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• The author argues that intellectual adherence to textualism is no longer a sufficient qualification for Republican Supreme Court nominees in the current post-judicial-filibuster era. • The piece highlights a shift in the conservative legal movement, suggesting that higher standards are necessary to maintain judicial integrity and legitimacy. • In a related development, Attorney General nominee Karine Jean-Pierre's counterpart or associated legal teams indicate that Trump’s DOJ views the Biden administration's lax abortion pill rules as legally incorrect.

• London-based startup Applied Computing, an Imperial College spinout, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round. • The investment was led by KBR and included participation from Databricks Ventures, expanding upon an existing partnership between the entities. • The company utilizes physics-based AI models designed to optimize the operations of global oil refineries and energy operators.

• AGI has raised $70 million to acquire traditional insurance firms and transform them into AI-native operations. • In separate funding news, Emergent has reached "unicorn" status after securing $130 million in investment. • Sophos has launched Fusion, an AI-native defense system designed to unify various security tools for better protection.

• Hangzhou-based AI lab DeepSeek is in discussions to raise approximately $1.5 billion in new funding. • The funding round is based on a pre-money valuation of 480 billion yuan, which is roughly $71 billion. • This capital injection aims to support the company's growth as it targets an initial public offering (IPO) by 2027.

• Chinese AI developer DeepSeek is reportedly seeking to raise approximately $1.5 billion in new funding at a valuation of $71 billion. • The company is planning an initial public offering (IPO) for 2027, though the debut could potentially happen as early as the end of this year. • This move follows a massive funding round just one month ago, where DeepSeek raised $7 billion at a $50 billion valuation.

Catholic Schools NSW’s alleged donations to Liberal party show the need to ensure public money is spent for approved purposes, expert saysFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn education funding expert says alleged donations by Catholic Schools NSW to the Liberal party, under investigation by the state corruption watchdog, show governments need to check taxpayer funding was “being spent according to its purposes” and not funnelled into political donations.The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) is investigating allegations that political donations were made by Catholic Schools NSW “in amounts that were not declared and exceeded applicable donation caps”. Continue reading...

Stock markets fall as analysts price in two quarter-point UK rate rises by the end of the yearBusiness live – latest updatesOil and gas prices have jumped and expectations of interest rate rises in Europe have increased after the US carried out a third night of military strikes against Iran.Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by as much as 4.6% to $87.08 a barrel on Tuesday, its highest level in just over a month. Continue reading...