Category Archives: Technology

Amazon reports better-than-expected earnings despite tumult of Trump tariffs

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Company exceeds expectations for third quarter in a row as chief executive Andy Jassy admits uncertainty over tariffs

Amazon reported strong first-quarter earnings for the 2025 fiscal year on Thursday after the New York stock exchange closed – results that will be seen in the context of consumer resilience in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff wars.

Amazon reported $1.59 in earnings-per-share (EPS) and revenue of $155.67bn. Analysts had estimated that the company’s EPS would come in at $1.36 on revenue of $155bn. In particular focus: Amazon’s advertising business, which grew 19% in the first quarter of 2025, handily exceeding analyst expectations as well. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for the previous two quarters.

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Microsoft to report earnings as AI financial boom shows no sign of slowing

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Company has beaten Wall Street expectations in each of its previous three quarterly earnings reports

Microsoft will report its earnings for the third quarter of the fiscal year after the stock market closes on Wednesday. Analysts have predicted that revenue would grow by 10.6% year-over-year to $68.4bn, even as the company plows tens of billions into artificial intelligence as well as earnings-per-share of $3.22. The company has beaten Wall Street’s expectations on each of its previous three quarterly earnings reports.

Analysts said they view the earnings report as a temperature check on Microsoft’s artificial intelligence business, which has announced it will invest around $80bn in this fiscal year alone, though it has also terminated some data center leases in recent months. The company has invested billions in OpenAI in recent years, giving it a large stake in the ChatGPT developer.

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Meta to report quarterly earnings amid tariff uncertainty and AI investment

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Wall Street is projecting the company will post $41.36bn in revenue on $5.21 in earnings per share

Meta is set to report its first quarter earnings on Wednesday after the bell, and investors will be looking for news on whether the company met its quarterly revenue goals of somewhere between $39.5bn and $41.8bn.

Wall Street is projecting the company will post $41.36bn in revenue on $5.21 in earnings per share.

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France says Russian hackers behind attack on Macron’s 2017 presidential campaign

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Foreign ministry says Russian military intelligence has attacked a dozen French entities since 2021 including a TV station

France has accused Russian military intelligence of carrying out a massive cyber-attack on Emmanuel Macron’s first presidential campaign in 2017 as well as several other recent major hacks, including on a TV station and an organisation involved in the Paris Olympics.

The French foreign ministry said for the first time on Tuesday that it was Russian hackers who had targeted Macron’s campaign team in 2017, adding that other Russian targets had included French media and an organisation involved in the 2024 Olympics.

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M&S cyber-attack: when will orders be back, and is my data at risk?

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Marks & Spencer has halted orders on its website and apps, giving customers a refund for those placed after Wednesday

The cyber-attack at Marks & Spencer is continuing to cause chaos for shoppers, with no clarity yet as to when the retailer’s systems will be fully back up and running.

Website orders remain on hold for the fourth day in a row, and those affected also include customers waiting to collect orders or wanting to spend or buy M&S gift cards, as well as users of the retailer’s Sparks customer reward scheme.

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Hakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker livestream sit-in against GOP funding plan

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Democratic House leader and New Jersey senator protest on steps of US Capitol over proposed Republican budget

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and New Jersey senator Cory Booker were holding a sit-in protest and discussion on Sunday on the steps of the US Capitol in opposition to Republicans’ proposed budget plan.

Billed as an “Urgent Conversation with the American People”, the livestreamed discussion comes before Congress’s return to session on Monday, where Democrats hope to stall Republicans’ economic legislative agenda. Throughout the day, they were joined by other Democratic lawmakers, including the senator Raphael Warnock, who spoke as the sit-in passed the 10-hour mark.

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Campaigners sound alarm as European nations move to exit landmine ban

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Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania cite rising threats from Russia to justify once again using one of world’s most indiscriminate weapons

Rights groups have expressed alarm and warned of a slippery slope of again embracing one of the world’s most treacherous weapons, after five European countries said they intend to withdraw from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.

In announcing their plans earlier this year, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all pointed to the escalating military threat from Russia. In mid-April, Latvia’s parliament became the first to formally back the idea, after lawmakers voted to pull out of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, production and stockpiling of landmines designed for use against humans.

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US food delivery app DoorDash offers to buy UK rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn

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The London-based company, the second largest food deliver app in the UK, said no ‘firm offer’ had been made yet

DoorDash is offering to buy its UK-based rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn (£2.7bn), Deliveroo said on Friday.

Deliveroo said that its board was in talks with DoorDash over the offer and that a firm offer had not been made, according to statement sent to the Guardian. Should a firm offer of £1.80 ($2.40) a share be made, Deliveroo said, “it would be minded to recommend such an offer to Deliveroo shareholders.

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US food delivery app DoorDash offers to buy UK rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn

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The London-based company, the second largest food deliver app in the UK, said no ‘firm offer’ had been made yet

DoorDash is offering to buy its UK-based rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn (£2.7bn), Deliveroo said on Friday.

Deliveroo said that its board was in talks with DoorDash over the offer and that a firm offer had not been made, according to statement sent to the Guardian. Should a firm offer of £1.80 ($2.40) a share be made, Deliveroo said, “it would be minded to recommend such an offer to Deliveroo shareholders.

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What are the Ofcom measures to protect children online – and will they work?

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Communications regulator has brought in more than 40 new rules for tech firms designed to keep under-18s safe

Ofcom announces new rules for tech firms to keep children safe online

The UK communications watchdog has set out more than 40 measures to keep children safe online under a landmark piece of legislation.

The Online Safety Act has a strong focus on protecting under-18s from harmful content and the codes of practice published by Ofcom on Thursday are a significant moment for regulation of the internet.

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AI images of child sexual abuse getting ‘significantly more realistic’, says watchdog

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Internet Watch Foundation report shows 380% increase in illegal AI-generated imagery in 2024, most of it ‘category A’

Images of child sexual abuse created by artificial intelligence are becoming “significantly more realistic”, according to an online safety watchdog.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said advances in AI are being reflected in illegal content created and consumed by paedophiles, saying: “In 2024, the quality of AI-generated videos improved exponentially, and all types of AI imagery assessed appeared significantly more realistic as the technology developed.”

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French minister reports #SkinnyTok to regulator over anorexia concerns

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Digital media minister Clara Chappaz says TikTok videos promoting extreme thinness ‘revolting and unacceptable’

The French government is seeking to take action against a TikTok group promoting extreme thinness among young women and girls.

France’s minister for digital media, Clara Chappaz, has reported #SkinnyTok to the country’s audiovisual and digital watchdog and the EU over concerns that the trend is body-shaming victims into anorexia and that algorithms are targeting the most vulnerable.

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UK set to ramp up weapons production to reduce reliance on US and French imports

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Defence secretary says lessons from Ukraine highlight need for homegrown supply chain

Britain is set to significantly increase its weapons production in order to no longer rely on importing from the US and France.

This comes as British and European defence companies move away from buying US-made weaponry and equipment due to concerns over president Donald Trump making the country an unreliable military partner.

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Views of TikTok posts with electronic music outgrow those using indie

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Videos tagged #ElectronicMusic attracted more than 13bn views worldwide last year, an increase of 45% on 2023

It is another example of the parallel worlds in the music industry. The Gallagher brothers may be taking over the world’s stadiums this summer, but over on TikTok users are moving to a different beat.

Views of posts using electronic music as a soundtrack, including techno and house, outgrew those tagged for indie and alternative for the first time in 2024, according to the social media app.

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China pits humanoid robots against humans in half-marathon for first time

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Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing

Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the first time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21km course.

The robots from Chinese manufacturers such as DroidVP and Noetix Robotics came in all shapes and sizes, some shorter than 1.2m, others as tall as 1.8m. One company boasted that its robot looked almost human, with feminine features and the ability to wink and smile. Some firms tested their robots for weeks before the race. Beijing officials have described the event as more akin to motor racing, given the need for engineering and navigation teams.

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Dramatic rise in fake political content on social media as Canada prepares to vote

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Report finds over a quarter of Canadians exposed to ‘more sophisticated and more politically polarizing’ fake content

More than a quarter of Canadians have been exposed to fake political content on social media that is “more sophisticated and more politically polarizing” as the country prepares to vote in a federal election, researchers have found, warning that platforms must increase protections amid a “dramatic acceleration” of online disinformation in the final weeks of the campaign.

In a new report released on Friday, Canada’s Media Ecosystem Observatory found a growing number of Facebook ads impersonating legitimate news sources were instead promoting fraudulent investment schemes, often involving cryptocurrency.

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Nvidia’s CEO makes surprise visit to Beijing after US restricts chip sales to China

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Jensen Huang causes stir on social media and is reported to have met founder of AI company DeepSeek

The chief executive of the American chip maker Nvidia visited Beijing on Thursday, days after the US issued fresh restrictions on sales of the only AI chip it was still allowed to sell to China.

Jensen Huang’s surprise visit was on the invitation of a trade organisation, according to a social media account affiliated with state media.

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Temu and Shein drop US ad spending as they face tariffs on even small sales

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E-tailers also hiking prices after Donald Trump ends ‘de minimis’ exemption for cheap shipments from China and Hong Kong

Temu and Shein are cutting back their spending on US social media advertising as they lose an exemption on tariffs for many of their shipments from China and Hong Kong.

The online e-tailers, both of which ship low-priced China-made goods direct to US shoppers, had been on an ad spree until recently. But under an executive order from Donald Trump, as of 2 May their sales valued at under $800 will no longer be exempt from US tariffs.

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Revealed: Chinese researchers can access half a million UK GP records

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Medical information will be available from UK Biobank, despite western intelligence agencies’ security fears

Researchers from China are to be allowed access to half a million UK GP records despite western intelligence agencies’ fears about the authoritarian regime amassing health data, the Guardian can reveal.

Preparations are under way to transfer the records to UK Biobank, a research hub that holds detailed medical information donated by 500,000 volunteers. One of the world’s largest troves of health data, the facility makes its information available to universities, scientific institutes and private companies. A Guardian analysis shows one in five successful applications for access come from China.

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‘Silicon Six’ accused of avoiding almost $278bn in US corporation taxes over 10 years

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Analysis finds Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft averaged 18.8%, compared with 29.7% US average

The big American tech firms known as the “Silicon Six” have been accused of paying almost $278bn (£211bn) less corporate income tax in the past decade compared with the statutory rate for US companies making the same profits.

Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft generated $11tn of revenue and $2.5tn of profits over the past 10 years.

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