Backs

• French private equity firm Ardian is backing the development of a €5 billion AI "gigafactory" located outside of Paris. • The project involves the construction of a massive data center and research facility designed to bolster Europe's technological infrastructure. • This investment is part of a broader strategic effort to establish a "digital backbone for the future," reducing Europe's reliance on non-EU AI infrastructure.

• Investment firm Ardian has joined the AION consortium in a €10 billion bid to construct an AI gigafactory in France. • The project is part of a broader European Union strategy to enhance AI compute capabilities and reduce technological dependence on the US and China. • If France secures the official EU gigafactory designation, it may attract significant investment and talent, potentially overshadowing competing infrastructure ambitions in Germany, the Netherlands, and the Nordics.

Marles tells Shangri-La Dialogue delegates that ‘seabed is a battlefield’. Follow updates liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne Nation leader Pauline Hanson has supported Angus Taylor’s plans to index Australia’s tax thresholds, telling Sky News “they just keep moving all the time”.Hanson says she wants to have a look at tax policy ahead of the next election, proposing an “overhaul” to “make it a fairer system.”Those people who work overtime do their 40 hours a week or 38 hours a week, they’re working overtime, they’re taxed to the hilt, and I think we need to overhaul the whole taxation system.We have witnessed a series of attacks against subsea critical infrastructure at a scale and frequency that is historically unprecedented.Our ability to operate as a modern economy and a functioning state, all of it is critically dependent on infrastructure that is exposed, that cannot move.As we’ve now seen demonstrated in the Baltic, [it] can be cut with an anchor in the middle of the night. Continue reading...

• On May 27, the Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission of India’s authority to conduct Special Intensive Revisions of electoral rolls to ensure voter list accuracy. • The ruling reinforces that citizenship is the fundamental basis for voting rights, aiming to prevent non-citizens and illegal immigrants from participating in elections. • This decision is significant as it validates the Commission's power to remove ineligible names, thereby tackling illegal immigration through administrative scrutiny.

• Europa Cinemas has launched the sixth edition of "Collaborate to Innovate," providing €947,000 in funding to support nine collaborative exhibition projects. • The initiative will benefit 51 member cinemas across Europe, focusing on innovative business models and operational improvements. • A key project includes Cineville Denmark, coordinated by Reprise Teatret in Holte, which aims to implement an unlimited subscription model for independent cinemas.

Will Lawrence, an outspoken opponent of AI data centers, is running in swing district where three mega complexes loomA prominent environmental organizer calling for a nationwide moratorium on data centers as he runs for the Democratic nomination in a swing Michigan congressional district has secured an endorsement from Bernie Sanders.Will Lawrence, co-founder of the youth-led Sunrise Movement climate justice group, was a key figure behind the campaign for a Green New Deal to battle economic and racial injustice while also fighting climate change. Continue reading...

Suit says administration is impinging on rights to life and liberty by worsening planet-warming and toxic pollutionEighteen American youth are demanding that a court immediately halt the Trump administration’s repeal of the scientific finding underpinning virtually all US climate regulations.The plaintiffs sued the Trump administration in February days after officials revoked the 2009 endangerment finding, which found that greenhouse gas pollution threatens public health and welfare. Filed in the Washington DC circuit court of appeals Venner v EPA alleges that the move infringes upon rights guaranteed by the US constitution, including to religious freedom, life and liberty. Continue reading...