3 tax prep firms shared 'extraordinarily sensitive' data about taxpayers with Meta, lawmakers say
Some congressional Democrats say three large tax preparation firms sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over at least two years
1970-01-01 08:00
Red Bull has handed Daniel Ricciardo the first step to Sergio Perez’s seat
Within the Red Bull ecosystem, encompassing two teams on the Formula 1 grid and the junior team below, there is no doubting who the senior statesman is. When Dr Helmut Marko speaks, people listen. And for Nyck de Vries, the writing has been on the wall for a while now. Asked after the British Grand Prix whether Red Bull’s ‘third driver’ Daniel Ricciardo could replace De Vries at Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri, Marko grinned. A grin which told us everything we need to know. “We’ll have the tyre test next week and then we’ll see,” he stated. That test, with Ricciardo in the cockpit of Red Bull’s RB19 rocketship for the first time this season, took place on Tuesday morning at Silverstone. Hours later, the Australian’s return to F1 was confirmed. The first thing to note is, despite his obvious struggles, it is brutally harsh on Nyck de Vries. When the Dutchman made his splash last September in Monza – filling in for Alex Albon at Williams and securing points with an impressive ninth-place finish – it must have seemed like a dream. The former Formula 2 and Formula E champion had long been on the cusps of a grid spot, entwined in Mercedes’ junior programme, and now a 2023 place was inevitable. AlphaTauri, with Pierre Gasly departing for Alpine, moved swiftly for De Vries – a decision we have now learned that Christian Horner did not agree with. Yet this year, the pairing has always felt like an uncomfortable marriage. AlphaTauri have slumped to the worst team on the grid, with Williams showing signs of improvement under the leadership of James Vowles. And while Yuki Tsunoda – in his third season with the team, it should be said – has maximised any potential out of the AT04, De Vries has undeniably stumbled in his first full season. 10 races. Zero points. Out the door. De Vries may now look back with regret that he did not stick in Mercedes’ wider bubble and eye a spot with Williams. The chances are he would have been favoured over Logan Sargeant, the only other driver on the grid yet to score a point this season. But the stark reality is that De Vries is a sacrificial lamb in this situation. Because, as we have seen in the past with Red Bull’s ruthless revolving door, his axing and Ricciardo’s return is about something much bigger than the prospects of Red Bull’s sister team this season. As much as De Vries’ poor form looks the reason on paper, Sergio Perez’s struggles as Max Verstappen’s team-mate in the past two months is a factor equally important, if not more so. Since winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April, Perez has endured a wretched run given he is, clearly, in the fastest car. While Verstappen is on a win streak of six, Perez has finished on the podium just twice and has not made the final qualifying session in his last five races. Three of those have been a humiliating exit in Q1. Thus, Perez has gone from a world championship contender to under pressure for his race seat in a matter of months. While Horner insists publicly that the Mexican’s spot is not shrouded in uncertainty – with a contract until the end of the 2024 season – there is no doubting that Ricciardo’s re-emergence heaps an extra crumb of pressure on that second Red Bull seat. For what its worth, simply assuming Ricciardo will snap up Perez’s seat as soon as next year is inadvisable. The 34-year-old was dropped by McLaren for a reason, after a chastening 2022 campaign, and has plenty to prove in the remaining 12 races of this season, starting next week in Hungary. But if the tyre test is anything to go by, the popular Aussie is champing at the bit. Speculation is rife that his best time would have been quick enough for the front row at the British Grand Prix on Sunday. Sure, it was just a tyre test, but nonetheless impressive after eight months out of the car. A similar set of statement performances throughout the season’s remainder, back where it all began with Red Bull’s sister team, could give Ricciardo the most unlikeliest of routes back into the sport permanently with Red Bull next year. At the very least, it will give Marko and Horner a decision to make. Read More Daniel Ricciardo returns to F1 as he replaces Nyck de Vries A fictional Drive to Survive? Daniel Ricciardo ‘full steam ahead’ with scripted F1 show Daniel Ricciardo shaped void will take some filling by Oscar Piastri at Australian GP Daniel Ricciardo returns to F1 as he replaces Nyck de Vries The moment Norris came of age in British Grand Prix – and it wasn’t his super start Max Verstappen storms to British Grand Prix victory with two Brits on the podium
1970-01-01 08:00
Medical and aid groups in northwest Syria fear worse conditions if aid flow from Turkey stops
The United Nations Security Council's failure to renew the critical flow of international aid from Turkey into opposition-held northwestern Syria has rattled Syrians and social workers
1970-01-01 08:00
EU fines US firm Illumina $475 million for jumping gun on buying cancer-screening company Grail
The European Union has slapped a $475 million fine on U.S. biotech giant Illumina for buying out cancer-screening company Grail without the approval of the 27-nation bloc’s antitrust watchdog
1970-01-01 08:00
European Union lawmakers back a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change
The European Union’s parliament has approved in a cliffhanger vote a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change
1970-01-01 08:00
Live Updates | Russia warns of 'potentially very dangerous' G7 security guarantees for Ukraine
The Kremlin spokesman says Russia considers plans by G7 nations to offer Ukraine security guarantees “extremely ill-judged and potentially very dangerous.”
1970-01-01 08:00
Illumina Hit With €432 Million EU Fine for Hasty Grail Deal
Illumina Inc. was hit with a €432 million ($476 million) fine for acquiring cancer-test provider Grail Inc. before
1970-01-01 08:00
Are any of Dog the Bounty Hunter’s children gay? Duane Chapman slammed by daughter Lyssa for homophobic tirade
Dog the Bounty Hunter went on a rant about the LGBTQ+ community, declaring that they 'need to be saved'
1970-01-01 08:00
Will there be a 'Mission Impossible 9'? Director Christopher McQuarrie teases future after 'Dead Reckoning Part I & II'
Even though McQuarrie spoke about the franchise's return after the conclusion of both parts of 'Dead Reckoning', he was silent on Cruise’s return
1970-01-01 08:00
Andrew Tate claims he was charged for 'convincing women to get TikTok'
What happens when you put two of the world’s most outspoken commentators together? Two-and-a-half hours of self-congratulation, tedious repetition and outright lies, it transpires. Tucker Carlson jetted off to Romania to join Andrew Tate for a sit-down chat at his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, where the influencer remains under house arrest. Last month, the 36-year-old king of toxic masculinity was charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women. However, he offered Carlson and his loyal ‘Tucker on Twitter’ viewers a very different version of the allegations against him. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The former Fox News poster boy asked the self-styled “top G” to explain the accusations made against him. Tate responded by saying he’d been charged with “convincing” women to get TikTok. “I'm charged with being the head of an organised criminal group, which is in charge of recruiting girls to make TikTok videos, to steal the money from the TikTok views,” he told his sympathetic interviewer. He then elaborated: “The overall charge is that there's an organised criminal group [...], I'm the head of it. My brother is below me, and we use the loverboy method to convince women to do TikTok videos to make money so that we can steal the TikTok money.” What he means by the so-called “loverboy method” is when a man seduces young, vulnerable girls and boys over a period of time in order to sexually exploit them later on. "So, just to be clear, you are not accused of pandering, of pimping, of forcing women to have sex with anybody?" Carlson then asked. "No,” Tate replied. “Not forcing them to have sex, not for restraining their movement, not stopping them from living a full life, but the fact that we are somehow convincing them to have TikTok." We’d like to take this opportunity to “be clear” ourselves. Tate and his brother Tristan, 34, are charged with some of the most serious crimes imaginable. Last month, Tate was served with legal papers by lawyers representing four of his alleged victims who have accused him of rape and sexual assault. The four women, in their late 20s and early 30s, are pursuing civil proceedings against the former kickboxer over alleged offences occurring between 2013 and 2016 while he was still living in the UK, The Guardian reports. The legal letter sets out the four women’s accusations against him, including violent rapes, serious physical assaults, and controlling and coercive behaviour. One of the women claimed that after meeting Tate in 2014, he brutally assaulted her. She said: “While having sex, he began to choke me and choked me so hard that I lost consciousness. I thought I was going to die. When I woke up, he was continuing to rape me. It is difficult to say that because it is so upsetting, but that is what it was.” Meanwhile in Romania, prosecutors also confirmed last month that seven women had come forward with allegations against the Tate brothers, including some who say they were “misled” by “false claims of marriage and love”. The pair are accused of forming an organised crime group in early 2021 to commit human trafficking in Romania, the UK, the US and other countries. The alleged victims were later taken to buildings in Romania’s Ilfov county where they were intimidated, placed under constant surveillance and control and forced into debt, a statement from the prosecutors said. The two men then allegedly forced the women to engage in pornography which was later shared on social media. One of the alleged victims says she was raped twice in March 2022, according to the statement. Both Tate and Tristan vehemently deny the accusations against them and, in his interview with Carlson, the former went so far as to say they’d been fabricated by the media. He told the right-wing host: “The girls have come forward and said, ‘This is insane, you've just picked us because we're near Andrew and we're his friends’.” He continued: “But they (meaning the powers that be) are like, ‘Nope, you’re a victim, no matter what you say. We’re deciding you’re a victim.” He went on to accuse the “media machine” of offering thousands of pounds in bribes to anyone willing to badmouth the Tates. “The media machine, which works hands in hands with the justice machine [...] offered bribes effectively,” he told Carlson. “They'd call up and say, if you have anything bad to say about Andrew, we can pay you $50,000 for the story.” Suffice it to say, lawyers for four of the victims would categorically rubbish his outlandish claims. After serving the 36-year-old with the legal papers, one of the representatives for the women said: “Despite Tate’s outrageous claims that these women aren’t even real, on reading the papers, he should now recall how real they are. “Talk of the ‘Matrix’ and ‘false flags’ hold no weight in court. The survivors look forward to seeing him there.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
1970-01-01 08:00
Australia gives more Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after NATO meet
By Kirsty Needham Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, attending a meeting of NATO leaders in Lithuania, said his
1970-01-01 08:00
Czech-French writer Milan Kundera dies at 94
Czech-French writer Milan Kundera, author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", has died aged 94, the Milan...
1970-01-01 08:00
