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Meet Big Tech’s British bulldog

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

LONDON — In Big Tech’s battle with the British government, it just hired itself a big new gun.Veteran free marketeer Matthew Sinclair, who headed influential right wing think tank the TaxPayers’ Alliance before becoming chief economist to the ill-fated and short-lived Liz Truss premiership, is set to become the U.K. face of a notoriously punchy U.S. tech lobby group.The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has been a longstanding feature of the lobbying landscape in Washington and Brussels, but Sinclair is the group’s first hire in London, reflecting growing tension over digital rulemaking in the British capital since it left the EU.“London is the first new office outside of Washington and Brussels. That shows how critical the U.K. is to the digital sector globally,” said CCIA president Matt Schruers in a call with POLITICO.“Britain is charting its own path outside the EU, and exploring new legal and regulatory approaches.”The CCIA, whose members include predomi...

Takeaways from the second Republican presidential debate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

(CNN) — The Republicans looking to become the top alternative to Donald Trump in the 2024 primary opened their second debate Wednesday night with new attacks on the front-runner, but their efforts to separate themselves from the pack were marred by a chaotic environment, filled with cross talk.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has long been in second place to Trump but has been sagging in the polls recently, said Trump is “missing in action.” Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose campaign has been rooted in Trump criticism, took aggressive swings at the former president, calling him “Donald Duck” and saying he “hides behind his golf clubs” rather than defending his record on the debate stage.The GOP field also took early shots at President Joe Biden. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said Biden, rather than joining the striking autoworkers’ union on the picket line Tuesday in Michigan, should be on the southern border. Former Vice President Mike Pence said Biden ...

Republican debate updates: Rivals brawl over China, economy, border and Trump

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

Republican presidential candidates jumped quickly to make an impression from the start of the second debate Wednesday in Simi Valley, Calif., talking over and taking jabs at one another, lending a chaotic tone to the night.The boisterous debate started less than an hour after the 2024 front-runner headlined an event in Michigan.Seven candidates, all polling well behind former President Trump, met the Republican National Committee criteria to participate: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.Trump, meanwhile, again did not join the debate. Instead, he headlined an event of autoworkers near Detroit, amid the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.Find out how to watch the debate here.And follow alo...

Donald Trump skipped the GOP debate again. This time, his rivals took him on directly

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Several of Donald Trump ’s rivals stepped up their attacks against him in Wednesday’s second Republican presidential debate, urgently trying to dent the former president’s commanding primary lead during an event that often seemed like an undercard without him.Trump went to Michigan, aiming to capitalize on the autoworkers’ strike in a key state that could help decide the general election. His competitors, meanwhile, were asked by Fox Business moderators at the Ronald Reagan library in California to participate in a reality show-style game where they would write who else onstage they would “vote off the island.” They refused.The debate’s tone seemed far removed from a campaign that’s been driven by Trump’s attacks on his rivals and democratic institutions as well as his grievances about a litany of criminal indictments and civil cases targeting him and his businesses. The moderators did not ask about the indictments or why the people onstage were bett...

Stock market today: Asian shares fall over China worries, Seoul trading closed for a holiday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Thursday in subdued trading on looming worries about China property woes. Trading in shares of heavily indebted Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group was suspended in Hong Kong. That followed media reports that the chairman of Evergrande, Hui Ka Yan, had been taken away earlier this month and placed under police watch.Evergrande is the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer and is at the center of a property market crisis that is dragging on China’s economic growth.“The relatively quiet economic calendar today may lead sentiments on a more subdued tone, while reservations on risk taking may continue to revolve around developments on China’s property sector,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at IG. The Hang Seng index slid 1.2% to 17,390.50 in morning trading. The Shanghai Composite was up less than 0.1% at 3,108.51.Trading was closed in South Korea for a holiday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.7% to...

Christie calls Trump ‘Donald Duck,’ DeSantis knocks former president and other debate takeaways

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

Seven Republican presidential hopefuls gathered at the Reagan Library in California on Wednesday for the second of the party’s primary debates. The contest’s dominant front-runner — former President Donald Trump — skipped the event again.With less than four months until the Iowa caucuses officially jumpstart the GOP nomination process, the pressure is building on Trump’s rivals to show they can emerge as a genuine alternative. Here are some early takeaways from the debate:DeSantis hits Trump Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had an aggressive start, using his first answer to criticize Trump for skipping the debate and for adding to the national debt while serving as president.“Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be here on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record,” DeSantis said.The Florida governor has been slow to attack Trump for most of the campaign, but as he’s struggled to maintain his position as a distant second, he’s started slowly sharpening ...

The candidates went after Biden – and Trump – at the second GOP debate. Follow live updates

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

The seven candidates on stage for Wednesday night’s second presidential debate went after President Joe Biden, one another and the absent GOP front-runner.The at-times chaotic event featured staple questions about immigration, economics and abortion but also spawned a new nickname for Donald Trump, included some cringey sexual references and kept our fact-checkers busy.Here’s what to know— An overview of tonight’s debate, where candidates went after Biden — and Trump. — Christie calls Trump “Donald Duck,” DeSantis knocks former president and other debate highlights. — Trump again skipped the debate. Here’s what he was doing instead. — See more of our 2024 coverage. Who would you vote off the GOP island? As the debate neared its end, moderator Dana Perino asked the candidates to write down which of their on-stage competitors should be voted off the 2024 GOP island.But they didn’t bite. “With all due respect, I think that that’s disrespectful,” DeSantis said in response to...

FDA advisers vote against experimental ALS treatment pushed by patients

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health advisers voted overwhelmingly against an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease at a Wednesday meeting prompted by years of patient efforts seeking access to the unproven therapy.The panel of Food and Drug Administration experts voted 17-1 that drugmaker Brainstorm’s stem cell-based treatment has not been shown effective for patients with the fatal, muscle-wasting disease known as ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. One panel member abstained from voting.While the FDA is not bound by the vote, it largely aligns with the agency’s own strikingly negative review released earlier this week, in which staff scientists described Brainstorm’s application as “scientifically incomplete” and “grossly deficient.”“Creating false hope can be considered a moral injury and the use of statistical magic or manipulation to provide false hope is problematic,” said Lisa Lee, a bioethics and research integrity expert from Virginia Tech, who voted against...

Sri Lankan cricketer found not guilty of rape charges in Australian court case

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — Sri Lankan cricket international Danushka Gunathilaka has been found not guilty of raping a woman he met on a dating site during the south Asian team’s tour of Australia last November.Judge Sarah Huggett acquitted the 32-year-old player as he sat at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday listening to the decision.Huggett found that the alleged victim, who cannot be legally named, was an intelligent witness who did not deliberately give false evidence about the use of a condom but was motivated by a desire to paint the cricketer in an unfavorable light.“I find that the evidence regarding the complaint far from supports the complainant. Rather it undermines the reliability of her evidence,” she said.Gunathilaka and the woman met for drinks at a bar before having pizza together in downtown Sydney and catching a ferry to the woman’s home in the city’s eastern suburbs.The woman accused him of various acts of aggression and violence. Police initially ...

Senators nix casual clothing as bipartisan resolution sets new dress code for Senate floor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — No shorts on the Senate floor. The Senate voted Wednesday evening to reverse an informal guidance issued by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last week that senators could wear what they want when voting or speaking in the chamber. The resolution, passed by voice vote with no objections, requires that ”business attire be worn on the floor of the Senate, which for men shall include a coat, tie, and slacks or other long pants.” It did not specify what women should wear. The bipartisan resolution by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, comes after backlash to Schumer’s announcement that staff for the chamber’s Sergeant-at-Arms would no longer enforce a dress code on the Senate floor. The guidance came as Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been unapologetically wearing shorts and sweatshirts around the Senate, voting from doorways so he didn’t walk on the chamber floor and get in trouble for his casual dress.“Though we’ve never had an official dres...