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Colombian gangs are using social media to reach and recruit children, the United Nations has warned. Gangs and rebel groups are enticing children to enlist by posting videos on platforms like TikTok and Facebook that showcase the perks of the lifestyle. Some clips promise money, mobile phones, and, in some cases, cosmetic surgery, according to Scott Campbell, Colombias representative for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. Its horrific, toxic, and ugly. Illegal groups are using social media to lure girls and boys into their ranks, which is increasing violence across the country and strengthening narco trafficking, Campbell told The Guardian. Other social media posts featured parties in clubs, designer clothes, and heavy weapons, added Elizabeth Dickinson, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. Although the recruitment of children into gangs is not new, the expansive reach of social media is intensifying the issue. In the first quarter of 2025, the U.N. Human Rights Council reported 118 allegations of recruitment or use of children, verifying 51 of them. The International Crisis Group recently warned that the rate of child recruitment has reached its highest level in more than a decade. Experts have called for greater investment in both automated tools and human moderators to remove these videos from social media and protect children targeted online, especially those from marginalized communities. We ban dangerous organizations tied to terrorism and criminal organizations while supporting law enforcement efforts globally to combat them, including in their efforts to recruit children, a Meta spokesperson told Fast Company. This is an adversarial space, which is why we also collaborate with other companies to share information and take action against these evolving threats across the internet. TikTok has also been working to identify and remove content and accounts that violate its community guidelines on this issue. The platform says it is collaborating closely with authorities and local entities, including the National Police of Colombia, National Army of Colombia, and CIPRUNNA (a group dedicated to preventing the recruitment and use of children and adolescents by illegal armed groups and organized criminal groups). The U.N. has described the situation as a matter of grave concern. Experts warn that more action is still needed. Campbell told The Guardian: If children were being recruited into illegal groups in London or Silicon Valley, social media companies would be putting huge resources into this.
Category:
E-Commerce
From the outset, President Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act was always going to be bad for renewables (and U.S. energy consumers), because it rolled back clean energy tax credits that have spurred billions of dollars of investments into technology like wind, solar, batteries, and electric vehicles. But recent changes to the bills text go even further, more aggressively phasing out the current clean energy tax incentives, and also adding a new tax on solar and wind projects. These changes will effectively kill many clean energy projects, cut millions of jobs, and raise the average American’s electricity bills in every state, experts say. The Senate reconciliation bill is now more than 900 pages long. Tucked into that lengthy bill were changes released the night of June 27 that would impose a new tax on solar and wind projects. That tax would essentially be a penalty on these projects tied to the amount of materials they get from China, or other prohibited foreign entities. That means solar and wind products would need to drastically change their supply chainsa reshoring process made more difficult without the tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. The bill terminates clean energy production and manufacturing tax credits for projects after 2027. It would also eliminate the EV tax credits by the end of September (under the IRA, these credits were set to start phasing out at the end of 2032), and the residential solar credits after this year (originally, in the IRA, these ended in 2034). The new language effectively takes both wind and solar electric supply off the table, at a time when there is $300 billion of investments underway, and this generation is among the only source of electricity that will help to reduce costs and keep the lights on through the early 2030s, the American Council on Renewable Energy said in a statement. Wind and solar are the fastestand cheapestnew sources of energy to build, which is crucial, as energy demand is expected to surge, in part because of the increase of data centers and energy-hungry AI systems. Taking these off the table, the ACORE statement continued, not only increases costs and ensures supply shortages, but it also ensures thousands of layoffs and factory closures. The Senate reconciliation bill would now make the grid less reliable by cutting back 50% of the new capacity that was expected to be added to it within the next decade, according to the nonprofit Evergreen Action, and also stall the American-made EV industry. Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, said in a statement that if the bill now passes with these changes, it stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country. Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects. The bill threatens 1.7 million construction jobs and more than 3 billion work hours, for a total of $148 billion lost in wages and benefits. By curtailing jobs and clean energy investment, the Senate bill would also give yet another lifeline and competitive advantage to China in the race for global energy dominance, McGarvey added. Multiple Democratic lawmakers spoke out about the changes as well. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz wrote on X, in all capital letters: WE ARE GOING TO HAVE ELECTRICITY SHORTAGES BECAUSE THIS BILL KILLS SOLAR. New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich wrote: Its hard to believe, but the tax language in the Senate budget bill is actually worse than the original House language. A retroactive tax on energy projects in the pipeline. Brace for higher electricity bills. Elon Musk is criticizing the bill again, writing on X that a massive strategic error is being made right now to damage solar/battery that will leave America extremely vulnerable in the future. Voting on the bill in the Senate begins on June 30. Trump aims to have the bill passed by July 4.
Category:
E-Commerce
Its been over 60 years since Walt Disney took a fateful flight over an undeveloped section of Central Florida and decided that he wanted to put a sprawling theme park there. Today, the Orlando metro area is the most-visited destination in the United States, with its tourism industry generating an economic impact of more than $92 billion in 2023. Disneys namesake company, of course, no longer has that balmy playing field all to itself. For decades, its competed with Universal Studios for its share of Orlando touristsa fierce rivalry that hit a new plateau last month with the opening of Universal Epic Universe, a 750-acre mega-park that comprises five distinct worlds, including those based on popular intellectual property such as Harry Potter and Nintendo. Epic Universe marks Orlandos first major theme park 25 years, opening a new front in the battle between Disney and NBCUniversal owner Comcast to win the hearts, minds, and dollars of the regions park-goers. A big question looming over the opening of Epic Universe is how it will impact the decisions of tourists and families who plan to visit the Orlando area now and in the coming years. Will more families forego the notably family-friendly Disney World in favor of what Epic has to offeror will Universal’s new park simply siphon off visitors who would have otherwise attended another Universal park? One way to predict future trends is by looking at past park openings, known in the industry as gates, according to Carissa Baker, an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida and a longtime researcher of theme parks. What we have seen in the past is that there is a bit of cannibalization from the parks that the existing company has, Baker told Fast Company. So even when Disney has opened their newer gates, there is sometimes a little bit of drop-off from their existing gates, because most guests are not going to do every single park in Orlando in one single visit. The Florida projects Orlando attracted 75.2 million visitors last year, according to the Visit Orlando tourism association. Thats an increase of 1.8% over the year before, and nearly even with pre-pandemic highs. Most of the area’s visitors come from elsewhere in the United States, while more than 30% are Florida residents. Although inflation and more recent economic instability could have a negative impact on overall visitor growth in the years head, one thing Orlandos theme parks have going for them is that families tend to plan their vacations long in advance. These are destination parks, Baker said. The average family doesn’t go to these parks every year.” In a research note on May 22, analyst firm MoffettNathanson expressed doubts about a substantial impact to Disney from Epic Universe, although the impact wont be negligible, either. The firm estimates that Epic could see 5.2 million visitors this year and 9.2 million next year, compared to an estimated 54.9 million for Disney during both years. It projects a modest year-over-year decrease in Universals other parks, from 18.9 million in 2025 to 18.4 million in 2026. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}))}(); In other words, Disneys attendance is projected to be flat while Universal will see a bump from Epic, at least initially. Given strong early reception during previews and solid forward bookings guidance, we think Epic is off to a strong start, MoffettNathanson analysts wrote. Both companies have invested heavily in theme parks in recent years. In 2023, the Walt Disney Company announced it would double its capital expenditures for its Parks, Experiences, and Products segment to roughly $60 billion over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, NBCUniversal spent more than $10 billion on new and existing Universal destinations in California, Florida, Texas, and Nevada between 2018 and 2024, according to Comcast. Crucially for Disney, the firm also pointed out how Epic Universes Nintendo and How to Train Your Dragon worlds could appeal to families with younger children, a demographic traditionally ruled by Disney. Comcasts ambition is clearly to take share of vacation time with these families, the analysts wrote. Baker, who had already been to Epic Universe seven times when we spoke earlier this month, said its appeal with visitors was perhaps most obvious with the immersive Super Nintendo World, which further leverages a successful decade-long partnership between Universal and the video game maker. Similarly themed worlds are already up and running in theme parks in Japan and California. Its very, very popular, Baker said. People are just covered in Nintendo merchandise . . . Every time I’ve been in there, it’s been quite crowded.
Category:
E-Commerce
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