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Paramount completes $111B Warner merger, creating “Skydance” behemoth
Paramount Skydance has completed its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery after US courts rejected efforts to stop the deal. The new company, called Skydance, brings together two major film studios, Paramount+ and HBO Max, CBS and CNN, as well as extensive sports rights and entertainment franchises, creating one of the industry’s largest media…
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Agents say fear of sackings is hollowing out the FBI’s investigative ranks
Current and former FBI agents say fear of dismissal under director Kash Patel has led some colleagues to avoid substantive casework and focus on routine tasks. They describe falling morale and a bureau losing experienced staff, raising concerns about its ability to carry out investigations. The article cites five current and former agents, several speaking…
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Boy, 13, dies after shirt catches on screw inside Miami water slide
A 13-year-old boy died after his shirt became caught on a screw whilst travelling down an enclosed tube slide at a Miami park. Olvin Cabrera Valladares was riding the slide on 25 September when his shirt collar tightened around his neck, trapping him inside for an unknown length of time. The tragedy raises serious questions…
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Nigeria crash kills 32; Paris protests rattle euro zone
Nigeria mourns 32 after military aircraft crash; Paris protests send euro to 17-month low amid debt crisis. Prostate cancer diagnoses among under-50s surge 305 per cent in England.
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Guadagnino’s comedy revisits OpenAI’s origins but misses tech culture’s wider story
Luca Guadagnino’s *Artificial* reimagines the origins of OpenAI as a campy comedy about Sam Altman and the people around him. The film presents Altman as a manipulative, self-interested figure, but the review argues that its blunt satire offers little insight into the tech elite or the wider culture that embraced them. The story follows AI…
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Mirror Particle develops AI model to forecast consumer behaviour over time
Mirror Particle is developing an AI model to predict how people behave and why, aiming to give brands more useful consumer insights. Its co-founder argues that language models, often adapted to imitate demographic groups, miss important parts of human behaviour such as visual perception, spatial reasoning and social intelligence. The two-year-old San Francisco start-up says…
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Boston summit brings founders advice on funding, leadership and growth
A Founder Summit on 4 November at Boston’s SoWa Power Station brings investors and operators together to share insights on scaling, fundraising, and leadership challenges. Designed to equip founders with practical knowledge on crucial decisions every founder must eventually make, the event offers early-bird ticket prices at their lowest until 16 October, with discounts available…
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Skydance plans to unite HBO Max and Paramount Plus into one service
Skydance has completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, with plans to merge HBO Max and Paramount Plus into a single streaming service over time. The consolidation aims to strengthen the combined company’s competitive position against Netflix, which reported 325 million subscribers in January. Skydance CEO David Ellison previously highlighted that the merger…
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Tories propose halving employer National Insurance for under-25s
The Conservative Party plans to halve National Insurance contributions for employers hiring workers aged under 25, with Kemi Badenoch set to unveil the “rescue package for young people” on Wednesday. The party claims this £2.3 billion initiative is essential to reverse a youth employment crisis, with youth unemployment rising by 174,000 since Labour took office…
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AstroLab firmware update adds deep editing and 67 new patches
Arturia has released version 2.0 of its AstroLab firmware, transforming the stage keyboards from preset browsers into proper sound design instruments. Previously, users could only lightly tweak sounds using four macro controls; now a new Sound Edit menu allows access to individual instrument parameters for genuine customisation. This addresses a significant limitation that had left…