WEATHER ALERT
Mother's warning to Georgia school raises questions about moments before shooting
Read full article: Mother's warning to Georgia school raises questions about moments before shootingThe mother of a student at the Georgia high school where a teen allegedly killed four people says information indicating staff were warned he was having a crisis shows the shooting could have been prevented.
With father of suspect charged in Georgia shooting, will more parents be held responsible?
Read full article: With father of suspect charged in Georgia shooting, will more parents be held responsible?Murder charges filed against the father of a 14-year-old boy accused of a Georgia school shooting follow the successful prosecution of two parents in Michigan.
Microsoft invests $1.5 billion in AI firm G42, overseen by UAE's national security adviser
Read full article: Microsoft invests $1.5 billion in AI firm G42, overseen by UAE's national security adviserMicrosoft is investing $1.5 billion in a technology firm based in the United Arab Emirates and overseen by the country’s powerful national security adviser.
The Vatican's top expert on AI ethics is a friar from a medieval Franciscan order
Read full article: The Vatican's top expert on AI ethics is a friar from a medieval Franciscan orderAs artificial intelligence's impact on society receives more scrutiny, a Franciscan friar who preaches a message of ethics in technology has gained some powerful listeners.
Microsoft's revamped $69 billion deal for Activision is on the cusp of going through
Read full article: Microsoft's revamped $69 billion deal for Activision is on the cusp of going throughBritish competition regulators has signaled that Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard is likely to receive antitrust approval.
Microsoft and Activision extend deadline to close $69 billion deal under close regulatory scrutiny
Read full article: Microsoft and Activision extend deadline to close $69 billion deal under close regulatory scrutinyThe deadline for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard has been extended to as the companies seek to close a deal that has been opposed by regulators in the U.S. and the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority.
Microsoft's 'good guy' approach frays in UK gaming battle
Read full article: Microsoft's 'good guy' approach frays in UK gaming battleMicrosoft’s charm offensive with the world’s governments is starting to lose some of its luster as the software giant is confronting its toughest antitrust scrutiny since co-founder Bill Gates was in charge.
Microsoft strikes 10-year deal with Nintendo on Call of Duty
Read full article: Microsoft strikes 10-year deal with Nintendo on Call of DutyMicrosoft has agreed to make the hit video game Call of Duty available on Nintendo for 10 years should its $69 billion purchase of game maker Activision Blizzard go through.
Microsoft extends aid for Ukraine's wartime tech innovation
Read full article: Microsoft extends aid for Ukraine's wartime tech innovationUkraine is counting on more Western technological support as its war against Russia drags on, with Microsoft pledging to extend its backing for Kyiv through the end of next year.
Microsoft's $69B Activision deal faces in-depth UK inquiry
Read full article: Microsoft's $69B Activision deal faces in-depth UK inquiryMicrosoft’s $69 billion deal to buy video game company Activision Blizzard faces an in-depth antitrust investigation in Britain after the tech company refused to offer proposals to ease competition concerns.
Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal faces more UK scrutiny
Read full article: Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal faces more UK scrutinyMicrosoft’s plan to buy video game company Activision Blizzard faces a potential setback after British regulators demanded the companies come up with concessions to ease competition concerns about the blockbuster deal.
Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal gets global scrutiny
Read full article: Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal gets global scrutinyMicrosoft’s plan to buy video game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion could have major effects on the gaming industry, transforming the Xbox maker into something like a Netflix for video games by giving it control of many more popular titles.
Microsoft: Russian cyber spying targets 42 Ukraine allies
Read full article: Microsoft: Russian cyber spying targets 42 Ukraine alliesMicrosoft says “strategic espionage” by state-backed Russian hackers has targeted government agencies, think tanks, businesses and aid groups in 42 countries supporting Ukraine.
Nonprofits likely under fire as Senate explores ‘dark money’
Read full article: Nonprofits likely under fire as Senate explores ‘dark money’A Senate hearing on Wednesday is likely to produce fireworks as Republicans and Democrats square off over the role that foundations and nonprofits are playing in elections.
A free-for-all but no crippling cyberattacks in Ukraine war
Read full article: A free-for-all but no crippling cyberattacks in Ukraine warRussia has some of the best hackers in the world, but in the early days of the war in Ukraine, its ability to create mayhem through malware hasn’t had much of a noticeable impact.
Leaders in Paris call for protecting children online
Read full article: Leaders in Paris call for protecting children onlineInternet giants, including social media apps Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, joined some world leaders to issue a global call to better protect children online at a Paris summit on Thursday.
Microsoft says it warned Bill Gates about flirting in 2008
Read full article: Microsoft says it warned Bill Gates about flirting in 2008Microsoft has confirmed that executives in 2008 warned Bill Gates to stop sending flirtatious emails to a female employee but dropped the matter after he told them he would stop.
Foundations offer cities help convincing workers to relocate
Read full article: Foundations offer cities help convincing workers to relocateA new effort in Northwest Arkansas offering $10,000 incentives to new residents is part of an increasing number of philanthropy-financed projects trying to spark economic development, promote civic and cultural life, attract skilled workers, and offset declining or sparse populations.
How Big Tech created a data 'treasure trove' for police
Read full article: How Big Tech created a data 'treasure trove' for policeWhen U.S. law enforcement officials need to cast a wide net for information, they’re increasingly turning to the vast digital ponds of personal data created by Big Tech companies via the devices and online services that have hooked billions of people around the world.
Microsoft pledges to let EU users keep data inside bloc
Read full article: Microsoft pledges to let EU users keep data inside blocMicrosoft is pledging to allow business and public sector customers in the European Union keep cloud computing data inside the 27-nation bloc to avert concerns about U.S. government access to sensitive information.
SolarWinds hacking campaign puts Microsoft in the hot seat
Read full article: SolarWinds hacking campaign puts Microsoft in the hot seatThe sprawling hacking campaign came to be known as SolarWinds, for the company whose software update was seeded by Russian intelligence agents with malware to penetrate government and private networks.
Microsoft wins $22 billion deal making headsets for US Army
Read full article: Microsoft wins $22 billion deal making headsets for US ArmyMicrosoft says it has won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its virtual reality headsets. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)Microsoft won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its augmented reality headsets. Microsoft and the Army separately announced the deal Wednesday. The technology is based on Microsoft's HoloLens headsets, which were originally intended for the video game and entertainment industries. The new contract will enable Microsoft to mass produce units for more than 120,000 soldiers in the Army Close Combat Force.
Tech firms say there's little doubt Russia behind major hack
Read full article: Tech firms say there's little doubt Russia behind major hackFireEye CEO Kevin Mandia, SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna and Microsoft President Brad Smith testify during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021 in Washington. In the first congressional hearing on the breach, representatives of technology companies involved in the response described a hack of almost breathtaking precision, ambition and scope. “We haven’t seen this kind of sophistication matched with this kind of scale,” Microsoft President Brad Smith told the Senate Intelligence Committee. U.S. national security officials have also said Russia was likely responsible for the breach, and President Joe Biden's administration is weighing punitive measures against Russia for the hack as well as other activities. Officials have said the motive for the hack, which was discovered by private security company FireEye in December, appeared to be to gather intelligence.
AP Exclusive: Black Lives Matter opens up about its finances
Read full article: AP Exclusive: Black Lives Matter opens up about its financesThis marks the first time in the movement’s nearly eight-year history that BLM leaders have revealed a detailed look at their finances. The foundation said it committed $21.7 million in grant funding to official and unofficial BLM chapters, as well as 30 Black-led local organizations. In its report, the BLM foundation said individual donations via its main fundraising platform averaged $30.76. “Because the BLM movement was larger than life — and it is larger than life — people made very huge assumptions about what our actual finances looked like,” Cullors said. Leaders at the BLM foundation admit that they have not been clear about the movement’s finances and governance over the years.
Australia report says make Google and Facebook pay for news
Read full article: Australia report says make Google and Facebook pay for newsAustralias Parliament will debate making Google and Facebook pay for news after a Senate committee on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021 recommended no changes to the world-first draft laws. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)CANBERRA – Australia’s Parliament will debate making Google and Facebook pay for news after a Senate committee on Friday recommended no changes to drafts of the world’s first such laws. Australia's proposed code aims to make Google and Facebook pay Australian media companies fairly for using news content the tech giants source from news sites. AdBut Google is resisting the Australian plan because it would have less control over how much it would have to pay. Google announced last week that it had begun paying seven Australian news websites under its own model, Google News Showcase.
Australian leader has 'constructive' talk with Google boss
Read full article: Australian leader has 'constructive' talk with Google bossPrime Minister Scott Morrison also welcomed the support of Google rival Microsoft, which has touted Australia’s proposed laws that would make Google and Facebook pay as an example for the rest of the world. Google regional director Mel Silva told a Senate hearing last month that the company would likely make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the so-called News Media Bargaining Code forced Google and Facebook to pay for Australian news. While Google and Facebook have condemned the legislation as unworkable, Microsoft President Brad Smith said his business would be willing to pay for news if its search engine increased Australian market share. The law would initially only apply to Google and Facebook, but the government could add other platforms in the future if Google abandoned Australia. AdAlthough Bing is Australia’s second most popular search engine, it has only a 3.6% market share.
Microsoft backs Australian plan to make Google pay for news
Read full article: Microsoft backs Australian plan to make Google pay for newsMicrosoft says it supports Australia's plans to make the biggest digital platforms pay for news and would help small businesses transfer their advertising to Bing if Google quits the country. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)CANBERRA – Microsoft said on Wednesday it supports Australia’s plans to make the biggest digital platforms pay for news and would help small businesses transfer their advertising to Bing if Google quits the country. Morrison this week confirmed he had spoken to Nadella about Bing replacing Google in Australia. There are no plans to make smaller search engines such as Bing pay for linking users to Australian news, but the government has not ruled that option out. AdBut Google is resisting the Australian plan because it would have less control over how much it would have to pay.
APEC leaders, including Trump, agree on free trade
Read full article: APEC leaders, including Trump, agree on free tradeMalaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, arrives for the opening of the first virtual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit, hosted by Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)KUALA LUMPUR – Leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, including U.S. President Donald Trump, pledged Friday to work toward free, open and non-discriminatory trade and investment to revive their coronavirus-battered economies. The APEC leaders’ meeting was the first since 2018 after last year’s host, Chile, canceled the annual summit due to violent domestic protests. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his remarks, urged countries to “defend multilateralism” and called for the establishment of an “Asia-Pacific free trade zone at an early date." APEC leaders adopted the Putrajaya Vision 2040, a new 20-year growth vision to replace the Bogor Goals named after the Indonesian town where leaders agreed in 1994 to free and open trade and investment.
Microsoft-led housing effort cuts rents in Seattle suburbs
Read full article: Microsoft-led housing effort cuts rents in Seattle suburbsBut a $750 million commitment by a partnership backed in part by Microsoft's affordable housing initiative helped do the trick. Urban Housing Ventures is cutting rents at 40% of the units in three buildings as part of an effort to make sure teachers, nurses and other middle-income professionals can live in the communities where they work. In August, Baker moved into her new apartment in one of three complexes recently purchased by Urban Housing Ventures, a partnership backed in part by Microsoft's affordable housing initiative. But building new affordable housing takes time. Urban Housing Ventures is immediately cutting rents for residents who earn 60% to 80% of the area's median income.
Miami skydiver dies in north Florida after parachute failed
Read full article: Miami skydiver dies in north Florida after parachute failedBOCA RATON, Fla. – Authorities say a Miami skydiver died in North Florida when his parachute didn’t deploy correctly during a jump. The Bradford County Sheriff's Office said Friday that a team of skydivers were practicing a jump when the accident happened on Friday. The group of seven men, all originally from Cuba, were practicing for a weekend event that honors the families of fallen police officers. News4Jax reported that one of the team members — Nick Perdomo — identified his deceased teammate as 51-year-old Yuset Hernandez. “And the very last jump that they were doing, one of the skydiver’s chutes didn’t deploy fully,” Smith said.
Microsoft: Russian, North Korean hackers target vaccine work
Read full article: Microsoft: Russian, North Korean hackers target vaccine work(AP Photo/Hans Pennink)BOSTON – Microsoft said it has detected attempts by state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers. Chinese state-backed hackers have also been targeting vaccine-makers, the U.S. government said in July while announcing criminal charges. Two others were North Korea’s Lazarus Group and a group Microsoft calls Cerium. The Lazarus Group posed as job recruiters while Cerium targeted spear-phishing emails that masqueraded as missives from World Health Organization representatives, Microsoft said. Optimism about a COVID-19 vaccine has grown since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced earlier this week that preliminary data showed its vaccine to be 90% effective.
Microsoft plans $1 billion data center venture in Greece
Read full article: Microsoft plans $1 billion data center venture in GreeceMicrosoft has announced plans to build three data centers in greater Athens, providing a badly needed investment of up to $1 billion to the Greek economy which has been hammered by the pandemic. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)ATHENS – Microsoft has announced plans to build three data center sites in greater Athens, providing a badly needed investment of up to $1 billion to the Greek economy which has been hammered by the pandemic. "The creation of a data center upgrades a country as an investment destination ... Greece has the sun and now it’s getting a cloud.”Microsoft currently has data centers in 26 countries, including seven in the European Union. Microsoft officials said the timetable for the development of the data center in Greece was still being worked out, but added added that the process in other countries typically took about two years. Greece, the officials said, would comply with Microsoft's pledge to run all its data centers worldwide on renewable energy sources by 2025.
Microsoft joins Amazon, IBM in pausing face scans for police
Read full article: Microsoft joins Amazon, IBM in pausing face scans for policeMicrosoft has become the third big tech company this week to say it wont sell its facial recognition software to police, following similar moves by Amazon and IBM. Weve decided we will not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights, that will govern this technology, Smith said. Smith said Thursday that Microsoft currently doesn't sell its face recognition software to any U.S. police departments. Microsoft, Amazon and IBM are calling on Congress to set national rules over how police use facial recognition something that's now being considered as part of a police reform package sparked by the protests following Floyd's death. "We need Congress to act, not just tech companies alone.