The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

SpaceX to list on US stock market today after raising $75bn in largest IPO ever – business live

Rolling coverage of SpaceX’s record-breaking initial public offering

The SpaceX IPO also led to an unusual protest yesterday in New York.

A 40-foot high giant inflatable of Elon Musk, smiling and shirtless, appeared at Times Square. It was created by the Safe AI Now (SAIN) coalition, to warn of the dangers of SpaceX’s AI assistant Grok.

The enormous inflatable of Musk is meant to draw attention to a serious issue: SpaceX’s Grok has been widely used to generate illicit images of real people – including children. In fact, a NYT report found that of the 4.4 million images Grok pushed out in a recent nine-day period, an estimated 65% were sexualized or explicit. There are entire online communities, with hundreds of thousands of visitors each week, dedicated to sharing Grok-generated pornography and tips for explicit content generation.

While this inflatable is a fitting metaphor – much like Musk and his companies, it is inflated, full of hot air, and could pop at any minute – it serves as a warning to investors eager to buy into Musk’s SpaceX IPO on Friday morning. Because the reality is, shareholders’ investment in SpaceX means financially supporting a company that has been involved in child exploitation, revenge porn, and worse.

Continue reading...

Entertaining, even educational: Mexico’s World Cup opening ceremony delivers

The show featuring a host of Latin American talent raced along and was over in a flash, leaving those at the Estadio Azteca wanting more

ITV’s Mark Pougatch could barely contain his excitement. “Let’s be honest, opening ceremonies aren’t very memorable,” he offered, clearly intent on whipping up viewers into a frenzy of anticipation before events in the Estadio Azteca got under way. A few minutes later, he was at it again. “Nothing is happening,” he shrugged, when the opening ceremony didn’t kick off bang on time. “This is why they don’t live long in the memory.”

No one was going to accuse him of overselling Mexico’s big night, but then perhaps he was underwhelmed by the lineup. With the global star power reserved for the final’s half-time show – which features Madonna, Coldplay and BTS – the Mexican ceremony stuck fast to relatively local talent. It kicked off with Maná, the most successful Latin American rock band of all time, who – to judge by the 1992 hit they performed, Oye Mi Amor – have sold 45m records by sounding not unlike The Police. They were pretty good, as was Venezuela’s Danny Ocean and the Mexican singer-songwriter Belinda, both of whom broke out one of the 18 (eighteen!) official World Cup songs: Ocean’s Partidazo was a nippy bit of reggaeton, Belinda’s Por Ella a sweet collaboration with veteran cumbia band Los Ángeles Azules, the latter a disconcerting sight for British viewers on account of the fact that their bass player looked as if he was being impersonated by Paul Whitehouse.

Continue reading...

Sally Beamish: House of Wonder album review

Beamish/Corbett/Whitehead/Havlat/ Irvine/Thomson/Ventris
(Delphian)

The British composer’s celebratory album is a family affair

Sally Beamish celebrates 70 years on planet Earth with an eclectic and profoundly personal album featuring friends and members of her talented musical family. At the centre of it all is Beamish herself, a musical shapeshifter, at home in classical, jazz or folk fiddle, performing on her own instrument, the viola.

It opens with April, a luminous chaconne for viola and accordion memorialising her friend, jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis Jr. Equally poignant is Gerropaedie for viola and harp, a Satie-inspired birthday gift for an elderly patron.

Continue reading...

Found Slide -- Ira Richolson Collection

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Slide -- Ira Richolson Collection

Found Photo

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Photo

date stamped on back of photograph June 21, 1933

6th and edar

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

6th and edar

Barry

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Barry

Scrambler Ducati

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Scrambler Ducati

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Krant: Rabo en ING willen belang in Belgische staatsbank Belfius

BRUSSEL (ANP) - Rabobank en ING hebben interesse in een belang in de Belgische staatsbank Belfius, meldt de Belgische krant De Tijd. Eind vorig jaar stemde de Belgische regering in met de verkoop van een belang van 20 procent van de bank, die sinds 2011 volledig in handen is van de overheid.

Het is de bedoeling om het minderheidsbelang in Belfius, het voormalige Dexia België, rechtstreeks te verkopen aan een of meerdere geïnteresseerde partijen. De verkoop kan de Belgische overheid meer dan 2 miljard euro opleveren, aldus De Tijd.

Tot nu toe kwam volgens de krant slechts de naam van één potentiële koper naar buiten, die van de Europese investeerder CVC, die een beursnotering heeft in Amsterdam. In afwachting van het officiële startschot van de verkoop, dat mogelijk binnen enkele weken wordt gegeven, doen volgens De Tijd nu ook andere namen de ronde, zoals Rabobank en ING. Ook de Franse bank Crédit Agricole wordt genoemd.


Cyprus: zeker jaar nodig voor optimaal werkend EU-migratiepact

NICOSIA (ANP) - De Cypriotische minister van Migratie, Nicholas Ioannides, verwacht dat de EU "zeker een jaar nodig heeft" voordat het asiel- en migratiepact goed functioneert. Dat zei hij vrijdag bij aankomst in Nicosia, waar het officiële startschot wordt gegeven van het pact waarin strengere en uniforme regels staan voor de screening, beoordeling en verdeling van asielzoekers over de EU. Er is tien jaar over onderhandeld en de lidstaten hadden twee jaar de tijd om alles te implementeren.

Nog steeds zijn niet alle EU-lidstaten klaar met alle voorbereidingen. In een enkel land is bijvoorbeeld het wetgevingstraject nog niet afgerond.

"De inwerkingtreding van het pact vandaag is niet het einde; we beginnen pas", zei Ioannides. "We moeten hard werken om ervoor te zorgen dat het pact toekomstbestendig en functioneel is en een succes wordt. We zijn hier vandaag om te vieren, maar we zijn ons ervan bewust dat we hard moeten blijven werken om onze doelstellingen op migratie te verwezenlijken."