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Elon Musk says he would fight Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin

Elon Musk says he would fight Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin

Elon Musk has thrown the gauntlet down at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to physical blows earlier this year.

speaking to the full-send podcast, Musk said in the hypothetical scenario posed to him that he “wouldn’t say no” if the North Korean leader wanted to fight him.

In March, Musk went viral for a tweet in which he challenged the Russian President to fight.

“I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,” he wrote.

“Stakes are Ukraine.”

When asked who Musk’s biggest “enemy” was at the moment, the billionaire mentioned his challenge to the Kremlin.

“I am not sure if they are going to send him, but I did challenge him on Twitter,” he said.

So how exactly would Elon Musk battle against the Russian leader known for his military martial arts background?

Easy. Musk says it’s a little known technique called “the walrus”.

“Listen, (the fight will) be a pay-per-view,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO envisioned.

“It’ll be an interesting question because (Putin’s) good at martial arts and he’s pretty buff. You’ve seen those pictures of him on a horse.

“He has won like Judo championships… so he is pretty good, but I think I am 30 per cent bigger than him.”

Musk said his “weight advantage” would help him overthrow Putin with his ultimate MMA move.

“I’m going to use a move called ‘the walrus’, where I just lie on you. You can’t get away.”

While Musk is known for making controversial commentary that even he worries “could really backfire” on him, the billionaire has focused part of his Starlink efforts to aid Ukrainians.

As Ukraine enters its fifth month during the Russian invasion, Musk has deployed thousands of Starlink satellites to aid the Ukrainian defensive effort.

Musk activated the broadband service in Ukraine, after a Kyiv official urged the tech titan to provide his embattled country with stations.

“Starlink service is now active in Ukraine,” Musk tweeted, adding “more terminals [are] enroute.”

The Satellites have been a vital resource allowing Ukrainians to maintain access to the internet with encrypted data as Russia seeks to target Ukrainian power grids in attempts to disrupt information sharing.

Read related topics:Elon Musk

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Australian start-up Outbound rents out Tesla Model 3 for $30

Australian start-up Outbound rents out Tesla Model 3 for $30

A Queensland man has been praised for his genius idea that allows holiday-makers to ride in style without the extra costs.

Luke Rust, 30, originally from the UK, noticed a gap in the Aussie market for “shared” cars after moving to the Gold Coast in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

He took a punt and went on to create Outbound — a tech start-up that is already disrupting the Australian tourism industry.

“My partner and I bought our first family car — a VW Tiguan for $40,000, but we quickly needed a second car as public transport access is poor in our area and Uber is expensive,” Luke told news.com.au.

However, after forking out another $30,000 on a Hyundai i30, Luke said the car was only used for two trips a week.

“So it sat idle for 99 per cent of the week,” I added.

The 30-year-old, who has a background in future mobility, spoke to other residents in his apartment block who told him they too only needed 1.5 cars.

“So the idea of ​​owning one and accessing one when you need it became obvious,” he said.

It was at this time Luke thought to create a contactless car sharing platform for apartments.

“We realized that the same product could apply in hotels and commercial buildings too.”

In a first of its kind concept in Australia, Luke went on to create Outbound, investing in a Tesla Model 3 that can be used by hotel guests for as little as $30 for an hour.

“This is a really exciting development for the Australian tourism industry,” he said.

Luke explained that shared mobility is slightly different from traditional car sharing in the sense that it’s not private vehicle owners renting out their personal cars to make money; rather vehicles are attached to a property and are available for communal use, exclusively for those who are staying or living there.

He said Gold Coast hotel, Mantra at Sharks at Southport, was the first to jump at his idea having launched the service in April with the Tesla now considered one of the hotel’s amenities — just like its gym, bar or concierge.

“The car can be booked by guests using the Outbound app, and is parked on site at

Mantra at Sharks, saving the hassle of finding a car rental outlet,” Luke said.

“The app is really easy to use — guests just sign up, reserve the car and unlock it using

their phone. It’s really handy for anyone wanting to go for a day trip, say to the theme parks or out to hinterland.”

The Tesla can be rented out for $30 per hour and includes insurance and power, so guests only pay for how long they use it. There’s also no paperwork involved.

“Especially with fuel prices going up, a road trip to the Gold Coast is becoming increasingly expensive — this way tourists can perhaps jet into the Airport, stay at the hotel, and still go anywhere they want using the electric vehicle (EV).”

Luke said apart from its environmental benefits, the luxury and novelty surrounding Teslas is what attracted him to the vehicle, over any other.

“At the time, Tesla was the best value for money because we wanted a vehicle with a range of at least 400km, a brand that was intriguing/attractive to users and properties, and then the wider environmental benefits of driving electric,” Luke explained.

He purchased it for around $65,000 and said it is now worth more “than we paid for it so the car is profitable really quickly”.

Luke said guests also love the drive/acceleration of the Model 3 and the giant touch screen. “Interestingly, they all feel really safe in the Tesla due to the additional cameras, sensors and guidance systems on the vehicles.”

He said so far the response has been “awesome” with guests loving the idea of ​​driving around in a luxury car, for a reasonable price.

“People love not having to wait at a service desk and the idea of ​​driving a Tesla,” he said. “But with anything new, we are finding ways to improve.

Luke said it can take some people a while to work out how to get moving.

“When people first jump inside a Tesla, it can be overwhelming and we are working hard to improve that.”

Luke said he’s in discussions to roll the scheme out in other hotels on the Gold Coast,

as well as Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

He also expects an uptake of the concept in residential and commercial buildings, where

owners and tenants would have access to one or several EV’s and reduce dependence

on private vehicle ownership.

“The cost of owning a personal car can reach $17,000 per year,” he said.

“If communal EVs were available for use, and that could just be included in your body corporate fees, you could cut a huge chunk of that expense.

“Not to mention, save on parking space and improve local air quality.”

Read related topics:Brisbane

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Inflation: Why you could soon be back earning what you did back in 2008

Inflation: Why you could soon be back earning what you did back in 2008

It’s the grim graph that suggests Australian workers face a horror “back the future” scenario on wages.

Real wages – workers’ income that has been adjusted to reflect the rising cost of living – are going backwards.

Perhaps, that’s no surprise to anyone who has tried to buy fresh fruit and vegetables at the supermarket lately amid rising prices and massive interest rate hikes.

But Dr Greg Jericho, the Center for Future Work’s Policy Director has some bad news.

It’s even worse than it sounds.

As households struggle with the rising cost of essentials, real disposable household income is set to fall for months to come sending workers back to what they were earning in real terms over a decade ago.

“The latest Reserve Bank Statement on Monetary Policy estimates that real wages will continue to fall until the end of next year, at which point they will be back to 2008 levels,” he said.

Dr Jericho describes the graph as “horrific”.

“In real terms, prices and wages since 2008 will have gone up by exactly the same amount. So there’s no improvement,” Dr Jericho said.

“Your wages might have gone up 20 per cent. But prices have gone up by 30 per cent.

“It’s horrible. Normally it goes up. Before the pandemic, it was rising, perhaps a bit slower than it was during the mining boom, for example, but it still keeps going up. It’s pretty drastic.”

For three years, the RBA predicts wages are going backwards.

The RBA now estimates that real wages will fall fourteen consecutive quarters from the Sept 2020 quarter through to the Dec 2023 quarter.

The situation won’t improve until 2024 according to the Reserve Bank’s latest monetary policy update released on Friday.

“It’s most pronounced for low income people because what we’re seeing with inflation at the moment is that the prices of what we call non-discretionary items or essential items are rising faster than sort of discretionary luxury items,” Dr Jericho said.

“So the prices of things that you can avoid paying like food, like energy, bills, rent are rising faster than the things you can decide not to buy, like a holiday.

The big drivers of inflation are the war in Ukraine and the supply chain disruptions caused by Covid.

“Higher prices, especially for food and fuel, are likely to impact low-income households in particular (which tend to spend a larger share of their income on these necessary items),” the RBA said.

“While household balance sheets are generally strong and many households should be able to absorb these price increases, others have limited savings buffers and may have to reduce spending elsewhere.

“For some of these more vulnerable households, the impact of price rises will be mitigated to some extent by the indexation of social assistance payments twice per year, though price rises will reduce recipients’ real incomes in the near term.”

But the RBA’s grim predictions also raises fresh questions about Labor’s pledge to address cost of living.

Labor’s election campaign was based around the slogan that “everything is going up except your wages.”

This data suggests that’s not going to improve for months to come.

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First home buyers ‘happy to outbid boomer investors’ for $1.83 million Darlington terrace

First home buyers 'happy to outbid boomer investors' for $1.83 million Darlington terrace

“We had this property on the market for two and a half weeks and our initial price guide was $1.5 million and our buyer feedback was construction costs are too expensive, the house is in such a bad state, it’s not worth $1.5 million,” Tsavalas said.

“We were making it quite clear it was a deceased estate, it had to be sold at auction, it had to trade, and I think buyers are very critical of vendor motivation. So if it’s an investment property, or they are looking to upsize or downsize and haven’t bought yet, buyers are a bit more skeptical. But when the motivation is there like a deceased estate, if a property is priced right, buyers will bite.”

The run down home needed significant renovation to fix water ingress, rising damp, the balcony and roof.

The run down home needed significant renovation to fix water ingress, rising damp, the balcony and roof.Credit:Rhett Wyman

The home, which was in disrepair, needed significant renovations that could cost from $250,000 (for a quick tidy up) to $1.5 million (to add a garage, a studio and change its layout), he said.

“The balcony needs to be replaced, the roof needs attention, there was water ingress in the brickwork, it needed urgent attention. It was left to deteriorate,” Tsavalas said.

He also said it needed subfloor ventilation, gutters, down pipes and waterproofing injections to fix rising damp and water damage.

“The buyers who are buying it are buying it with the intention of raising their children. What it’s worth in two or three years is irrelevant. Whoever plays the long game in real estate in Sydney wins.”

The ecstatic couple the moment the hammer fell at Darlington.

The ecstatic couple the moment the hammer fell at Darlington.Credit:Rhett Wyman

It was one of 447 auctions scheduled in Sydney on Saturday. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 56.6 per cent from 281 reported results, while 80 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The sale bucked July auction trends in Sydney, where a little more than half of properties sold under the hammer, a quarter were withdrawn and about another quarter sold prior. The city has the largest proportion of sold prior and withdrawn auctions of the capitals, Domain’s July Auction Report revealed.

Sydney also posted an annual drop in auction house prices for the first time since September 2019, falling 2.5 per cent to $1,662,000 in the year to July. The monthly change was -7.7 per cent.

Meanwhile in Ultimo, nine buyers registered to bid on a four-bedroom terrace at 20 Henry Avenue, which originally had a price guide of $1.7 million and had the same reserve price, although the guide was later adjusted to $1.5 million.

The auction opened at $1.5 million and rose in varying increments as four of the buyers placed bids. The competition halved at $1.7 million when two bidders fought it out until it sold for $1.84 million to a Brisbane father who has children in boarding school in Sydney.

Selling agent Matthew Carvalho of Ray White Surry Hills, Alexandria, Glebe and Erskineville said the home had very little interest during most of the campaign.

“We had a buyers guide of $1.7 million and we had very little traffic through the home. We pushed the auction out a week and reduced the guide to $1.5 million,” Carvalho said.

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“I didn’t think it would get that high, when we initially had hopes of that level, but the market was there. We had to take a step back to get two steps forward.”

He said that buyers ultimately needed to see value and social proof at auctions as there was a fear of overpaying.

“The big thing at the moment is there is reduced supply. Buyers who thought they would be spoiled for choice are no longer going to be.”

In Longueville, one of the last waterfront homes that has yet to be redeveloped sold for $9.16 million to a family upgrading from the upper north shore.

Fourteen buyers registered to bid on 11a Norfolk Road, a four-bedroom house on 1382 square meters with its own private jetty and slipway.

The auction opened bang on the price guide of $7 million, rising in $200,000 and $100,000 bids before slowing down to $50,000 and $20,000 as five buyers participated.

The home eventually sold for $9.16 million, surpassing the $7.5 million reserve.

It sold through Kerrie Robertson and Stewart Kirkby of LJ Hooker Lane Cove.

In Chiswick, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit at 42/54a Blackwall Point Road passed in on a vendor’s bid of $940,000.

Two parties – a first-home buyer and an investor – registered to bid on the property, which was guided at $900,000 and opened at $880,000.

Selling agent Mario Carbone of Ray White Drummoyne said the vendor was motivated to sell.

It last traded for $655,000 in 2009, records show. Chiswick’s unit median jumped 8.4 per cent to $1.03 million in the year to June on Domain data.

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Mother claims she found black sludge in son’s ice lolly

Stephenie, 32, from Kent, claims she found 'black sludge' floating inside a Fruit Shoot Squeezee Pop bought from Wilko, that she was intending to feed to her one-year-old son

Mother claims she was horrified to find black sludge inside freeze-at-home ice lollies her one-year-old son is ‘totally addicted’ to

  • Stephenie, 32, from Kent, claims she found sludge in lolly she bought for her son
  • Purchased Fruit Shoot Squeezee Pop from Wilko to freeze at home
  • Pops come as liquid inside plastic tube, but Stephenie spotted black gunk in one
  • Said she realized it was inside multiple packs that were still sealed

By Siofra Brennan For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

A mum has shared her shock after allegedly finding ‘black sludge’ floating inside a Fruit Shoot Squeezee Pop bought from Wilko, that she was intending to feed her one-year-old son.

Stephenie, 32, from Kent, claims to have purchased two packs of the product from the retail store in Westwood Cross Shopping Centre, Thanet, Kent on the 26 July around 2.30pm.

In a clip that has already received 1.6 million views and 50,000 likes, Stephanie shows a number of the tubes containing an unknown black substance.

The pops come as a liquid inside a plastic tube and can be frozen at home, according to the packet instructions.

Stephenie, 32, from Kent, claims she found 'black sludge' floating inside a Fruit Shoot Squeezee Pop bought from Wilko, that she was intending to feed to her one-year-old son

Stephenie, 32, from Kent, claims she found ‘black sludge’ floating inside a Fruit Shoot Squeezee Pop bought from Wilko, that she was intending to feed to her one-year-old son

‘My child, who is nearly two, is totally addicted to ice poles, he loves them especially in this hot weather,’ Stephanie said.

‘These were his favorite ones and he was eating one that was previously frozen at the time.

‘I opened the outer packaging of one of the new packs I had just purchased and the first thing that I saw was loads of black covering the inside if the outer packaging and also over the ice poles,

‘Then as I lifted them out of the pack there were multiple ice poles with black sludge inside still sealed. It was gross.’

Stephanie spotted what looked like a thick, unknown black substance floating inside one of the tubes, which are frozen at home

Stephanie spotted what looked like a thick, unknown black substance floating inside one of the tubes, which are frozen at home

The stomach-churning footage prompted a reaction online where one commenter liked the black gunk to 'primordial soup'

The stomach-churning footage prompted a reaction online where one commenter liked the black gunk to ‘primordial soup’

Footage of the ice pop shows a thick, unknown black substance floating inside one of the tubes.

The mum added that she was ‘disgusted and felt sick as this is such a well-known product and brand’.

‘I know that mistakes happen in factories etc but was more concerned [about] other children eat them,’ she said.

When asked if Stephenie would be checking ice pops in the future, she said: ‘Yes, definitely.

Commenters were quick to react to the stomach churning footage after it was posted online, with one likening the black goop to 'primordial soup'

Commenters were quick to react to the stomach churning footage after it was posted online, with one likening the black goop to ‘primordial soup’

‘For any black substance in the packaging and I will be definitely washing all ice poles before I freeze them going forward.

‘You just don’t know what they have touched and your little ones put these in their mouths.’

People were quick to react after the footage was posted online, with one writing: ‘What is that?’

‘I’ve been living off these for the past three weeks,’ wrote a second person.

‘Extra protein,’ wrote a third person.

‘Yum.’ Write a fourth person.

‘Looks like primordial soup,’ wrote a fifth.

Robinson’s has allegedly reached out to Stephenie to inform her that Fruit Shoot Squeezee Pops are not actually produced by Britvic, but a confectionery company off-site.

MailOnline has contacted Wilko for comment.

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East Brunswick terrace sells for $1,500,500 despite interest rate worries

East Brunswick terrace sells for $1,500,500 despite interest rate worries

Interest rate rises are “certainly something to consider”, he said. “But I think we’re in a good position with renting it out, at this point. From our point of view we can pass that on to the rental market.”

Ray White’s Stefan Stella said some buyers were concerned about the outlook for the housing market now but others saw it as an opportunity, while vendors were starting to adjust.

“Anyone that’s got a genuine reason to sell, they understand that it’s not the market of yesterday,” he said. “Most people have grown accustomed to what’s going on.”

The Reserve Bank this week lifted interest rates another 50 basis points to 1.85 per cent, reducing the amount buyers can borrow to spend at auction.

Last month, Melbourne’s auction clearance rate was 52 per cent, the lowest since September 2020, Domain data showed.

The Victorian capital’s median auction price has fallen below $1 million for the first time since April 2021, hitting $990,000.

A South Yarra family home with potential for its own renovation also secured a sale under the hammer on Saturday, fetching $4.42 million.

The four-bedroom residence at 26 Hawksburn Road attracted four parties and sold $620,000 over the reserve of $3.8 million. The reserve was set at the top of the price guide of $3.5 million to $3.8 million.

It sold through RT Edgar Toorak’s Anthony Grimwade to a professional couple.

“The real driving force at the moment is there is so little good quality property on the market,” he said.

“I don’t think people are putting their homes on the market in the numbers we would normally see.”

In Glen Waverley, a three-bedroom house fetched $2.06 million after four bidders competed in person and one bid online from Hong Kong, but the agent thought this was a slightly lower price than if it had sold a year ago.

Offers began at $1.8 million for 5 Graham Street, and it was called on the market at $2 million, Harcourts Judd White’s Andrew Dimashki said, to buyers who plan to freshen the home up and move in.

He thought it might have fetched $2.1 million or $2.2 million if it had sold last year, but said the number of buyers in the market had failed.

“Interest rate rises are certainly spooking our buyers,” he said.

“A lot of people are doing market appraisals which means a lot of properties are coming onto the market… It’s definitely going to be an improved buyers’ market and a tougher sellers’ market.”

Morrell and Koren buyer’s agent Matt Cleverdon went to the auction of 3/17 Manor Street, Brighton, a three-bedroom villa unit near the bay that attracted downsizers.

It opened at $1.9 million, had a vendor bid at $1.95 million, and sold for $2.35 million as three parties competed, he said.

“The mood in the market is probably cautious optimism,” he said.

“There seems to be a number of buyers out there but they are cautious about not getting involved in something that runs away from them.”

In Fitzroy, a converted warehouse that could have been used as a residential or commercial property sold for $2.83 million.

The pad at 354 Fitzroy Street drew two bidders and the winner plans to do a long-term renovation and lease it out as a commercial property in the short term, Nelson Alexander Fitzroy’s Kristian Lunardi said.

He said interest rate rises are a focus for buyers, but the moves are less unexpected now.

“Buyers have accepted that rates are going up, or they have gone up, and they can plan accordingly,” he said.

In East Melbourne, a one-bedroom apartment facing the park sold for $667,000 in a busy auction complete with a bagpipe player – Marcus Willson of Professionals Whiting & Co.

Two bidders pushed the auction for 10/98-106 Vale Street above its reserve of $650,000.

“We are confident that even with increased rate rises, there is not going to be doom and gloom,” he said.

“If you are a seller and buyer in the same market it is all relative.”

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Copper worth nearly half a billion dollars goes missing in China

Copper worth nearly half a billion dollars goes missing in China

The group has a total claim on 300,000 tons of concentrate worth about 5 billion yuan ($740 million), but there’s only 100,000 tons at the depot, the people said. That puts the dollar value of the missing material at about $490 million.

The copper discrepancy in Hebei province comes just months after a separate dispute, spanning several locations in southern China, over missing aluminum tied to $1 billion of lending. Scrutiny of commodities financing and warehouse operations in China is growing, especially as volatile global markets expose some of the more opaque funding arrangements to greater risk.

At the center of this latest case is Huludao Risun Trading Co., a medium-sized merchant that purchases between 800,000 and 1 million tons of imported copper concentrate a year for distribution to domestic Chinese smelters, said the people. The company typically relies on larger counterparties to finance the materials, and then repays the loans with interest and fees after finalizing the trade.

Nobody picked up several calls to the company’s main number, and there was no immediate reply to an email seeking comment.

risky business

Commodities traders have faced a tougher environment this year as banks turn cautious in the wake of high-profile losses — especially in the nickel market — and huge price volatility exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That’s encouraged alternative financing, in which smaller, privately-owned firms pledge their goods to large state-run traders to obtain funding for operations.

But that route is also exposed to risk as the growth model that’s sustained China’s economy for decades shows signs of strain. Some state-owned enterprises, including the country’s top steel mills, have asked units to cut back on operations — including third-party trading — to preserve cash and avoid liquidity crunches.

The impact on the spot concentrate market of the Qinhuangdao copper dispute could be limited, consultancy Mysteel said in a note on Wednesday. Chinese smelters who take material from this merchant should be able to use their existing inventory, while traders could re-route cargoes due to arrive at the Qinhuangdao site to other destinations, it said.

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Jack Dorsey touts ‘most powerful’ aspect of Block-Afterpay partnership

Jack Dorsey touts 'most powerful' aspect of Block-Afterpay partnership

Afterpay is contributing 10 per cent of Block’s second-quarter gross profit of $US1.47 billion, which was up 29 per cent year-on-year. It ended up paying 47 per cent less for Afterpay than initially intended, after Block shares fell between the time the scrip deal was announced last August at $US29 billion and the close at the end of January, when shares offered to Afterpay investors were worth $ US13.9 billion.

Block shares are down 29 per cent this calendar year but were up almost 18 per cent this past week anticipating a strong second-quarter result. Block said on Friday its EBITDA for the quarter was $US187 million, down 48 per cent on the previous second quarter, but above expectations. Bitcoin was a drag on performance.

Shares fell about 7 per cent in after-hours trading in the US and opened down the same amount on the ASX at $117.24.

Bad debts fall

As analysts pushed for detail on cost reductions, credit quality and the focus on profitability, given macroeconomic headwinds, Mr Dorsey highlighted Afterpay’s “discovery capabilities”. He pointed to a new Cash App “discover” tab, based on Afterpay’s “shop directory”, that was key to driving its exponential growth in Australia. Mr Dorsey said this would help Americans work out where to shop and drive incremental sales to Square.

“We will continue to increase our customers’ ability to discover new products and services within the Cash App and also make it easier for sellers to turn on these features, so they can make more sales,” he said.

Block said Afterpay’s bad debts as a proportion of sales had failed over the quarter while overall sales using the service were higher. Over the second quarter, Afterpay contributed $US208 million of revenue and $US150 million of gross profit, down 2 per cent year-on-year.

Quarterly sales on Afterpay of $US5.3 billion was up 13 per cent year-on-year but softer than expected in the US as spending continued to shift from online to in-store, where Afterpay is underweight. Growth was strong in Australia where spending using Afterpay is more diversified.

Bad debts were 1.02 per cent of sales, better than the 1.17 per cent in the first quarter, as it tightened credit criteria. “We continue to see healthy consumer repayment behaviour, with 95 per cent of installations made on time,” said CFO Amrita Ahuja.

Overall transaction, loan and consumer receivable losses were $157 million, up 225 per cent year-on-year as Afterpay was added to the company. Block said loss rates were consistent with historical ranges, despite rising interest rates in the US. “We will continue to monitor trends closely given the dynamic macro environment,” it said.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Daniel Perlin said the second-quarter numbers “showed solid net revenue, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA against our and the street’s expectations, partially driven by execution in its strategic priorities of growing upmarket with larger merchants, expanding internationally, and building out more omnichannel capabilities”.

“While this is encouraging, we note a material deceleration in [sales using] Cash App,” Mr Perlin said.

While Cash App’s total revenue of $US2.6 billion was down 21 per cent year-on-year, this was driven by volatility in bitcoin. Total net revenue of $US4.4 billion in the second quarter was down 6 per cent year over year and missed expectations, also because of the decrease in bitcoin revenue as users shied away from the volatile cryptocurrency.

‘Super app’ goals

Cash App’s 47 million active users was up 18 per cent. Mr Dorsey said the market should focus on “connections” and “discovery” between retailers and see Afterpay as much as a referral and engagement tool as a financial product.

“This gets to the heart of exactly why we made the acquisition of Afterpay in the first place: we believe that Cash App can ultimately drive a tonne of discovery for merchants all around the world, but especially around local merchants [including] products and services that people would not otherwise have had a signal around,” Mr Dorsey said.

He pointed to aspirations to become a “super app”, distinguishing Cash App from other buy now, pay later players focused mostly on an installation product that is now being mimicked by banks all over the world and other tech players such as Apple. Cash App also offers Cash App Pay and Cash App Loans.

“We believe Cash App ultimately becomes a place you want to check not on a weekly basis but every single day because it consistently gives a good sense of your friends and family, the businesses around you, products and services you are interested in and offers such as Boost all in one place,” Mr Dorsey said. (Boost is a Cash App feature allowing users to round up spending to invest in stocks or bitcoin.)

Block presented a relatively upbeat view of the resilience of the American consumer in the face of the US inflation outbreak, especially discretionary spending. Square’s food and drink vertical delivered the strongest gross profit growth of any vertical over the past five years, it said, and sales from its restaurant sellers more than doubled year-on-year.

Analysts on the conference call pushed for detail on Block’s credit risk and spending discipline. Other buy now, pay later players such as Zip are also being forced by markets towards profitability. Block cut its operating expenditure by $450 million in the first six months and is restricting new hiring. “We are very mindful of profitability and demonstrating discipline here,” Ms Ahuja said.

“Of course, we have to balance that with large market opportunity and taking share gains at a time customers need us. We are continuing to invest given the vast opportunity we have seen. But we also recognize the environment has changed, and we are prepared to adapt and will maintain discipline by pulling back on some of discretionary operating expenses.

“We are focused on demonstrating greater near term profitability as we head into what could be a more volatile macro environment.”

To which JPMorgan’s analyst replied: “That is clear and encouraging.”

The second-quarter loss attributable to stockholders was $US208 million, which was affected by $US57 million of amortization of acquired intangible assets, including some relating to Afterpay, a $US36 million bitcoin impairment loss, and $US17 million in Afterpay deal and integration -related expenses.

As of June 30, the fair value of Block’s bitcoin investment was $U160 million, $US47 million greater than the carrying value of the investment after impairment charges as the price of the improved cryptocurrency.

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Amazon agrees to buy Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7bn | amazon

Amazon announced it has agreed to acquire the iRobot vacuum cleaner maker for approximately $1.7bn, scooping up another company to add to its collection of smart home appliances amid broader concerns about its market power.

iRobot sells its products worldwide and is most famous for the circular-shaped Roomba vacuum, which is equipped to integrate with various smart home systems.

The acquisition, announced on Friday, is part of Amazon’s bid to own part of the home space through services and accelerate its growth beyond retail, said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail.

The appliance would join the voice assistant Alexa, the Astro robot and Ring security cameras and others in the list of smart home features offered by the Seattle-based e-commerce and tech giant.

So far, Amazon has not had much success with household robots. The company’s Astro robot, which helps with tasks like setting an alarm, was unveiled last year at an introductory price of $1,000. But its rollout has been limited and has received a lackluster response.

The iRobot acquisition, however, and the company’s strong market reputation provide a “massive foothold in the consumer robot market” that could help Amazon replicate the success of its Echo line of smart speakers, said Lian Jye Su, a robotics industry analyst for ABI Research .

His said it also illustrates the shortcomings of consumer robotics vendors like iRobot, which struggled to expand beyond a niche product and was in a “race-to-the-bottom” competition with Korean and Chinese manufacturers offering cheaper versions of a robotic vacuum.

iRobot’s quarterly results, which were released on Friday, showed revenue plunged 30% primarily on order reductions and delays. The company also announced it was laying off 10% of its workforce.

Amazon said it will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction that will include iRobot’s net debt. The company has total current debt of approximately $332.1m as of 2 July. The deal is subject to approval by shareholders and regulators. Upon completion, iRobot’s CEO, Colin Angle, will remain in his position.

Noting that iRobot has been running its robotics platform on Amazon’s cloud service unit AWS for many years, Su said the acquisition could lead to more integration of Amazon speech recognition and other capabilities into vacuums.

The iRobot deal comes as anti-monopoly advocates continue to raise concerns about Amazon’s increasing dominance. The purchase is Amazon’s fourth-largest acquisition, led by its $13.7bn deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017. Last month, the company said it would buy the primary care provider One Medical in a deal valued at roughly $3.9bn, a move that expanded its reach further into healthcare.

On Friday, groups advocating for stricter antitrust regulations called on regulators to block the iRobot merger, arguing it gives Amazon more access into consumers’ lives and furthers its dominance in the smart home market.

The Roomba device, for example, allows users to map out the entirety of their homes room by room and store the maps in the iRobot app for future use. Consumers can then remotely schedule regular cleanings or manually start cleaning jobs of specific rooms directly from the app.

“The last thing American and the world needs is Amazon vacuuming up even more of our personal information,” said Robert Weissman, president of the progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen.

“This is not just about Amazon selling another device in its marketplace,” Weissman said. “It’s about the company gaining still more intimate details of our lives to gain unfair market advantage and sell us more stuff.”

Landmark antitrust legislation targeting Amazon and other big tech companies has languished for months in Congress as prospects for votes by the full Senate or House have dimmed.

Last month, Amy Klobuchar, the senator from Minnesota who heads the Senate judiciary antitrust panel, urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the One Medical acquisition, in the mold of other critics who have called on regulators to block the purchase over concerns about Amazon’s past conduct and potential implications for consumers’ health data. Regulators also have discretion to challenge Amazon’s $8.5bn buyout of Hollywood studio MGM, which was completed earlier this year.

Founded in 1990 by a trio of Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists, including Angle, iRobot’s early ventures led to rovers that could perform military and disaster-relief tasks in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

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McDonald’s worker shot over cold fries has died

McDonald's worker shot over cold fries has died

A New York McDonald’s worker who was shot in the neck in a spat over cold fries has died, authorities announced on Friday.

Matthew Webb, 23, “succumbed to his injuries” after he was shot Monday outside the Bedford-Stuyvesant fast-food restaurant where he worked in Brooklyn, the NYPD said.

The attack “has been deemed a homicide,” the force said early Friday, stressing that “the investigation remains ongoing”, The NY Post reports.

Michael Morgan, 20, has already been charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a loaded firearm for opening fire on Webb after his mother was served cold fries.

He is expected to face upgraded homicide charges, prosecutors told a court hearing Thursday, before Webb’s death was confirmed.

The incident unfolded when Morgan’s mother, Lisa Fulmore, complained to workers that her fries were cold and asked to speak to a manager on Monday evening.

When the workers began laughing at her, Fulmore was FaceTiming with Morgan, who came to the restaurant and got into a fight with Webb that spilled out onto the sidewalk. Morgan punched Webb in the face and when he got back up, he pulled out a gun and blasted him in the neck, prosecutors alleged.

His mum later told the police that her son told her “he gotta do what he gotta do.”

The suspect’s girlfriend, Camellia Dunlap, has also been charged with weapons possession for allegedly handing Morgan the gun. She was arraigned later on Wednesday and held on a US$50,000 cash bail, after prosecutors said she admitted to possessing the gun.

Morgan was also charged with an earlier murder after allegedly confessing during questioning about the McDonald’s shooting.

He allegedly killed Kevin Holloman in October 2021.

This article was originally published by The NY Post and was reproduced here with permission.

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