UK Blocks Microsoft-Activision Gaming Deal, Biggest in Tech

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British antitrust regulators on Wednesday blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of video game maker Activision Blizzard, thwarting the biggest tech deal in history over worries that it would stifle competition for popular titles like Call of Duty in the fast-growing cloud gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report that “the only effective remedy” to the substantial loss of competition “is to prohibit the Merger.” The companies have vowed to appeal. The all-cash deal faced stiff opposition from rival Sony, which makes the PlayStation gaming system, and also was being scrutinized by regulators in the U.S.more

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Study Details Differences Between Deep Interiors of Mars and Earth

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Mars is Earth’s next-door neighbor in the solar system — two rocky worlds with differences down to their very core, literally. A new study based on seismic data obtained by NASA’s robotic InSight lander is offering a fuller understanding of the Martian deep interior and fresh details about dissimilarities between Earth, the third planet from the sun, and Mars, the fourth. The research, informed by the first detection of seismic waves traveling through the core of a planet other than Earth, showed that the innermost layer of Mars is slightly smaller and denser than previously known. It also provided themore

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After Weeks of Hinting, Biden Announces Reelection Bid

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After weeks of hinting he would run for reelection, U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced his candidacy for 2024 in a three-minute video that drew a stark picture of what he believes is at stake: the very soul of America. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington on the prospect of another election battle between Biden and his likely challenger, former President Donald Trump. …

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 US Supreme Court Upholds Abortion Pill Access for Now

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday preserved access to the abortion drug mifepristone while a lawsuit challenging the use of the drug plays out in lower courts. The high court issued a brief on Friday evening granting emergency requests from the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, to continue to allow women to access the drug. The ruling puts on hold a preliminary injunction from a federal judge in Texas, who earlier this month ordered restrictions on the abortion drug. Two justices on the nine-member court — conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented from the decision.more

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Biden 2024 Campaign Announcement Expected Next Week

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President Joe Biden will formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as next week, three people briefed on the discussions said Thursday. The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said they were not aware that a final decision on timing had been made, but that Biden had been eyeing Tuesday, April 25, four years to the day since the Democrat entered the 2020 race. The upcoming announcement is expected to be in the form of a video released to supporters. Biden, 80, has repeatedly said he intends to run for a second term,more

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Fox Settles Dominion Defamation Lawsuit for $787.5 Million, Avoiding Trial

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Fox Corp. and Fox News on Tuesday settled a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, averting a high-profile trial that would have put one of the world’s top media companies in the crosshairs over its coverage of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 U.S. election. The settlement was announced by Fox, Dominion and the judge in the case at the 11th hour, with a 12-person jury selected on Tuesday morning and the case poised to kick off with opening statements on Tuesday afternoon. Dominion had sought $1.6 billion in damages in the lawsuit filed in 2021, withmore

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How Election Lies, Libel Law Are Key to Fox Defamation Suit

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A major defamation lawsuit against Fox News goes to trial Tuesday, carrying the potential to shed additional light on former President Donald Trump’s election lies, reveal more about how the right-leaning network operates and even redefine libel law in the U.S. Here are some things to know about the case.  The case  Dominion Voting Systems is suing Fox for $1.6 billion, claiming the news outlet repeatedly aired allegations that the company’s voting machines were rigged to doom Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign while knowing they were untrue. Fox contends that it was reporting newsworthy charges made by supporters of the Republicanmore

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Abortion Bans Raise Fears Inside Republican Party About Backlash in 2024

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As a new election season begins, the Republican Party is struggling to navigate the politics of abortion. Allies for leading presidential candidates concede that their hardline anti-abortion policies may be popular with the conservatives who decide primary elections, but they could ultimately alienate the broader set of voters they need to win the presidency. The conflict is unfolding across the United States this week, but nowhere more than in Florida, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law one of the nation’s toughest abortion bans on Thursday. If the courts ultimately allow the new measure to take effect, it willmore

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After Calls to Resign, Feinstein Seeks Judiciary Replacement

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Recuperating U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked Wednesday to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee, shortly after two House Democrats called on her to resign after her extended absence from Washington. In a statement, the long-serving Democratic senator said her recovery from a case of shingles, disclosed in early March, had been delayed because of complications. She provided no date for her return to the Senate and said she had asked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to ask the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to serve in her committee seat until she was able to return. “I intendmore

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Second Expelled Black Lawmaker to Return to Tennessee House

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The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission voted to reinstate him Wednesday, nearly a week after his banishment for supporting gun control protesters propelled him into the national spotlight. Hundreds of supporters chanted and cheered as they marched Representative Justin Pearson through Memphis to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners meeting, where officials quickly voted 7-0 to restore his position. “The message for all the people in Nashville who decided to expel us: ‘You can’t expel hope. You can’t expel justice,” Pearson said at the meeting,more

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Harris Travels to Tennessee After 2 Lawmakers Expelled 

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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled Friday to the Southern U.S. state of Tennessee, where she criticized Republican lawmakers for taking the rare step a day earlier of expelling two Democratic lawmakers from the legislature because they participated in a protest at the Capitol calling for more gun control. In a speech at Fisk University, Nashville’s historically Black university, Harris said the ousted lawmakers were being silenced for standing up for the lives of schoolchildren, referencing last month’s deadly school shooting in Nashville. The vice president met privately with the expelled lawmakers — Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson —more

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Trump Is Indicted — Now What?

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The Manhattan district attorney’s indictment of Donald Trump on 34 felony charges and the prospect of more charges to come have injected more uncertainty into the November 2024 race for the White House. Trump, who has declared himself a candidate for next year’s Republican presidential nomination, was formally charged this week with falsifying New York business records to conceal his role in paying hush money to an adult film actress before the 2016 election. He is also facing potential charges in at least three other cases. Never before in American history have criminal charges been brought against a former president,more

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Ouster of State Lawmakers Draws Nation’s Eyes to Tennessee 

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In an episode that fuses simmering conflicts in the United States over race, gun control, and the country’s deep political divide, Republican legislators in Tennessee have come under widespread criticism following a vote Thursday to expel two Democratic members from the state’s House of Representatives. The expulsion votes came just days after the two lawmakers, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, interrupted a House session to demand that lawmakers implement stronger gun control laws. Jones and Pearson are both Black men. A motion to expel Representative Gloria Johnson, who participated in the protest with Jones and Pearson, failed by onemore

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Trump Pleads Not Guilty to 34-Count Hush Money Indictment

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a New York state court to a 34-count indictment accusing him of falsifying business records in furtherance of an unspecified crime – described by prosecutors as a bid to hide a hush money payment to a porn actress to help him win the presidency in 2016. In the first-ever criminal case against a current or former U.S. leader, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged in a “set of facts” accompanying the indictment that Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging informationmore

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Explaining the Criminal Charges Against Trump

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Thirty-four counts of “falsifying business records in the first degree.” Those are the charges against former President Donald Trump in the first indictment of a current or former U.S. president. The indictment, handed down by a New York grand jury last week, was made public Tuesday afternoon after Trump was arraigned in a New York state court, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. The charges stem from a hush money payment of $130,000 that Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn actor Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential election. The payoff, prosecutors say, wasmore

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White House Refrains From Commenting About Trump Arraignment

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As his predecessor was entering not guilty pleas to felonies in a courtroom, U.S. President Joe Biden met with his science and technology advisers and commented about the potential risks and benefits of artificial intelligence. He ignored reporters’ questions about Donald Trump’s arraignment. The president on Tuesday was not paying attention to the activities in New York, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “It’s an ongoing case, so we’re just not going to comment on the case specifically itself,” said Jean-Pierre. “Look, the president is just going to focus on the American people like he does every day.” more

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Ex-Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson is Running for President

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Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he’s running for president in 2024, offering himself as an alternative for Republicans ready to turn the party away from Donald Trump. “I’m confident that people want leaders that want the best of the America, not those who appeal to their worst instincts,” Hutchinson told ABC’s “This Week” in an interview aired Sunday. He said he would make a formal announcement in April in Arkansas. “I have made a decision and my decision is I’m going to run for president of United States,” Hutchinson said. Hutchinson, 72, left office in January after eight yearsmore

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Former US President Trump Expected to be Arraigned Tuesday

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to be formally arrested and arraigned Tuesday, the first time a former occupant of the White House has faced criminal charges. In a move without precedent in U.S. history, a grand jury in New York voted Thursday to indict Trump on charges related to paying off a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign. The highly anticipated charges come as Trump seeks a return to the White House after losing a reelection bid in 2020, making him both the only president, current or former, as well as the only presidential candidate, to bemore

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Donald Trump Has Been Indicted. Here’s What Happens Next

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Every day, hundreds of people are taken into law enforcement custody in New York City. Former President Donald Trump will become one of them next week. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon after an investigation into payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself remains sealed for now in the first criminal case ever brought against a former U.S. president. Trump — a Republican who assailed the case Thursday as a Democratic prosecutor’s “political persecution” of “a completely innocent person”more

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