Business

The FTC says nearly half of Epic Games' $520 million settlement will go to "refunds for tricking" Fortnite "users into making unwanted charges."

Arts

Could you be eligible for a Fortnite refund?

12:44pm December 20, 2022

by Elizabeth Blair

Epic Games has agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission $520 million over allegations of privacy violations and unwanted charges. Nearly half of the money will go to refund consumers.

Fortnite maker Epic Games agrees to settle privacy and deception cases

12:10pm December 20, 2022

The North Carolina company that makes the video game has agreed to a settlement for failing to protect young players. More than a half a billion dollars will go to consumers and the FTC.

Queue Listen Now

A CVS pharmacy in California running low on children's pain and fever relief medicines, pictured earlier this month.

Health & Safety

CVS and Walgreens limit sales of children's meds as the 'tripledemic' drives demand

12:04pm December 20, 2022

by Becky Sullivan

Walgreens will limit online orders of children's fever and pain medicine to six items "to help support availability and avoid excess purchases." At CVS stores, purchases will be limited to two.

PRODUCTION - 23 November 2022, Hessen, Frankfurt/Main: Three candles burn in a dark room. (to dpa "Glimmer of hope in the crisis: demand for candles has been booming for years") Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Facing an energy crisis, Germans stock up on candles

6:31am December 20, 2022

by Willa Rubin

Germans are on a mission to transform their energy economy and reduce their consumption, including by — apparently — using lots of candles.

The cost of the 12 days of Christmas increased dramatically this year

5:05am December 20, 2022

by Scott Horsley

Partridge prices were flat this year, but the cost of pear trees jumped more than 25%. PNC bank has run the numbers on all 12 days of Christmas — as it calculates its annual Holiday Price Index.

British nurses picket outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. The nurses' union is asking for a 19% pay raise. Nurses, as well as postal workers, rail workers and some airport immigration officers, are staging walkouts over the holiday season. They are asking for pay increases as the U.K. faces nearly 11% inflation.

Britain is seeing a wave of strikes as nurses, postal workers and others walk out

5:02am December 20, 2022

by Frank Langfitt

Nurses, postal workers and railway employees are all walking out this month in the U.K.'s largest series of labor actions in more than a decade. It's a major challenge to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Queue Listen Now

Two regional utilities, Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light, hired the consulting firm Matrix to help shape their fortunes. Matrix paid six news sites that attacked officials who challenged the companies.

National

In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics

1:59pm December 19, 2022

Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light hired the consulting firm Matrix to help shape their fortunes. Matrix funded six sites that covered politics, filling a void left by the decline of local news.

Twitter headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 4. The United Nations and the European Union are among the groups that condemned Elon Musk's decision to suspend several journalists from the social media platform.

National

Elon Musk reinstates suspended journalists on Twitter after a backlash

4:59pm December 17, 2022

by Juliana Kim

The United Nations and the European Union are among the groups that condemned Musk's sudden decision to suspend several journalists from the social media platform.

Some researchers are now warning of levels of heavy metals in some dark chocolate bars.

Health & Safety

Dark chocolate might have health perks, but should you worry about lead in your bar?

10:39am December 17, 2022

by Ashley Ahn

Dark chocolate bars tested by Consumer Reports exceeded California's daily maximum allowable dose levels for lead or cadmium. But a toxicologist says eaten in moderation, it's nothing to worry about.

Abrham Amare, one of the plaintiffs named in a new lawsuit filed against Facebook's parent company, Meta, claims that social media posts directly led to his father's murder in Ethiopia last year.

World News

A $1.6 billion lawsuit alleges Facebook's inaction fueled violence in Ethiopia

5:01am December 17, 2022

by Emily Olson

One of the plaintiffs says he contacted Facebook several times about posts threatening violence against his father, who was murdered by members of a militant group.