You're about to see people in public tapping two fingers together in the air.

The Net Zero Insurance Alliance, which has been rocked by claims of antitrust violations by US Republicans, is

Andrew Tate asserts that Siri is not popular among Black people

This comes after Paige Spiranac revealed she wasn't invited back to an annual golf charity tournament in Tahoe

The US Federal Trade Commission has sued to stop Microsoft buying Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard. It is just the latest problem for the deal, which has already been blocked by UK regulators. If completed, it will become one of the largest takeovers ever – but has faced scrutiny from regulators around the world, who argue that it might cause problems for the gaming market. The FTC's Monday filing in a federal court in San Francisco seeks a restraining order and injunction to stop Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of the California gaming company behind hit franchises such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Microsoft, maker of the Xbox game system, has been struggling to win worldwide approval for the deal with just over a month before the deadline to close it, according to the contract it signed with Activision. “We welcome the opportunity to present our case in federal court," said a statement Monday from Brad Smith, Microsoft's vice chair and president. "We believe accelerating the legal process in the U.S will ultimately bring more choice and competition to the market.” The FTC already took Microsoft to court to block the merger, but that was before the U.S. agency's in-house judge in a trial set to start on Aug. 2. That administrative process doesn't preclude the parties from closing the deal. The contract between Microsoft and Activision required the deal to close by July 18, but the FTC's latest action seeks to stop that from happening. “Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have represented in the past that they cannot close their deal due to antitrust reviews of the transaction in other jurisdictions," the FTC said in a statement Monday. "But Microsoft and Activision have not provided assurances that they will maintain that position. In light of that, and public reporting that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are considering closing their deal imminently, we have filed a request for a temporary restraining order to prevent them from closing while review continues.” Microsoft's other main obstacle is in the United Kingdom, where antitrust regulators have also taken action to block the acquisition. The all-cash deal announced in January 2022 has been scrutinized by regulators around the world over fears that it would give Microsoft and its Xbox console control of Activision's hit franchises and give it an unfair boost in the emerging business of cloud-based game subscriptions. It could be the priciest tech industry merger in history. Fierce opposition has been driven by rival Sony, which makes the PlayStation gaming system. Microsoft sought to counter the resistance by striking a deal with Nintendo to license Activision titles like Call of Duty for 10 years and offering the same to Sony if the deal went ahead. European regulators representing the 27-nation bloc approved the deal last month on condition that Microsoft make some promises meant to boost competition in the cloud-based gaming market. A number of other countries, including China, Japan, Brazil and South Korea, have also approved it. But the blockbuster deal has remained in jeopardy because of the surprise April decision by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority and the ongoing case in the U.S. Microsoft in late May filed an appeal of the British regulator's decision and has also voiced strong public opposition directed at top government officials. U.S.-based consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, an opponent of the deal, welcomed the FTC's move Monday. “Although the agency has already used its authority to block the merger through administrative proceedings, Microsoft is pushing to culminate the purchase of Activision before the agency can finish its process," said a statement from Public Citizen's competition policy advocate Matt Kent. ""By filing in federal court to enjoin the transaction, the FTC is showing that it won’t back down in the face of Microsoft’s escalatory tactics.” Additional reporting by Associated Press

FTC chairman Lina Khan is on a mission to embolden US competition enforcers, but a series of court defeats has sowed doubt that she will put an end to decades...

RICHMOND, Va. & BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 28, 2023--

'I like men who are fully depressed and miserable but brutally effective and capable,' Andrew Tate wrote in the post

The Department of Energy announced Friday it is awarding up to $1.2 billion to two projects that promise to remove carbon dioxide from the air in what officials said was the largest investment in “engineered carbon removal” in history

Scientists are optimistic about the possibility of finding life on other planets. Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) found a possible sign of a gas that, on Earth, is produced by simple marine organisms. It was detected this month in the atmosphere of a planet named K2-18b, which is 120 light years away. The planet is in what astronomers call ''the Goldilocks zone' - the right distance away from its star for the surface temperature to be neither too hot nor too cold, but just right for there to be liquid water, which is essential to support life. The team expects to know in a year's time whether the hints are confirmed or have gone away. "We live in an infinite Universe, with infinite stars and planets. And it's been obvious to many of us that we can't be the only intelligent life out there," Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland's Astronomer Royal told the BBC. "We now have the technology and the capability to answer the question of whether we are alone in the cosmos." Prof Nikku Madhusudhan of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University, who led the study, told the BBC that if the hints are confirmed "it would radically change the way we think about the search for life". "If we find signs of life on the very first planet we study, it will raise the possibility that life is common in the Universe." He predicted that within five years there will be "a major transformation" in our understanding of life in the Universe. If his team don't find life signs on K2-18b, they have 10 more Goldilocks planets on their list to study - and possibly many more after that. Even finding nothing would "provide important insights into the possibility of life on such planets", he said. Meanwhile there are other separate projects all looking for signs of life in the universe. Pretty exciting. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

By Gloria Dickie and Simon Jessop LONDON The number of fossil fuel companies setting net-zero emissions targets has

PayPal has launched a new cryptocurrency that is tied to and backed by the US dollar. PayPal USD, issued by Paxos Trust Company, is a type of digital currency called a stablecoin, which differs to other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as their values are tied to traditional fiat currencies like dollars, pounds or euros. “The shift toward digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is both digitally native and easily connected to fiat currency like the US dollar,” said PayPal chief executive Dan Schulman. “Our commitment to responsible innovation and compliance, and our track record delivering new experiences to our customers, provides the foundation necessary to contribute to the growth of digital payments through PayPal USD.” The new crypto token will roll out first to US PayPal customers, offering the ability to send and transfer PayPal USD to other people, as well as fund purchases when checking out at online stores. The new cryptocurrency comes at a time of increased scrutiny at the crypto industry, with regulators looking to avoid a repeat of the TerraUSD stablecoin collapse that wiped tens of billions of dollars from markets in 2022. The TerraUSD token was also pegged to the US dollar, however unlike PayPal USD it was not backed up by any dollar reserves. Instead, it used a partner cryptocurrency to maintain its value algorithmically, which ultimately caused both cryptocurrencies to crash in tandem. Other companies have also attempted to launch stablecoins, including Facebook’s Libra project, which was shut down last year after facing push back from regulators. The US House Financial Services Committee has since advanced a bill aiming to set up a federal framework for stablecoins in order to integrate them into modern payment systems. “We are currently at a crossroads to keep America at the forefront of digital asset innovation,” US Representative Patrick McHenry, who chairs the committee, said in a statement following PayPal’s announcement. “Congress is making significant, bipartisan progress on legislation to ensure the US leads the financial system of the future.” Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Kenya suspends eyeball-scanning crypto worldcoin