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By CHAN HO-HIM

BANGKOK (AP) — Apple said it has pulled two of China’s biggest gay dating apps, Blued and Finka, under pressure from Chinese authorities, in the latest sign of a tightening grip on the LGBTQ+ community.

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An Apple spokesperson said in a statement that the company removed the two dating apps from China “based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China”, without further elaborating.

“We follow the laws in the countries where we operate,” the spokesperson told The Associated Press.

A check by The Associated Press on Tuesday found that the two apps are not available on Apple’s app store in China, although an “express” version of Blued could still be found. It was unclear what the difference is between the full and express versions or if an Android version might be available. read more

By KEN SWEET

NEW YORK (AP) — The White House says it is considering backing a 50-year mortgage to help alleviate the home affordability crisis in the country. But the announcement drew immediate criticism from policymakers, social media and economists, who said a 50-year mortgage would do little to resolve other core problems in the housing market, such as a lack of supply and high interest rates.

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Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said on X over the weekend that a 50-year mortgage would be “a complete game changer” for homebuyers. FHFA is the part of the federal government that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy and insure the vast majority of mortgages in the country. read more

In a christening celebration complete with drone show magic, live music and plenty of signature fanfare, Disney Cruise Line officially welcomed the Disney Destiny to its fleet Monday night.

Godmother Susan Egan — who was the first to play Belle in Broadway’s “Beauty and the Beast” and voiced Megara in “Hercules” — helped officially launch the company’s third Wish-class ship and the cruise line’s seventh overall ship in Port Everglades.

While the ceremony did not feature actual champagne, it did include a large bottle of bubbly projected onto the side of the Destiny, which popped at exactly the moment Egan christened the 144,000-gross-ton ship, which can accommodate 4,000 passengers.

“It is a joy to be here with all of you on such a spectacular night,” she said. “I christen thee Disney Destiny. May God bless this ship and all who sail upon it.”

Leading up to that moment, the port side of the ship served as a screen for projected images choreographed to music and drones overhead, which took the shape of Disney characters and words in a 15-minute spectacle. The show featured a musical medley with references to “The Lion King,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Hercules” and “101 Dalmatians.” read more

Thanksgiving traditions typically include turkey, sides, pie and, for many households, worrying about how much food will cost.

This year, retailers are offering deals that promise to feed a crowd on a budget.

“A traditional holiday meal for 10 can come in at under $75, with a full spread of popular dishes totaling $73.09,” financial services company Empower wrote. People said they expect to spend more than that estimate: $137 in all for a Thanksgiving meal.

To keep costs down, the people surveyed said they plan to cook fewer desserts, cut portion sizes, skip meat or choose a meat that costs less than a whole turkey, use fewer pricey herbs and spices, use more affordable store brands — or skip Thanksgiving dining all together.

Regarding opting out, almost 57% of people surveyed by Empower worried Thanksgiving will be too pricey to cook this year, but a greater percentage, 73%, said Thanksgiving dinner is “still worth the cost despite higher prices.” The payoff: time with family and memories, people said. read more

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and MATT O’BRIEN, AP Technology Writers

The tech industry is moving fast and breaking things again — and this time it is humanity’s shared reality and control of our likeness before and after death — thanks to artificial intelligence image-generation platforms like OpenAI’s Sora 2.

The typical Sora video, made on OpenAI’s app and spread onto TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook, is designed to be amusing enough for you to click and share. It could be Queen Elizabeth II rapping or something more ordinary and believable. One popular Sora genre is fake doorbell camera footage capturing something slightly uncanny — say, a boa constrictor on the porch or an alligator approaching an unfazed child — and ends with a mild shock, like a grandma shouting as she beats the animal with a broom.

But a growing chorus of advocacy groups, academics and experts are raising alarms about the dangers of letting people create AI videos on just about anything they can type into a prompt, leading to the proliferation of nonconsensual images and realistic deepfakes in a sea of less harmful “AI slop.” OpenAI has cracked down on AI creations of public figures — among them, Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mister Rogers — doing outlandish things, but only after an outcry from family estates and an actors’ union. read more