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Prime Minister Resigns in Nepal Due to Protests
new video loaded: Protests in Nepal Force Prime Minister to Resign
By Axel Boada•
Young demonstrators, targeting symbols of Nepal’s governing elite, set fire to the Parliament building as a second day of unrest forced the prime minister to resign.
Legal Experts Analyze Viability of $800 Million Lawsuit Over Enhanced Games
By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The Enhanced Games, the controversial start-up promoting an Olympic-style event without drug testing, filed an $800 million lawsuit in late August, claiming multiple organizations were illegally blocking athletes from participating in the event.
World Aquatics, USA Swimming and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) were all listed as defendants in the case, accused of making a coordinated effort to target the Enhanced Games. The Games allege that the three organizations are breaking antitrust law by telling athletes not to participate in the competition and are seeking financial damages, along with a court order to halt the orchestrated effort.
In its press release announcing the suit, the Enhanced Games said it is seeking at least $200 million in actual damages, “increasing to at least $800 million after statutory trebling, punitive damages awards, and the recovery of attorneys’ fees.”
Front Office Sports spoke to several legal experts who believe the Enhanced Games may have a legitimate case.
World Aquatics has enacted a new bylaw that bars any Enhanced Games competitors from ever competing in an event sanctioned by World Aquatics, which Marc Edelman, an antitrust expert and sports law professor at Baruch College and Fordham University, said resembles what courts often call a group boycott.
“If the basis for disallowing the individual is that they have competed in a rival game, that sounds like a group boycott and a restraint of trade and a reasonably easy case for an antitrust violation,” Edelman told Front Office Sports.
Enhanced Games President and Founder Aron D’Souza said: “World Aquatics’ By-law 10 is a thinly veiled attempt to strong-arm the swimming community into boycotting the Enhanced Games. They’re holding elite swimmers and support staff hostage, threatening lifetime bans from Olympic events – all without a single anti-doping violation. To claim this is about protecting the ‘integrity’ or ‘health and safety’ of athletes is utter hypocrisy.”
D’Souza said in June that the Enhanced Games would cover the legal fees for any clean athletes who participate in the Games and are then banned from mainstream competition.
Christine Bartholomew, an antitrust law professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law, told Front Office Sports that the plaintiffs will likely have to prove that World Aquatics, USA Swimming and WADA worked together to get the group boycott claim.
“The case does present a viable antitrust theory,” Bartholomew told Front Office Sports. “Boycotts can be illegal under the Sherman Act. The tricky part for the [group boycott] claim is proving the defendants actually agreed rather than acted unilaterally. Whether there are sufficient allegations of an agreement is a frequent question on a motion to dismiss. I anticipate the defendants will raise that challenge as the case proceeds.”
Antitrust attorney Mark Levinstein said it’s a “powerful weapon” that federations like World Aquatics and USA Swimming have, referring to the fact that they ultimately have final say on whether or not an athlete is eligible to participate in the Olympic Games.
“If you control the Olympics and you control all the major competitions that feed to the Olympics, and all the events of the national governing bodies that are part of the Olympic movement, and you can say, ‘If you do whatever it is you’re going to do, you’ll be banned from all of that,’ that’s a powerful weapon,” Levinstein told Front Office Sports.
D’Souza also spoke to Front Office Sports, explaining how World Aquatics is acting in an anticompetitive manner.
“For elite international swimmers, they have the right to participate in multiple markets so they can maximize their compensation,” he said. “By foreclosing competition, (World Aquatics) is reducing the ability of elite swimmers to increase their compensation through fair and protective market competition.”
World Aquatics notably just reached a $4.6 million settlement with former International Swimming League (ISL) athletes in an antitrust case stemming from 2018. The global governing body still has a separate suit with the ISL scheduled to go to trial in early 2026.
The Enhanced Games has scheduled its first event for May 2026 in Las Vegas, with up to $7.5 million up for grabs in prize money across swimming, track and field and weightlifting events. Most notably, $1 million is on the line for breaking the world record in the 50-meter freestyle or the 100-meter dash.
Former Greek Olympian Kristian Gkolomeev has already gone under the world record in the men’s 50 free, doing so after joining the Enhanced Games earlier this year. Other notable swimmers committed to the Games thus far include Olympic medalist James Magnussen, world record holder Andrii Govorov and Bulgarian Olympian Josif Miladinov. American Megan Romano became the first female to join the organization in early August.
In addition to World Aquatics’ bylaw prohibiting Enhanced Games competitors from competing in any of their events, WADA has publicly condemned the Enhanced Games, while USA Swimming sent an email to National Team Athletes, Coaches, and Support Staff in May cautioning them against engaging with the Games.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Law Experts Weigh In On Viability of Enhanced Games $800 Million Lawsuit
Kim Jong Un of North Korea welcomes troops abroad during founding day address.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un greets troops overseas on founding day speech
New Cotton Fabric Could Potentially Filter Out Carbon: A Novel Approach to Carbon Sequestration Methods
Until clean energies such as solar, wind, or green hydrogen become mainstream, a policy of environmental damage mitigation is needed. This includes strategies such as using bacteria to clean up oil spills or carbon sequestration methods2 such as mineralization.
One of the latest additions to the catalog of methods for carbon sequestration is a new type of fabric developed by the University of North Carolina, which also produces a substance that we use daily. To do so, they have used basic materials such as cotton or an extract of crustaceans with very positive results since more than 80% of the CO2 generated is eliminated.
A cotton filter, a new carbon sequestration method
When the team of U.S. scientists sat down to develop this innovative carbon sequestration method, their initial approach was to create a passive technology that would not require energy. So they turned their attention to developing a filter that could be easily installed. The result of their research is a cotton textile with a unique feature: the use of carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme ubiquitous in living organisms that allows Carbon dioxide to be transported in the blood or photosynthesis to be carried out in plants. But what were the stages of the development process?
- The first step was to use a double-layer cotton fabric soaked in a chitosan solution. This extract, from custacean shells, is composed of a polysaccharide called chitin, which is similar to cellulose and has absorbent effects.
- Carbonic anhydrase enzyme was added and remained attached to the chitosan.
- An environment similar to that of a thermal power plant was simulated with a jet of air containing carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
- The material was rolled into a tube through which air mixed with a water-based solution was passed.
- Carbon dioxide, upon reaction with water and anhydrase, was converted to bicarbonate.
The results were quite encouraging, with a double filter removing up to 81.7% of the carbon dioxide at a flow rate of four liters per minute. The amount of water is far from a real industrial environment. In real-world conditions, the figures are over ten million liters per minute.
However, the University of Carolina scientists believe that their method for carbon sequestration is scalable and will have commercial applications in the fight against climate change. In addition, they found that the filters maintained their properties after five washing cycles.
Another issue to be resolved is recycling the water solution with which the gas is mixed once it has passed through the filter. The idea is that this part of the process does not require much energy either.
Carbonic anhydrase: the magic enzyme
The developers of the new filter have described it as “wonderful.” And, if it sounds familiar to you, maybe it is because you have already read some of our articles about it. We are talking about carbonic anhydrase. Numerous applications of this enzyme have been explored in recent years, many of them in medicine. However, one of the most striking is related to construction.
As noted in this article, its use is being investigated in new types of self-repairing bioconcrete, which also offers a new method for carbon sequestration. Anhydrase, being a catalyst that reacts in the presence of carbon dioxide and converts it into calcium carbonate (or bicarbonate), allows cracks in concrete to be sealed when the material is exposed to air and moisture. And it also removes carbon dioxide.
If you want to learn more about carbon sequestration methods to combat climate change, we recommend this article on artificial photosynthesis or this one on a prototype of tires with moss. Of course, you can also subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.
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Second-largest mining deal ever announced: Anglo American and Teck Resources to merge | Mining News
London-listed miner Anglo American and Canada’s Teck Resources plan to merge, marking the sector’s second-biggest mergers and acquisitions deal ever and forging a new global copper-focused heavyweight.
Under the proposed deal, which will require regulatory approvals and was announced on Tuesday, Anglo American shareholders will own 62.4 percent of the new company, Anglo Teck, while shareholders in Teck would hold 37.6 percent.
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Anglo Teck will be headquartered in Canada but have a primary stock listing in London, said the two companies whose combined market capitalisation exceeds $53bn.
The deal to form the world’s fifth-largest copper company is also a big bet on copper by Anglo. Glencore’s $90bn merger with Xstrata in 2013 remains the largest mining deal in history.
Copper, used in the power and construction sectors, is set to benefit from burgeoning demand spurred by electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.
Miners have raced to develop new projects, and there has been a flurry of takeover bids, though no major acquisition has so far succeeded.
Both Anglo and Teck have undergone significant restructuring in recent years, driven by external takeover attempts and strategic shifts within the mining industry.
On the potential of a bidding war for this deal, Teck CEO Jonathan Price told the Reuters news agency that the outcome was out of the company’s control.
Anglo faced a $53bn takeover bid from BHP last year that was ultimately rejected by its board. Teck rejected a $22.5bn takeover offer from Glencore in 2023, though it sold its steelmaking coal business to Glencore for $6.93bn.
“We cannot speculate on that [bidding war], and that is not something we can control. We are focused on getting approval for bringing Anglo and Teck together,” Teck’s Price said.
He said the deal creates “a much larger and much better, higher-quality copper, iron ore, and zinc business”, for shareholders.
“I think the deal itself is a very strong defence,” said one source with knowledge of the negotiations between Anglo and Teck.
The transaction has a zero-premium, all-share structure.
That lack of a premium could open the door to rival bids, but Anglo’s shareholders will receive a $4.5bn special dividend.
“Interloper risk will be a big question for the market on this deal,” Berenberg analysts wrote in a note, adding that Glencore and BHP, notably, could still step in.
While Anglo and Teck can still consider unsolicited acquisition proposals, a $330m break fee would apply.
“This is a consolidation that makes sense and brings complementary cultures together,” said Adam Matthews of the Church of England Pensions Board, an Anglo shareholder.
“Both companies are ones we hold high regard for, and the industry will be stronger for this move,” he said.
Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad will retain that post in the new company, while Teck’s Jonathan Price will be deputy CEO.
Wanblad, speaking to journalists from Vancouver, called the deal a “true merger of equals”, adding that Anglo Teck’s board would be drawn equally from the two companies’ existing directors.
“We will have a stronger, more resilient financial platform with scale advantages, including greater flexibility to reallocate capital dynamically to the highest returning opportunities,” he said.
Cost savings
The tie-up is expected to generate annual cost savings and efficiency gains of $800m by the fourth year after completion, Anglo said.
“As a merger, we absolutely get to draw on the best of both, and we don’t really need to pay away anything on either side in terms of premium to get the full benefit,” Wanblad said.
The two companies operate adjacent copper mines in Chile – Quebrada Blanca and Collahuasi – which is expected to deliver further operational benefits.
Quebrada Blanca is Teck’s flagship mine, but a tailings issue that relates to the disposal of mine waste has seen it miss production guidance, dragging down the company’s shares.
Teck’s Price said securing the regulatory approvals for the deal could take between 12 and 18 months. He added that Canada’s Keevil family, which owns a majority of Teck’s A-class shares, backed the deal.
“We have irrevocable support from Dr. [Norman] Keevil and the other A-share voters,” he said.
A source close to the deal said that the decision to maintain the new company’s headquarters in Canada, safeguarding Teck’s “Canadian legacy”, would likely help ease the way for regulatory approval by authorities there.
Canadian officials had shown hostility to Glencore’s previous bid to acquire Teck, and the source said such concessions in the new deal could help fend off rival bids from companies unwilling to include similar proposals.
Dan Ives, a Tesla enthusiast, is now the chairman of a company that is stockpiling a cryptocurrency linked to Sam Altman.
Crypto’s newest craze is attracting some big names—including one of Tesla’s biggest bulls. On Monday, Dan Ives, an analyst at the financial advisory firm Wedbush Securities and one of the most vocal cheerleaders behind Elon Musk’s electric car company, became chair of a small, publicly traded company that aims to load its balance sheet with cryptocurrency.
Eightco Holdings, a firm that specializes in packaging and retail inventory management, announced that it had raised $250 million through a private share offering to buy up Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency linked to the crypto project World, which itself is backed by OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman.
Ives is a widely recognized Wall Street figure, but he made his name as an analyst, not as the operator of public companies. He may appear to be a strange choice to oversee a board—let alone one devoted to accumulating cryptocurrency—but his appointment comes amid a rush of big names on the boards of so-called digital asset treasury companies, or public firms whose primary aim is to accumulate cryptocurrency, providing investors with exposure to tokens they would normally not be able to trade through brokerage accounts.
Others include Alex Spiro, an attorney to Musk, who is chairing a company dedicated to the memecoin Dogecoin. And then there’s Kyle Samani, a well-known crypto venture capitalist set to chair a different public treasury company for the cryptocurrency Solana.
“It’s a playbook taken out of Hollywood,” said Nick Cote, CEO and cofounder of SecondLane, a newer investment bank that caters to crypto and private markets. “It’s no different than Tom Cruise or whoever gets associated with a movie.”
Treasury boom
That playbook is the latest attempt from digital asset treasury companies to differentiate themselves in an increasingly saturated market. Since January, 209 companies have announced that they were planning to raise more than $145 billion to fund crypto treasury strategies, according to data from Architect Partners, a crypto M&A advisory and financing firm.
Michael Saylor, cofounder and executive chairman of the software company Strategy, first popularized crypto hoarding when his firm announced in 2020 that it was adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet. Traders soon saw its stock as a proxy for Bitcoin, and as the world’s largest cryptocurrency soared in price, shares for Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, surged.
Copycats soon emerged, and, now, there are not only treasury companies devoted to Bitcoin but more exotic cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
To get traction amid the cacophony of new crypto treasury plays, some teams have increasingly resorted to eye-catching names. “It’s an obvious move to get instant eyeballs,” said Marco Margiotta, CEO of House of Doge, the corporate arm of the Dogecoin Foundation.
Margiotta’s company is behind the Dogecoin treasury vehicle with Alex Spiro, who successfully defended Musk against a lawsuit that alleged that the Tesla CEO was manipulating Dogecoin markets. But Margiotta said that his digital asset treasury company doesn’t necessarily need a Tom Cruise-style hero at the helm to thrive. “We already have a community,” he said. “We don’t need a giant spokesperson to go out there.”
Other reasons for adding recognizable individuals to the boards of crypto treasury companies include signaling trustworthiness to Wall Street investors, said Jaime Leverton, CEO at ReserveOne, a digital asset treasury company expected to go public later this year. Her firm expects to add Wilbur Ross, the former U.S. commerce secretary, to its board. “Investors expect credible executives and strong corporate governance as signals of stability,” she said in an email.
Cote, the CEO of SecondLane, said that recognizable names and trustworthy board members were especially important for digital asset treasury companies, given crypto’s tumultuous history. “Crypto has had a history of negativity around it, billions lost, etcetera. So how can we amend that past?” he said. “You have to have credible characters who are leading that charge and telling those stories.”
While it’s unclear why Eightco tapped Ives—who usually comments on Tesla and AI, not crypto—to chair a company now devoted to accumulating cryptocurrency, he did say in an interview with CNBC that he “would not be doing this initiative if it was just a cookie-cutter token strategy.”
A spokesperson for the Worldcoin treasury company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On the new Fortune Crypto Playbook vodcast, Fortune’s senior crypto experts decode the biggest forces shaping crypto today. Watch or listen now
Macron appoints close ally Sébastien Lecornu as France’s new Prime Minister
President Emmanuel Macron has named close ally Sébastien Lecornu as new French prime minister, 24 hours after a vote of confidence ousted François Bayrou as head of his government.
Lecornu, 39, was among the favourites to take over the job, and has spent the past three years as armed forces minister, with a focus on France’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In a statement the Elysée Palace said he had been given the task of consulting political parties with the aim of adopting France’s next budget.
Bayrou had visited the president hours earlier to hand in his resignation, paving the way for Lecornu to become the fifth prime minister of Macron’s second term as president.
Lecornu will face the same challenges as his predecessor, including getting a cost-cutting budget past parliament without a majority.
France has a spiralling public debt, which hit €3.3tn (£2.8tn) earlier this year and represents 114% of the country’s economic output or GDP.
Bayrou had proposed €44bn in budget cuts, and his decision to put his plans to a vote of confidence was always going to fail. In the end France’s National Assembly decided to oust his government by 364 votes to 194.
Lecornu’s appointment has already been condemned by parties on both the left and right, an indication of the difficulties he will face.
On Friday, the credit agency Fitch will reassess France’s debts and could make its borrowing costs higher if it lowers its rating from AA-.
More immediately, a grassroots movement called Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” – is planning widespread anti-government protests on Wednesday and authorities are planning to deploy 80,000 police.
Lisa Yang leaves Goldman Sachs to join Warner Music Group.
Lisa Yang is a respected figure at the crossroads of music and finance.
As Managing Director of Media & Internet at Goldman Sachs‘ Global Investment Research, her analysis commands widespread industry attention.
That’s never truer than with ‘Music In The Air’ — Goldman’s annual deep dive into the music business, which Yang has authored (alongside her team) since she launched it 10 years ago.
But now Yang, who has been with Goldman for 16 years, is leaving the investment and analysis company.
She confirmed in an email to industry contacts on Friday (September 5) that she had “decided it’s time for a new chapter in my career”.
Where’s she going?
Whispers are getting louder amongst MBW’s network that she’s been hired by Warner Music Group.
If Yang does end up at Warner, she’s likely to work closely with another ex-Goldman exec in Michael Ryan-Southern.
Based in New York, Ryan-Southern was recruited by Warner last year to lead M&A activity at the major.
A Warner Music Group spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by MBW about Yang’s mooted arrival at WMG.
In a podcast interview with Music Business Worldwide in 2023, Yang expressed her confidence in the future growth potential of music rights.
Touching on a topic that’s only become more talked-about in the industry in the past year, Yang said: “More broadly, the industry should [consider] how it can better leverage the entire artist-fan relationship.
“That could include access to pre-release songs, ticketing, merchandising, virtual concerts, etc., to really try to monetize every single touchpoint between an artist and their fans.”
The latest edition of Goldman Sachs’ ‘Music In The Air’ was published in June.
It forecast that global paid music streaming subscribers will grow to 827 million in 2025, representing 10% YoY growth from 752 million in 2024.
The paper also forecasts that there will be over 1.5 billion people paying for music streaming subscriptions around the world by 2035.Music Business Worldwide
Israel Orders Gaza City Evacuation through Leaflets
new video loaded: Israel Drops Leaflets Ordering Gaza City Evacuation
By Monika Cvorak•