

Arbery’s family and civil rights activists instead looked to the federal trial as vital to establishing what they said was the heart of the matter: the federal prosecutors charged the men with violating Arbery’s civil rights by attacking him because of his “race and color.”

The three defendants had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

On Sunday, federal prosecutors filed notices asking Wood to accept plea agreements with the McMichaels. No details were given but the filings said the deal would “dispose” of the pending charges against the McMichaels if accepted. No mention was made of a deal with Bryan, who is due to stand trial on Feb. 7 unless a deal is reached.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for Georgia’s Southern District said federal prosecutors would not comment before Monday’s hearings. Attorneys for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment.

Arbery was running through the leafy Satilla Shores neighborhood in the afternoon when the McMichaels decided to grab their guns, jump in a pickup truck and give chase.

Bryan joined the chase in his own pickup truck after it passed his driveway, and pulled out his cellphone to record Travis McMichael firing a shotgun at Arbery at close range.

(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair Bell)

Kristen Bell has apologised to a fan who watched her graphic sex scene with his mother.

‘The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window’ star responded to a viewer of the new Netflix dark comedy-thriller, who was left red-faced after he watched her character Anna’s fiery romp with Rex (Benjamin Levy Aguilar).

The fan named Eric took to Twitter to air his complaint and wrote: “just watched Kristen bell get absolutely RAILED with my girlfriend and my mom in the room.”

And the 41-year-old actress replied: “Hahahahaha sorry dude.”

He quipped back: “You need to apologize to my mom right now. (sic)”

Meanwhile, Kristen and her husband Dax Shepard have told their daughters that they are “in charge” when it comes to sex.

The ‘Frozen II’ star and her husband have two daughters – Lincoln, eight, and Delta, seven – together, and although they’re still young, the couple have already begun discussing sex with them to get them comfortable with the topic.

Dax, 47, recently said he’s made sure his daughters know that they will control any sexual situation they find themselves in when they get older.

He said: “[I told them], ‘The woman takes the man’s penis and puts it in her vagina’. Right away it’s like, you’re in charge of this and you will decide to put this in your vagina. Not the man puts his penis in your vagina.

“He’s got this ridiculous protrusion, so it would seem he was in the driver’s seat but you’re going to take that and put that in, you know. And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a nice little adjustment we’re going to make.’ “

The ‘CHiPS’ star also insisted he doesn’t want his daughters to feel as though they need to have sex in order to “get approval” – but he won’t stop them from using it as a release if they choose to.

He added during an episode of his ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast: “If my daughters are horny and want to have sex, that was my favourite activity! It remains my favourite activity. I’d be lying if I said I was in any way anti that activity. I am anti getting esteemed from that activity but that’s it for me.”

Dax’s comments came after his wife Kristen revealed the couple often schedule sex into their calendar so that they make sure they have time to be intimate.

She said: “There are some times when it’s in the calendar. You’re like, ‘I know you’re tired, but it’s been two weeks, so we really got to get to it.’”

By Helen Coster

(Reuters) – U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan has apologized and pledged more balance on his show amid a backlash against COVID-19 misinformation on the streaming service Spotify that wiped more than $2 billion off its market value last week.

Spotify said it would add a content advisory to any episode with discussion of COVID to try to quell the controversy, a first step into the field of content moderation that other platforms such as Facebook have found challenging and costly.

Spotify shares were up 2% in pre-market trading on Monday but still at their lowest since May 2020, after the controversy and a broader sell-off of tech stocks in January eroded more than a quarter of its value.

Rogan’s show, The Joe Rogan Experience, has been the most listened-to podcast on Spotify and is central to its plan to expand beyond music and take on rivals such as Apple and Amazon for a share of the podcasting market.

In a 10-minute Instagram video post https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZYQ_nDJi6G/?utm_medium=copy_link on Sunday evening, Rogan apologized to Spotify for the backlash but defended inviting contentious guests.

“If I pissed you off, I’m sorry,” Rogan said. “I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”

Rogan is a prominent vaccine skeptic and his views on vaccines and government mandates to control the spread of the virus alienated prominent figures from singer-songwriter Neil Young to guitarist Nils Lofgren to best-selling U.S. professor and author Brené Brown.

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell also asked for her music to be taken Spotify, citing a letter from hundreds of medical professionals urging the platform to prevent Rogan spreading falsehoods on the pandemic.

Spotify, which reports its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, has spent billions to build its podcast business and currently has over 3 million titles on its platform. Although it has an exclusive license to distribute the podcast, Rogan himself owns the show.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said late on Sunday that he might disagree with the views of some individuals on the platform but that it was “important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor.”

Its new policies include adding an advisory to any pandemic-related podcast that will direct listeners to a COVID-19 hub containing information from medical and health experts, as well as links to authoritative sources.

But the task of content moderation that it has now been dragged into is very different from removing songs with copyright violations, a job that Spotify is familiar with.

The social media giant Facebook also had to give up its opposition to deciding what content people see, and has deployed thousands of content moderators as well as artificial intelligence to block hate speech and fake news on its platform.

With Rogan apologizing, the current controversy might blow over, but it is unlikely to be the last that Spotify will face.

(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York, Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, Akriti Sharma, Shubham Kalia and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Adam Shankman has confirmed that ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ is set for a Halloween release.

The 57-year-old filmmaker is producing the fantasy sequel – which will see Bette Milder, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy reprising their roles as witches the Sanderson sisters – and revealed the release date in a social media post confirming that the project had wrapped.

Adam captioned an Instagram post: “SISTAAAAAHHHHSS! Aaaand that’s a WRAP!!! #hocuspocus2.

“Congratulations to the amazing team @bettemidler @sarahjessicaparker @kathynajimy @567and8 @mrsleshem and the WHOOOOLLLEEEE cast and crew!!!

“Coming to you #halloween #2022 on @disneyplus.”

Adam had been set to direct the movie but was replaced by Anne Fletcher due to his commitments to ‘Disenchanted’ – although he remained part of the project as an executive producer.

Meanwhile, Bette – who plays Winnie Sanderson – revealed that she is “really excited” about the new project.

The 76-year-old star said: “They sent the script and we’re really excited about it – we’re up for it. Although, I must say, I mean, the years have flown by and I am 75 and I do believe I can fly.”

Bette, Sarah and Kathy previously donned their witch outfits for a special Halloween fundraiser – an experience that Midler described as “bizarre”.

She said: “It was so bizarre to have been these characters 27 years ago.

“And to put all that gear on … it was so bizarre because we fell into exactly the same relationship we had and the same style of behaving on screen that we had 27 years ago. As if we had been off for a weekend!”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers on Monday urged U.S. Olympic officials to prepare to defend American athletes from possible Chinese government retaliation should they choose to speak out about China’s rights abuses during next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics.

A Chinese official told reporters in January that any behavior against the Olympic spirit, and “especially against Chinese laws and regulations” would be subject to punishment.

Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative James McGovern, both Democrats, cited the remark in a public letter to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), writing that risks to freedom of expression and data privacy at the Games “demand an urgent effort” to address.

“Chinese authorities have imposed exit bans on U.S. citizens, and even jailed foreign nationals, for political or specious reasons,” said the lawmakers, who lead the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

The USOPC should “redouble efforts” to engage with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), fellow national Olympic committees, and the U.S. State Department to ensure that plans and procedures are in place to protect athletes should they be punished for free expression, they said.

“We further request that the USOPC communicate to the public that it is taking such steps,” they said, adding that the committee should be “prepared to defend any Olympians who speak out.”

Rights groups have long criticized the IOC for awarding the Games to China, citing its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups, which the United States has deemed genocide. China denies allegations of human rights abuses.

Some Western countries, worried about information security, have suggested their delegations not bring their own mobile phones to the Feb. 4-20 Olympics.

Researchers have said the Beijing Organizing Committee’s MY2022 app, which all attendees must use for COVID-19 monitoring, has flaws that make it vulnerable to privacy breaches.

Several countries, including the United States, Britain, and Australia, have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Games over concerns about human rights in China, though their athletes will still compete.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom; editing by Grant McCool)

Cara Delevingne says growing up queer was “isolating and hard to navigate at times”.

The 29-year-old actress-and-model – who identifies as pansexual and has previously dated St. Vincent and Ashely Benson – is thankful that her older siblings, Poppy and Chloe, 35 and 36, respectively, were supportive but she admits she needed to navigate her sexuality for herself to find her true identity.

Speaking to The Sunday Times newspaper, she said: “Growing up as a queer child was isolating and hard to navigate at times. My sisters did their best to be there for me but it was something I had to go through myself to truly know who I was. I’m still on that journey and will continue to be for the rest of my life.”

Cara signed with Storm Management straight out of school and admits she was naive when she first started out in the modelling industry, but she has since come to “cherish” the fashion world.

She explained: “When I had my first modelling job at ten I wasn’t aware of what I was doing, or the fashion and artistry that I now understand and cherish. With any job or path there’s always a way to make some sort of change.”

The ‘Carnival Row’ star also admitted she’s always had a rebellious side and wants to “question” everything.

She added: “First and foremost I have always seen myself as a rebel, not as someone who wants to break rules but as someone who wants to question them. I love the word “naughty”, but only as an adult. To me naughty means someone who questions what they’re told. I think at this point I might be the naughtiest of the three of us.”

The blonde beauty previously admitted she felt “suicidal” whilst struggling with her sexuality when she was a teenager.

Cara spent her youth battling with internalised homophobia as she grew up thinking same-sex relationships were “disgusting”.

She explained how her “old-fashioned” upbringing made her think there was something wrong with her when she developed feelings for other women, and explained she was so “ashamed” of who she was she contemplated taking her own life.

She said: “I grew up in an old-fashioned household. I didn’t know anyone who was gay. I didn’t know that was a thing and actually, I think growing up I was quite not noticeably, I wasn’t knowledgeable of the fact I was homophobic. The idea of being same-sex [partners], I was disgusted by that, in myself. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I would never, that’s disgusting, ugh’.

“I do correlate the massive depression and the suicidal moments of my life [to that] because I was so ashamed of ever being that. But actually, that was the part of me that I love so much and accept.”

The ‘Life in a Year’ star even confessed there is “still a part” of her that “wishes” she was straight because of her “complicated” relationship with her sexuality.

She added: “There is still a part of me where I’m like, ‘Oh, I wish I could just be straight.’ There is still that side to it. It is really complicated.”