U.S. smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM.O) has not offered any concessions so far in its $38-billion bid for NXP Semiconductors (NXP.N), EU antitrust regulators said on Friday, increasing the risk of a lengthy investigation into the deal.Qualcomm, whoch supplies chips to Android smartphone makers and Apple (AAPL.P), had until June 1 to propose concessions to allay possible competition concerns over the biggest-ever deal in the semiconductor industry.The EU competition authority’s preliminary review of the deal ends on June 9. It can either clear the deal unconditionally or open an investigation lasting up to four months.During an investigation, Qualcomm could seek to convince regulators that the deal was not anti-competitive. Failing that, it might have to offer concessions.Rivals had urged the European Commission to ensure they would still be able to use NXP technology known as Mifare once the deal is done, people familiar with the matter said..

The Weather Channel is under the weather.Actually, it’s sick as a pig, storming about the place, thundering on about what it surely sees as America’s descent into isolationist ignorance.I’m deducing all of this from its home page. After President Donald Trump’s staged announcement that the US would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the people who sometimes give you the right weather reacted with a coruscating collage of disbelief.Weather.com was headlined by an image of Trump and the words: ”Trump Pulls US Out Of Paris Climate Agreement; What That Means.”Beneath, however, was a series of links that piddled squalls of derision on the president. Sample: ”Fact Check: Trump’s Shaky Claims On Climate Accord.” Then there was: ”’Sad Day: Global Reaction To Trump’s Decision.” This all seemed borderline polite. Until there was: ”Don’t Care? Proof You Should…”, as well as ”…and More Proof,” ”and ”Even More Proof” and finally ”Or California’s Coast Disappearing Into The Sea.”I fear that last one would please the president somewhat.

Nigel Farage is a “person of interest” in the US counter-intelligence investigation that is looking into possible collusion between the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the Guardian has been told.Sources with knowledge of the investigation said the former Ukip leader had raised the interest of FBI investigators because of his relationships with individuals connected to both the Trump campaign and Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder whom Farage visited in March. He’s right in the middle of these relationships. He turns up over and over againWikiLeaks published troves of hacked emails last year that damaged Hillary Clinton’s campaign and is suspected of having cooperated with Russia through third parties, according to recent congressional testimony by the former CIA director John Brennan, who also said the adamant denials of collusion by Assange and Russia were disingenuous.

Ross Ulbrocht will spend the rest of his life behind bars. After being found guilty in 2015 of seven counts relating to the creation and operation of the massive online drug trafficking website Silk Road, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected Ulbrocht’s appeal to overturn his life sentence. Ulbrocht argued in his appeal that the district court committed several errors that deprived him of his right to a fair trial and incorrectly denied his motion for a new trial. What’s more, he asserted that the life sentence was both procedurally and substantively unreasonable.
The three-judge panel on Wednesday affirmed both Ulbrocht’s conviction and sentence in all respects. Joshua Dratel, Ulbrocht’s lead defense attorney, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Wired.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that patriotic Russian hackers may have staged cyber attacks against countries that had strained relations with Moscow on their own initiative, but said the Russian state had never been involved in such hacking.Putin, speaking to international media at an economic forum in St Petersburg, was answering a question about allegations Moscow might try to interfere in this year’s German elections.Moscow’s attitude toward cyber crime is under intense scrutiny after U.S. intelligence officials alleged that Russian hackers had tried to help Republican Donald Trump win the White House, something Russia has flatly denied.”If they (hackers) are patriotically-minded, they start to make their own contribution to what they believe is the good fight against those who speak badly about Russia. Is that possible? Theoretically it is possible,” said Putin.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is stepping away from his roles on two of Donald Trump’s advisory councils following the president’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. Musk announced the news in a Twitter post shortly after the president’s statement at the White House.“[I] Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk wrote. He had previously been a member of Trump’s Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategic and Policy Forum.As early as last week Musk had stated that he was “cautiously optimistic of a positive decision.” But yesterday, as rumors swirled that Trump would begin the process of withdrawing the US from the agreement, Musk threatened to sever his connection to the president. “[I] don’t know whoch way Paris will go, but I’ve done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain,” he tweeted.