Business

Protecting American Children Online – United States Department of State

In support of the President’s Executive Order on Combating Cybercrime, Fraud, and Predatory Schemes against American Citizens, the United States will table a resolution at the 35th session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, June 1–5, 2026. The U.S. resolution will urge greater international action to prevent and combat the transnational sextortion of children.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and transnational sextortion is the fastest-growing crime against American children, with tens of thousands of new cases each year. Predators operating abroad target children in the United States through social media or gaming platforms using fake accounts, posing as peers or romantic interests. After establishing trust, they coerce victims into sharing explicit images and then demand immediate payment—typically through gift cards, mobile payment services, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency—while threatening to publicly release the photos or digitally altered “deepfakes.” Since 2021, more than 40 children in the United States have tragically died by suicide as a result of these predatory schemes, according to public reports.

If adopted, the U.S. resolution would elevate the fight against this despicable crime as a global law enforcement priority, driving stronger international cooperation and deeper engagement with the private sector to disrupt these networks and protect our children.

The United States is a global leader in protecting children online. President Trump signed theTAKE IT DOWNAct in 2025, which was championed by First Lady Melania Trump, to criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate images, and Mrs. Trump is also leading “Fostering the Future Together,” a global coalition of more than 45 First Spouses committed to helping children learn, grow, and thrive through the safe and innovative use of advanced technology.

For media inquiries, please submit questions here, and follow @StateINL on X.

Business

A strong quake in south China kills 2 and triggers evacuation of 7,000

BEIJING (AP) — A 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck south China’s Guangxi region early Monday, killing two people, toppling buildings and triggering the evacuations of thousands, state media reported.

Four others were injured, while more than 7,000 residents were evacuated from Liuzhou city.

The search for several missing residents wrapped up around midday Monday, after the last trapped person, a 91-year-old man, was found alive in good condition, authorities said.

Images aired by state broadcaster CCTV showed excavators clearing debris. At least 13 buildings collapsed, while landslides triggered by the quake blocked roads to the area, according to CCTV.

Train services around Liuzhou were canceled or delayed.

Earthquakes occasionally strike south China, with more intense ones usually occurring toward the mountainous west or the east, toward Taiwan. The most devastating recent earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 occurred in the southwestern Sichuan province in 2008, leaving more than 87,000 dead or missing.

Business

Argentinas icy outpost at the end of the world fears the hantavirus will chill tourism

USHUAIA, Argentina (AP) — Travelers hoping to catch a glimpse of Magellanic penguins and humpback whales have journeyed in greater numbers every year to Ushuaia, the main Antarctic cruise hub at the southernmost point of Argentina.

The wind-lashed city that bills itself as the “end of the world” now fears for its future. In the last week, the remote outpost has found itself at the center of speculation about the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak on an Atlantic cruise after Argentina’s Health Ministry said it was examining whether the outbreak’s first victims, a Dutch couple who died in April, contracted the rat-borne virus there.

Questions surround the investigation. Authorities in Ushuaia — the capital of left-leaning Tierra del Fuego Province, which has frequently clashed with libertarian President Javier Milei — say they’re victims of a smear campaign. The Argentine Health Ministry says it can’t rule out any destination visited by the Dutch bird enthusiasts during their monthslong road trip through Argentina and Chile before boarding the ship in Ushuaia.

Despite a lack of any evidence to suggest the outbreak started in Ushuaia, people here whose livelihoods depend on foreign visitors say they are feeling the effects.

“This is a place that we’ve tried to promote as being as far away as possible from all the world’s problems — war, racism, health problems, too,” said Julio Lovece, the former tourism secretary of Ushuaia. “There’s concern because our main attraction is clean and pure landscapes, the imaginary idea of the end of the world.”

Hantavirus anxieties cause some travelers to reconsider

The arrival of winter has emptied Ushuaia save for a trickle of Brazilian tourists in puffy jackets and big hoods bobbing down the sleet-slick streets like the penguins they’ve come to visit.

“We got a little worried this was something similar to what we experienced with COVID,” said Vinícius Pezzini, 38, an investment banker from São Paulo on his honeymoon. “But from what it seems, everything is functioning normally.”

As the subpolar Patagonian wind blows in off the Beagle Channel, tour operators already are looking toward the high season. Winter is when deep-pocketed passengers plan summer cruises to Antarctica. Several travel agents said that fears about the Andes variant of the hantavirus have already caused some Americans and Europeans to scrap cruise bookings for next season. They declined to say how many.

“We have seen a number of passengers canceling trips, but my main concern is not the cancellations but people who were thinking about going to Ushuaia but had two or three destinations to choose from and now may go to Southeast Asia or Africa,” said Ángel Brisighelli, owner of the Ushuaia-based Rumbo Sur travel agency. “That damage won’t be visible until much later.”

It’s a reminder of just how fragile the tourism economy remains, especially for cruises occupying an outsized place in the public imagination when it comes to infectious disease.

Some officials in Tierra del Fuego are subscribing to the philosophy that all press is good press.

“We suffered a loss of prestige, yes. But this is also a chance to show that Ushuaia is one of the safest places in the world,” said Juan Pavlov, the secretary of foreign affairs at the Tierra del Fuego Tourism Institute.

Antarctica tourism turned Ushuaia into a boomtown

Many residents of Tierra del Fuego, lured by tax breaks to the rugged region in the 1970s, remember when Antarctic travel meant naval patrols and research expeditions. Today, the white continent routinely tops bucket lists of vacationers from around the world.

A decade ago, just over 38,400 Antarctic cruise passengers set out from Ushuaia, a city of 80,000. In the 2025-2026 season, more than 135,000 did, according to Argentine port authorities, many hoping to experience the world’s largest ice sheets before they melt.

Ninety percent of Antarctic cruises depart from Ushuaia, and the city says it relies on tourism for over 25% of its revenue. Any drop in visitors, however small, can have ripple effects throughout the economy, said Patricio Cornejo, head of local travel agency Tierra del Fuego Aventura.

“Everything would exist in a different reality without the dynamism that tourism creates here, especially when other industries fail to generate momentum,” he said.

Under Milei, Tierra del Fuego has weathered a series of economic blows. The government’s scrapping of trade barriers has battered the island’s mainstay electronics production, while its strengthening of the local currency has given Argentines more spending power abroad, discouraging tourism at home that keeps Ushuaia afloat during the low season.

Questions hang over Argentina’s investigation

Argentina’s apparent lack of urgency in hunting for the origin of the outbreak has perplexed experts overseas.

Officials are still struggling to fill the gaps in the late Dutch couple’s itinerary. Scientists from a government research institute have yet to arrive in Ushuaia more than two weeks after Argentina’s Health Ministry said it would send them to test rodents in the province, which has never registered a case of the hantavirus.

“The investigation is going to be key for us to see what we can learn from the outbreak,” said Mark Loafman, a family medicine doctor and public health expert at Cook County Health in Chicago. “We’d like to see hypotheses based on science, and not on concern over tourism.”

The Pan American Health Organization — to which Argentina is party despite withdrawing from the World Health Organization last year — defended Argentina’s response and said it was working with its government to “strengthen the detection and follow-up of potential cases.”

“While the ongoing investigation remains important, its broader public health relevance for the Americas is limited, given that the disease is endemic in the region,” the organization said in response to questions on whether the lagging investigation caused concern.

Here in Ushuaia, authorities argue the most logical source of contagion is the Patagonian region that spans southern Chile and three Argentine provinces, where the same Andes hantavirus identified in the cruise outbreak circulates.

But health officials say they have no record of the Dutch couple visiting those endemic areas during the incubation period for the virus — estimated to be between nine and 45 days before the arrival of symptoms on April 6.

In recent days, they’ve stressed that all is well in Argentina’s treasured tourist destinations.

“Tourism operators tell us that many trip reservations have been canceled, so we must make this clarification,” announced José Contreras, mayor of the village of Epuyén where a 2018 hantavirus outbreak killed 11 people. “Epuyén has no hantavirus this season. People should feel at ease and continue to visit.”

Business

Fahe Launches National Digital Campaign to Attract Donors and Investors to Housing Can’t Wait

BEREA, Ky., May 15, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Fahe, a regional nonprofit network and Community Development Financial Institution dedicated to building thriving communities across Appalachia, today announced the launch of a digital advertising campaign introducing Housing Can’t Wait® to donors, investors, philanthropic advisors, donor-advised fund professionals, and private wealth advisors seeking measurable, place-based impact.

Image caption: Fahe unites people, organizations, and resources to build homes, strengthen communities, and create a thriving Appalachia.

Running in May and June, the campaign is designed to increase awareness of Fahe’s role as a trusted Appalachian housing network and financial intermediary capable of moving capital into community-led housing solutions.

Across Appalachia, housing shortages are constraining workforce stability, family wellbeing, and long-term economic growth. Communities are ready to build and rehabilitate more homes, but many need aligned capital, flexible funding, and trusted local implementation partners to move solutions forward.

Housing Can’t Wait connects urgent housing needs with investment-ready strategies to accelerate production and strengthen communities across Appalachia.

“Housing is economic infrastructure,” said Jim King, CEO of Fahe. “For donors and investors looking for durable impact, Appalachia offers a powerful opportunity. Fahe and our Member network have the local relationships, financial tools, and execution capacity to help turn philanthropic and investment capital into measurable housing and community outcomes.”

The national campaign will focus on two priority audiences. The first includes current and prospective funders already aligned with housing, community development, rural resilience, poverty reduction, workforce stability, and economic opportunity. The second includes philanthropic advisors, private wealth advisors, donor-advised fund teams, family office advisors, and impact investing professionals who help high-net-worth households determine where charitable and mission-aligned capital can do meaningful work.

The campaign’s message is direct: Appalachia has housing solutions ready to scale, and Fahe has the network, CDFI capacity, and local Member reach to help deploy capital where it can make a lasting difference.

Digital placements will drive audiences to the Housing Can’t Wait Funder/Investor Resource Center, where donors, funders, and investors can learn more about the housing challenge, Fahe’s regional strategy, and opportunities to support community-led solutions.

The campaign builds on Fahe’s broader Housing Can’t Wait initiative, a regional performance challenge to build or preserve 60,000 homes and impact one million people across Appalachia by 2030.

“Housing Can’t Wait helps donors and investors understand why housing is economic infrastructure in Appalachia,” said Fahe President Sara Morgan. “It connects the case for investment with real examples of community-led solutions, a regional network ready to move capital into implementation, and Fahe’s CDFI and intermediary capacity. For partners looking for measurable rural impact, this is a practical pathway to engage.”

With this national campaign, Fahe is expanding visibility for Housing Can’t Wait among philanthropic and investment audiences positioned to help close rural housing gaps and strengthen Appalachian communities.

ABOUT FAHE:

Fahe unites people, organizations, and resources to build homes, strengthen communities, and create a thriving Appalachia. Since 1980, Fahe and its Members have invested nearly $5 billion, improving life for more than one million people through housing and community development. Fahe is leading a regional performance challenge with our 50+ Member organizations to double housing production across Appalachia by 2030.

Learn more at https://fahe.org/ and https://www.housingcantwait.org/.

LOGO links for media:

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News Source: Fahe

To view the original post, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/fahe-launches-national-digital-campaign-to-attract-donors-and-investors-to-housing-cant-wait/.

This press release was issued by Send2Press® Newswire on behalf of the news source, who is solely responsible for its accuracy. www.send2press.com.

Source: https://www.send2press.com/wire/fahe-launches-national-digital-campaign-to-attract-donors-and-investors-to-housing-cant-wait/

Business

Friday Harbor becomes first mortgage technology provider to receive AI governance compliance attestation from Brody Gapp

SEATTLE, Wash., May 15, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, is the first mortgage technology provider to receive an AI governance compliance attestation from mortgage banking and financial services law firm Brody Gapp LLP.

Image caption: Friday Harbor becomes first mortgage technology provider to receive AI governance compliance attestation from Brody Gapp.

The attestation follows a formal compliance review of Friday Harbor’s platform, which uses AI to analyze borrower documents, appraisal files and product guidelines to calculate qualifying income, identify potential issues and guide resolution paths before loans reach underwriting. Brody Gapp’s review included analysis of fair lending applicability, adverse action considerations, model governance, vendor risk management, data governance, internal controls and examination readiness.

As lenders rapidly adopt artificial intelligence across the origination process, many are still developing frameworks to evaluate how these tools fit within existing compliance, risk management and vendor oversight expectations. Brody Gapp’s attestation introduces a new approach for governing AI-driven mortgage technologies as these capabilities become increasingly embedded across mortgage platforms and workflows.

“AI is being deployed across the mortgage lifecycle faster than most institutions can evaluate it,” said James Brody, founder and managing partner of Brody Gapp LLP. “Our goal is to help lenders and technology providers establish stronger governance, documentation and compliance readiness as these tools become more widely adopted.”

For lenders, the attestation provides an additional layer of assurance when assessing AI vendors. For Friday Harbor, it reinforces the company’s position as an early leader in applying AI to improve loan quality and operational efficiency while supporting compliant lending practices. The attestation is expected to serve as a model for future AI governance reviews across the mortgage industry.

“Lenders don’t just need innovation. They need confidence that the technology they’re adopting will stand up to regulatory scrutiny,” said Theo Ellis, founder and CEO of Friday Harbor. “Being first to complete this process gives our customers a clear signal that Friday Harbor is built with that standard in mind.”

About Friday Harbor

Friday Harbor is an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps lenders identify and resolve potential issues earlier in the origination process. By analyzing borrower documents, appraisals and income calculations against investor guidelines and lender overlays, the platform helps teams deliver cleaner files, achieve fewer underwriting touches and improve individual productivity. For more information, visit https://fridayharbor.ai/.

About Brody Gapp LLP

Brody Gapp LLP is a national law firm serving mortgage banks, credit unions, servicers, brokers and financial services companies. The firm provides legal and compliance counsel across mortgage regulation, litigation, risk management, audit response, licensing and corporate governance. Founded by attorneys James Brody, Ron Gapp and Ashley Jumpp, Brody Gapp LLP combines deep industry experience with a practical, business-focused approach to helping clients navigate an evolving regulatory landscape. For more information, visit www.brodygapp.com.

Tags: #mortgagetech #AI #fintech #governance #compliance

News Source: Friday Harbor

To view the original post, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/friday-harbor-becomes-first-mortgage-technology-provider-to-receive-ai-governance-compliance-attestation-from-brody-gapp/.

This press release was issued by Send2Press® Newswire on behalf of the news source, who is solely responsible for its accuracy. www.send2press.com.

Source: https://www.send2press.com/wire/friday-harbor-becomes-first-mortgage-technology-provider-to-receive-ai-governance-compliance-attestation-from-brody-gapp/

Business

New Residential Facility Opens in Clayton County, Bringing Much-Needed Addiction Treatment Access to South Atlanta

JONESBORO, Ga., May 15, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Samba Recovery Atlanta today announced it will officially open its Jonesboro facility to patients on May 18, 2026, expanding access to medically supervised detox and structured residential addiction treatment in Clayton County. Local leaders and community members previously gathered on April 13, 2026, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house to mark the completion of the facility.

Image caption: Samba Recovery Atlanta leaders and a Clayton County commissioner cut the ribbon during the facility’s open house in Jonesboro, Georgia, celebrating expanded access to residential addiction treatment in South Atlanta area.

The opening arrives at a critical juncture for the south Atlanta region. According to recent public health data and Southern Regional Medical Center’s Community Health Needs Assessment, Clayton County faces unique vulnerabilities that compound substance use disorders:

OVERDOSE RATES: A statewide opioid continuum-of-care assessment placed Clayton County among the top 15 Georgia counties for total opioid overdose deaths in 2022.
AT-RISK POPULATIONS: The county currently ranks 47th among Georgia counties for nonmedical drug use and 46th for mental distress.
THE TREATMENT GAP: Compounded by above-average unemployment and high rates of underinsured residents, local options for the immersive residential treatment required for severe addiction have been very limited, often forcing families to travel long distances for immediate help.

“On behalf of Clayton County, I’m proud to welcome Samba Recovery Atlanta to our community,” said Clayton County Commissioner DeMont Davis. “The need for compassionate, high-quality treatment has never been greater, and this facility represents exactly the kind of resource Clayton County needs. Samba Recovery Atlanta will give individuals and families a place to find support, healing, and hope close to home.”

The project also represents a physical revitalization of the community. Samba Recovery transformed a formerly distressed, bankrupt property into a modern healing environment, an investment that has also created local jobs.

“Our mission is to transform lives through compassionate, evidence-based care, restoring hope, health, and connection for individuals and families impacted by addiction and mental health,” said Josh Bamberger, CEO of Samba Recovery. “We cherish the partnerships we have formed here. Let’s make today the start of something extraordinary as we work toward the common goal of lasting recovery.”

ABOUT SAMBA RECOVERY ATLANTA

Located in Jonesboro, Georgia, Samba Recovery Atlanta provides compassionate, evidence-based addiction treatment for the greater south Atlanta area. Part of the broader Samba Recovery network, the facility offers medically supervised detox, residential care, and ongoing recovery support designed to help clients rebuild their lives with dignity, structure, and hope.

For more information, visit: https://sambarecovery.com/ and https://sambarecovery.com/addiction-treatment-programs-georgia/inpatient-rehab-atlanta/

LOGO link for media: https://sambarecovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/logo-2-768×266.png

News Source: Samba Recovery

To view the original post, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/new-residential-facility-opens-in-clayton-county-bringing-much-needed-addiction-treatment-access-to-south-atlanta/.

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Source: https://www.send2press.com/wire/new-residential-facility-opens-in-clayton-county-bringing-much-needed-addiction-treatment-access-to-south-atlanta/

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Protecting American Children Online – United States Department of State

Business

Protecting American Children Online – United States Department of State

Business

A strong quake in south China kills 2 and triggers evacuation of 7,000

Business

Argentinas icy outpost at the end of the world fears the hantavirus will chill tourism

Hantavirus anxieties cause some travelers to reconsider

Antarctica tourism turned Ushuaia into a boomtown

Questions hang over Argentina’s investigation

Business

Fahe Launches National Digital Campaign to Attract Donors and Investors to Housing Can’t Wait

Business

Friday Harbor becomes first mortgage technology provider to receive AI governance compliance attestation from Brody Gapp

Business

New Residential Facility Opens in Clayton County, Bringing Much-Needed Addiction Treatment Access to South Atlanta

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Protecting American Children Online – United States Department of State

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A strong quake in south China kills 2 and triggers evacuation of 7,000

Business

Argentinas icy outpost at the end of the world fears the hantavirus will chill tourism

Hantavirus anxieties cause some travelers to reconsider

Antarctica tourism turned Ushuaia into a boomtown

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Business

Fahe Launches National Digital Campaign to Attract Donors and Investors to Housing Can’t Wait

Business

Friday Harbor becomes first mortgage technology provider to receive AI governance compliance attestation from Brody Gapp

Business

New Residential Facility Opens in Clayton County, Bringing Much-Needed Addiction Treatment Access to South Atlanta

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Cruise ship hit by hantavirus outbreak docks in Rotterdam. #BBCNews

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