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Editor’s Note: Jill Dougherty is a former CNN Moscow bureau chief, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a CNN contributor on Russia. CNN  —  A decade ago, Georgia was the poster child of post-Soviet countries on their way to democracy and freedom. The government was taking steps to fight corruption. Civil society was blossoming. The economy was growing. American businesses were investing. In 2004, even though it was not a member of NATO, Georgia sent its soldiers to Afghanistan to join the United States and other members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), becoming the largest non-NATO contributor to…

For 18 months, Rivian and Google engineers worked together. Today, they’re showing off their work. Rivian is pushing out a software update that will bring a unique version of Google Maps into its EVs. It’s the latest step in Rivian’s continued effort to distinguish its vehicles with software — an effort that has helped it strike up a joint venture with one of the world’s biggest automakers, Volkswagen. This isn’t a typical Google Maps integration and it’s unlike the tech company’s other collaborations in the automotive sector. For years, Google has pushed into automotive through its smartphone projection app called…

Reddit users in the United Kingdom are now required to verify their age as a way to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.  The new requirement comes after the U.K.’s Online Safety Act (OSA) introduced new steps for platforms to take to block children from encountering harmful content, like pornography and material promoting self-harm. Reddit will use the third-party service Persona to confirm a user’s age, necessitating users to submit a picture of their government-issued identity documents or take a selfie. Reddit said it will not have access to these images, and will only save the person’s verification status and…

AP  —  Police in Thailand arrested a woman Tuesday who allegedly enticed a string of Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then pressured them into making large payments to cover up their intimacy. The possible violation of the celibacy rule for monks has rocked Buddhist institutions and gripped public attention in Thailand in recent weeks. At least nine abbots and senior monks involved in the scandal have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said. Wilawan Emsawat, in her mid-30s, was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province north of the capital…

Uber has struck another deal with a robotaxi provider, and this time it’s with Chinese tech giant Baidu. The two companies announced Tuesday that they have agreed to a “multi-year strategic partnership to deploy thousands of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles (AVs) on the Uber platform” in multiple markets outside the U.S. and mainland China. Those deployments will start in Asia and the Middle East later this year, the companies said. Uber has been on a tear of AV partnerships lately as it looks to protect its ride-hailing business by embracing the rise of robotaxis. In the last few months…

Facebook Tweet Email Link A stolen private plane caused a temporary shutdown of the airspace over Vancouver International Airport, one the busiest in Canada, on Tuesday. The Cessna 172 took off from Victoria International Airport, where it is used for flight training, and flew north about 40 miles to Vancouver and started circling. “We do have an aircraft that has been hijacked and is in the vicinity of the airport,” a tower controller warned other planes in a recording from the website LiveATC.net. “Just in case anything starts heading toward your you have the ability to move at your discretion.”…

by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 1:30 PM ET, Tue July 15, 2025 Bookings are now open for MSC Cruises’ summer 2027 sailings.The cruise line will have six ships sailing from four American homeports: Miami, Orlando, Galveston and Seattle. Travelers will be able to explore destinations in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Alaska. MSC World America will be based out of MSC Cruises’ new cruise terminal in Miami, offering 7-night Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries. MSC Seaside will also homeport in Miami, offer flexible 3- and 4-night itineraries to the Caribbean and Bahamas. MSC Seascape and MSC Seascape will sail from the Port…

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone. We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human…

NEW YORK (AP) — Two milestones revealed this week illustrate the diminishing power of broadcast television in the media world — one fueled by the habits of young people and the other by their elders.During June, viewers spent more time watching streaming services than they did for broadcast and cable television combined. That happened for the first time ever in May, by a fraction of a percentage point, but the Nielsen company said on Tuesday that gap widened considerably in June.Also, for the third straight week, Nielsen said that Fox News Channel had more viewers in prime-time on weeknights than…

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon speaks during the Goldman Sachs Investor Day at Goldman Sachs Headquarters in New York City, U.S., February 28, 2023. Brendan Mcdermid | ReutersGoldman Sachs is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings before the opening bell Wednesday.Here’s what Wall Street expects:Earnings: $9.53 per share, according to LSEGRevenue: $13.47 billion, according to LSEGTrading Revenue: Fixed income of $3.28 billion, equities of $3.65 billion, per StreetAccountInvesting Banking fees: $1.9 billion, per StreetAccountGoldman Sachs is set up to be a beneficiary of several trends in the second quarter.Trading desks across Wall Street have benefited as President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have…