Six-eyed creature — with long blue body — found on dead wood in forest. See new species

Moira Ritter
Wed, September 6, 2023


A minuscule, bright blue six-eyed creature wriggled through the decay atop a fallen tree branch — and fell into a funnel trap set up by researchers in Japan.

Scientists were exploring an evergreen forest on Tsushima Island, searching for collembola, also known as springtails, which are tiny, wingless insects, that move by crawling or jumping, according to Britannica.

That’s where they discovered the small animal, which turned out to be a new species: Paranura tsushimaensis, according to a study published Sept. 4 in Zootaxa.

Live specimen of Paranura tsushimaensis.

Researchers said Paranura are found throughout Asia and the Americas, but only three species were previously reported from Japan. Recent findings have determined a “strong relationship” between the genus and dead wood, inspiring searches for species that have not yet been identified.

P. tsushimaensis is a flat and long critter named after its home on Tsushima Island in the Nagasaki province, researchers said. Scientists collected two females, three males and one juvenile while exploring the forest where the creature lives.

The approximately 0.06 inch to 0.07 inch long animal has a bright blue body and six black eyes on its head, according to the study.

Along with the P. tsushimaensis, scientists identified three more new species of Paranura throughout Japan: P. nakamurai, P. alpicola and P. convallis. Each species was collected from rotten fallen branches in the Nagasaki, Nara and Niigata provinces of Japan, scientists said.

P. nakamurai was found in a forest on Sado Island in the Niigata province, where six female specimens were collected, according to researchers. The yellow-white four-eyed creature was named after Kahito Nakamura, who collected the species.

Live specimens of Paranura nakamurai and a specimen in preservation.

The species ranges in size from about 0.03 inches to 0.06 inches, the study said.

P. alpicola, which was named after its alpine habitat, was discovered in a forest on Mount Syakagatake in the Nara province. Scientists said they collected five female specimens and one male specimen.

Live specimen of Paranura alpicola.

The six-eyed yellow creature has a thick and plump body that measures between 0.05 inches and 0.08 inches, researchers said.

Live specimen of Paranura convallis.

P. convallis was also discovered in the Nara province and was named for its mountain valley habitat, the study said. The orange, thick and plump creature has six eyes and measures between 0.06 inches and 0.09 inches. Researchers collected three females and two juveniles during their searches.

Grammy-winning metal band Ghost addresses 'satanic' accusations: 'There are other music styles that promote a way worse lifestyle'

The Swedish shock-rock saviors' flamboyant frontman believes that “dark music, everything from gothic to death metal and black metal and hardcore” is a source of celebration and even salvation.

Lyndsey Parker
·Editor in Chief, Yahoo Music
Updated Wed, September 6, 2023 

Papa IV, alias Tobias Forge, performs with Swedish heavy metal band Ghost in Milan, Italy. (Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images)

Over the past decade, bombastic, theatric, operatic metal Swedes have become unlikely mainstream rock stars. They won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 2016 and have scored three nominations since then, most recently for "Call Me Little Sunshine" off their 2022 studio LP, Impera. That ambitious 12-song cycle — despite being a seemingly willfully uncommercial concept album about "demigod worship" and "the unescapable fails and falls of empires" after the Black Plague, and boasting Aleister Crowley-inspired cover art — managed to yield the band's first Hot 100 single, “Mary on a Cross,” and debut at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Impera also won two big fan-voted honors, Favorite Rock Album at the American Music Awards and Best Rock Album of the Year at the iHeart Radio Music Awards. And among Ghost's biggest fans is Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, who in a torch-passing moment contributed guest vocals to a new version of the Impera anthem "Spillways" earlier this year.

But not everyone’s a fan. “We obviously are a polarizing band,” Ghost’s fearless leader Tobias Forge — alternately known as the diabolical priest character Papa Emeritus or Papa’s panda-eyed successors, Cardinal Copia and now the Impera-era Papa Emeritus IV — tells Yahoo Entertainment.




Although Ghost’s over-the-top, presumably tongue-in-greasepainted-cheek satanic imagery has always drawn detractors, as their fame has grown, so have protests targeting the band — including a bizarre one that took place in Midland, Texas, and made international headlines, during Ghost’s “A Pale Tour Named Death” U.S. arena trek.

In November 2018, Larry Long, the pastor of the Fellowship Community Church, said Midland needed to be protected from the supposedly devil-worshiping group, warning a local CBS affiliate, “This kind of band will bring spiritual influences into this area. We’re concerned about it, because we believe the devil is real, just as we believe God is real. … I think if [young fans are] singing along to those lyrics, who knows what in the world they’re opening their hearts and lives up to?”



Ghost’s Midland show went on as planned — and of course, the church's stunt only raised Ghost's profile in the United States. “At the end of the day, what [the Fellowship Community Church] caused was more tickets sold. So, thank you very much,” Forge chuckles.

Still, although Forge says such outrage is “to an extent, amusing,” he adds, “To a greater extent, I think it’s sad. … I find it saddening thinking that there are people who don’t know f***ing bad from good and shit from Shinola. I find it saddening that people would choose to stand out in the cold [protesting Ghost], thinking that they’re making a difference. I think it’s sad that people are wasting their time thinking that we’re bad for people, when actually what we’re really trying to do is make people happy and make people feel good about themselves when they come to our show and have a good time.”

Although certain PMRC-baiting shock-rockers that paved the way for Ghost — Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Judas Priest — have been accused of encouraging suicidal or homicidal tendencies among impressionable fans, Forge believes that “dark music, everything from gothic to death metal and black metal and hardcore” can, on the contrary, be a source of celebration and even salvation.

“There are definitely rock fans over the years that have done negative things toward each other and or towards themselves, but I don’t think that’s because of the music. That’s because they were in a bad place in their lives,” the good Papa stresses. “Actually, it might have even been the music that made them live so long, that kept them going. Hard rock, in general, does not promote that you should harm anyone. I definitely think there are other music styles that promote a way worse lifestyle, that you could look upon as being more negative. [Pop] music styles that promote a way of living that their fans will never have — when music is all about ‘making it’ and wearing ‘bling-bling’ and ‘all them bitches,’ and the idea that without that stuff you’re nothing — that is a bad influence for your fans. At least with most gothic or hard rock music, it’s about feeling good about yourself.”

Forge instead sees Ghost as following in tradition of “the big shock-rock bands of 1984” that his much older, punk-rocker brother introduced him to when he was growing up in a liberal, pop-culture-savvy home in Linköping, Sweden. “The artists I immediately grasped onto were when I was 3 years old,” Forge recalls. “[Mötley Crüe’s] Shout at the Devil, [Twisted Sister’s] Stay Hungry, KISS, stuff like that. My brother was so nice and just passed those records on to me, like, ‘Here, you’ll like this more.’ I played them all the time. Then it just blossomed from there.”


Now Ghost is being heralded as the imagination-sparking band serving the same purpose for today’s rock-starved youth. “I do believe that there is a glimmer of hope in what we do with regards to the fact that there are a lot of kids coming to our shows. We are the first band that they see live. That is a really good thing, thinking long-term,” Forge muses. “I don’t mind being that glimmer of hope. I do believe that the more exposure we get, the more time that we spend in people’s ears, I hope that the interest in analog rock will be kept alive or awoken or might find a way into kids of today. I guess we could be a little bit [for today’s young fans] what KISS was in the ’70s.”

That being said, Forge is reluctant to accept the pro-Ghost media’s proclamations that Ghost are the reigning saviors of rock ‘n’ roll. “I’d love for the mainstream music climate to steer back towards rock, and I’m sure it will at some point. But does that mean there will be image-driven shock-rock bands, as far as a movement? I don’t know,” he says. “I do believe that the rock bands that will be big in the future are the ones that are being formed by kids, the 18-year-olds, today, right now. They are the ones that will rock the future, because that’s how it always is. The bands that will be big in five or 10 years, when there might be a big domination of rock again, will be bands that we most likely don’t know as of right now.”

But those bands, as Forge hints, may very well be Ghost disciples, because today’s kids, despite the handwringing of concerned conservatives like Long, are loving Ghost’s epic live shows on their current "Re-Imperatour" — in which a Pope-robed Papa IV, flanked by Victorian-jacketed, steampunk-helmeted, and occasionally keytar-wielding Nameless Ghouls, performs dystopian anthems like "Imperium," "Rats," "From the Pinnacle to the Pit," "Year Zero," "Mummy Dust," and "Dance Macabre” in a rock ‘n’ roll church bedecked with inverted crosses.

As the tour climaxes next week with two shows at Los Angeles's Forum, the nearby Grammy Museum will even launch the Ghost Devotional Pop-Up for the band's especially faithful flock — complete with confession booth where fans are encouraged to "bare their souls about why they think Ghost are the best rock band in the world!" Ghost's imagery and themes may be alarming to some, but it seems the rock kids understand.

Tobias Forge of Ghost performs in concert at Resurrection Fest 2023 in Viveiro, Spain. (Mariano Regidor/Redferns)

“The biggest misconception [about Ghost] is that the lyrical content is being provocative because it’s about God. And it’s not. It’s not about God at all,” insists Forge. “It’s about man, mankind. I use language and analogy to make it seem that it is about other things, but the songs are usually, they are about very real things. Sometimes I think it’s almost laughable to the point of annoying that protesters are just picking up on the literal meaning.

“There are many misconceptions about who I am or how I think, and of course it’s annoying. But that is just part of being in a band nowadays. If I didn’t want any of this, I shouldn’t be in a band. But I want to do this. I want to rock.”

Microsoft says compromise of its engineer's account led to Chinese hack of US officials


Raphael Satter
Wed, September 6, 2023

Man holds laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture
In this article:


By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The recently disclosed Chinese hack of senior officials at the U.S. State and Commerce departments stemmed from the compromise of a Microsoft engineer's corporate account, Microsoft Corp said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Microsoft said the engineer's account had been penetrated by a hacking group it dubs Storm-0558, which is alleged to have stolen hundreds of thousands of emails from top American officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink.

The blog post addressed some unanswered questions around the incident, which drew fresh scrutiny to Microsoft's security and led to calls to investigate the company's practices.

Notably, the post explained how hackers were able to extract a cryptographic key from the engineer's account and use it to access email accounts that it should not have given them access to.

Microsoft said it had fixed the flaws that led to the key being accessible from the unidentified engineer's account which gave the hackers such wide latitude to steal emails. A Microsoft representative said the engineer's account had been hit using "token-stealing malware" but did not provide further detail about the incident or its timing.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return an email. Beijing has previously described the allegation that it stole emails from top U.S. officials as "groundless narratives."

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Sandra Maler and David Gregorio)

TOXIC MASCULINITY

Manchester United deny Antony ‘cover-up’ after ex-girlfriend makes club doctor allegation

James Ducker
Thu, September 7, 2023

Antony strenuously denies the allegations and has been dropped from the Brazil national squad - Reuters/Phil Noble

Manchester United have strenuously denied explosive claims that the club tried to cover up allegations that their £85 million winger Antony attacked a former girlfriend.

Gabriella Cavallin, a DJ and influencer, has made the claims in relation to an alleged attack on her by Antony at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Manchester on January 15, the day after United beat Manchester City 2-1 at Old Trafford.

In a legal request by Cavallin’s lawyer Daniel Bialski to Sao Paulo Civic Police, it is claimed United tried to “hush up” the alleged attack by using a club employee to arrange for a private doctor to treat the woman instead of Cavallin going to hospital where she may have been questioned about the alleged incident.

The request filed by Cavallin’s legal team has alleged that Antony, “in one of his violent bouts of jealousy”, headbutted the woman, causing a cut on her head, and that the alleged attack led to one of her breast implants being damaged for which she later required surgery.

United have emphatically refuted claims of a “cover up”. In a statement, the club said: “Any suggestion that the club covered up these allegations is categorically false.”

Police are investigating allegations that Cavallin was subjected to a number of attacks by Antony between June last year and May this year. Greater Manchester Police are looking into the alleged incident at the Hyatt and accusations of an attack by Antony on Cavallin at a house on May 8, the day after the Brazil winger played for United in a 1-0 defeat away by West Ham in London.

Antony, 23, released a statement on Instagram on Monday in which he said his relationship with Cavallin had been “tumultuous, with verbal offences from both sides”.

But the Brazilian vehemently denied “any physical aggression” and said he trusted “the ongoing police investigations will reveal the truth about my innocence”.
‘No club medical staff were involved in treating her’

United have confirmed that a member of staff arranged for a private doctor to visit Cavallin at Antony’s request but say no club medical staff were involved in treating her. United also insisted that neither the club nor member of staff had any indication of the medical issue being related to any form of violence.

The club added that it is commonplace for their welfare department to arrange for doctors to see partners and family members of players.

Antony was dropped from the Brazil squad on Monday night for their forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru.

United resisted calls from domestic abuse charities to suspend Antony on Wednesday but announced in a statement on Wednesday that they were treating the matter “seriously”, with “consideration of the impact of these allegations and subsequent reporting will have on survivors of abuse”.

United were severely criticised for their handling of the Mason Greenwood case. The club said they had listened to the criticism and learned lessons from that as they now deal with the situation around Antony, including seeking external expert advice from Women’s Aid and the Professional Footballers’ Association.
‘United had been advised to proceed cautiously’

Sources said the club had been advised to proceed cautiously on the basis that police enquiries are taking place in both Brazil and the UK and innocence unless proven guilty remains an important principle in both jurisdictions.

Greenwood was suspended by United after being arrested in January last year following the publication on social media of images and audio clips.

After charges of attempted rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour against Greenwood were dropped by the Crown Prosection Service in February after key witnesses withdrew and new material came to light, United launched an internal investigation.

Following their inquiries, United said they were satisfied that Greenwood “did not commit the offences in respect of which he was originally charged”, despite admitting they had “limited powers of investigation”. United had also been unable to interview the alleged victim. Greenwood denied all charges against him.

United had been preparing to reintegrate Greenwood into their squad only for the news to leak and spark a fierce public and internal backlash.

It led United to announce on Aug 21 that Greenwood would leave the club and on Friday the striker joined Spanish club Getafe on a season long loan.

Spanish soccer player Jenni Hermoso accuses Luis Rubiales of sexual assault for World Cup kiss

JOSEPH WILSON
Updated Wed, September 6, 2023 

MADRID (AP) — Spanish soccer player Jenni Hermoso has accused Luis Rubiales of sexual assault for kissing her on the lips without her consent after the Women’s World Cup final, the country's prosecutors’ office said Wednesday.

Rubiales, the now-suspended president of the Spanish soccer federation, kissed Hermoso on the lips during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England to win the title on Aug. 20 in Sydney, Australia.

Rubiales has insisted the kiss was consensual. Hermoso has denied that in statements issued by her and her players' union. She also said she and her family were pressured by the federation to show her support for Rubiales in the immediate aftermath of the scandal caused by the kiss that tarnished her team’s victory.

The prosecutors’ office in Madrid said that, according to a sexual consent law passed last year, Rubiales could face a fine or a prison sentence of one to four years if found guilty. The new law eliminated the difference between “sexual harassment” and “sexual assault,” sanctioning any unconsented sexual act.

Spain’s government, players’ unions, players and many citizens have come out in support of Hermoso. Rubiales, meanwhile, has become a soccer outcast even while he refuses to resign.

Rubiales was suspended from his post by FIFA on Aug. 27, a day after he refused to step down when he delivered a defiant speech to the general assembly of his federation in which he said he was victim of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.” Rubiales was banned from his post for 90 days while the body’s disciplinary judges consider his case. FIFA can impose sanctions on individuals ranging from warnings and fines to suspensions from the sport.

The 46-year-old Rubiales also faces action from the Spanish government. A government legal panel overseeing sports has opened a probe to determine if he abused his authority by kissing Hermoso or tainted the image of Spain with his conduct. He faces being deemed unfit to hold his post for up to two years.

He could potentially face a no-confidence vote by the federation, a move that the institution has yet to make despite having asked him to resign.

But the decision by Hermoso represents the biggest challenge to Rubiales so far since it could lead to a criminal case.

The prosecutor’s office said Hermoso made the accusation on Tuesday. Prosecutors had said last week that they were going to meet with Hermoso to give her the opportunity to present an accusation against Rubiales. Interim federation president Pedro Rocha is considered an ally of Rubiales.

In that Aug. 26 speech before the federation assembly, Rubiales said that the kiss was “mutual” and like one “I could give one of my daughters.”

Hermoso responded by saying that was a lie.

“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part,” Hermoso said in a statement posted on social media. "Simply put, I was not respected."

Hermoso, a 33-year-old forward, now plays for Mexican club Pachuca after a long career with top Spanish and European clubs, including Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid.

Rubiales’ behavior at the final, which included a lewd crotch grab while next to dignitaries including Spain’s queen and teenage princess, combined with his controversial speech have torn Spanish soccer apart.

On Tuesday, the federation fired the coach of Spain’s Women's World Cup champion team, Jorge Vilda. Despite leading the team to the title, Vilda was still considered an unpopular figure among its players and close to Rubiales. One year ago, 15 players said they would not play for him until he created a more professional work environment.

After Rubiales refused to step down last week and accused Hermoso of lying, the entire team of World Cup winners plus dozens more players said they would not play again for Spain until the president was gone.

Spain's men's team has also been impacted. Coach Luis de la Fuente had to ask for forgiveness for having applauded Rubiales' sexist-tinged speech to the general assembly. His players also condemned Rubiales' behavior in a statement.

So far, there is no indication that the women players are set to return to the team even after the removal of Vilda.

Spain's left-wing government and its women players hope that the backlash against Rubiales can lead to a reckoning with sexism in soccer.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

 President of Spain's soccer federation, Luis Rubiales, foreground, stands stands next to Spain Head Coach Jorge Vilda after being received by Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. The Spanish soccer federation has fired women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda less than three weeks after Spain won the Women’s World Cup title and amid the controversy involving suspended federation president Luis Rubiales. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, file)

THERE IS NO HONOR IN MISOGYNY

The Iraqi YouTube star killed by her father

Gem O'Reilly - Digital reporter
Wed, September 6, 2023 

Young, vibrant and bubbly, YouTuber Tiba al-Ali became a hit with her fun-loving videos about her life.

She started her channel after moving from her native Iraq to Turkey at the age of 17 in 2017, talking about her independence, her fiancé, make-up and other things. Tiba appeared happy and attracted tens of thousands of subscribers.

This January she went back to Iraq to visit her family - and was murdered by her father. However, the killing was not considered to have been "pre-meditated" and her father was sentenced to only six months in prison.

Tiba's death sparked protests across Iraq about its laws regarding so-called "honour killings", the case highlighting how women are treated in a country where conservative attitudes remain dominant.

'Strangled in her sleep'

Tiba built an online following of more than 20,000 subscribers - a figure which has swelled since her death.

She posted videos daily and enjoyed the new lifestyle Turkey had opened up for her.

In her first video in November 2021, Tiba said she moved to improve her education, but chose to stay because she enjoyed life there.

According to reports, her father, Tayyip Ali, did not agree with her decision to move there - nor to marry her Syrian-born fiancé, with whom she lived in Istanbul.

It is believed Tiba became involved in a family dispute when she returned to Iraq to visit her home in Diwaniya in January.

Reports say Tayyip Ali strangled her to death in her sleep on 31 January. He later turned himself in to the police.

A member of the local government where Tiba was killed said her father was sentenced in April to the short prison term.

In the wake of Tiba's murder, hundreds of women took to the streets in Iraq to protest against legislation around "honour killings".

The Iraqi Penal Code permits "honour" as a mitigation for crimes of violence committed against family members, according to Home Office analysis.

The Code allows for lenient punishments for "honour killings" on the grounds of provocation or if the accused had "honourable motives".

Iraq's interior ministry spokesman, Gen Saad Maan, told the BBC: "An accident happened to Tiba al-Ali. In the perspective of law, it is a criminal accident, and in other perspectives, it is an accident of honour killings."

Gen Maan said Tiba and her father had a heated argument during her stay in Iraq.

He also explained that the day before her murder, police had attempted to intervene.

When asked about the response of authorities to the killing, Gen Maan said: "Security forces dealt with the case with the highest standards of professionalism and applied the law.

"They started a preliminary and judicial investigation, gathered all the evidence and referred the file to the judiciary to pass a sentence."

'Rooted in misogyny'

Tiba's killing, and the lenient sentence handed to her father, sparked outrage among Iraqi women and women's rights activists across the world about the lack of protection from domestic violence for women and girls under Iraqi law.

For instance, in Article 41 of Iraq's penal code the "punishment of a wife by her husband" and "the disciplining by parents... of children under their authority within certain limits" are considered legal rights.

Article 409 meanwhile states: "Any person who surprises his wife in the act of adultery or finds his girlfriend in bed with her lover and kills them immediately or one of them, or assaults one of them so that he or she dies or is left permanently disabled, is punishable by a period of detention not exceeding three years."

Female rights activist, Dr Leyla Hussein told the BBC: "These killings are often rooted in misogyny and a desire to control women's bodies and behaviour.

"Using the term "honour killing" can be harmful to the victims and their families," she said. "It reinforces the idea that they are somehow responsible for their own deaths, that they brought it upon themselves by doing something wrong or shameful."

The UN has estimated that 5,000 women and girls across the world are murdered by family members each year in "honour killings".

'This must stop'

Five days after Tiba's death, Iraqi security forces prevented 20 activists from demonstrating outside the Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad.

They held placards saying "Stop killing women" and "Stop [article] 409", and chanted: "There is no honour in the crime of killing women."

Ruaa Khalaf, an Iraqi activist and human rights defender, said: "Iraqi law greatly needs to be improved, amended and harmonised with international conventions."

Ms Khalaf said the sentence handed to Tiba's father was "unfair", and that she saw such cases as evidence of "provisions and legislations that violate women's rights".

Hanan Abdelkhaleq, an Iraqi advocate for women's rights, said: "They need to find a solution. This must stop. Killing women has become too simple.

"Strangling, stabbing. It has become easy. We hope that the law will stop article 409, cancel it."

Other female activists on social media also noted that Tiba's killing was not an isolated incident and that many "honour killings" went unreported.

The murder has sparked conversations about tougher laws to protect women in the country and beyond.

Ala Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's bloc in the Iraqi parliament, said: "Women in our societies are hostage to backward customs due to the absence of legal deterrents and government measures, which currently are not commensurate with the size of domestic violence crimes."

She called on fellow MPs to pass the draft Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which explicitly safeguards family members from acts of violence, including homicides and severe physical harm.

The United Nations Mission in Iraq said Tiba's "abhorrent killing" was a "regretful reminder of the violence and injustice that still exists against women and girls in Iraq today".

It also called on the Iraqi government to "support laws and policies to prevent violence against women and girls, take all necessary measures to address impunity by ensuring that all perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice and the rights of women and girls are protected".

For many, Tiba's story has put the spotlight on outdated laws failing to protect women from harm and gender-based violence across the world.

But for others she is just another example of what is often covered up and the thousands before her who never had their story told.

Justice Alito Accused of Misconduct, Escalating Supreme Court Ethics Fight
Laura Litvan
Tue, September 5, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse accused Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of violating judicial standards in public comments the justice made on ethics controversies surrounding the court, escalating a fight over the conservative court’s ethics.

Whitehouse took the unusual step of filing an ethics complaint against Alito with Chief Justice John Roberts, citing comments Alito made in a July interview with the Wall Street Journal’s opinion section in which the justice argued the US Constitution doesn’t allow Congress to regulate the court.

Whitehouse is the lead author of legislation to impose an ethics code on the high court after reports that Justice Clarence Thomas and Alito accepted but didn’t report gifts of lavish travel provided from prominent Republican donors.

“On the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have heard in every recent confirmation hearing that it would be improper to express opinions on matters that might come before the Court,” Whitehouse wrote to Roberts. “In this instance, Justice Alito expressed an opinion on a matter that could well come before the Court.”

Whitehouse, a Rhode Island senator, added that the comments seems to violate the code of conduct that governs federal judges and also appear to run against the Supreme Court’s own statement of ethical practices. He also said Alito’s remarks could embolden those who might obstruct probes by the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees into high-court ethics.

A spokesperson for the Supreme Court had no immediate response to a request for comment from Roberts and Alito on the letter, previously reported by the Washington Post.

The ethics legislation, which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, faces formidable obstacles, with no Senate Republicans supporting it. Roberts earlier declined a request to come testify before the panel on Supreme Court ethics, and has rejected the idea that the court needs its own ethics code.

--With assistance from Greg Stohr.

Potential FTC antitrust suit against Amazon may hang over the stock: Analyst

Brian Sozzi
·Executive Editor
Wed, September 6, 2023 

Amazon (AMZN) investors may have to endure some near-term black clouds as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lurks.

"Anytime something regulatory comes into the headline, it's going be an overhang," Goldman Sachs managing director Eric Sheridan told Yahoo Finance Live at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Tech Conference in San Francisco (video above). "I will tell you until this lawsuit probably gets filed, the next three weeks will be investors asking me, 'What do you think is going to be in it, and what could the potential outcomes be?'"

An Amazon Prime logo appears on the side of a delivery van as it departs an Amazon Warehouse location in Dedham, Mass. (Steven Senne/AP Photo, File)

Sheridan provides coverage on Amazon, Meta, and other big-cap tech companies for clients. He has Amazon as his "top pick" for the next 12 months.

The two mega forces appear to be on a collision course.

Execs at Amazon haven't offered concessions to the FTC in the pursuit of a settlement regarding antitrust claims, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. That has reportedly set the table for the FTC to file a lawsuit against Amazon later this month with an eye toward breaking up the e-commerce and cloud computing powerhouse.

A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment to Yahoo Finance on the matter.

However, Sheridan added: "We still put a low probability on [a breakup of Amazon]."

Investors appear to be assigning the same low probability to an Amazon breakup too.

Amazon stock closed out six straight months in the green in August, Yahoo Finance's Allie Garfinkle pointed out. That rise, which marked Amazon's longest consecutive streak of monthly gains since July 2011, was fueled by better-than-expected second quarter earnings.

The tech giant has gained more than $400 billion in market cap since the beginning of its winning streak. Shares are up 62% year to date, outperforming the 16% gain for the S&P 500.

FTC may file suit against Amazon later this month - WSJ


Reuters
Tue, September 5, 2023

A logo of Amazon is seen on a company's logistics centre

(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission may file a lawsuit later this month against Amazon.com after the company did not offer concessions to settle antitrust claims, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit will target the company's logistics program, Fulfillment by Amazon, pricing on its website by third-party sellers and will suggest "structural remedies" that could break the company up, the report said on Tuesday.

Amazon and the regulator declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

The company's shares, which have gained about 63% so far this year, edged 0.4% lower in extended trading.

The probe began during former President Donald Trump's administration when the government decided to investigate Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms and Apple for allegedly breaking antitrust law.

Amazon has been criticized for allegedly favoring its own products and disfavoring outside sellers on its platform, among other allegations. The company has denied the allegations.

FTC chairperson Lina Khan authored a Yale Law Journal article in 2017, in which she said Amazon's structure and practices posed anticompetitive concerns and has escaped antitrust scrutiny.

In June, the regulator sued Amazon accusing the company of enrolling millions of consumers into its $139-per-year paid subscription service without their consent and making it hard for them to cancel the plan.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Chinese auto executives and 'father of EVs' urge global cooperation

Victoria Waldersee and Zhang Yan
Wed, September 6, 2023 

Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang attends International Forum on Electric Vehicle Pilot Cities and Industrial Development in Beijing

MUNICH (Reuters) -China's electric vehicle industry leaders from policy adviser and 'father of EVs' Wan Gang to the heads of carmakers BYD and Nio and battery maker CATL called for stronger global cooperation and standardisation in policy to ease the technological transition.

Wan, a key figure in leading China's development of electric vehicles, said efficient batteries, better EV architectures and intelligent driving systems were the three key technologies required to boost EV uptake.

Differences in policy, industrial foundations and the level of technological development were leading to a growing disparity in EV growth across global regions, said Robin Zeng, chairman of the world's largest battery maker CATL.

The executives were speaking at the World New Energy Vehicle Congress (WNEVC) in Munich, happening for the first time outside China in a symbol of Chinese EV makers' ambitions for expansion.

"We want to invite partners from Germany to join BYD to promote green transport," BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu said.

"Our German colleagues are using China as a basis for research and development, and they were correct to position their operations this way. That puts pressure on us too," said William Li, CEO of premium EV maker Nio.

Chinese EV executives from companies including start-up Xpeng, Leapmotor and SAIC have called in recent days for more partnerships with German automakers, expressing admiration for the innovations on display at Munich's IAA conference.

Chinese companies are seeking the higher margins overseas markets can offer, hoping to leverage German automakers' scale and branding to boost their own sales and survive China's increasingly crowded EV market.

Wan, the chairman of WNEVC, advocated for developing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and plug-in hybrids alongside all-electric battery vehicles, a message echoed by BMW's CEO Oliver Zipse who called on China to expand its hydrogen charging network.

In a closed-door plenary before the congress, executives across German and Chinese industry discussed topics such as homogenising standards for tracking carbon emissions across the supply chain.

"We need to promote the whole supply chain of low-carbon development," Wan said.

Wan, the former science minister, is often referred to as the 'father of EVs' in China's state media for his role in urging China's government to invest heavily in low-emission vehicles.

After 15 years in Germany studying and working at Volkswagen's Audi, he returned to China in 2000 to lead a government-led initiative to develop the EV market.

The experience in Germany "helped me to understand how companies achieved technology innovations and application," Wan said, addressing Germany's top auto executives and industry officials at the opening of the WNEVC.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Friederike Heine and Elaine Hardcastle)

China bans government officials from using iPhones for work - WSJ

Reuters
Wed, September 6, 2023 

A man holds an iPhone 14 as Apple Inc's new models go on sale at an Apple store in Beijing
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(Reuters) -China ordered officials at central government agencies not to use Apple's iPhones and other foreign-branded devices for work or bring them into the office, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, staff were given the instructions by their superiors in workplace chat groups or meetings, according to the report, which added that it wasn't clear how widely the orders were being distributed.

The ban comes ahead of an Apple event next week that analysts believe will be about launching a new line of iPhones, and could trigger concerns among foreign companies operating in China as Sino-U.S. tensions escalate.

The WSJ report did not name other phone makers besides Apple. Apple and China's State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the Chinese government, did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The iPhone maker's shares were down 1.5% in early trading.

For over a decade, China has been seeking to reduce reliance on foreign technologies, asking state-affiliated firms such as banks to switch to local software and promoting domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing.

Beijing ratcheted up this campaign in 2020, when its leaders proposed a so-called "dual circulation" growth model to reduce reliance on overseas markets and technology, as its concerns over data security grew.

In May, China urged big state-owned enterprises to play a key role in its drive to attain self-reliance in technology, raising the stakes in the race amid rifts with the United States.

Sino-U.S. tensions have been high as Washington works with allies to block China's access to vital equipment needed to keep its chip industry competitive, and Beijing restricts shipments from prominent U.S. firms including planemaker Boeing and chip company Micron Technology.

Several analysts said on Wednesday that the reported move showed Beijing was not willing to spare any U.S. company in its push to reduce its dependence on American technologies.

"Even Apple is not immune ... in China where it employs hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million workers, to assemble its products through its relationship with Foxconn," D.A. Davidson analyst Tom Forte said.

This "should inspire companies to diversify both their supply chain and customer concentrations to be less dependent on China in the event the tensions get worse."


China is one of Apple's biggest markets and generates nearly a fifth of its revenue.

No immediate impact is expected on earnings, however, considering the popularity of the iPhone in China, CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino said.

During a visit to China last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said U.S. companies had complained to her that China had become "uninvestible", pointing to fines, raids and other actions that have made it risky to do business in the world's second-largest economy.

The latest restriction by China mirrors similar bans taken in the United States against Chinese smartphone maker Huawei Technologies and short video platform TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance.

(Reporting by Baranjot Kaur, Jaspreet Singh and Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Miral Fahmy and Shounak Dasgupta)