Thursday, March 28, 2024

BIG Wrap

Twitter stock falls as Musk mocks lawsuit threat

Twitter shares tumbled early today as Elon Musk issued a mocking, defiant commentary about a looming court battle after he ditched a $44-billion buyout of the social media giant. About 60 minutes into trading Monday, Tesla shares sank 7% to $34.24, reports Tech Xplore. After weeks of threats, Musk on Friday pulled the plug on the deal, accusing the company of "misleading" statements about the number of fake accounts, according to a letter from his lawyers...

Quebec-to-Maine hydropower project could be dead in the water

A proposal to transport hydropower from Canada to the state of Maine has created enough "hoohah" to launch a fierce court battle – possibly signalling trouble for the future of green energy projects across the U.S., the BBC reports. New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) was supposed to be an industry-leading project, transporting 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to Massachusetts across 233 km of transmission line, and eliminating over three million metric tonnes of carbon...

Musk pulls plug on Twitter deal

Elon Musk is seeking to end his $44-billion bid to buy Twitter, alleging multiple breaches of the agreement. The announcement is the latest twist in a long-running saga after the world's richest person decided to buy Twitter in April. Musk said he had backed out because Twitter failed to provide enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts. Twitter says it plans to pursue legal action to enforce the agreement. "The Twitter Board is committed to...

Former Japan leader Shinzo Abe’s alleged killer held grudge against group – police

Police investigating the assassination of Japan's ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe have said the suspect held a grudge against a "specific organization." The alleged gunman, named as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, apparently believed Abe was part of the group and shot him for that reason, they said, without naming the group, the BBC reports. Abe died in hospital on Friday morning after being shot while speaking at a political campaign event. Yamagami has admitted shooting him with a homemade...

Johnson pledges no big policy changes before departure

Boris Johnson has promised his cabinet he will not use his remaining time as prime minister to make "major changes of direction." The PM has caved in to pressure from ministers to quit as Tory leader but wants to stay in #10 Downing Street until the party chooses who should replace him, the BBC reports. His collapse in support has prompted some Tories to urge him to go now. But a newly promoted cabinet minister says Johnson...

FBI and MI5 heads warn of ‘immense’ threat from China

The heads of U.K. and U.S. security services have made an unprecedented joint appearance to warn of the threat from China. FBI director Christopher Wray said China was the "biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security," and had interfered in politics, including recent elections, the BBC reports. MI5 head Ken McCallum said his service had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years, and would be doubling it again. MI5...

Apple launches Lockdown Mode to block spyware attacks

Apple has announced a new security feature to protect high-risk users from spyware cyber-attacks. Lockdown Mode will be available in the autumn with the next operating system across all of the company's iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The setting blocks certain functions and prevents unknown users from calling. It comes after Apple devices owned by activists, politicians, and journalists were infected with spyware. Apple is currently suing Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, accusing it of targeting victims in 150...

Yale study suggests COVID-19 endemic stage could be within two years

Illnesses such as the common cold and the flu have become endemic in human populations; everyone gets them every now and then, but for most people, they aren't especially harmful. COVID-19 will transition to endemic status at some point — but when? Possibly within two years, according to a Yale study published July 5 in the journal PNAS Nexus. To develop a better understanding of when and how COVID-19 might become endemic, Yale researchers turned to rats,...

Research indicates less than 7% of U.S. adults have optimal cardiometabolic health

(Tufts University) – Less than 7 percent of the U.S. adult population has good cardiometabolic health, a devastating health crisis requiring urgent action, according to research led by a team from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Researchers evaluated U.S. residents across five components of health: levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, adiposity (overweight and obesity), and presence or absence of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, etc.). They found...

British Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts hacked

The British Army says it is investigating after its Twitter and YouTube accounts were hacked, the BBC reports. Videos on cryptocurrency using images of billionaire businessman Elon Musk appeared on the YouTube channel. The Twitter feed appeared to retweet several posts related to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – a type of digital asset held on a blockchain. The Army confirmed the "breach", saying it took information security "extremely seriously" and was resolving the issue. Both accounts have been...