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Edition · 2026-08-16
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At the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, Disney held its 2026 Experiences Showcase. The company announced that Avengers Infinity Defense will open at Disneyland's Disney California Adventure in 2028, featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel. The attraction will have guests help reassemble the Avengers to battle King Thanos. Disney also revealed Antonio's Fiesta de Encanto, an Encanto‑themed attraction at Animal Kingdom's Tropical Americas area, with Stephanie Beatriz, Jessica Darrow, and Diane Guerrero reprising their roles. A new Coco attraction at Disney California Adventure will be set a year after the film and will include a boat ride through Miguel's memories of the Land of the Dead; it has no height requirement. Disneyland Paris will receive its first Parks attraction based on The Lion King, featuring a 120‑foot Pride Rock and a flume system with a 52‑foot drop that depicts Simba's final confrontation with Scar. The Carousel of Progress will add Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis as the new Mom and Emmy‑winning actor Bryan Cranston as the new Dad, with scenes updated to the 1980s. Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum announced the Yeti Audio‑Animatronic will return to life on Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. Disney+ will premiere the second season of The Imagineering Story in early 2028. Disney Cruise Line also unveiled plans for Disney Believe!, a new themed cruise experience.
Nintendo and The Lego Group announced that Super Mario minifigures will be released in 2027, according to a March teaser. The lineup will include a standard Mario figure, a Luigi figure, a larger Bowser figure, and a Yoshi figure with a removable shell that can carry another minifigure. Lego and Nintendo have previously collaborated on larger builds such as a Mario Kart vehicle set, a pixel‑art Mario and Yoshi set, and smaller releases featuring Wario, Captain Toad, Bowser Jr., Boo, and various Super Mario enemies. The companies have also released minifigures based on Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda characters. In 2026, the partnership includes a Lego Donkey Kong arcade machine set, a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Final Battle set, a Mario Kart Luigi and Mach 8 set, and more than 20 Lego Pokémon sets.
Democrats seeking the 2028 presidential nomination will begin their primary process in South Carolina on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1 and additional early states including New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia through February, after the Democratic National Committee approved a revised calendar in Texas.
The new schedule replaces Iowa as the first contest and positions South Carolina as the leadoff state, a change intended to give candidates early experience in states with large Black, Latino and union populations.
DNC Chairman Ken Martin said that winning the general election requires candidates to be battle‑tested in diverse communities, while strategist Karen Finney noted that candidates must engage Black voters, rural voters and union members in early states.
Former DNC chairman Howard Dean said the revised order better reflects the nation’s demographic mix compared with Iowa and New Hampshire, which he argued do not represent the broader electorate.
Political observers offered differing perspectives; Boyd Brown, a former DNC member from South Carolina, said primary voters in the South differ from those in northern states, while Nina Smith, a former Buttigieg adviser, said Black South Carolinians are progressive on policy but realistic about achievable change.
Union influence is expected to be significant, with Nevada’s service sector unions, Michigan’s auto industry workers and Virginia’s federal employees providing organizational support and voter outreach.
The early states combined represent 43 electoral votes, meaning candidates will need to allocate time and resources across multiple battlegrounds before Super Tuesday.
The revised calendar also offers logistical advantages, allowing campaigns to cluster travel and fundraising activities across nearby states such as Nevada, New Mexico, California and the Carolinas.
The House approved a version of former President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a tax and spending package that proposes more than $5 trillion in tax cuts and more t...
By · 10d ago · Source: guardian
The House approved a version of former President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a tax and spending package that proposes more than $5 trillion in tax cuts and more than $1 trillion in reductions to food stamp and Medicaid programs. Supporters say the plan benefits small business owners, while critics argue it primarily advantages multimillionaires and reduces government revenue. Trump’s tax policy has long been criticized for lowering revenue and increasing income inequality. The legislation, passed by the House in 2025, pairs large tax reductions with cuts to social safety‑net programs, drawing scrutiny from economists and health‑policy experts. House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that the bill’s tax relief was aimed at small business owners who create jobs in communities across the country, according to a press release. Economists note that the projected revenue loss could increase the federal deficit and may require future spending cuts or tax reforms, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office. Opposition lawmakers and advocacy groups contend that the bill disproportionately benefits high‑income earners, arguing that the $5 trillion in cuts mainly serves those with net worth exceeding $1 million, according to statements from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Senate has not yet taken up the measure, and its final form remains subject to negotiation. The legislation now awaits Senate consideration, and its ultimate impact on federal finances and the broader economy remains unresolved.
Federal regulators conditionally approved World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture controlled by the Trump family, to operate as a bank under a national charter, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said on Friday.
The approval permits the firm to issue its stablecoin USD1 directly in the United States without an intermediary. The decision follows disclosures that President Donald Trump earned $65 million from share sales in World Liberty Financial in 2025 and nearly $600 million from stablecoin and digital asset sales, according to his financial disclosures. Zach Witkoff, co‑founder of the venture, posted on social media that the company seeks to become the most trusted digital dollar and to strengthen the U.S. dollar’s role globally.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D‑Mass.) posted on social media that the action 'represents a significant conflict of interest involving the president’s private finances.' The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, led by Trump appointee Jonathan Gould, described the conditional approval as a step toward granting the venture federal banking powers. Analysts noted that the move aligns with the administration’s broader engagement with cryptocurrency markets.
The charter remains pending final approval, and a timeline for the bank’s launch has not been announced.
A woman identified as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging that its chatbot Grok was used to generate more than 7,000 explicit images from a childhood photograph taken when she was 11. The lawsuit, filed by three Tennessee teenagers, claims that xAI failed to implement basic safeguards to prevent the creation of sexualized images of real people, including minors. According to a report in The Washington Post, the woman said her stepfather used Grok to manipulate the photo. Her stepfather was found dead by suicide two days after law enforcement discovered the images during a raid. The teenagers seek class‑action status for the suit. TechCrunch has reached out to xAI for comment. The case highlights concerns about the adequacy of safety measures in AI systems that produce realistic imagery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukraine struck Russia's Progress Rocket Space Center in the Samara region with cruise missiles. The Progress Center, located about 900 km from the Ukrainian border, is Russia's main facility for assembling the Soyuz-2 and Soyuz-5 launch vehicles and for producing military satellites. Zelenskyy said the missiles used were of the Flamingo type, a designation he referenced in a post on the social media platform X. There were unconfirmed open-source reports that a missile hit a building containing a clean-room avionics workshop, which Zelenskyy described as part of the center's electronics production. Russia has not yet confirmed which specific structures within the sprawling complex were damaged. The Soyuz-2 rocket, which the center produces, has a low-Earth orbit lift capacity of roughly 8 metric tons and is used for both civilian and military missions, including crewed flights to the International Space Station. A prior shortage of Soyuz rockets had been reported, raising concerns about launch schedules. The extent of the damage and its effect on Russia's launch operations remain undetermined.
Server CPU total addressable market is projected to exceed $210 billion by 2030, with AI‑specific processors accounting for roughly 86 % of that market, according to research firms such as BofA Global Research, Mercury Research and IDC. AI‑focused server CPUs are expected to represent about $180 billion of the $210 billion total, while non‑AI server CPUs will be roughly $30 billion.
Shipments are forecast to rise from an estimated 29.9 million units in 2025 to 38 million in 2026 and 82 million by 2030, reflecting strong growth driven by demand for agentic workflows that rely heavily on CPUs.
Intel’s unit market share is expected to fall from 62 % in 2025 to about 35.8 % in 2030, while AMD is projected at roughly 31 % and ARM‑based solutions at 30‑35 %. Intel’s revenue share is anticipated to remain higher because of rising chip prices and supply constraints that have led the company to continue shipping older processor generations.
On the client side, Intel has experienced a modest recovery in CPU market share, supported by promotion of DDR4 platforms, extended lifecycles of Raptor Lake processors and increased retail discounting, whereas AMD has gained significant share in desktop and mobile segments.
Analysts expect sustained AI demand through multi‑year contracts and industry partnerships, underpinning continued growth in server CPU shipments and market size through 2030.
Sony introduced the A7R VI, a full‑frame mirrorless camera featuring a 66.8‑megapixel sensor and a maximum continuous shooting speed of 30 frames per second with electronic shutter. High‑resolution cameras previously required compromises in speed and noise; the new stacked sensor and Bionx XR2 processor eliminate most of those trade‑offs, allowing full‑resolution bursts without viewfinder blackout and enabling silent shooting. The model includes 8.5 stops of in‑body image stabilization, dual USB‑C ports, and an AI‑driven autofocus system. Its RAW files average about 60 MB, so a 30‑image burst can exceed 1.8 GB. The NP‑SA100 battery provides roughly 600 shots per charge, comparable to the previous NP‑FZ100 model. Ergonomics resemble the A7R V, and the camera is compatible with existing Sony E‑mount lenses. While the A7R VI’s handling is similar to earlier A7 series and lacks some ergonomic refinements found in the A1 II and A9 III, it offers higher resolution at a lower price than the $7,000 flagship A1. The 66.8‑megapixel files enable extensive cropping and high‑quality prints, supporting applications from landscapes to wedding photography. The electronic shutter reduces vibration, allowing slower handheld speeds in low‑light product photography. The A7R VI therefore presents a high‑resolution, versatile option for professionals seeking a single camera for diverse shooting scenarios, though specific niche requirements may still favor competing models.
Utility‑scale solar reached 11,458 megawatts, the highest capacity among all new plants this year. Battery installations totaled 8,207 megawatts, while onshore wind added 5,473 megawatts, largely from the SunZia projects. Natural gas combustion turbines and internal combustion engines accounted for 22 and 21 new plants respectively, and combined‑cycle gas plants contributed three projects, adding 2,707 megawatts of capacity.
Solar generation does not occur at night, and many gas plants operate only during peak demand periods. Eric Gimon, a senior fellow at Energy Innovation, noted that most new projects are small to midsize utility‑scale solar, which are easier to site and can be paired with batteries.
Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona together represented about half of the nation’s new generating capacity. Texas led with 3,067 megawatts of battery capacity, 2,311 megawatts of utility‑scale solar, and 1,154 megawatts from natural gas combustion or internal combustion engines.
While solar and battery capacity expanded rapidly, gas additions remained modest, and future gas capacity is expected to grow over several years.
This edition was assembled from neutral, agent-rewritten summaries of the day's aggregated news.
Why it matters: Every article was reviewed for loaded language, partisan framing, and missing attribution before publication.
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