United States federal scrutiny of Google’s digital advertising operations can be traced back to the Trump administration.
By Leah Nylen and Gerry SmithBloomberg
Published On 9 Aug 2022Aug 9, 2022
The US Justice Department is preparing to sue Google as soon as next month, according to people familiar with the matter, capping years of work to build a case that the Alphabet Inc. unit illegally dominates the digital advertising market.
Lawyers with the DOJ’s antitrust division are questioning publishers in another round of interviews to refresh facts and glean additional details for the complaint, said three people familiar with the conversations who asked not to be named discussing an ongoing investigation.
Some of the interviews have already taken place and others are scheduled in the coming weeks, two of the people said. They build on previous interrogations conducted during an earlier stage of the long-running investigation, the people said.
An ad tech complaint, which Bloomberg had reported was in the works last year, would mark the DOJ’s second case against Google following the government’s 2020 lawsuit alleging the tech titan dominates the online search market in violation of antitrust laws.
Still undecided is whether prosecutors will file the case in federal court in Washington, where the search case is pending, or in New York, where state attorneys general have their own antitrust case related to Google’s ad tech business, the people said.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
“Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world,” said Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels. “The enormous competition in online advertising has made online ads more relevant, reduced ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers.”
The DOJ’s ad tech probe is an example of the federal government’s push to rein in the largest US technology platforms after nearly a decade during which regulators took little to no action. The Federal Trade Commission has sold Meta Platforms Inc. seeking to force it to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp and is investigating Amazon.com Inc. over its control of online retail.
Apple Inc. is also under investigation by the Justice Department related to its tight control over the App Store. These types of probes are difficult, taking years to prepare and resolve as they wend their way from investigation to litigation and appeals.
Federal scrutiny of Google’s digital advertising operations goes back to the Trump administration. Then-Attorney General William Barr sued the Mountain View, California-based company over its search business instead, alleging the company used exclusive distribution deals with wireless carriers and phone makers to lock out competition.
In December 2020, attorneys general for 16 states and Puerto Rico also sued Google for allegedly monopolizing the online digital advertising market. The suit alleges Google reached an illegal deal with Meta to manipulate the online auctions where advertisers and website publishers buy and sell ad space. Meta isn’t accused of wrongdoing in the states’ lawsuit, though regulators in the UK and Europe have opened a probe into both companies over the agreement, nicknamed Jedi Blue.
Google denies the allegations and has asked a federal judge to dismiss the states’ complaint. A hearing on that request is scheduled for later this month.
The search giant is the biggest player in the market for online display ads, which help fund news, sports and entertainment websites. The company owns tools that help websites sell ads, others that help advertisers buy space and the most widely used platform where online ad auctions take place.
Google controlled about 28.6% of the $211.2 billion in US digital ad spending last year, according to eMarketer, while Facebook made up 23.8% and Amazon 11.6%.
The apex of independent game publishers, Devolver Digital, has released Cult of the Lamb, produced by Massive Monster, and it already appears to be the next big hit for them, know its release date and game pass status
In this incredibly stylish roguelike game, your role as a possessed lamb is to raise a flock of adherents and exterminate the skeptics.
Here is all the information you require regarding Cult of the Lamb’s impending release, including its release date, timing, price, and Xbox Game Pass eligibility.
Cult Of The Lamb Release Date, Time, Countdown, Trailer, Gameplay, Steam Price, Game Pass
As a really small development team, we’ve come so far with Cult of the Lamb.
It barely feels real that so many of you are looking forward to our game and we can’t wait for you to play. pic.twitter.com/qMXKcnGqZH
— Cult of the Lamb 🐑 August 11 (@cultofthelamb) August 9, 2022
quick doodles of Tempura and Cult of the Lamb (I don’t know the game well I just think they’re cute-) pic.twitter.com/ppfe4LRrbU
RELEASE DATE & TIME FOR CULT OF THE LAMB ON PC, PS4/PS5, AND NINTENDO SWITCH
On August 11, 2022, Cult of the Lamb will be available on all platforms. Its release window appears to differ for each platform, therefore we’ve made it clear right here:
Cult of the Lamb will launch on PS4 and PS5 at the following times, per the game’s page on the online PlayStation store:
9 a.m. PT
11 a.m. CT
12 p.m. ET
5pm BST
6 p.m. CEST
As a really small development team, we’ve come so far with Cult of the Lamb.
It barely feels real that so many of you are looking forward to our game and we can’t wait for you to play. pic.twitter.com/qMXKcnGqZH
— Cult of the Lamb 🐑 August 11 (@cultofthelamb) August 9, 2022
Cult of the Lamb According to the Steam page, the game will go live in one day and six hours at the scheduled time:
7 a.m. PT
9 a.m. CT
10 a.m. ET
3pm BST
4 p.m. CEST
Release dates for the Nintendo Switch operate significantly differently. The UK Switch eShop claims:
“Content will usually be available at 14:00 GMT (15:00 CET) on the day of release.” However, it adds, “some third-party titles may not be not available until 17:00 GMT (18:00 CET) on the game’s release date.”
On the day of release, “Digital-only products will typically be accessible at 9:00 am Pacific Time, while some third-party titles really aren’t available until 12:00 pm,” according to the US eShop.
The cost of Cult of the Lamb varies slightly depending on the platform from which it is purchased in the UK, however, it is always the same in the US. Prices are listed below:
PS4/PS5 – £19.99/$24.99
Steam – £19.49/$24.99
nintendo switch – £22.49/$24.99
Xbox – £20.99/$24.99
Cult of the Lamb will not be available to Xbox Game Pass customers who want to use their subscription to play the game.
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Essendon captain Dyson Heppell doesn’t “owe” Essendon anything and the club wouldn’t begrudge him joining Gold Coast next season, according to Bombers coach Ben Rutten.
The Suns have reportedly tabled a four-year deal to the out-of-contract defender, comprising two years as a player and two as an assistant coach.
But Essendon have also offered Heppell a new contract, believed to be far inferior to the Suns’ deal, and Rutten said the Bombers weren’t putting a timeline on when they needed Heppell to make a decision on his future.
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“He is really clear on where he stands with us and we’d love to have him around next year. He knows that,” Rutten said at Tullamarine on Wednesday.
“He’s been a great servant for our footy club, he doesn’t owe us anything, so we’ll be really supportive of Dyson and all of our players whatever decisions they make.”
While Rutten said there would be “something special” about seeing Heppell finish his career as a one-club player, he tempered that by saying it wasn’t “the be all and end all” in the modern era – a view backed up by the likes of Hawthorn premiership heroes Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis all finishing their glittering careers at other clubs.
Dyson Heppell competes with Sam Durham at training. Picture: Darrian TraynorSource: Getty Images
Meanwhile, veteran defender Michael Hurley won’t play against Port Adelaide on Sunday evening despite continuing to make progress after overcoming a nasty hip infection that has sidelined him for the past two seasons.
He has now played four VFL games, and while he might be a chance to play Richmond in the final round, Rutten still couldn’t guarantee that or whether Hurley would be offered a new contract for next year.
“It’s something we are thinking through, the dynamics of that, there’s still some uncertainty around ‘Hurls’ moving forward,” Rutten said.
“We haven’t made a decision on what we’re doing there but there’s plenty of options for us.”
“All time Swans great” Emotional goodbye | 03:24
Rutten admitted the uncertainty surrounding Hurley’s playing future could affect his prospects of playing against the Tigers next week.
“There’s a fair bit to weigh up from our end, from Hurls’ end, which we’re talking through all the time,” Rutten said.
“He understands the rigors of AFL footy and the demands that you have to be up for.
“At the moment, he’s getting through a game and a half a training session – that’s not sustainable for him, or for anyone, to play a full season of footy.
“I think he’s still got the passion to play and the desire, (but) marrying that up with the physical part of it is the bit he and we are working through at the moment.”
One factor that might earn Hurley a new contract is Essendon being light on for experienced players.
Feet rebound from cap scandal | 02:10
There are only three players aged 30 or older at the Bombers this year – Hurley, Heppell and ruckman Andrew Phillips.
“They’re certainly the things that we’re considering, that’s all part of the bigger picture for us,” he said.
“It’s important that we best support our less experienced players through the early parts of their career.
“In his time out, he’s spent a lot of time with our younger key position players in particular, and he’s now loving playing with them and they’re loving playing with him.”
The opposition has queried the meetings between Petinos and Coronation Property, given a stop-work order had been placed on its Merrylands projects.
Issues relating to Petinos are believed to be referred to in the letter.
On April 8, three days after receiving the draft stop-work proposal, Andy Nahas from MN Builders, the builder attached to his brother Joe’s Coronation site, was emailed the building commissioner’s finalized stop-work notice.
The notice raised problems with the proposed construction’s lack of detail regarding “structural engineering and drainage for the four basement levels” of the Merrylands site which, when completed, would have 790 residential apartments.
The stop-work notice also recorded MN Builders’ claim that it was not aware it was required to provide certain details for the fire safety systems.
On June 2, Petinos met with Coronation representatives. Barilaro was not present at that meeting.
The Merrylands development on Wednesday.Credit:Dean Sewell
On June 21, Petinos’ diary shows she met with Barilaro to celebrate his new job as a trade commissioner to the US. Until recently, Barilaro’s daughter, Domenica, was working in Petinos’ office.
Barilaro said at the time he met up with Petinos to celebrate his new job, he had resigned from his role at Coronation.
“I attended a social engagement with the former minister to celebrate my appointment to the [senior trade and investment commissioner] Americas job,” Barilaro said in a statement. “I was no longer an employee of Coronation.
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“I did not meet with the minister during my time with Coronation.”
The stop-work order was lifted on July 4, 2022.
The political fallout over Barilaro’s US posting led him to give up the position. But before he took up the trade role, the former leader of the NSW Nationals had been asking building industry figures about his new employers. He had been hired by Coronation in February, less than two months after he quit parliament on December 31.
In 2016, Andy Nahas was convicted of assaulting the manager of the Tilbury hotel in Woolloomooloo. A character reference for the court was written for him by prominent lawyer and property investor John Landerer.
Property developer Joe Nahas.
Coronation Property has two directors – Landerer, 74, who made headlines in February after selling his Vaucluse mansion for $62 million, and property developer Joe Nahas.
Landerer has previously told the herald“I have never met or spoken to Mr Barilaro in my life”.
the herald has previously revealed that in October 2012, Joe Nahas, 40, who is also known as Youssef Nahas, listed himself as “unemployed” on his personal insolvency agreement. This allows a debtor to come to an agreement with creditors to settle debts without becoming bankrupt.
In December 2012, three construction companies of which Joe Nahas had been a director went into administration, owing millions of dollars to subcontractors.
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In March 2014, he became a director of Coronation, and two months later, Joe Nahas finalized his obligations to creditors, according to corporate records.
Eight years later, Joe Nahas’ fortunes have changed; his company’s Coronation’s website claims it has “over $5.3 billion in mixed-use projects in the pipeline”.
In 2009, younger brother Andy Nahas, 34, was charged over a kidnapping. Police alleged that between April 15-16, 2009, Andy Nahas and his co-accused of him detained a tradesman without consent with the intention of obtaining a financial advantage.
His co-accused were major bike figures. They can’t be named because they were recently charged with an unrelated murder.
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Andy Nahas’ co-accused (not Nahas) are alleged to have repeatedly bashed the victim with a plank of wood, stomped on his head and told him that bolt cutters would be used “to cut your toes off and send them to your mum” . The alleged kidnap victim suffered significant injuries, including fractured eye sockets, and was hospitalized.
However, the charges were dropped when the court was told that “despite further inquiries being made by police since the last court date, [the alleged victim] has not yet been located. ”
The police were ordered to pay costs, including $33,000, that Andy Nahas had incurred in legal fees.
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The alleged plot was “likely in retaliation” for the January 2020 US air strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Justice Department said. After the strike, leaders of the terrorist organization vowed “revenge against Americans” for Soleimani’s death and publicly lashed out against then-President Donald Trump and other high-ranking officials in his administration.
Prosecutors said Shahram Poursafi, a 45-year-old Iranian national and IRGC member, attempted to pay $300,000 to an individual in the United States to kill Bolton and said he had a “second job” for $1 million.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also a target of an Iranian assassination plot, according to a federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation and a source close to Pompeo. A known Iran policy hawk, Pompeo served as Trump’s secretary of state at the time of the airstrike that killed Soleimani.
CNN has attempted to reach Pompeo for comment.
Poursafi has not been arrested and remains at large.
Poursafi originally contacted the US-based individual — who was secretly working as an FBI informant, also known as a “confidential human source,” or CHS — and asked them to take photos of Bolton “for a book that Poursafi was writing, “court documents say.
He later asked if the informant could hire a person to “eliminate someone,” who was later revealed to be Bolton, and promised protection for the CHS and the assassin, prosecutors say. Poursafi also allegedly suggested the murder should be done “by car,” provided the CHS with an address for Bolton’s office, and noted that Bolton had a habit of taking walks alone.
In November 2021, the informant traveled to Washington, DC, and sent Poursafi photos of Bolton’s office and descriptions of the building. Poursafi allegedly said that the killing should happen in the building’s garage, as it was a “high traffic” area.
Poursafi has been charged with the use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, which carries a 10-year maximum prison sentence, and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot, which carries up to 15 years in prison.
In a statement, Bolton thanked the Justice Department, FBI and Secret Service for their efforts.
“While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States,” Bolton said. “Their radical, anti-American objectives are unchanged; their commitments are worthless; and their global threat is growing.”
Bolton was Trump’s fourth national security adviser for a little over a year, starting in April 2018 until Trump fired him from the role in September 2019 via Twitter for “strongly” disagreeing with “many” of Bolton’s suggestions.
A hawkish neoconservative, Bolton had previously advocated for regime change in Iran and backed Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the multinational Iran nuclear deal.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
An Australian tech company sacked around 10 per cent of its staff despite announcing its revenue had jumped by 40 per cent to $109.7 million in the past financial year.
The Brisbane-based telecommunications and IT infrastructure company called Megaport revealed that a whopping $1.6 million was spent paying out employees who had been made redundant.
Around 35 staff members – out of its 345 estimated workforce on LinkedIn – were impacted by the cuts.
“On July 14 2022, management made the decision to reduce its workforce in order to reduce costs and prepare for rising prices and inflation across the group’s key markets,” Megaport revealed in its report to investors.
Its revenue had grown from $78.3 million from the previous financial year, its results showed, while its monthly recurring revenue soared by 43 per cent to $10.7 million in June, mainly as a result of new customers from the US.
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The 10-year-old company, which was founded by multi-millionaire Bevan Slattery, is one of the many Aussie tech outfits that have suffered from a battering on the share market this year.
Its shares have plummeted by 53 per cent since the start of the year, but its results reported on Tuesday helped its stock rise by 9 per cent defying the broader trend of investors selling off loss making tech shares.
Megaport reported a full year net loss of $48.5 million down from $55 million the year earlier, while it increased customers from 2,285 to 2,643.
It currently has $82.5 million in cash, according to its report.
tech bloodbath
Aussie employees from the tech sector have suffered a brutal round of cuts in recent times, with Megaport’s staff the latest casualties.
An Australian social media start-up called Linktree that was recently valued at $1.78 billion is sacking 17 per cent of staff from its global operations, it revealed this week.
Immutable, an Australian crypto company valued at $3.5 billion was facing a fierce backlash last week after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.
Australian healthcare start-up Eucalptys that provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.
Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.
Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.
Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.
Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business
Spotify has apparently unveiled a new website to sell concert tickets to consumers. Spotify Tickets is the mysterious new feature from the streaming company that could chip away at sites like Ticketmaster and StubHub.
Ask any concertgoer about their experience buying tickets, and they’ll likely bring up a certain company’s name with a shudder: Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is known for refusing refunds, and peddling outrageous prices and fees, all because it is the company to purchase concert tickets. While apps like Dice have entered the fold to disrupt Ticketmaster’s looming hand, it appears that music and podcast streaming service Spotify is looking to get in on the action too. Tickets.spotify.com is a new, barebones website that appears to be the company’s attempt at testing a way to provide music fans with a new way to purchase tickets. While promising this test is almost as vague as Spotify’s comment to Gizmodo, which reads:
At Spotify, we routinely test new products and ideas to improve our user experience. Some of those end up paving the path for our broader user experience and others serve only as important learnings. Tickets.spotify.com is our latest test. We have no further news to share on future plans at this time.
Fair enough! While Spotify is tight-lipped on future plans for the rollout, a spokesperson did point me to MusicAlly’s coverage of Spotify Tickets. MusicAlly argues that Spotify Tickets is a pre-sale option for a select amount of tickets from a show’s broader pool of available tickets. Spotify has experimented with concert integration in the past — namely a list of upcoming concerts on artists’ profiles as well as a feature that sends ticket pre-sale codes out to active fans — but this would be a more direct attempt by the company to sell tickets. Artists currently listed on Spotify Tickets include Limbeck, Annie DiRusso, Dirty Honey, Crows, TOKiMONSTA, Four Year Strong, and Osees, with concerts ranging from September to December of this year.
I’m a relatively avid concertgoer and I’ll support anything that makes purchasing tickets even just a little bit less of a headache. I’m also a devoted Spotify user, and the company’s decision to target people like me is a smart move.
As large parts of Europe and North America swelter and then ignite, a future of endless climate destruction seems inevitable.
In Australia, we’ve already felt the flames and know we will again.
And many other places now find themselves stuck in an ecocidal tennis match, bouncing from one extreme to another, from devastating fires to heartbreaking floods.
The Black Summer bushfires sent tons of ash and smoke into the atmosphere.(Supplied: CSIRO/Richard Matear)
There’s a growing consensus on the urgent need to bring down carbon emissions, and the global rallying cry is net zero. This isn’t just a climate target, it’s become a badge of commitment.
There’s also a realization that it won’t be easy.
“Transitioning to a net zero world is one of the greatest challenges humankind has faced,” the United Nations declares on its Climate Action website, urging a “complete transformation of how we produce, consume and move about.”
But a schism has emerged among the faithful, with major environmental groups and several leading climate experts now washing their hands of the net zero concept.
Their warning is blunt: the methods and technologies we’ve adopted to reverse global warming simply won’t work.
Worse still, they could do more harm than good.
hijacked for profit
One way that countries have sought to achieve their net zero ambitions is by setting up a carbon market to allow heavy-polluting industries to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits.
The money generated is then channeled into activities that help the environment, like growing more trees, for instance.
Carbon markets are still in their infancy, but the former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney – who’s now a UN Climate Envoy – believes they have a significant future role to play.
He estimates they could facilitate transactions of around US $1 trillion by 2050.
But Gilles Dufrasne, a policy officer at Carbon Market Watch, warns that if carbon markets are allowed to grow unchecked, they could compromise and ultimately distort net zero goals.
“The main concern is to ensure that the money is actually flowing to climate action and not to financial players or intermediaries,” he told ABC RN’s Future Tense.
He says some carbon credits get traded up to 100 times, with no added benefit to the environment.
“It’s absurd to have so little transparency around where the money is going since it’s the actual primary objective of the entire system.”
Former chief scientist, Ian Chubb, has been tasked by the new federal government with investigating Australia’s widely criticized carbon credit scheme.
Mr Dufrasne says the integrity of other schemes is also in question, including one operated by the European Union.
“The whole concept is being exploited by companies who don’t want to take any meaningful action and who see a cheap way out of their responsibility by just purchasing these carbon credits,” he says.
‘Burn now, pay later’
Last year, a former chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Robert Watson, broke ranks to denounce net zero as a fraud – a “dangerous trap”.
Experts say our goals should be zero emissions, rather than emissions balanced by carbon credits. (Getty: James Jordan Photography)
Writing in The Conversation, he and two other leading climate scientists declared they had abandoned the concept.
“Sometimes realization comes in a blinding flash,” they wrote.
“The premise of net zero is deceptively simple – and we admit that it deceived us.
“We have arrived at the painful realization that the idea of net zero has licensed a recklessly cavalier ‘burn now, pay later’ approach which has seen carbon emissions continue to soar.”
Earth Systems scientist James Dyke says that net zero was originally designed as a last-resort measure to allow a very small number of essential industries, like aviation and steelmaking, to offset their emissions and decarbonise over time.
But he says the term lost credibility when it began to be indiscriminately used as an excuse to delay taking action, pushing the problem onto future generations.
“So, when you hear ‘net zero by 2050’ what is being proposed is not that we just offset these hard-to-address sectors, but that we actually will be overshooting 1.5 degrees Celsius, maybe even 2 degrees Celsius,” says Dr Dyke.
Overshooting, that is, with the vague promise that by the middle of the century scientists will have invented effective ways to remove large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere.
But the flaw in that argument, Dr Dyke says, is that all attempts to build large-scale carbon reduction systems have so far failed – including the much-hyped carbon capture and storage (CCS).
“Many people are very surprised to learn that carbon removal technologies don’t really exist.
“I mean, there are ideas about how we might be able to remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere, and when I say large, we are talking billions of tonnes. But whatever the proposed technology is, these are just placeholders, “he says.
“They are saying to future generations, by the time that we need these kinds of technologies, they will emerge.
“And as long as we can supply some kind of plausible idea for how we might be able to remove carbon dioxide, the net zero train keeps on running.”
Nature won’t do the work for us
Global warming has been linked to an increase in the calving of glaciers. (Unsplash: NOAA)
Another net zero skeptic is Jannes Stoppel, from Greenpeace Germany.
Like Dr Dyke, he’s skeptical of any technological fix. And while he supports efforts to plant more trees and strengthen forests, he cautions against overestimating nature’s capacity to solve what is a human-generated problem.
Our natural ecosystems are already stressed, he warns.
And their ability to absorb more carbon in future is far from guaranteed
While planting trees has benefits, experts say this is not enough.(Unsplash: @eyoel_kahssay_photographer)
“What we are doing by further talking about this net zero lingo, by further thinking that we can increase the ability (of forests and oceans) to draw down massive amounts of carbon in the future, it’s a very, very dangerous game we are playing. “
Net zero is a distraction, he says, our real emissions reduction goal should be zero. And getting there as quickly as possible.
That means, biting the bullet and phasing out all fossil fuel-using technologies now, rather than relying on elaborate trading systems and vague political promises of future cuts to save the day.
Claire Tyson of Climate Analytics, a non-profit institute that monitors the commitments of 40 governments to net zero, including the richest nations, admits the concept is struggling, but she still has faith it can work.
“I think we are facing a challenge because the world suddenly became very aware of this need for net zero and everyone sort of piled on to the concept. That does mean that there will be free riders in that, but that doesn’t mean we should give up.”
But Dr Dyke doubts the industrialized world is really serious about decarbonisation.
“At the moment there is this sort of phoney war on climate action where we continue to say that 1.5 [degrees Celsius] is still alive and that, with one great leap in ambition, we can still do it, whilst knowing that that’s just not going to happen.”
Humankind needs to stop gambling on the future, he argues, and start asking ourselves the difficult questions.
“I think in many instances this notion of future removals, and the framing around net zero, is being used to stop those questions,” he says.
“It’s really important for us to have these discussions now because warming is going to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that whatsoever.
“We are currently still on course for around 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.
“So, when that does happen, we need to have an idea of what we are going to do to respond to the increase in vulnerability, the increase in damage and destruction and death that it’s going to produce — and make sure that we don’ t respond in ways that are going to make the situation much, much worse.”
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Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a member of the select progressive group in the House of Representative dubbed the Squad, eked out a closer-than-expected Democratic primary victory on Tuesday night against a centrist challenger who questioned the incumbent’s support for the “defund the police” movement.
The evening went far smoother for another progressive, Becca Balint, who won the Democratic House primary in Vermont – positioning her to become the first woman representing the state in Congress.
But Tim Michels, backed by Donald Trump, was projected to winthe Republican nomination for governor of Wisconsin, a day after the FBI searched the former US president’s home in Florida reportedly seeking classified documents.
Michels defeated rival and former lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch, who had been endorsed by Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence.
Kleefisch served with right-wing former governor Scott Walker and she conceded to Michels on Tuesday night.
Michels has falsely asserted that Trump, rather than Democratic US president, Joe Biden, won the vital swing state in the 2020 presidential election, echoing the former president’s claims.
Michels has also vowed to enforce a 19th-century abortion ban that went into effect in Wisconsin after the US supreme court in June eliminated the nationwide right to the procedure with its overturning of the landmark Roe v Wade ruling.
He will face the incumbent Wisconsin governor and Democrat, Tony Evers, in November’s election.
With a Republican-majority legislature, Michels could push through new abortion restrictions if elected. Evers and his administration have filed litigation challenging the 1849 law while promising not to prosecute doctors who violate it.
Other Trump-backed candidates also prevailed.
In Connecticut, Leora Levy surprised observers by winning the Republican primary race for the US Senate after being supported by Trump, upending moderate Themis Klarides who had a lot of party support in the state, the Hartford Courant reported.
Levy faces the high-profile incumbent Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.
In her Minneapolis district, Omar, who is one of the left’s leading voices in Congress, has defended calls to redirect public safety funding more into community-based programs.
She squared off with former city council member Don Samuels, whose north Minneapolis base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city.
Samuels argued that Omar is divisive and helped defeat a ballot question last year that sought to replace the city police department with a new public safety unit.
He and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet minimum police staffing levels called for in Minneapolis’s charter.
But Omar narrowly prevailed on the night, seeking her third term in the House. She crushed a similar primary challenge two years ago from a well-funded but lesser-known opponent.
“She’s had a lot of adversity already and pushback. I don’t think her work is done, ”said Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old property caretaker for an apartment building in Minneapolis who voted for Omar. “We’ve got to give her a chance.”
Two other members of the Squad – Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri – won their Democratic primaries last week.
Meanwhile, Republicans see a pickup opportunity in Wisconsin’s third congressional district, the seat being vacated by the retiring Democratic incumbent Ron Kind.
The district covers a swath of counties along Wisconsin’s western border with Minnesota and includes La Crosse and Eau Claire.
Republican Derrick Van Orden was unopposed in his primary on Tuesday and has Trump’s endorsement.
Van Orden narrowly lost to Kind in the 2020 general election. He attended Trump’s rally near the White House on 6 January 2021, where the then president urged his supporters to “fight like hell” to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden, but has said he never set foot on the grounds of the Capitol during the insurrection that followed.
State Senator Brad Pfaff topped three other Democrats to secure the party’s nomination and will face Van Orden in the fall. Pfaff, a one-time state agriculture secretary, had previously worked for Kind and received his endorsement from him.
Vermont is the last state in the country yet to add a female member to its congressional delegation. Balint, who immediately becomes the favorite in November’s general election, would also be the first openly gay member of Congress from Vermont.
She was endorsed by some of the nation’s leading leftwing figures, including the Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“Vermont has chosen a bold, progressive vision for the future, and I will be proud to represent us in Congress,” Balint said in a statement.
Balint is vying to fill the state’s lone House seat, which is being vacated by Peter Welch who is running for Senate and easily secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.
Welch is trying to succeed retiring Senator Patrick Leahy, the US Senate’s longest-serving member.
Samsung’s annual August Unpacked, where the company detailed its updated line of foldable phones.
why it matters
In addition to showing if foldables are “there” yet for you in their fourth generation, both the Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 features may foreshadow features that we’ll see in potential competing models from companies like Motorola and Google.
As we’ve come to expect from Samsung’s semiannual Unpacked announcement events, for its August 2022 launches the company delivered news about its latest phones, watches and earbuds: the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4, Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. The Galaxy ZFlip 3 will get one of our favorite last-gen perks, at $100 price cut.
Among its new product announcements, Samsung brought us up to speed on its sustainability initiatives, including incorporating recycled fishing nets in its latest foldables. Plus we got to see a new promo featuring Korea’s other major global star: BTS.
All the products are expected to ship on Aug. 26.
Want a play-by-play, detailed summary? Check out our archived live blog of the event.
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Galaxy Z Flip 4: Samsung’s Flip Phone Gets New Software,…
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Like the Z Fold 4, the Flip 4 gets the bottom-screen trackpad feature in its Flex Mode and the nighttime photography improvements that were launched with the S22, including night portrait-mode photos. You’ll also be able to send quick replies to texts, make calls and shoot portrait-mode photos from the cover screen.
You’ll also be able to get a Bespoke Edition like the Flip 3.
Refreshed components include:
A brighter wide lens and larger pixels in the 12-megapixel cameras
Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor
Battery boost to 3,700mAh
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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 First Take: Bigger Cover Screen,…
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The Galaxy Z Fold 4 has a wider cover screen that makes apps look more like they’re intended and that’s designed to make it look like a typical phone when it’s closed. A new Flex Mode feature, also coming to the Flip 4 lets you use the bottom half of the screen as a trackpad.
Samsung claims it’s more durable than its predecessor, notably the internal tablet-sized display. We were treated to a discourse on the upgraded hinge, the new screen-layer architecture and shock-absorbing sponge. The company also Samsung also says the inner screen is brighter, and will have a less noticeable under-screen camera. It inherits the nighttime photography improvements launched with the S22 line, including night portrait-mode photos.
Samsung says this is the first device with Android 12L, the version of Android optimized for tablets. 12L brings a new task bar for streamlining app switching.
Refreshed components include:
50-megapixel main camera and a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom in addition to the existing 12-megapixel wide-angle lens
Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor
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In addition to the existing Watch sizes, there’s a new, larger and heavier Pro model with a more durable titanium build. Samsung says both Watches have longer battery life over earlier models thanks to higher-capacity batteries (590 mAh in the Pro), an infrared skin temperature sensor and a more durable sapphire crystal for the watch face instead of Gorilla Glass. Plus, there will be new faces available.
There’s a larger surface area for sensor contact on your wrist, which Samsung says will provide more accurate results, and a smaller combined sensor size.
Samsung’s offering some trade-in discounts on preorders: $75 off the Watch 5, or $125 off the Pro if an “eligible” watch is traded in, along with a $50 credit for accessories.
Readmore: Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 Now Includes a Pro Model and Better Battery Life
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The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro have beefed up surround and hi-fi audio — as long as they’re connected to a Galaxy phone running Samsung’s One UI 4.0 or later. Samsung’s also eked out another two hours from its battery.
Later in the year, Samsung will be updating the Buds 2 Pro with better 360 LE audio.
