So why, as Biegun himself emphasized during congressional testimony, is North Korea barely engaging in nuclear talks with the United States at the moment, even as the 2020 election approaches with no guarantee Trump will win again? Why is Kim standing by as the Trump Window potentially closes—and actually hastening the closure by giving the U.S. a year-end deadline to adopt a more flexible negotiating position or put at risk nearly two years of diplomacy between the countries?In recent weeks, in fact, the North Koreans have thrown all sorts of wrenches into the (albeit already gummed-up) diplomatic works, even as Trump has dangled another leader-level summit before Kim and as his administration has made other conciliatory gestures, such as postponing military exercises with South Korea.North Korean negotiators walked away in a huff from a meeting last month in Sweden with Biegun and his team without seriously discussing denuclearization or consenting to follow-up talks. In a remarkable flurry of statements for a government that typically tightly controls its communications, North Korean officials rejected the idea of another meeting with the American president (something the Kim regime coveted only a couple of years ago) and ruled out further denuclearization talks until the United States ends its “hostile policy” toward their country, including U.S.–South Korea military drills and international economic sanctions.The Kim regime “now considers summits without payment for cooperation as empty diplomacy that merely helps ... Trump raise domestic political support,” Leif-Eric Easley, a Korea expert at Ewha Womans University, in Seoul, told me. It’s ironically the mirror-image argument to what Trump’s critics contended when he became the first American president to meet with North Korea’s dictator: that it would grant Kim valuable legitimacy while leaving the United States with nothing of substance to show for it.Apparently emboldened, this week alone Kim has twice spurned South Korea by declining an invitation to attend a regional conference and by violating a military agreement with its neighbor, making it harder for the South Korean government to do what it has done repeatedly over the past two years: act as a catalyst for diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea. Kim has also conducted a series of tests of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles since the spring. The not-so-subtle subtext of these provocations is that if the Trump administration doesn’t change its policies to his satisfaction by the new year, Kim could resume the tests of nuclear bombs and long-range missiles that brought the United States and North Korea to the brink of war in 2017.With six weeks to go until the end of 2019, Biegun told lawmakers that Kim has not yet empowered his negotiators to discuss the country’s nuclear-weapons program with their American counterparts, nor agreed in writing on a suspension of nuclear and missile tests, a definition of denuclearization, or how North Korea would undertake such a process. Instead, he acknowledged that North Korea has continued advancing its nuclear arsenal by, for instance, producing more fissile material. When asked by Senator Cory Gardner whether he believed the United States is closer today to the denuclearization of North Korea than it was after the first Trump-Kim summit, in Singapore 17 months ago, Biegun sighed heavily. “I do,” he said gingerly, but “in all candor there is no meaningful or verifiable evidence that North Korea has yet made the choice to denuclearize.”

Finding home insurance in wildfire-prone parts of California is getting more difficult and more expensive. No one can agree on how to make it any easier.A new flashpoint is the use of algorithmic models for predicting catastrophe losses. Insurers have long used these models to project losses from natural disasters but insurers, homeowners and regulators disagree on how they should be applied to assess California’s wildfire risk.Insurers...

Germany’s economy is on the brink of recession after business confidence plunged to its lowest level in seven years.In the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy is struggling, the survey of nearly 10,000 German companies found that managers were gloomier about the current economic situation, and more pessimistic about the outlook over the next six months.“Everything we see at the moment means there are ever more indications of recession in Germany, meaning two quarters of negative growth,” he told the business news channel CNBC.Germany’s industrial sector has been badly hurt by the US-China trade war, with exports falling in the last quarter. Manufacturing output has contracted, as factories have been hit by falling orders.The slowdown has now spread to Germany’s service sector. Companies in the sector have reported a deterioration in business conditions, making them more sceptical about growth prospects.“This is very bad news indeed,” Fuest said. “It’s not just manufacturing where the decline continues, but we now see that the weakness is really affecting the services sector which is large and important for the German economy.”Frederik Ducrozet, senior economist at Pictet Asset Management, said Germany’s manufacturing sector was already in recession territory, which has led to “spillover” effects in the rest of the domestic economy this summer. He tweeted:Mikael Sarwe, the head of market strategy at financial group Nordea, said the ifo survey was giving a clear recession warning, tweeting:The German government is under growing pressure to respond to the downturn by borrowing more to bolster spending.Germany’s “debt brake” law compels politicians to draw up a balanced budget, but some economists argue that Berlin should now launch a stimulus programme. Topics Germany Eurozone Europe news

Enlarge this image Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said he believes the Senate should not fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the 2020 election, noting that voting has already started and Republicans took a similar stance in 2016. Tom Williams/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Tom Williams/AFP via Getty Images Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said he believes the Senate should not fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg until after the 2020 election, noting that voting has already started and Republicans took a similar stance in 2016. Tom Williams/AFP via Getty Images Tributes and remembrances have poured in from across the country following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday night. So too have stark calls and concerns over the potential timeline for choosing her successor. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, D.-N.J., who sits on the judiciary committee, told NPR on Sunday that he believes lawmakers should let the winner of November's presidential election select a nominee."Voting has started in a number of states and I really do believe that we should be not considering any nomination," he told Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend Edition.Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. said on Friday that the president's nominee will receive a vote on the Senate floor. Democrats point to McConnell's stance after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, when he effectively blocked then-President Obama's nominee and said a replacement should be chosen by the next president. Politics What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now Death Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Patrick Leahy Says A Vote Now To Replace Ginsburg Would Be 'Political Hypocrisy' Forty-four days before the 2020 election, lawmakers' statements are falling largely along partisan lines. As of Sunday afternoon, two Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have said they do not support taking up a nomination vote before November. President Trump said over the weekend that he expects to announce a nominee this week. In 2016, Republicans argued that the decision to fill a Supreme Court vacancy should not be made during an election campaign. They should stand by that principle this time around, Booker said."They said that 269 days before an election," Booker said. "We're 45 days before Election Day and the voting has already started. The question right now is will those Republican senators honor their word, and not cooperate with this push to get someone to floor and voted on?" Booker argued that Democrats need to focus on winning back the Senate and White House in November before thinking about the future of the Supreme Court. Some Democrats have called for potentially expanding the number of justices.Booker declined to weigh in on the merits of potential nominees including Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa. Trump has said he will appoint a woman.Booker expressed his hope that some GOP senators will break with their party, as Collins, Murkowski and John McCain did in 2017 when they voted against overturning the Affordable Care Act. "That issue and many others are at stake right now, and I'm hoping that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will realize that and wait until after the inauguration before we begin to consider a nominee from a president," Booker said.

Opioid overdoses increased by roughly 30% across the US in just 14 months between 2016 and 2017, according to a new report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The CDC called the data a “wake up call to the fast-moving opioid overdose epidemic”. It recorded 142,000 overdoses in US hospital emergency departments between July 2016 and September 2017. Although not all overdoses in the study were fatal, they are part of the grim toll opioids have taken. In the US in 2016, illicit and prescription drug overdoses killed 64,000 people. “Our results through September 2017 show opioid overdoses are increasing across all regions, most states for most men and women and most age groups,” said Dr Anne Schuchat, acting director of the CDC. “We’re currently seeing the highest overdose death rates ever recorded in the United States.” Schuchat later added: “The infrastructure to fully tackle this problem is fragile.”The CDC’s Vital Signs study looked at two data sets. The first, the Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) program, is a snapshot of emergency department data from 16 states. Eight of those states included saw “substantial” overdose increases of at least 25%. Two states reported overdoses more than doubled – including in Wisconsin with 109% and Delaware with 105% increases. Another dramatic increase occurred in Pennsylvania, where overdoses went up 81%. Overdoses also increased in “cities and towns of all types”, the report said. Overdoses are often associated with rural America but metropolitan areas with 1 million or more people saw the steepest increase, at 54%. While the CDC did not look at the source of opioids, Schuchat said illicit fentanyl-laced heroin is “a very major problem right now”.Q&AWhy is there an opioid crisis in America? ShowAlmost 100 people are dying every day across America from opioid overdoses – more than car crashes and shootings combined. The majority of these fatalities reveal widespread addiction to powerful prescription painkillers. The crisis unfolded in the mid-90s when the US pharmaceutical industry began marketing legal narcotics, particularly OxyContin, to treat everyday pain. This slow-release opioid was vigorously promoted to doctors and, amid lax regulation and slick sales tactics, people were assured it was safe. But the drug was akin to luxury morphine, doled out like super aspirin, and highly addictive. What resulted was a commercial triumph and a public health tragedy. Belated efforts to rein in distribution fueled a resurgence of heroin and the emergence of a deadly, black market version of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The crisis is so deep because it affects all races, regions and incomes“The heroin and illicit drug supply has gotten even more dangerous than it used to be,” she said, adding that the drugs are so toxic that paramedics and police are at risk of poisoning themselves. Officials emphasized there was significant variation between jurisdictions. A handful of states, such as Kentucky, saw modest decreases but researchers were only cautiously optimistic. They said it was unclear if decreases were persistent or anomalies. The CDC also used a second data set, the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP), which covers 60% of emergency departments in 45 states, to look at regional changes. Researchers said overdose rates in that system increased about 30% in all regions and most states.To curb the crisis, officials said communities would need more naloxone (which reverses overdoses); better access to mental health services and medication-assisted addiction treatment; harm reduction programs to screen for injection-drug associated diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C; and for physicians to use prescription monitoring services.The study comes just a week after the White House held a week-long opioid summit. Last week, Donald Trump expressed a desire to “sue” opioid manufacturers, and the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, announced the justice department’s support of local lawsuits. The surgeon general, Jerome Adams, said: “Addiction is a chronic disease, and not a moral failing.”Some changes to health programs, especially the public health insurance program for the poor, Medicaid, may be counterproductive to treating people addicted to opioids. For example, the Trump administration has approved work requirements for Medicaid coverage in Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana. Those moves are expected to leave thousands of poor or disabled Americans without health coverage, largely thanks to bureaucratic hurdles.

When Walmart makes big moves in India, can Amazon be too far behind?Just four months after the US-based retail giant acquired Flipkart, the Seattle-based online shopping major, along with domestic private equity firm Samara Capital, has reportedly acquired a stake in food and grocery retail chain More, part of Mumbai-based Aditya Birla Group.While the quantum of the deal was not officially revealed, it is estimated at Rs4,200 crore ($582 million).“(The) board of directors of the company, at its meeting, held on Sept. 19, 2018, has approved the sale of its entire shareholding in Aditya Birla Retail…constituting 62.19% of the paid up capital of ABRL, to Witzig Advisory Services…owned and controlled by the Samara Alternative Investment Fund,” the RKN statement said (pdf).More was set up in 2007 by one of India’s largest conglomerates, the Aditya Birla Group. But much like its peers, it has struggled to perform. As of 2017, ABRL’s debt stood at Rs6,455 crore.Regulatory filings have not disclosed Amazon’s stake in the venture. In any case, India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) laws do not allow an overseas firm to control more than a 49% stake in Indian multi-brand retail chains.The deal is yet another move by Amazon to get a bigger hold on India’s $670 billion retail market.Last year, the American e-commerce giant picked up a 5% stake in the Mumbai-based departmental-store chain Shoppers Stop for an estimated Rs179.25 crore ($27 million). At that time, the chain had 80 stores, and Amazon planned to set up its own experience centres across these outlets to “bring in the touch and feel aspect on Amazon.in’s exclusive assortment.”Now, the More stake will give it access to over 500 supermarkets and 20 hypermarkets across India.“The winning formula is an omnichannel model that leverages the reach, convenience, and efficiency of the internet with the immediacy and tactile experience of brick-and-mortar,” said Kartik Hosanagar, professor of technology and digital business at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “Amazon has embraced this omnichannel strategy in the US…It’s no different in India. Arguably, the value of a physical channel is even more in India because a large portion of India cannot still be reached on the internet.”Updated: In response to an e-mail query sent by Quartz, an Amazon spokesperson sad, “Amazon and Samara Capital have agreed to co-invest in a facilities support and management and value-added services company called Witzig Advisory Services Private Limited (WASPL). WASPL focuses on skill development and vocational training and contributes toward employment generation with respect to facilities support and management and other value added services such as installation, housekeeping, engineering support, electrical technicians, service staff, plumbing technicians, etc. for business customers.”

“Get over it”: that is how Mick Mulvaney, acting chief of staff at the White House, dismissed evidence that his boss bribed a foreign government to publicise bogus charges against his chief political rival. But it’s about as easy to get over Trump as it is to shrug off a cancer diagnosis. With Hillary Clinton archly hinting at her readiness for a rerun of the 2016 election, others are reinterpreting the past either to delegitimise Trump after the event or to prepare for his vindication at the polls next November.A weary, regretful deja vu pervades Crime in Progress, written by the researchers who brought to light the notorious dossier that traced Trump’s grubby dealings with Russian gangsters; the same document described a cabaret act supposedly staged for him by some micturating Moscow hookers, commended by Putin as “the best in the world”. Simpson and Fritsch hoped the FBI would use the information they provided to indict Trump, though its then director James Comey instead reprimanded Clinton for her insecure email server. They were disappointed a second time by the noncommittal Mueller report. This “secret history” of their persecution by angry Republicans who disputed their findings attempts to relitigate the case.Simpson and Fritsch aspire to be latter-day versions of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the reporters who exposed Nixon’s Watergate cover-up: their book opens with Fritsch sneakily foiling Bernstein’s appeal for information, and later Simpson derides Woodward for cosying up to Trump. But the new guys lack the crusading bravado of their predecessors. Their opposition to Trump starts out as a “business opportunity”, not a quest for truth or a challenge to power, and they go to work like conscientious geeks, assisted by a man they call “a human hard drive” and a woman who serves as their “in-house cyber-ninja”.The retold tale is revved up by hyperactive verbs – Simpson “cracks open” his MacBook, “pops” a beer can, and “shoots” a text message to Fritsch – and includes a strained homage to the episodes in All the President’s Men when Woodward ventures into an underground car park for creepy confabs with the CIA informant he nicknamed “Deep Throat”: summoned to testify at the US Capitol, Simpson and Fritsch are ushered into “a dimly lit chamber” in the basement where poor lighting gives their Republican inquisitor “a lizard-like appearance”, then sequestered in another office that feels “like a weird terrarium out of a sci-fi movie”. Yet there is no “cathartic finale” to match Nixon’s fall, and the ominous title of Crime in Progress deflates when the authors admit that Trump’s “conspiring with Russia may not be a crime provable in federal court”.Last year an unidentified White House official wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about the efforts of aides to frustrate the president’s most “batshit” proposals. Trump denounced the article as an act of treason, but because his only means of self-defence is name-calling, he had trouble mocking his nameless detractor. At a rally in Montana “Anonymous” got entangled with “Anomalous” on his flapping tongue and, after some slurs and gobbles that suggested dodgy dentures, the compound word expired in a sibilant whistle. In A Warning the op-ed’s covert author accuses the president of mental instability; I suppose his inarticulacy is the least of our worries.Like Simpson and Fritsch, Anonymous reels through Trump’s outrages all over again, adding a few new charges, among them a scheme to sabotage the rule of law by abolishing federal judges. Though A Warning traffics in scandal, its tone is classically lofty, with tributes to noble Romans such as Cicero and pious epigraphs from America’s founding fathers. Anonymity is presented as a selfless patriotic virtue: the writer challenges Trump on principle, not as a disgruntled individual – but now that others are openly testifying to Congress, this impersonality could just as well be deemed a form of moral cowardice.A Warning ends by saluting the passengers who stormed the cockpit of a hijacked plane on 9/11, knowing they would die but hoping to prevent the terrorists from reaching their target in Washington. Anonymous, however, is no martyr: he or she hopes to survive. How different is this duplicity from the craven writhings of Mulvaney, who once called the president he now serves “a terrible human being”?On his first day in office, after a squabble about crowd size at his inauguration, Trump demanded a phenomenological adjustment. “Truth and reality”, as Simpson and Fritsch put it, were replaced by Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts”, AKA falsehoods. “The Trump story,” adds Anonymous, “is briskly moving into a fictional universe.”Doug Wead’s Inside Trump’s White House goes further, advancing to enraptured fantasy. Wead, a veteran Republican toady, acclaims Trump for “the magic of thinking big”; his own padded, puffy volume is an exercise in magical thinking.Like a sun king freshly solarised on the tanning bed, Wead’s Trump radiates “beauty and intellect”. His sons are “well groomed”, his daughters “statuesque”, and his consort bends down from her spike-heeled altitude to “reach out to the suffering”. While Melania is cast as a stilettoed Madonna, Trump functions as a universal paterfamilias. “It’s a father thing,” smarms Jared Kushner to explain Kim Jong-un’s attachment to Trump: Kim’s actual begetter was a maniacal despot, so the chubby ogre has chosen a fitting surrogate.Acclaimed by Wead as the creator of his own “immortal brand”, a lucrative logo that is “etched into the marble of history”, Trump the mass-market Midas dispenses product placements at every turn. Wead, briefly alarmed, sees him press “a big, fat red button” on a table; the command produces one of the dozen Diet Cokes he swills each day, not a missile strike. Having secured the release of an American pastor imprisoned in Turkey, Trump welcomes the former hostage home by offering him a fistful of Tic Tac mints. The pastor kneels to pray and proclaims “a wonderful story of redemption”: lo and behold, the saviour who delivered him from bondage has also cured his halitosis!Wead is equally devout. He marvels at Trump’s “mystical rise to the presidency”, and cites “a privately conducted name-recognition poll” that identifies him as “the second most famous person on Earth, after Jesus”. Since Jesus is not currently on Earth, Trump probably elbows his way to first place – and if, by hook or devilish crook, he does get his venal arse re-elected, we might as well start the countdown to the second coming.• Crime in Progress by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch is published by Allen Lane (£20). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15• A Warning by Anonymous is published by Little, Brown (£20). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15• Inside Trump’s White House by Doug Wead is published by Biteback (£20). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15 Topics Politics books Observer book of the week Donald Trump reviews

Former FBI chief James Comey said on Thursday he will resist a subpoena to appear before a congressional committee on 3 December unless the hearing happens publicly, because House Republicans will distort anything he says behind closed doors.“I’m still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions,” he tweeted.The House judiciary committee chairman, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, subpoenaed Comey as part of an investigation into FBI decisions made during the 2016 election, when Democrat Hillary Clinton was cleared in an investigation into her email use and agents opened an investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.Some Republicans have argued that Department of Justice (DoJ) officials were conspiring against Trump’s election when Comey ran the FBI. They have interviewed multiple current and former DoJ officials behind closed doors in an effort to prove their point.Democrats say Republicans are trying to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation before they lose control of the House in January.Trump’s firing of Comey in May 2017 and subsequent statements about it are among issues under investigation by Mueller. It was reported this week that Trump wanted to force the DoJ to prosecute Comey and Clinton, but was talked out of it by the White House legal counsel.Comey tweeted of House Republicans: “I’ve seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Let’s have a hearing and invite everyone to see.”His lawyer, David Kelley, said in a statement that Comey “will resist in court this abuse of process”. Topics James Comey FBI US politics US Congress House of Representatives Republicans news

Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Zoobia Shahnaz was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically more than $150,000 to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and attempting to travel to Syria to join ISIS. Shahnaz pleaded guilty in November 2018. John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Dermot F. Shea, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the sentence.As set forth in court filings and facts presented at the sentencing hearing, between March 2017 and July 2017, Shahnaz defrauded numerous financial institutions to obtain money for ISIS, including a loan for approximately $22,500. Shahnaz also fraudulently obtained more than a dozen credit cards and used them to purchase approximately $62,000 in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies online. Shahnaz then made multiple wire transfers totaling more than $150,000 to individuals and entities in Pakistan, China and Turkey that were fronts for ISIS.Shahnaz accessed ISIS violent jihad-related websites and message boards, and social media and messaging pages of known ISIS recruiters, facilitators and financiers. She also performed numerous internet searches for information that would facilitate her entry into Syria. Court-authorized search warrants executed at Shahnaz’s residence on Long Island resulted in the seizure of terrorist and jihad-related propaganda, including a photograph of a suicide belt of explosives and a night vision scope. On July 31, 2017, Shahnaz was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, while attempting to board a flight with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey – a common point of entry for individuals travelling from western countries to join ISIS in Syria. The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section and Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorney Artie McConnell is in charge of the prosecution, with assistance provided by Trial Attorney Joseph Attias of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

As a clip from the interview with Scott Pelley was released, Mr. Pelley said on “CBS This Morning” that Mr. McCabe had confirmed a New York Times report that the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, had suggested wearing a wire in meetings with Mr. Trump and that Justice Department officials had discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.“There were meetings at the Justice Department in which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment,” Mr. Pelley said. “These were the eight days from Comey’s firing to the point that Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel. And the highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president.”Former law enforcement officials said the comments were made during a pair of meetings on May 16, 2017. Mr. McCabe and his former colleagues kept contemporaneous memos on their interactions with Mr. Trump and Justice Department officials.According to one of those memos written by Mr. McCabe, an excerpt from which was provided to The Times, “We discussed the president’s capacity and the possibility he could be removed from office under the 25th Amendment,” and the deputy attorney general indicated that he looked into the issue and determined he would need a “majority or eight of the 15 cabinet officials.” Mr. McCabe added that Mr. Rosenstein suggested that he might have supporters in the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security.Mr. Rosenstein had disputed the account about the wire and the 25th Amendment. Former officials said that the days after Mr. Comey was fired were chaotic and that Mr. Rosenstein found himself under enormous pressure.A former Justice Department official who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire said the deputy attorney general had made the remark sarcastically. The department provided an anonymous comment from the official. But Mr. McCabe said the idea came up repeatedly and was taken seriously, Mr. Pelley said.

BERLIN— Facebook Inc. won an appeal to a German antitrust edict regarding how it collects user data across its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, an initial victory for the social-media giant as it faces wide regulatory scrutiny in Europe and the U.S.The Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf on Monday suspended an order of the German Federal Cartel Office to stop Facebook from combining data it collects about users across its platforms, as well as on third-party apps and websites. In a statement, the court said it had “serious doubts” about the legal basis for the cartel office’s decision, issued earlier this year.“Even if the contested data breached data-protection rules, that would not be an infringement of competition law at the same time,” the court said.In February, Germany’s cartel office issued a landmark decision against Facebook, arguing that the social network abused its dominant position in the market by collecting data about its users. The antitrust authority said at the time it planned to use its decision as a basis for further crackdowns against other internet companies.Federal Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt said Monday the regulator planned to appeal the Düsseldorf ruling to the Federal Court of Justice, saying his office disagreed with the court’s findings on the legality of competition law.

Here’s what you need to know:HBO’s ‘Succession’ won in the best drama category.It’s was a big finish for ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ sweeping every comedy award.‘Watchmen’ won best limited series over ‘Mrs. America.’Jimmy Kimmel hosted from a nearly empty arena.ImageJeremy Strong won honors for best actor in a drama for his performance in “Succession” as the tortured scion of a media dynasty.Credit...ABCHBO’s ‘Succession’ won in the best drama category.“Succession,” HBO’s chronicle of a treacherous, ultrarich media dynasty, won best drama series at the 72nd Emmy Awards on Sunday. It was the fifth time in the last six years that HBO has taken television’s most prestigious prize, and the win helped give the cable network bragging rights over its main Emmys rival of recent years, Netflix.Jeremy Strong was honored for his performance as the show’s tortured scion, and the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, won for writing.Going into the ceremony celebrating the year’s achievements in television and streaming, Netflix had 160 nominations, more than any other outlet. But HBO ended up winning 30 awards overall, the most of any network or streaming platform, thanks, in part, to “Watchmen,” the ambitious mini-series that picked up 11 awards, including the one for best limited series.Adapted by Damon Lindelof from a graphic novel, “Watchmen” grappled with white supremacy and police brutality before those topics dominated the news in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. Regina King, who played the masked hero in the series, won in the best actress category, her fourth Emmy.John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight,” an HBO stalwart that has been consistently critical of President Trump, took the best variety talk series for a fifth straight year. And in one of the night’s biggest surprises, Zendaya won best actress in a drama for her role in HBO’s drug-fueled series, “Euphoria.”ImageZendaya receiving the Emmy for best actress in a drama.Credit...ABC TelevisionHBO’s triumphs aside, the night was arguably stolen by the big-hearted Canadian comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” a show that had its final episode in April. The series, created by Daniel Levy with his father, the actor and writer Eugene Levy, won all the comedy awards during the Sunday telecast. The comedy sweep was an Emmys first, according to a Television Academy spokesman.Ratings for “Schitt’s Creek” were minuscule when the show made its debut in 2015. The show caught on after Netflix started streaming its past seasons in 2017.That was one of few bright spots for Netflix at the ceremony.The streaming service with 193 million subscribers worldwide has been nominated for best drama for eight consecutive years — and once again ended up without a win in a category that included three of its programs (“Ozark,” “Stranger Things” and “The Crown”) among the finalists. Netflix was also shut out for the top comedy honors, with not enough academy voters going for “Dead to Me” and “The Kominsky Method.” All told, the platform won 21 Emmys during a week of awards that included the Creative Arts Emmys in the days before the Sunday night show.It’s was a big finish for ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ sweeping every comedy award.ImageEugene Levy accepted the first acting Emmy of his career, for best actor in a comedy.Credit...The TV Academy and ABC Entertainment, via Associated Press“Schitt’s Creek” dominated the first hour of the broadcast, and its cast members received plenty of screen time while celebrating during a viewing party in Toronto, not far from where the show is made. Daniel Levy won four Emmys: for writing, directing, best supporting actor and for best comedy. That haul was the biggest for anyone during the Emmys’ prime-time telecast, a Television Academy spokesman said.“Oh no, oh no,” Levy said, as he accepted the award for best supporting actor, his third of the night. “The internet’s about to turn on me. I’m so sorry.”The show’s stars — the longtime colleagues Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy — won best acting in a comedy honors for their husband-and-wife roles on the show. The wins were their first at the Emmys since the early 1980s, when they were honored for their writing on the groundbreaking comedy series “SCTV.”O’Hara thanked the Levys for giving her the chance “to play a woman of a certain age — my age — who fully gets to be her ridiculous self.”To round it out for program’s fictional Rose family, Annie Murphy won for best supporting actress in a comedy.‘Watchmen’ won best limited series over ‘Mrs. America.’ImageRegina King won the award for best actress in a limited series for her portrayal of Sister Night in “Watchmen.”Credit...ABC Television“Mrs. America,” FX and Hulu’s chronicle of the feminist movement (and counter-movement) in the 1970s, seemed to be the main competition for “Watchmen” in the limited series category. Both shows were of the moment in their close attention to social issues, but Lindelof’s comic-book tale won over the Television Academy at the end of a summer of civil rights protests.In her acceptance speech, King implored viewers to vote in the coming election and paid tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice who died Friday. She delivered her remarks while wearing a T-shirt that honored Breonna Taylor, a Black medical technician in Louisville, Ky., who was killed by police in March.Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who portrays King’s husband on “Watchmen,” won for best supporting actor in a limited series. And Lindelof and Cord Jefferson won for best writing in a limited series for their work on the series.It wasn’t a complete sweep for “Watchmen.” Uzo Aduba, who played Shirley Chisholm in “Mrs. America,” won best supporting actress in a limited series. It was the third Emmy for Ms. Aduba.Jimmy Kimmel hosted from a nearly empty arena.ImageJimmy Kimmel at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.Credit...The TV Academy and ABC Entertainment, via Associated PressBecause of the pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 Americans, the broadcast, on ABC and Hulu Live, looked nothing like ceremonies of years past. The red carpet was canceled, and actors gathered in their homes, among the friends and family members who belonged to their pandemic pods, rather than crowding together in an auditorium to witness the unsealing of the envelopes.The ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel kicked off the proceedings from a nearly empty Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. “Welcome to the Pand-Emmys,” he said at the top of the show.In the opening moments, the host appeared to deliver his jokes to a live audience — but it was footage of crowds from past shows that made it seem as if Oprah Winfrey, Michael Douglas and Jon Hamm were laughing at his remarks.Kimmel eventually gave up the bit to reveal that he was facing empty seats, some of them filled with cardboard cutouts of television stars. “Of course we don’t have an audience,” he said. “This isn’t a MAGA rally.”More than 100 nominees watched his monologue — and would soon broadcast themselves — from far-flung locations ranging from Berlin to Fayetteville, Ga. In an effort to make the broadcast go as smoothly as possible, the Television Academy had sent a kit to each nominee with instructions on how to put together a D.I.Y. studio. It came complete with a ring light, a microphone, a laptop and a camera.Several presenters — including Jennifer Aniston, Tracee Ellis Ross and Jason Bateman — joined Kimmel on a stage built above the Staples Center basketball court. The show had been moved from its usual spot, the Microsoft Theater, to the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, because the arena has the technological wherewithal to accommodate dozens of remote feeds.Although the video quality ranged from high to low, there were few technical glitches.ABC and the Television Academy are hoping that the makeshift quality of the broadcast provided a ratings boost to a show that had grown stale in recent years. Despite the recent boom in scripted entertainment, ratings for the Emmys have declined sharply.The broadcast drew 6.9 million viewers last year, a low. And on Sunday it faced competition from “Sunday Night Football” and the N.B.A. playoffs.

Andrew McCabe, the former acting FBI director, has said top administration officials talked seriously about removing Donald Trump from office just months after he became president.McCabe, who briefly ran the FBI after Trump fired James Comey as the bureau’s director, told CBS’s 60 Minutes that meetings took place at the justice department in the days following the firing to discuss whether Trump could be removed under the 25th amendment.The 25th amendment allows the vice-president and the majority of the cabinet to strip the president’s powers if they determine he is unable to discharge the duties of his office.McCabe is the first official to publicly confirm that such a move was discussed. The New York Times previously reported that the talks took place, citing anonymous sources. McCabe is currently promoting his new book The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.According to 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who appeared on CBS This Morning on Thursday to discuss his interview with McCabe, the talks happened in the eight days between Comey’s firing in 2017 and the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Russian election interference and links between the Trump campaign and Moscow.“The highest levels of American law enforcement were trying to figure out what to do with the president,” Pelley said. “They were counting noses. They were not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president, but they were speculating this person would be with us, that person would not, and they were counting noses in that effort.”The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, offered to wear a wire to record incriminating conversations with Trump, McCabe said, according to Pelley. A justice department official had claimed to the Times that the comment about wearing a wire was made sarcastically, but McCabe told 60 Minutes it was serious.“It came up more than once, and it was so serious that he took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss it,” Pelley said.Responding to the claims on Twitter, Trump tweeted: “McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “Andrew McCabe has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI and our great country.”In the interview, set to air Sunday, McCabe also said he authorized an investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia in the aftermath of the Comey firing. He confirmed reports that the FBI began to investigate whether Trump had obstructed justice, and whether he was knowingly or unknowingly acting as an agent of Russia.McCabe said he ordered the inquiry to protect the investigation into Russian election interference after meeting Trump, because he feared he would be fired and the investigation would end.“I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency, and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage,” he said in a portion of the 60 Minutes interview released Thursday.“I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion. That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that our case was on solid ground and if somebody came in behind me and closed it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without creating a record of why they made that decision.”McCabe was fired two days before he was due to retire.A copy of McCabe’s book was obtained by the Guardian in advance of its widespread release.McCabe makes no apparent mention in the book of any discussion regarding the 25th amendment, nor any other proposal to unseat the president.Instead, McCabe makes what may be a coded reference to Rosenstein’s suggestion that he covertly record Trump. He writes that Rosenstein “wondered aloud” if there was any way to “collect explicit evidence” on Trump’s motivations for firing Comey, but concluded this was not feasible.The book recounts the events of 15 May 2017 and then moves on to 17 May. The New York Times, citing unidentified former justice department officials, reported on Thursday that the discussion of the 25th amendment took place on 16 May.The Atlantic published an excerpt from his new book on Thursday, where he recounted unusual conversations with Trump after Comey’s firing.Trump called McCabe’s wife a “loser” over her failed run for a state senate seat and became irate over his decision to allow Comey to fly home on a government plane after he was fired, McCabe wrote.“Presidents do not, typically, call FBI directors. There should be no direct contact between the president and the director, except for national security purposes,” he wrote. “The reason is simple. Investigations and prosecutions need to be pursued without a hint of suspicion that someone who wields power has put a thumb on the scale.”Jon Swaine contributed to this report Topics FBI Donald Trump James Comey Trump administration US politics news

Enlarge this image Former FBI director James Comey is sworn in during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in June 2017. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Former FBI director James Comey is sworn in during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in June 2017. Alex Brandon/AP James Comey, the former head of the FBI who was fired by President Trump, says he will push back on a subpoena to appear in a closed-door session before the House Judiciary Committee unless he is allowed to testify publicly.The committee, which has also issued a subpoena to former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is looking into how the FBI handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails."I'm still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions," Comey tweeted. "But I will resist a 'closed door' thing because I've seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion.""Let's have a hearing and invite everyone to see," he added.The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte, issued the subpoenas for Comey and Lynch. Comey would appear in private before the body on Dec. 3 and Lynch on the following day. National Security DOJ Report — Expected To Be Stinkbomb For Comey And Lynch — Now Set For Release "While the authority for Congressional subpoenas is broad, it does not cover the right to misuse closed hearings as a political stunt to promote political as opposed to legislative agendas," Comey's lawyer, Daniel Richman, said in a statement a day after the subpoenas were issued on Wednesday."The subpoena issued yesterday represents an abuse of process, a divergence from House rules and its presumption of transparency," he said. National Security Report Condemns FBI Violations In 2016 Clinton Probe But Finds No Political Bias Comey, who oversaw an investigation of then-candidate Clinton's use of a personal email account and a private server while she was secretary of state, was harshly critical of her behavior but concluded that it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense.Even so, some Republicans argue that the Justice Department and the FBI conspired against candidate Trump, hoping to throw the election to Clinton. Democrats say the GOP is hoping to use the issue to derail or discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.Whatever the aim of House Republicans, they are likely feeling the need to act quickly before Democrats, who won control of the chamber in elections earlier this month, take over in January."It is unfortunate that the outgoing Majority is resorting to these tactics," New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said in a statement. "Months ago, Director Comey and Attorney General Lynch both indicated their willingness to answer the Chairman's questions voluntarily," Nadler wrote. "My understanding is that the Republicans have had no contact with either the Director or the Attorney General since."

Not even overwhelming evidence that Trump sought to bribe a foreign power to dig up dirt on his leading political opponent in 202o – and did so with American taxpayer dollars, while compromising American foreign policy – will cause Trump to be removed from office.That’s because there’s zero chance that 20 Republican senators – the number needed to convict Trump, if every Democratic senator votes to do so – have enough integrity to do what the constitution requires them to do.These Republican senators will put their jobs and their political party ahead of the constitution and the country. They will tell themselves that 88% of Republican voters still support Trump, and that their duty is to them.It does not matter that these voters inhabit a parallel political universe consisting of Trump tweets, Fox News, rightwing radio, and Trump-Russian social media, all propounding the absurd counter-narrative that Democrats, the “deep state”, coastal elites, and mainstream media are conspiring to remove the Chosen One from office.So if there’s no chance of getting the 20 Republican votes needed to send Trump packing, is there any reason for this impeachment proceeding to continue?Yes. There are three reasons.The first is the constitution itself. Donald Trump has openly abused his power – not only seeking electoral help from foreign nations but making money off his presidency in violation of the emoluments clause, spending funds never appropriated by Congress in violation of the separation of powers, obstructing justice, and violating his oath to faithfully execute the law.A failure by Congress to respond to these abuses would effectively render the constitution meaningless. Congress has no alternative but to respond.The second reason is political. While the impeachment hearings don’t appear to have moved Republican voters, only 29% of Americans still identify as Republican.The hearings do seem to have affected Democrats and independents, as well as many people who sat out the 2016 election. National polls by Morning Consult/Politico and SSRS/CNN show that 50% of respondents now support both impeaching Trump and removing him from office, an increase from Morning Consult/Politico’s mid-November poll.Presumably anyone who now favors removing Trump from office will be inclined to vote against him next November. The House’s impeachment could therefore swing the 2020 election against him.The third reason for the House to impeach Trump even if the Senate won’t convict him concerns the pardoning power of the president.Assume that Trump is impeached on grounds that include a raft of federal crimes – bribery, treason, obstruction of justice, election fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements to the federal government, serving as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the justice department, donating funds from foreign nationals, and so on.Regardless of whether a sitting president can be indicted and convicted on such criminal charges, Trump will become liable to them at some point. But could he be pardoned, as Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon 45 years ago?Article II, section 2 of the constitution gives a president the power to pardon anyone who has been convicted of offenses against the United States, with one exception: “in Cases of Impeachment.”If Trump is impeached by the House, he can never be pardoned for these crimes. He cannot pardon himself (it’s dubious that a president has this self-pardoning power in any event), and he cannot be pardoned by a future president.Even if a subsequent president wanted to pardon Trump in the interest of, say, domestic tranquility, she could not.Gerald Ford wrote in his pardon of Nixon that if Nixon were indicted and subject to a criminal trial, “the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost”.Had the House impeached Nixon, Ford’s hands would have been tied.Trump is not going to be so lucky. The House will probably impeach him before Christmas and then his chance of getting a pardon for his many crimes will be gone. Topics Donald Trump Opinion US politics Trump impeachment inquiry US Congress comment

Sen. Cory Booker Opposes Filling Supreme Court Vacancy Before Election NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks to New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker about the Republican push to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the presidential election. NPR subscribe to The NPR Politics Podcast podcast Politics Sen. Cory Booker Opposes Filling Supreme Court Vacancy Before Election Heard onWeekend Edition Sunday

Amazon is hosting a hardware launch event this morning at its Seattle headquarters, and has invited the press into the Spheres, Amazon’s urban botanical gardens, to show off the new products. On Monday, CNBC reported that Amazon planned to launch at least eight new products this year, including a voice-controlled microwave, amplifier, subwoofer, and in-car gadget. Some of those will be unveiled at the event today, CNBC said. It’s unclear whether home appliances like the microwave would be wholly Amazon made, or whether that would be through a hardware partnership. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on or confirm the reported new products, other than to say, "we'll have news related to Alexa and Fire TV."Eight new products may seem like a lot, but it’s consistent with Amazon’s overall strategy. The company often introduces low-cost, utilitarian devices designed not just to get people hooked on Alexa, but to get people to use Amazon’s services. Back in 2012, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos divulged that the company wasn’t making any money off of its Kindle e-readers, and was using them instead to acquire customers and to get them to buy stuff. “We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy our devices,” Bezos said at the time. “The continuing relationship with the customer is where we hope to make money over time.”Since then, Amazon’s hardware business has grown far beyond just the Kindle, ranging from tablets to streaming video set-top boxes to Alexa-enabled speakers to non-Amazon devices—including cars—that license the company’s voice-control technology. In 2015, it went so far as selling a “six-pack” of tablets: literally, a package of 6 tablets that cost less than $50 each.Amazon’s retail and cloud services still make up the largest parts of its overall business, but its hardware plays a big role too. Amazon’s plan is to create as many “touchpoints” as possible in your life that could suck you into buying stuff from Amazon, whether that’s through the Echo Dot in your living room, in its Whole Foods grocery stores, or in its cashier-less Go convenience stores. Amazon has shown a ruthless ambition in expanding into as many areas of commerce as possible. Alexa is indeed an excellent voice assistant; it’s also a means to an end.Expect Alexa to be the star of the show today, and not just in the new hardware. We could also see improvements around voice recognition, contextual information, and skills. At last year’s event, Amazon introduced the ability for Alexa to perform multi-step routines based on a single command, something that appealed to smart home lovers with lots of connected products. Over time Alexa has started to show off more conversational features, like suggesting another related topic if the voice assistant doesn’t quite understand an initial query for a news update. We’re expecting that “conversational” aspect of Alexa—something that Google has gotten quite good at with its own virtual assistant—to be a focus today.Given the wide variety of products that could be announced at today’s event, though, it’s not just Google that Amazon is competing with—it’s everyone from Google to Apple to Sonos to appliance makers. Now that every company in Silicon Valley makes smart speakers, and has ever-smarter voice assistants living inside of them, Amazon needs these flashy hardware events to grab a slice of your attention. It's part of the company's bid to get itself in your living room, your kitchen, your car. And it's hoping that with eight or so new products, there will be something for everyone.More Great WIRED StoriesHow to make the most of Apple's iOS 12It'll take way more than this to oust Elon Musk from TeslaThe truth about Amazon, food Stamps, and tax breaksThe hidden link between farm antibiotics and illnessThe rise and fall of the supercut videoLooking for more? Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss our latest and greatest stories

Two lawmakers from Amazon’s hometown in Seattle traveled to New York on Monday to warn the city of potential unintended consequences of the tech company’s planned new headquarters.Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda, members of Seattle’s city council, addressed a summit of activist groups fighting Amazon’s plan for a new campus in Long Island City, Queens. They told the New Yorkers that Amazon’s presence in the west coast city had driven up housing costs, that the company had ducked efforts to make them help pay to address the crisis, and that they should resist it.At the event at the offices of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is attempting to organize workers at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse, the council members urged their New York counterparts to learn from Seattle’s mistakes and demand concessions like labor standards before the company gains a foothold in the city.“Don’t be the city or state that flinches every time a corporation flexes its muscles,” Mosqueda said.“You have the opportunity that Seattle didn’t,” she added. “We didn’t respond fast enough.”Amazon opted to split its vaunted HQ2 into two campuses, in New York and Arlington, Virginia, at the end of a nationwide competition. In Long Island City, the company plans to hire 25,000 employees making an average wage of $150,000. The state and city have promised it up to $3bn in tax breaks and public subsidies, sparking a backlash among local politicians, labor unions, and activist groups.But public opinion polls show that a majority of voters back the project, and Amazon has launched an ad campaign touting the benefits it says it will bring, including $27bn in tax revenue.In Seattle, Amazon occupied 20% of the city’s office space, the politicians said. They said New York could expect many of the well-paying jobs to go not to existing city residents, but to people who will move there. A thousand people a week move to the Seattle region, with an influx of more than 115,000 since the beginning of the decade, Mosqueda said.“The majority of the population that was living in Seattle who were low income, working families has been pushed out … to areas where they are still now having to commute one and two hours into their jobs,” she said.The less affluent have been pushed to areas south of the city, as housing costs have jumped – from 35% above the national average in 2012, to 113% above last year. The median cost of a home is $740,000, according to the lawmaker’s presentation.“More families are getting pushed further and further out, and the demographics in Seattle are dramatically changing,” Mosqueda said. “It’s getting whiter, and it’s getting richer.”Seattle moved to impose a $275-per-employee “head tax” on large employers like Amazon to help pay for homeless services and public housing, but repealed it under heavy opposition from the company.“Our employee hours tax proposal was a threat to Amazon because it could be replicated all over the country,” Herbold said. “We simply weren’t able to counter the influence of big money on public opinion.”In an email to the Guardian after publication of this story, an Amazon spokesperson said the company was “engaging in a long-term listening and engagement process to better understand the community’s needs”. The spokesperson said Amazon had “created more than 250,000 full-time, full benefit jobs across the US that now have a minimum $15 an hour pay and … invested more than $160bn in the US economy since 2011.” Topics Amazon Internet E-commerce New York Seattle news

Byand June 1, 2018 5:30 am ET It is with a certain dread every autumn that some companies described by Amazon.com Inc. as its technology partners gather at a Las Vegas convention and find out if Andy Jassy has new plans to encroach on their turf. These firms run their software on Amazon’s vast array of servers—part of what is known as “the cloud”—and from there sell use of their programs to others. Over nearly three hours, the boss of the Amazon Web Services unit walks the stage, revealing a road map of brand-new features Amazon itself plans to offer,... To Read the Full Story Subscribe Sign In Continue reading your article with a WSJ membership View Membership Options

Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group backed by the Koch family, announced a new ad campaign defending Google and Facebook from antitrust probes launched by state attorneys general in the past week.The group on Tuesday urged the state officials to exercise restraint in going after the companies, saying in an announcement that “consumers will be worse off if antitrust laws are used to advance a political agenda by threatening or breaking up successful companies.”“It’s completely appropriate for state attorneys general to launch this investigation, as long as it isn’t used to create a political spectacle,” Americans for Prosperity’s tech policy analyst, Billy Easley, said in a statement. “There are serious consequences to abusing this kind of enforcement that create troubling ripple effects for American workers and families. The AGs involved should not use this investigation as a means to score political points.”The ads simply say, “Don’t let government abuse antitrust authority” and direct users to a page that prods them to contact their state attorney general.Fifty attorneys general announced a major investigation into Google’s market dominance on Monday and a smaller group of nine offices launched a similar investigation into Facebook last week.The probes are a significant escalation in U.S. regulators’ scrutiny of Silicon Valley giants. The Kochs have been using their influence arms to push back on what they see as an effort to “politicize antitrust laws” to go after the companies.The latest ad campaign will target the attorneys general in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska. The ads will run on Facebook over the next two weeks.