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US

Greg Abbott appoints Justin Berry, indicted Austin officer, to TCOLE


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Business

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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Sports

Commonwealth Games: Hockeyroos win dramatic and controversial penalty shootout to book final spot

The Hockeyroos will play for Commonwealth Games gold after scraping past India in a dramatic and controversial penalty shootout in the semifinal.

After being locked at 1-1 at the end of regulation time, Australia booked their spot in the final with a 3-0 win on strokes.

The penalty shootout was not without controversy through, with Australian Rosie Malone able to redo an unsuccessful first stroke after the clock did not start, which she would score.

With their quarter-final loss at last year’s Olympics firmly in their mind, Rebecca Greiner scored the only goal for Australia in the first quarter.

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Australia

Welfare agencies hand out tents on the Atherton Tablelands as housing crises worsens

Most newcomers to Mareeba are enticed by wide open spaces and the promise of at least 300 sunny days a year but, like the rest of regional Australia, it too has a rental crisis.

For Guy Closset, the lure was the prospect of somewhere better to live than in a tent or beneath the condemned building of a disused school in Atherton.

“[My partner] was kicked out of where she was staying and I didn’t want her to be on the street by herself, so I ended up staying with her,” he said.

The couple had been in the Atherton Tablelands, which has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in Queensland, at 0.2 per cent.

Mr Closset was already living precariously, having lost work when the pandemic broke out.

“I was staying with my mum but I was more couch surfing,” the experienced warehouseman and worker said.

“I was sleeping in the front room, you know, and then I met my partner.”

A crowded market

The move to Mareeba, a larger centre, has allowed Mr Closset and his pregnant partner to live more securely in a caravan at a tourist park, at a cost of $260 a week, while they search for a house.

But Mareeba’s rental vacancy rate is only marginally less tight – 0.3 per cent according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

A man wearing a patterned shirt stands in front of a yard
Robert Larkin says it’s become increasingly difficult to find properties for those in need.(ABC Far North Queensland: Christopher Testa)

“A lot of properties that were rented are now being sold, and the new owners are living in them,” Robert Larkin of Mareeba Community Housing said.

Mr Larkin, a housing supervisor who works with those experiencing homelessness, said his organization had about 200 clients on his books at any one time.

He knew of one woman spending 60 per cent of her income on rent.

No emergency accommodation

The shortage of available rentals has made it harder for housing organizations to provide emergency shelter for those in need.

Many have resorted to handing out tents to families with nowhere to go.

Miriam Newton-Gentle, ministry worker and leader of the Salvation Army on the Atherton Tablelands, said the lack of crisis options magnified the problem in the rural area.

“One of the big things is we have absolutely no emergency accommodation,” she said.

“We’ve got small hotels and motels but they can’t take people long term, so when people are rendered homeless, they are absolutely homeless.”

A blanket has been left beneath a wooden staircase of a Queenslander-style building
A camp set up beneath an abandoned building in Cairns.(ABC Far North Queensland: Brendan Mounter)

Mr Larkin said caravan parks were traditionally the “go-to” crisis accommodation of choice for providers in the Tablelands as they were an “easy transition for people who are sleeping rough”.

“But right now, caravan parks are full because we have a lot of travelers coming through with their own camper wagons and so there isn’t as much available,” he said.

“This is probably as tough as it’s been.”

A shortage of homes

The closest crisis accommodation to the Tablelands is in Cairns, just a short drive away.

But Far North Queensland’s largest center is battling the same problem and places are hard to come by.

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US

Washington DC lightning strike that killed three offers climate warning

Aug 5 (Reuters) – Scientists say that climate change is increasing the likelihood of lightning strikes across the United States, after lightning struck at a square near the White House, leaving three people dead and one other in critical condition.

The hot, humid conditions in Washington, DC, on Thursday were primed for electricity. Air temperatures topped out at 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) – or 5F (3C) higher than the 30-year normal maximum temperature for Aug. 4, according to the National Weather Service.

More heat can draw more moisture into the atmosphere, while also encouraging rapid updraft – two key factors for charged particles, which lead to lightning. A key study released in 2014 in the journal Science warned that the number of lightning strikes could increase by 50% in this century in the United States, with each 1 C (1.8 F) of warming translating into a 12% rise in the number of lightning strikes.

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Fast-warming Alaska has seen a 17% rise in lightning activity since the cooler 1980s. And in typically dry California, a siege of some 14,000 lightning strikes during August 2020 sparked some of the state’s biggest wildfires on record.

Beyond the United States, there is evidence that lightning strikes are also shooting up in India and Brazil.

But even as lightning strikes increase, being hit by one is still extremely rare in the United States, experts say. Roughly 40 million lightning bolts touch down in the country every year, according to the Center for Disease Control – with the odds of being struck less than 1 in a million.

Among those who are hit, about 90% survive the order, the CDC says. The country counted 444 deaths from lightning strikes from 2006 through 2021.

The two men and two women struck by lightning on Thursday while visiting Washington’s Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, were among the unlucky few – struck by a bolt that hit the ground during a violent, afternoon thunderstorm.

The lightning hit near a tree that stands yards (meters) away from the fence that surrounds the presidential residence and offices across from the square, which is often crowded with visitors, especially in the summer months.

All four victims sustained critical, life-threatening injuries, and were taken to area hospitals. read more Two of them later died: James Mueller, 76, and Donna Mueller, 75, from Janesville, Wisconsin, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. “Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives.”

Later on Friday a third victim, a 29-year-old male, was pronounced dead, the Metropolitan Police Department said. Further details on the victim were being held until the next-of-kin were notified.

Because heat and moisture are often needed to make lightning, most strikes happen in the summer. In the United States, the populous, subtropical state of Florida sees the most people killed by lightning.

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Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London; Additional reporting by Frank McGurty in New York and Chris Gallagher in Washington; Editing by Louise Heavens, Mark Porter & Shri Navaratnam

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

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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Categories
Entertainment

Beauty And The Geek couple Michael and Tara break their silence on TV edit


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But the reality was quite different, Tara explaining: “On our first date, it was already very clear that there wasn’t going to be a kiss for us. We knew that we weren’t there yet.

“The first date was going to be more of a getting to know you… but there definitely was a lot of romantic tension between us and a lot of gazing into each other’s eyes.”

She also addressed an editing blunder later in the season, when they were shown having their first kiss on their second date – despite promos showing them locking lips in an earlier challenge.

“But by the time the knight challenge rolled around… we were ready for that moment,” she says of their actual first kiss during the medieval challenge.


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Tara also debunked rumors that the crowd chanting for them to kiss at the challenge was added in post-production, confirming it really did happen.

While she and Michael were clear that the love story we saw on TV had been edited, they insisted the romantic moments were totally genuine.

READ NEXT: Which Beauty And The Geek 2022 couples are still together?

“They weren’t showing moments that didn’t exist,” Tara says.

“But there was more to it than what was able to be shown in the timeframe that they had. It was a simplified version.”


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Tara also surprised us all by revealing Michael is her first ever boyfriend, though the geek has a bit more relationship experience under his belt.

Though he’d been single for almost two years before meeting Tara on BATGprior to that he’d been in a four-year relationship and had been with other girlfriends before.

“I’ve been in a relationship before, I’ve learned everything you need to know about being tender and learning how to make a long-term relationship work,” he adds.

“When I learned that Tara had never been in a proper long-term relationship I was like, ‘I am extremely honored to be your first and I promise I will make it all worth your while’.”

READ NEXT: New photos PROVE theory Beauty And The Geek’s nerds are fake

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Sports

Aussie F1 ace Daniel Ricciardo booted by McLaren to clear the way for Oscar Piastri – report

Australia’s fading star of Formula One, Daniel Ricciardo, is about to be dropped by the McLaren team in favor of his highly-rated countryman Oscar Piastri, according to multiple Grand Prix sources.


Embattled Australian Formula One ace Daniel Ricciardo – who has more often than not been outpaced by his younger teammate since a switch to McLaren 18 months ago – has reportedly been given his marching orders by the British team and will vacate his seat at the end of this season a year before his contract expires, multiple Formula One insiders are reporting.

News of the impending switch emerged yesterday in Europe at the end of a tumultuous week in Formula One, which saw four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel announce his retirement, and two-time champion Fernando Alonso switch from Alpine to Aston Martin to replace Vettel in 2023.

Rising Australian star Oscar Piastri, 21, has been linked to a number of spots on the F1 grid next year, including the possibility he could replace Ricciardo.



It is worth noting Ricciardo’s shock switch is for now unsubstantiated speculation – and the driver has repeatedly stated he is contracted to McLaren until the end of 2023 – however the widespread overnight coverage has been reported by seasoned F1 journalists with impeccable contacts in the sport.

The Renault-owned Alpine squad thought it could promote Piastri from reserve driver to its full-time squad for next year as Alonso’s replacement, but the 21-year-old Australian quickly denied the move as he became the subject of rumors about a transfer to McLaren for 2023.

The next step in the saga, first reported by RacingNews365.com citing sources in Australia, has Ricciardo on the way out after receiving the news of his sacking a year early by McLaren with – most likely – his fellow Australian arriving to take his place alongside Highly-rated British driver Lando Norris.



Although it is unclear at this stage, an early termination of Ricciardo’s services at McLaren could still see him paid the balance of his contract to the end of 2023 – reportedly close to $AU20 million – while earning a salary at his next job, if he can secure a seat on the F1 grid.

Nothing official has been said yet by McLaren, despite widespread reporting of Ricciardo’s likely departure from the team.

The dispute over Piastri could still be decided by the Contract Recognitions Board, which is responsible for adjudicating on disputes between drivers and teams in Grand Prix racing.



In the past, former world champion Jenson Button was the focus of a contract dispute involving the then-Benetton team and Williams that was only decided by the Board – and Alpine currently believes it has a deal for 2023 with Piastri.

What appears certain is Ricciardo’s early departure from McLaren with a multi-million dollar payout and his search for a fresh spot in Formula One.

The eight-time Formula One winner – who last year delivered McLaren’s first victory since 2012 – has significantly under-performed since joining McLaren, despite claiming the 2021 Italian Grand Prix for the team, and has been consistently slower than Norris in qualifying and behind him at the finish of Grand Prix races this year.



Ricciardo’s only likely F1 option is at Alpine, but that could be problematic as he took a giant paycheck – believed to be more than $30 million a year – to move to the Renault factory team from Red Bull Racing in 2019, and then jumped out of the squad after only two years to move to McLaren where he is today.

Still, a return to the French-owed team would solve a lot of problems for both Ricciardo and Alpine.

Full details of the Piastri move are yet to emerge, but his manager – fellow Australian and past Grand Prix winner Mark Webber – is one of the key players and has apparently been looking for the best team to take the highly-regarded Piastri into Formula One .



Webber’s connections – McLaren’s team manager Andreas Seidl, who headed Porsche’s Le Mans racing program when the Aussie was driving for the German sports car company, is one – are key players in the story.

Another is Webber’s one-time manager – former Grand Prix team owner and Formula One power player Flavio Briatore – according to the best background information on the developing story.

The world’s oldest motorsport publication, Motorsport Magazine in the UK, you have reported all the latest driver movements and the inside workings of Formula One – often described as the ‘Piranha Club’.

But there is still plenty to come as the three Australian musketeers of Formula One – Ricciardo, Piastri and Webber – continue their dealings over the summer break in this year’s Grand Prix schedule.

Paul Gover

Paul Gover has been a motoring journalist for more than 40 years, working on newspapers, magazines, websites, radio and television. A qualified general news journalist and sports reporter, his passion for motoring led him to Wheels, Motor, Car Australia, Which Car and Auto Action magazines. He is a champion racing driver as well as a World Car of the Year judge.

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Australia

Yarraville locals take on Maribyrnong council over proposed stadium on McIvor Reserve

“We don’t have much space, we don’t have much tree cover. That’s where our canopy is. If you go there, that’s where all the birds live. That’s where all the shade is,” she said.

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Liby said the council’s stadium strategy indicated the facility could have as many as six courts and 320 car parking spaces. She said a stadium of that size would take up about 14,000 square meters of space, about the size of 30 house blocks.

“That’s how much of the park would be gone. And there’s really just not much actual parkland that’s left there,” she said.

The council has said that an indoor stadium at McIvor Reserve was only “an idea, not a proposal” and that it was gathering feedback from people who use the park before making any further decisions.

At a council meeting this week, Maribyrnong chief executive Celia Haddock said no determination had been made on the stadium’s design or location.

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“I again reiterate that no decision has been made on McIvor Reserve. Council is simply investigating it as an option,” she said.

However, Liby said that she believed there was more going on behind the scenes than the council was willing to reveal.

She highlighted opposition to plans for Melbourne Victory to build a soccer academy at Footscray Park and the Yarraville “Arab Spring” parking meter saga as other examples of poor consultation by the council.

“They are not high schoolers that are cramming for an exam that are going to pull it out at the last moment,” she said.

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“They’re not being transparent about so many things, which leaves the community with very little confidence that they’re being forthcoming with us about what’s really going on.”

Barbara Hart, who has lived in a house overlooking the park for 16 years, said she was concerned.

“Why aren’t they looking at disused industrial sites in the area? There’s a lot of them and the council could be looking to purchase that sort of land,” she said.

“We all acknowledge that there needs to be more basketball and netball courts, but not at the expense of green open space.”

Another resident, Kylie Michel, said the COVID-19 lockdowns had demonstrated the importance of having open space close to where you lived.

She said the western suburbs were often identified as an area with a shortage of tree cover and green space.

“It’s such a beautiful space, but we know once it’s taken away, it can be lost forever,” she said.

An online community forum to discuss the McIvor Reserve master plan will be held by Maribyrnong City Council on August 8.

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US

Senate Dems announce they have the votes to pass Inflation Reduction Act

Senate Democrats have reached an agreement on changes to their marquee economic legislationthey announced late Thursday, clearing the major hurdle to pushing one of President Joe Biden’s leading election-year priorities through the chamber in coming days.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a centrist who was seen as the pivotal vote, said in a statement that she had agreed to changes in the measure’s tax and energy provisions and was ready to “move forward” on the Inflation Reduction Act.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said lawmakers had achieved a compromise “that I believe will receive the support” of all Democrats in the chamber. His party needs unanimity to move the measure through the 50-50 Senate, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.

Schumer has said he hopes the Senate can begin voting on the energy, environment, health and tax measure on Saturday. Passage by the House, which Democrats control narrowly, could come next week.

Final congressional approval of the election-year measure would complete an astounding, eleventh-hour salvation of Mr. Biden’s wide-ranging domestic goals, though in more modest form. Democratic infighting had embarrassed Mr. Biden and forced him to stop down a far larger and more ambitious $3.5 trillion, 10-year version, and then a $2 trillion alternative, leaving the effort all but dead.

This bill, negotiated by Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin, the conservative maverick Democrat from West Virginia, would raise $739 billion in revenue. That would come from tax boosts on high earners and some huge corporations, beefed up IRS tax collections and curbs on drug prices, which would save money for the government and patients.

It would spend much of that on energy, climate and health care initiatives, still leaving over $300 billion for deficit reduction.

Sinema said Democrats had agreed to remove a provision raising taxes on “carried interest,” or profits that go to executives of private equity firms. That’s been a proposal she has long opposed, though it is a favorite of Manchin and many progressives.

The carried interest provision was estimated to produce $13 billion for the government over the coming decade, a small portion of the measure’s $739 billion in total revenue.

It will be replaced by a new excise tax on stock buybacks which will bring in more revenue than that, said one Democrat familiar with the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly. The official provided no other detail.

Though providing no detail, Sinema said she had also agreed to provisions to “protect advanced manufacturing and boost our clean energy economy.”

She noted that Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is still reviewing the measure to make sure no provisions must be removed for violating the chamber’s procedures. “Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward,” Sinema said.

“Tonight, we’ve taken another critical step toward reducing inflation and the cost of living for America’s families,” a statement from Mr. Biden read. “The Inflation Reduction Act will help Americans save money on prescription drugs, health premiums, and much more. It will make our tax system more fair by making corporations pay a minimum tax. It will not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000, and it will reduce the deficit.It also makes the largest investment in history in combatting climate change and increasing energy security, creating jobs here in the US and saving people money on their energy costs.I look forward to the Senate taking up this legislation and passing it as soon as possible.”

Schumer said the measure retained the bill’s language on prescription drug pricing, climate change, “closing tax loopholes exploited by big corporations and the wealthy” and reducing federal deficits.

He said that in talks with fellow Democrats, the party “addressed a number of important issues they have raised.” I have added that the final measure “will reflect this work and put us one step closer to enacting this historic legislation into law.”

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