Category: Tech

• Tesla stock soared 10% on Monday, adding more than $70 billion to its market valuation.
• Tesla jumped after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock and said its Dojo supercomputer could drive 50% more upside.
• “The more we looked at Dojo, the more we realized the potential for underappreciated value in the stock,” Morgan Stanley said.

Tesla stock soared as much as 10% on Monday, adding more than $70 billion to its market value after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “Overweight.”

Morgan Stanley’s renewed bullishness towards the electric vehicle company is driven by the upside potential in its Dojo supercomputer, which the bank says can add another $500 billion to Tesla’s market value.

Analysts led by Adam Jonas called Tesla a “top pick” and raised their price target to $400 from $250, representing potential upside of nearly 50% from current levels.

“The same forces that have driven AWS to reach 70% of Amazon total EBIT can work at Tesla, in our view, opening up new addressable markets that extend well beyond selling vehicles at a fixed price. The catalyst? Dojo, Tesla’s customer supercomputing effort in the works for the past 5 years,” Adam Jonas said.

He said Dojo should help improve Tesla’s full-self driving technology, which requires immense computing power that is well-suited for a supercomputer like Dojo. And a better full-self-driving product should lead to more higher-margin revenues for Tesla, as customers decide to include the add-on FSD software capabilities to their car purchase.

“The more we looked at Dojo, the more we realized the potential for underappreciated value in the stock,” Jonas said. “We believe Dojo can represent the next step-change in market perception of Tesla.”

He estimated that Dojo could drive $6.5 billion in cost savings for Tesla over the next couple of years as the company increases its computing power with the in-house developed supercomputer.

And importantly, Dojo, which is comprised of thousands of GPU chips from Nvidia, can speed up the development of autonomous driving capabilities. 

According to Tesla, Dojo can shorten the time needed for training workloads to less than a week from more than one month.

“The potential efficiency, speed, and cost benefits compared to current GPUs could allow Tesla to materially reduce their autonomy timeline,” Jonas said.

Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer could also help the company develop its humanoid robot and have broader implications for the various science projects being worked on by Musk. And that’s what makes Tesla’s ownership of the supercomputer so special for investors.

“The point we’d make to investors is that Tesla is just one part of a larger area of scientific and commercial interests on which Elon Musk is allocating time, financial resources and talent. We see Tesla as one of the more complex and ‘unifying’ businesses which can serve as an ‘experimental lab’ to iterate on advanced technologies with high degree of mission difficulty,” Jonas said.

If Tesla reaches Morgan Stanley’s $400 price target, it would have a valuation of nearly $1.3 trillion. The stock hit a record high of $414.50 in November 2021.

• Trump told Blake Masters he couldn’t defeat Kari Lake in an Arizona Senate primary, per the Times.
• Masters, the 2022 GOP Senate nominee who lost to Mark Kelly, is poised to jump into the 2024 race.
• But Lake, a star among conservatives, is also considering entering the race, per the Times.

In August 2022, Blake Masters won a competitive Republican Senate primary in Arizona, fueled by an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

At the same time, former television journalist Kari Lake — another Trump favorite — won the GOP gubernatorial primary.

Both candidates were more reflective of the new and Trumpier Arizona Republican Party, which had been moving away from the center-right ideology of figures like former Gov. Doug Ducey and the late Sen. John McCain. Many conservatives finally felt that they had winning candidates that could rally base voters and reverse recent Democratic gains in the state.

But Masters was running against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a strong candidate whose message of political moderation won over voters across the state, especially in sprawling and populous Maricopa County. Kelly defeated Masters 51.4%-46.5% statewide, a key hold for the Democrats as the win helped them maintain control of the Senate.

Meanwhile, Lake — a conservative star who had been bandied about as a potential Trump vice presidential running mate during her campaign last fall — lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs in a much closer race (49.7%-50.3%).

And as next year’s Arizona Senate race heats up, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that Masters is planning to enter the race, Trump is once again looking to make his mark.

The former president reportedly told Masters he didn’t think the ex-candidate could defeat Lake in a Senate primary next year, according to The New York Times.

According to the Times, Lake is eyeing an October entry into the Republican Senate primary.

An individual with knowledge of the situation told the Times that Trump didn’t completely shut the door on backing Masters in the Senate primary and also suggested that Lake may not actually jump into the race.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told the Times that he wouldn’t remark on private talks “that the president may or may not have had.”

Insider reached out to Masters for comment.

Last week, Insider’s Bryan Metzger reported that GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who backed Masters last year, had not spoken with his former endorsee about the 2024 Senate race. Hawley is also up for reelection next year.

“I thought he was a great candidate. I thought he worked really hard,” Hawley said of Masters. “I wish he were here serving.”

GOP Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who was also a Masters supporter last year, told Insider that the Arizona Republican is a “great guy that has a great future in the party.”

“Let’s see what he actually wants to do first, and I’ll make decisions about who I’m endorsing once candidates actually enter the race,” he said.

Arizona could host one of the most unsual Senate races in the country next year.

Kyrsten Sinema, who was elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 2018, became an independent last December, but has generally not shifted in her voting record. Sinema has not yet announced if she’ll seek reelection, but polls indicate that she would struggle against Rep. Ruben Gallego, the current Democratic Senate frontrunner, in the general election.

Meanwhile, a Lake candidacy would energize Trump conservatives in the state, but her gubernatorial loss in Maricopa County — which contains roughly 60% of the state’s population — would be a red flag for many Republicans looking for a candidate with stronger suburban appeal.

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who has pushed for stronger security measures at the US-Mexico border, is the only major Republican in the race.

• Joe Scarborough blasted Tommy Tuberville over the Alabama senator’s blockade of military promotions.
• “Hey Tommy, you’re not coaching football anymore,” Scarborough said on his “Morning Joe” program.
• Tuberville has continued to defend his stance, driven by the Pentagon’s post-Roe abortion policies.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Friday tore into Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama over his monthslong blockade of critical military appointments, calling the conservative lawmaker the “perfect example” of “rot” within the GOP.

On his program, “Morning Joe,” Scarborough remarked on Tuberville’s past life as a college football coach at institutions that included Ole Miss, Auburn University, Texas Tech, and the University of Cincinnati — and stated that Tuberville needed to realize that he is no longer on the football field.

“I tell you what, if I’m running that conference, I’m getting everybody in a press conference, and we’re telling Tommy, ‘Hey Tommy, you’re not coaching football anymore. We’re not talking about X’s and O’s. We’re not talking about whether you go to the Sugar Bowl or the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl or whatever bowl you want to go to,’” Scarborough said.

“Tommy, this is life and death,” he continued. “This is about the strength of the United States military. This is about us being able to have leaders in place to project power. This is about not having the Marine Corps commandant for the first time in 150 years. This is about three services not having a military leader with a full range of power necessary to plan forth.”

Scarborough, who served as a Republican congressman from Florida from 1995 to 2001, didn’t relent on his criticism of Tuberville during the segment.

“This is about children whose mothers and fathers have chosen to serve in the United States military to protect and defend this country — children who don’t know right now as a new school year starts where they’re going to go because promotions have been held up because they’re all sitting in limbo because Tommy Tuberville is trying to make a point about abortion,” he said.

Tuberville, incensed that the Pentagon responded to last year’s overturn of Roe v. Wade by affording service members time off and travel expenses for reproductive healthcare, including abortion procedures, isn’t letting go of his six-month blockade against what he feels is the Biden administration’s push to make the military into an “institution for left-wing social engineering.”

Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen

Because of Tuberville’s blockade, more than 300 senior military leaders have not been able to receive their promotions. His hold has so far prevented the installation of permanent leaders for the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. is now awaiting confirmation to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is also being held up by Tuberville.

Such a development would be concerning from a national security standpoint in normal times, but with the United States continuing to aid Ukraine in its efforts to fight Russian military forces, the ramifications of the blockade have continued to frustrate a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Tuberville on Wednesday continued to defend his blockade, criticizing the public recitation of poems by military personnel.

“Secretary [Carlos] Del Toro of Navy, he needs to get to building ships, get to recruiting, and he needs to get wokeness out of our Navy,” the first-term lawmaker said during a Fox News interview. “We’ve got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker. It is absolutely insane the direction we’re headed in our military.”

Scarborough then lumped in Tuberville with what he said are major problems with the Republican Party.

“There’s a rot in the GOP and Tommy Tuberville is a perfect example of it,” he said.

“I’m sick and tired of these Republicans tearing down the United States of America,” he added.

• Elon Musk reportedly blocked Ukraine from using Starlink for an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
• The SpaceX CEO was concerned about nuclear war, according to biographer Walter Isaacson.
• SpaceX has admitted to limiting Ukraine’s use of Starlink satellites for offensive military operations.

Elon Musk, expressing concerns about nuclear war following conversations with Russian government officials, personally intervened to block Ukraine from carrying out a drone strike on Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet, according to a biographer who spoke with the CEO of SpaceX.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s military has heavily relied on the satellite communications network known as Starlink, crediting it with allowing front-line troops to stay in contact with their commanders. The system is owned by SpaceX, which — with the help of private donations and US taxpayer funding — has provided Ukraine with thousands of Starlink terminals since February 2022.

But according to journalist Walter Isaacson, author of an upcoming biography on the SpaceX founder, the militarization of Starlink has made Musk deeply uncomfortable.

“How am I in this war?” Musk asked Isaacson during an interview, according to an excerpt from the book reported on by CNN. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”

It has previously been reported — and admitted by SpaceX leadership — that steps have been taken to prevent Ukraine from using the Starlink system for certain attacks. Last fall, Ukrainian forces reported “catastrophic” outages in areas that had previously been occupied by Russia, suggesting the system had been deliberately deactivated there, possibly to deny Russian access (Musk, at the time, said information regarding Starlink’s use on the battlefield was “classified”).

In July, The New York Times, citing “two people familiar with the discussions,” reported that Musk had personally denied a Ukrainian request to allow Starlink to be used for a maritime drone attack near Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Ukraine has carried out multiple such attacks using remotely operated vessels loaded with explosives to ram into Russian ships.

According to Isaacson, Musk himself ordered Starlink engineers to deactivate the system along the coast of Crimea, thwarting a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian fleet (the drones “lost connectivity and washed ashore”). He then rejected a direct appeal from a top Ukrainian official to enable the system for future such attacks, per Isaacson.

It is not clear whether Musk had the system deactivated to thwart a specific attack or whether, more generally, he was concerned about Ukrainian actions near Crimea. But last year, political analyst Ian Bremmer, after speaking with Musk, said the billionaire had rejected Ukrainian requests to activate the system near the Russian-occupied territory, citing concerns about nuclear war.

Indeed, Musk has publicly cited concerns that Ukrainian efforts to reclaim the peninsula could prompt a nuclear response from Russia, a fear that, according to Isaacson, was heightened by conversations he had with senior Russian officials.

The Kremlin has repeatedly hinted at the potential use of nuclear weapons, a tactic meant to dissuade Western governments from supporting Ukraine militarily, according to experts.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment. But the company’s president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, has previously admitted taking steps to limit Ukraine’s ability to use Starlink for offensive purposes.

The system was “never meant to be weaponized,” Shotwell said earlier this year, citing Ukraine’s use of Starlink for drone reconnaissance and attacks. “There are things that we can do to limit their ability to do that,” she said. “There are things that we can do, and have done.”

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

• Ukrainian forces are making steady territorial gains in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. 
• They recently liberated the village of Robotyne and are pushing just outside nearby Verbove.
• In doing so, Kyiv’s troops have fought against the formidable Surovikin Line. Here’s what that is.

Ukraine is fighting to get past Russia’s tough defenses, specifically a line of fortifications named after a fearsome Russian general — the Surovikin Line. It’s a nasty fight, but its forces are gaining ground.

An area where Ukrainian offensive operations are gaining momentum is just south of Orikhiv, a city in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. Kyiv’s forces have managed to liberate a pocket of territory just below the city, and the goal is to eventually drive all the way down to the Sea of Azov, split Russian-held land in half, and sever ground lines of communication between occupied Kherson and Crimea in the south and the eastern Donbas region.

Ukraine liberated Robotyne, a small village in the pocket, in late August and has since pushed to the northwest corner of Verbove, a settlement just a few miles east. As they approach Verbove, Kyiv’s troops have are pushing against the main part of the so-called “Surovikin Line.”

The Surovikin Line is a complex system of defensive fortifications and obstacles across Russian-occupied territory in southern and eastern Ukraine. Contrary to what its name suggests, the Surovikin Line is not one single line stretching across the land but is actually multiple lines that connect and intertwine. 

But as the name implies, it is named after Russian Army Gen. Sergey Surovikin, who oversaw the construction of these defenses when he was Russia’s overall theater commander last fall. They were constructed as a reaction to Ukraine’s lightning-fast counteroffensive operations in the northeastern Kharkiv region at the end of summer 2022. 

Once a celebrated general, known by as “General Armageddon” among supporters, Surovikin’s career took a nosedive when he was replaced by Gen. Valery Gerasimov in January. He was detained in the wake of the Wagner Group’s late-June mutiny for his ties to the mercenary organization, and although there are indications he was recently released, his military career is suspected to be all but over. Nevertheless, his defensive legacy lives on in Ukraine. 

A graphic of the Surovikin Line published by the Institute from the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, shows just how intricate it is, and an interactive map reveals its layers, depth, and connectivity. 

The Surovikin Line has a visible main defensive line consisting of three layers of various obstacles and fighting positions, George Barros, a Russia analyst at ISW, told Insider in an email. These defensive positions have been the target of Ukrainian advances in recent days outside Verbove. 

To even reach the main line, Kyiv’s soldiers have had to move through sprawling minefields — which has proven to be a slow and painstaking process.

The first actual layer of the Surovikin Line is an anti-vehicle ditch that’s designed to prevent tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other heavy armor from advancing. Beyond that is the second layer, a row of dragon’s teeth, which are concrete spikes further intended to stop vehicles. The third layer consists of trenches manned with Russian soldiers who can observe the ditches and the dragon’s teeth from their fighting positions. Barros said it is likely that there are mines between each of the layers as well. 

“Ukrainian forces are using light infantry to maneuver and fight through tree lines and hedgerows to outmaneuver the field fortifications. We’ve seen Ukrainian infantry slip past the ditch and the dragon’s teeth and even reach the final row of the fighting positions,” Barros explained.

He cautioned, though, that Ukraine has yet to actually breach the lines and create a big enough opening to allow for heavy armor or additional personnel to move through. The telltale indicator is that the ditches and dragon’s teeth are still there.  

REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi

Not far south of Robotyne and Verbove is the city of Tokmak, a heavily fortified important rail and road hub for the Russians. The direction of the apparent main axis of the Ukrainian advance is one of the most well-defended areas, war experts Rob Lee and Michael Kofman wrote in a recent analysis of the counteroffensive. 

That said, Ukrainian military officials have suggested that it could be easier for Ukraine’s soldiers to pierce the next line of defensive obstacles because Russia’s network of fortifications isn’t as strong as the initial one, which is where Russia put the bulk of its effort in order to blunt the Ukrainian offensive.

Barros said Russia’s fortifications beyond the main line are less formidable because they aren’t as well-manned as the area where fighting is currently taking place. Moscow put more emphasis on defending the forward lines and lacks the personnel to spread itself across all the lines. 

“A Ukrainian breakthrough in one portion of the line could shatter the Russian defense if Russian forces caught in the breakthrough are not able to withdraw in good order to the next prepared positions,” he said. 

Our experts answer readers’ banking questions and write unbiased product reviews (here’s how we assess banking products). In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.

TD Bank: Overall Bank Rating

For our TD Bank review, we rate bank products and services using a variety of methodologies. Learn more about our how we review products below:

TD Bank: Pros and Cons

Compare Today’s Savings Rates

TD Bank Personal Bank Accounts

TD Simple Savings Account

TD Signature Savings

TD Bank (Member FDIC) has two savings accounts: TD Signature Savings and the TD Simple Savings Account.

The TD Simple Savings Account makes it easy to waive monthly service fees during the first year — just make a recurring deposit of at least $25 each month. After that, you’ll need to maintain a minimum daily balance of $300 or meet certain age-specific requirements. 

TD Signature Savings generally offers more competitive interest rates than TD Simple Savings Account for most account balances. However, you’ll need to be mindful of a $15 monthly service fee. To waive the monthly fee you must maintain a $10,000 minimum balance, link to a TD Beyond Checking Account, or open an IRA.

If you qualify for a relationship rate, you’ll also earn a higher interest rate on TD Signature Savings, especially on higher balances. To qualify for a relationship rate, you must link a savings account to a TD Bank personal checking account, small business checking account, credit card, mortgage, or home equity loan.

See Insider’s TD Bank savings rates review.

TD Bank Simple Checking Account

TD Bank Convenience Checking Account

TD Bank Beyond Checking Account

TD Bank offers a variety of checking accounts. You don’t need a minimum deposit to open any TD Bank checking account. However, all of the accounts have monthly service fees. You can waive monthly service fees on some TD Bank checking accounts by meeting certain minimum balance requirements or if you fit a specific age group.

See Insider’s TD Bank Checking Account review.

TD Bank Choice Promotional CD

TD Bank No-Catch CD

TD Bank Step Rate CD

TD Bank CD rates are relatively low overall, with the exception of a few terms. It also has a no-penalty CD and a step-up CD, though, so TD is a good choice if you want a variety of options.

TD Bank Auto Loans

TD Bank is an indirect lender, so you won’t be able to get an auto loan directly from the financial institution. Information about auto loans term, rates, and fees isn’t available online. You’ll have to find a dealership partner to learn more about TD Bank auto loans.

See Insider’s TD Bank auto loans review.

TD Bank Personal Loans

TD Bank has unsecured personal loans called Fit Loans. You may qualify for a Fit Loan if you live in a state that has a TD branch. Loan amounts range from $2,000 to $50,000.

See Insider’s TD Bank personal loans review.

TD Bank Mortgages

TD Bank may be a solid choice if you’re looking for a variety of home loans. The bank has conforming loans, FHA loans, VA loans, construction loans, jumbo loans, Medical Professional mortgages, TD Right Step mortgages, TD Home Access mortgages, home equity loans, and HELOCs.

See Insider’s TD Bank mortgage review.

TD Bank Credit Cards

TD Bank also offers several types of credit cards, including secured credit cards, travel credit cards, and cash back credit cards.

The TD Double Up℠ Visa Credit Card is notably listed in our guide for the best 2% cash back credit cards as a top pick for TD Bank customers.

How TD Bank Works

TD Bank is a brick-and-mortar financial institution on the East Coast with over 1,100 branches and 2,600 free ATMs. Branches are accessible in the following states:

• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington, DC

Customer service is available 24/7 over the phone. Branches are open on weekdays, some are also open on Saturdays, and others are open seven days per week.

The bank’s mobile app has received 4.8 out of 5 stars in the Apple store and 4.2 out of 5 stars in the Google Play Store. 

TD Bank is FDIC-insured, which means you may safely keep up to $250,000 in an individual bank account. 

Is TD Bank Trustworthy?

In our TD Bank review, we including ratings from the Better Business Bureau. The BBB grades companies based on how they deal with customer issues.

TD Bank has an A+ rating from the BBB. Bear in mind a good BBB rating isn’t necessarily the be-all and end-all. Consider talking to current customers or reading online customer reviews to get a well-rounded perspective of TD Bank.

TD Bank has been involved in one recent public controversy. In 2020, the US Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection required TD Bank to pay $122 million in a settlement that accused the bank of charging customers a Debit Card Advance service without their permission.

TD Bank Review vs. Citizens Bank Review

Citizens Bank has more than 1,200 branches and 3,300 ATMs along the East Coast and Midwest. It has locations in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, DC. 

You might prefer Citizens Bank over TD Bank if you’re searching for more savings account options. Citizens Bank has a personal money market account while TD Bank doesn’t.

Citizens also might be worth considering for auto loans if you live in Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Rhode Island. The bank is piloting an auto loan program in these areas right now.

TD Bank may be a better choice if you’re searching for more options for home loans. For example, TD Bank offers a physician home loan.

TD Bank Review vs. Bank of America Review

Bank of America has 4,200 branches in 37 states and DC, while TD Bank has around 1,100 branches in 15 states and DC. Bank of America could be a better option if you want a larger branch network.

You might prefer TD Bank if you’re looking for more options for home loans. Bank of America doesn’t have home equity loans or construction loans.

TD Bank: Frequently Asked Questions

Sophia Acevedo, CEPF

Banking Reporter

Evelyn He

Compliance Associate

Evelyn He is a compliance associate at Insider who supports the Personal Finance Insider team. Personal Finance Insider is Insider’s personal finance section that incorporates affiliate and commerce partnerships into the news, insights, and advice about money that Insider readers already know and love.
The compliance team’s mission is to provide readers with stories that are fact-checked and current, so they can make informed financial decisions. The team also works to minimize risk for partners by making sure language is clear, precise, and fully compliant with regulatory and partner marketing guidelines that align with the editorial team.
Before joining Insider, she served in various legal and compliance roles in different industries, including the legal and pharmaceutical industries.   
Evelyn obtained her M.S. degree in Marketing at Boston University in 2022. Prior to combining and consolidating her knowledge of law and business, she spent one year finishing 1L courses at Suffolk University Law School to further her legal knowledge. She has also completed MBA business law courses while working on her Bachelor of Business Administration in Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 
Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her 14-year-old Shih Tzu named Money, and her 5-year-old Bichon named Tibber.

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• The federal government has a $22 million surveillance clothing program, according to The Intercept.
• The initiative will develop shirts, pants, socks, and underwear that can record audio and video. 
• If viable, the washable garments will be used by US intelligence employees or those in high-stress environments. 

Wearable technology is quickly evolving beyond Fitbits, Apple Watches, and Oura Rings. 

The federal government is reportedly funneling $22 million into developing ready-to-wear clothing that can record audio, video, and geolocation data through something its calling The Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems program, or SMART ePANTS, for short, according to The Intercept. Garments slated for the production include shirts, pants, socks, and underwear, all of which are intended to be washable, The Intercept reported. 

The program “represents the largest single investment to develop Active Smart Textiles (AST) that feel, move, and function like any garment,” according to an August 22 press release from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. 

SMART ePANTS is being developed under the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, an agency that describes itself on its website as investing in “high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the Intelligence Community (IC).” In other words, funding moonshots like underwear that’s as stretchable and washable as normal underwear, but can also record your every move.  

If successful, though, the garments could significantly improve the capabilities of those working government agencies like the Department of Defense, first responders at the Department of Homeland Security, those in the Intelligence Community, or others working in high-stress environments like crime scenes and arms control, Dr. Dawson Cagle, the program manager for SMART ePANTS, explained in a press release from the IARPA. 

Cagle, who was previously a weapons instructor with the United Nation according to his LinkedIn page, said in the IARPA’s release, “as a former weapons inspector myself, I know how much hand-carried electronics can interfere with my situational awareness at inspection sites.” 

He added, “in unknown environments, I’d rather have my hands free to grab ladders and handrails more firmly and keep from hitting my head than holding some device.”

Some are worried, though, that the SMART ePANTS program could lay the groundwork for more invasive forms of surveillance. 

Annie Jacobsen, an investigative journalist and author of The Pentagon’s Brain, told The Intercept, “they’re now in a position of serious authority over you. In TSA, they can swab your hands for explosives.” 

She added, “now suppose SMART ePANTS detects a chemical on your skin — imagine where that can lead.” 

While the IARPA did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for a comment, a spokesperson for the agency told The Intercept, “IARPA programs are designed and executed in accordance with, and adhere to, strict civil liberties and privacy protection protocols. Further, IARPA performs civil liberties and privacy protection compliance reviews throughout our research efforts.”

 

• An ape skull found in Turkey may challenge the belief that human and ape ancestors came from Africa.
• The discovery suggests that hominins may have first evolved in Europe.
• Not all scientists are convinced by the theory, however.

The discovery of an ancient ape skull may challenge the long-held belief that the ancestors of apes and humans came from Africa, a controversial new study says.

The partial skull of the ape, called an Anadoluvius turkae, was found in Cankiri, Turkey, and appears to date back to 8.7 million years ago, Live Science reported.

Meanwhile early hominins, which include humans, the African apes, and their fossil ancestors, are not seen in Africa until around seven million years ago.

The discovery challenges the widely-held view that the ancestors of African apes and humans originated exclusively in Africa.

Researchers say that this suggests that hominins might have first evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa.

Sevim-Erol, A., Begun, D.R., Sözer, Ç.S. et al.

“Our findings further suggest that hominins not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over five million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests,” said Professor David Begun, a paleoanthropologist from the University of Toronto and co-senior author of the study, per The Telegraph.

“This new evidence supports the hypothesis that hominins originated in Europe and dispersed into Africa along with many other mammals between nine and seven million years ago, though it does not definitively prove it,” he said.

In order to prove this, more fossils from Europe and Africa would need to be found from between seven and eight million years ago to try and find a link between the two groups, he added.

The finding suggested that the ape would have weighed around 110 to 130 pounds, possibly lived in a dry forest, and likely spent a lot of time on the ground.

The skull was found in 2015 but its significance was discussed in research recently published in the journal Communications Biology.

Other researchers have said that the findings do not challenge our understanding of the origins of humans.

“This has been a long-running debate regarding great ape and our origins,” said Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London, The Telegraph reported.

“I don’t think this find changes much from the discussions (in a recent paper in the journal Science) which concluded: ‘Current evidence suggests that hominins originated in Africa from Miocene ape ancestors unlike any living species.’”

• One of Russia’s richest men, Andrey Melnichenko, said the Ukraine war had made him a “pariah.”
• Melnichenko now lives in the UAE, where his $300 million Motor Yacht A is moored.
• His $578 million Sailing Yacht A was seized by Italian authorities shortly after he was sanctioned.

One of Russia’s richest individuals said he’d become a “pariah” in the United Arab Emirates where he fled after being sanctioned.

In an extensive interview with the Financial Times, Andrey Melnichenko decried the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on his personal life, while also saying there were “war crimes from both sides” in the conflict.

Melnichenko was sanctioned in March last year after attending a roundtable of Russian business figures hosted by Vladimir Putin in February.

The businessman, who made his money from coal and fertilizers, previously said that he only found out he had been sanctioned when he read about it in the news.

“I don’t make weapons for the war. I make food for people and energy for power stations all over the world. I don’t promote the war. I’m not involved in politics. What’s the point?” Melnichenko told the FT.

Melnichenko berthed his $300 million Motor Yacht A in the UAE last year. His $578 million Sailing Yacht A was seized by Italian authorities shortly after he was sanctioned.

His net worth more than doubled to about $25 billion after the invasion and subsequent sanctions on Russia forced a spike in fertilizer prices, per Forbes.

Sanctions against Russian oligarchs have changed the lives of several influential billionaires who previously spent much of their time in the West.

Former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, for example, was forced to sell the club and now resides in Israel, per Le Monde.

Oligarchs had a collective $95 billion wiped off their net worth last year, according to Guardian analysis of Bloomberg Billionaires Index data.

Last week, the FT reported that tech billionaire Arkady Volozh had appealed sanctions placed on him by the EU, just days after he first criticized the war.

Oleg Tinkov managed to get sanctions against him in the UK lifted after slamming Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and getting the backing of British business tycoon Richard Branson.