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Hours earlier, Future Forward, the largest super PAC in Democratic politics, announced it had secured $150 million in commitments over the same period from donors who were “previously stalled, uncertain or uncommitted,” a senior adviser said.

Taken together, the fundraising explosion puts Harris in a dominant position to secure the Democratic Party’s formal presidential nomination at next month’s national convention — if not sooner.

The huge haul also ensures that Harris and her allies can compete with Donald Trump, who has generated stunning fundraising totals of his own in recent weeks as he fights to return to the White House following multiple felony convictions and an assassination attempt.

Nobody really knew what was happening,” said Michael Smith, an Los Angeles donor who, along with his partner James Costos, held numerous fundraisers for Biden.

Chad Griffin, a member of the campaign’s national finance committee and a top Democratic fundraiser in the Los Angeles area, said the party is lucky to have Harris “ready to finish the job she and President Biden started together.”

With Biden’s endorsement, Harris’ campaign appears to have inherited his sprawling national infrastructure and tens of millions of dollars that his team previously raised.

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Created by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 is a road map for the next Republican president, presented in the form of a hefty 922-page playbook.

Some of its most extreme priorities include: eliminating the Department of Education, prohibiting the FBI from fighting misinformation and disinformation and ending the “war on fossil fuels.”

Some of the goals outlined in the project don’t require a president’s involvement at all, and can be carried out by local and state governments.

When asked for comment, Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung told BI: “Kamala is the one with the radical, out-of-touch agenda,” adding that she is “soft on crime” and “hates American energy production and jobs.”

Harris’ statement comes shortly after President Biden quit the race, following weeks of calls from top Democrats telling him to step aside or risk losing the election.

“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted on social media.

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Researchers at the University of Hull recently unveiled a novel method for detecting AI-generated deepfake images by analyzing reflections in human eyes.

Adejumoke Owolabi, an MSc student at the University of Hull, headed the research under the guidance of Dr. Kevin Pimbblet, professor of astrophysics.

In some ways, the astronomy angle isn’t always necessary for this kind of deepfake detection because a quick glance at a pair of eyes in a photo can reveal reflection inconsistencies, which is something artists who paint portraits have to keep in mind.

They used the Gini coefficient, typically employed to measure light distribution in galaxy images, to assess the uniformity of reflections across eye pixels.

The approach also risks producing false positives, as even authentic photos can sometimes exhibit inconsistent eye reflections due to varied lighting conditions or post-processing techniques.

But analyzing eye reflections may still be a useful tool in a larger deepfake detection toolset that also considers other factors such as hair texture, anatomy, skin details, and background consistency.

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In the biggest news of all, Rivian and Volkswagen announced a $5 billion joint venture that will co-develop core parts of the hardware and software platform to be used in cars from both automakers.

We love that because it aligns so beautifully with our mission: the ability to help accelerate putting highly compelling electric vehicles into the market, which will ultimately drive more demand.

A core objective of how we’ve structured the joint venture is that we don’t lose the velocity and the speed and the decisiveness and lack of bureaucracy that exists within our software function today.

Beyond just simplification of how we manage running over-the-air updates across so many different instances, it also gets us a lot of supply chain leverage in a way that we, Rivian, haven’t had in the past.

In fact, you can imagine the day of the announcement, I had a handful of phone calls from CEOs of big semiconductor suppliers, and they’re like, “Hey, we can work harder on pricing.” So, that was awesome.

So, taking away all those mechanical design studio packaging constraints that we had before, and then solving the biggest challenge, which was network architecture by this being that as a project, it’s just a very different type of relationship.

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EMILYs LIST, the PAC focused on electing Democratic women, explicitly endorsed Harris in a tweet and, in a more subtle show of support, also added the tree and the coconut to its username.

The “coconut tree” meme originates from a May 2023 speech Harris gave at a White House event for advancing opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

At one point near the end of her remarks, Harris talked about how the initiative’s work would be focused on young people, but it should also take into account the needs of their families, teachers and communities, “because none of us just live in a silo.”

But the meme tookon new life this summer, after President Biden’s disastrous debate performance fueled speculation that he might step aside as the Democratic nominee.

The RNC compiled a supercut of Harris being “unburdened” and shared it on social media, arguing that it shows she is “unoriginal, annoying, and highly incompetent.” But her supporters have taken ownership of the line.

As Washington Post internet culture reporter Taylor Lorenz wrote: “Harris’s new online prominence could help give the Democratic Party new prominence with young people — including major content creators — who are hesitant to vote for Biden again due to his climate policies, support of Israel’s war in Gaza, mishandling of the ongoing pandemic, and signing a bill that could ban TikTok.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House on Sunday, ending his bid for reelection following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about his fitness for office just four months before the election.

And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter posted to his X account.

The announcement is the latest jolt to a campaign for the White House that both political parties see as the most consequential election in generations, coming just days after the attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

Now, Democrats have to urgently try to bring coherence to the nominating process in a matter of weeks and persuade voters in a stunningly short amount of time that their nominee can handle the job and beat Trump.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced that it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin.

“His decision of course was not easy, but he once again put his country, his party, and our future first,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Joe, today shows you are a true patriot and great American.”

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Police in Bangladesh have been granted “shoot-on-sight” orders and a nationwide curfew has been imposed as student-led protests continue to roil the country, leaving more than 100 people dead.

The curfew, imposed at midnight on Friday, was expected to last until Sunday morning as police tried to bring the swiftly deteriorating security situation under control, with military personnel patrolling the streets of the capital.

In extreme cases, police officers have been granted powers to open fire on those violating the curfew, confirmed Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party.

They began earlier this month on university campuses as students protested against the reintroduction of civil service job quotas that they say are discriminatory and benefit the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister.

Pro-government student groups attacked protesters earlier this week and police were accused of instigating violence by firing teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades at the demonstrators.

Representatives from both sides met late on Friday in an attempt to reach a resolution, with several student leaders demanding a complete reform of the quota system and for universities to be reopened.

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There’s a big piece of paper in the San Francisco offices of Daylight Computer, with a list written in purple ink of all the kinds of devices the company hopes to one day make.

And as CEO Anjan Katta shows me around the office, the rest of the team is preparing for a launch party for its first device, a tablet called the DC-1, it’s clear he’s worried about how the world will respond to his big idea about the future.

Instead of modeling themselves off of purveyors of high tech like Apple or Samsung, Katta and Daylight seem to idolize companies like Patagonia, which both made good things and stands for something.

I like the speckled back and the clicky buttons, but I can’t stop noticing the very slightly misaligned ports or the fact that I can slide my fingernail between the display and the case and literally pry the thing apart.

Live Paper is actually designed to solve some of the weaknesses of E Ink — particularly its slow refresh rate and the ghosting that leaves faint impressions of stuff on the screen for too long.

He hasn’t solved all of them — the DC-1 doesn’t do color, which Katta tells me is technically possible but causes a bunch of other compromises — but the Daylight team has managed to make a 10.5-inch reflective LCD that is almost as easy on the eyes as E Ink and almost as responsive as a typical tablet screen.

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Over the decades, the appliance has fundamentally changed the way Americans shop, cook and eat, and they’re undeniably handy for prolonging the life of so many foods (yes, including tomatoes!

Paul Hollywood, the cookbook author, TV personality and “Great British Baking Show” judge, recently posted a video on TikTok in which he proclaimed that the correct method of storage for bread is not inside an icebox.

We’ve been telling readers this for years: A 1996 test by The Washington Post of various bread-storing methods concluded that “about the worst thing you can do is refrigerate the bread.”

Science notwithstanding, it seems that Team Fridge is strong, and plenty of commenters took issue with the instructions from the guy who should know — after all, you don’t get called “the King of Bread” for nothing.

“You don’t want to put bread in the fridge, ever,” Andrew Janjigian, author of the bread-focused Wordloaf newsletter, told my colleague Aaron Hutcherson last year.

For a crusty loaf, Janjigian prefers to store it cut-side down on the cutting board — a technique that my colleague Becky Krystal also employs at home.

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A widespread technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.

“Due to the worldwide Microsoft outage, all Maryland courts, offices, and facilities will be closed to the public today but will remain open for emergency matters,” the judiciary said in a news release.

“While things are still very uncertain, we do not anticipate a major macroeconomic or financial market impact at this stage,” Jennifer McKeown, chief global economist at Capital Economics, said in a written comment.

At the Narita International Airport near Tokyo, passengers of low-cost carrier Jetstar Japan formed long lines waiting at the airline’s departure counter, where boarding had to be processed manually due to a system failure.

At Hong Kong’s airport, hundreds of travellers were queuing for manual check-in around the counters of budget airline HK Express, which said that its global e-commerce system was affected by Microsoft’s service outage.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the company was working to fix problems created for Windows users of its tools by a recent update in a post on the social media platform X.

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YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted Friday of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on charges that his employer and the U.S. government have rejected as fabricated.

“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal Publisher Almar Latour and Editor in Chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.

State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel on Thursday declined to discuss negotiations about a possible exchange, but said: “We have been clear from the get-go that Evan did nothing wrong and should not have been detained.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, prosecutor Mikael Ozdoyev reaffirmed that Gershkovich was accused of gathering secret information about production and repair of military equipment at Uralvagonzavod, a huge industrial plant about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Yekaterinburg that manufactures tanks.

Russia’s interpretation of what constitutes high crimes like espionage and treason is broad, with authorities often going after people who share publicly available information with foreigners and accusing them of divulging state secrets.

The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, Gershkovich was fluent in Russian and moved to the country in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.

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The Federal Communications Commission wants to standardize the amount of time consumers have to wait to unlock their cell phones to be able to switch carriers.

The agency voted unanimously on Thursday to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to make mobile service providers unlock customers’ phones within 60 days of activation.

Waiting periods and unlocking requirements vary between carriers, which the FCC said in a press release creates confusion for customers.

This is part of Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s efforts to close the digital divide by expanding the E-Rate program, which gives schools and libraries discounts on internet and telecommunications services.

The agency also approved rules to slash the cost of jail calls and prohibit certain fees that drive up prices for incarcerated people seeking to contact their loved ones.

It also sets video call rate caps ranging from 11 to 25 cents depending on the type or size of the jail or prison.

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The Biden administration’s efforts to cancel federal student loan debt for borrowers who enrolled in its new repayment plan took another Republican-led legal hit Thursday.

The courts temporarily halted parts of the repayment plan in late June, including the provision that grants debt forgiveness for borrowers who have made a certain number of payments.

But on Thursday, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals halted that effort in a one-sentence unsigned order.

The court said the new freeze would remain in effect until it decides whether to issue a longer-term block on the effort that was sought by several GOP-led states.

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what the new court order means for borrowers.

In a separate lawsuit, the Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether the Biden administration is allowed to continue implementing the SAVE plan while the litigation fully plays out.

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Obama sees his role as a sounding board and counselor to his former vice president, telling allies that he feels protective of Biden.

In these conversations, Obama has said he thinks Biden has been a great president and wants to protect his accomplishments, which could be in jeopardy if Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress next year.

Obama, perhaps the party’s most revered figure, has tried to keep a lower profile, hoping to draw on his longtime friendship with Biden, his former running mate and vice president.

Former Obama advisers who continue to comment publicly on politics, from his counselor David Axelrod to a group of more junior aides who now run the Crooked Media podcast company, are among the most vocal Democrats arguing that Biden may no longer have a path to victory.

The Post previously reported that Obama has shared concerns about Biden’s path forward after the debate and that the two presidents spoke in the days after.

Movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, a top Biden campaign official, sought to stop Clooney, a longtime friend of his, from publishing the piece but was unsuccessful, according to a person familiar with his outreach.

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Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world.

And Olivia Rodrigo has been hitting milestones with frequency this year: her first album SOUR debuted at the top of the charts in May after the success of three previously released singles, most notably the viral “drivers license” (hence the DMV locale and its “interesting vibes.”)

Her pop stardom may seem sudden, but Rodrigo has been entranced by music and songwriting for the majority of her 18 years, as if she’s been observing the right moves from the backseat of the car until it was time for her to get behind the wheel.

The set begins with an acoustic version of the pop-punk-ish single “good 4 u,” and a similar setup continues with the addition of an echoey, electric guitar in “traitor.”

“drivers license” features only Rodrigo and her keyboard, a shift from the recorded version well-known for Dan Nigro’s production and the ever-present beeping of a car door sensor.

The album allowed listeners to bask in Rodrigo’s heartache as if it were their own, but as she dances around an empty DMV and laughs along to a song about betrayal, she proves that time heals all wounds.

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Donald Trump’s chances of winning the November 2024 presidential election are declining, according to a new aggregation of polls.

It comes after a Presidential Voting Intention poll of 3,601 swing state voters by Redfield & Wilton Strategies, found that Trump’s margins over President Joe Biden have narrowed since June in two key swing states: Florida and North Carolina.

In a post on their website, FiveThirtyEight said their latest predictions can be explained by the flurry of swing-state polls that show Biden is encroaching upon Trump’s lead.

In the week before the shooting, national polls had Trump as the favorite to win the White House, leading narrowly in the six key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

An ABC News/Ipsos/Washington Post poll released Thursday found Biden and Trump are tied among registered voters.

Biden’s fitness for office has been called into question since his shaky debate performance against Trump in June in which he muddled his words and appeared to lose his train of thought.

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“We have parted ways after what happened in Sydney,” Greene said in an email when contacted by Rolling Stone.

The decision came after Gass’ longtime friend and Tenacious D bandmate, Jack Black, announced that the band would cancel all of its remaining tour dates and pause future creative plans.

The incident occurred during the comedy duo’s recent performance in Sydney, Australia, during which Gass made a birthday wish onstage: “Don’t miss Trump next time.” While video showed attendees responding with laughter, the comment garnered the attention of right-wing politicians in Australia, who proceeded to call for Tenacious D’s deportation.

After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold.

Gass issued an apology of his own on social media as well, saying, “The line I improvised onstage Sunday night in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake.

They had also just announced a five-show run ahead of the 2024 election in partnership with Rock the Vote.

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