Stocks are drifting higher in late trading on Wall Street, continuing this week’s lull as markets wait for several big events next week

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With the power of social media, the most unsuspecting moments have the ability to become a worldwide internet meme in the blink of an eye and that is certainly what happened with the emergence of the 'Flying Adam Warlock' meme from the new Guardians of the Galaxy film. Flying Adam Warlock makes reference to a video that comes from the 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It shows the fictional character Adam Warlock, played by British actor Will Poulter, flying towards the camera in the direction of the viewers. It is the first scene that Warlock’s character appears in and he makes quite the entrance, gradually flying close to the camera while the Heart song Crazy on You plays in the background. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The scene became an instant meme and was used widely on TikTok as a video format to which users would add their own text overlay for some amusing meme content. According to Know Your Meme, the earliest iteration emerged on YouTube and was shared by the account Smashzilla. It featured the video of Warlock, while text over the top read, “Me on the way to your mom’s house”. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Adam Warlock (First appearance) Meme | smashzilla memes 188 www.youtube.com Since it first appeared, the format has exploded across platforms like TikTok. One clip that has been viewed over 2.6 million times had text overlay reading: “Mum: ‘Just be home by 10pm’. Me at 2am:” @justashelfthesecond Real. #guardiansofthegalaxyvol3 #guardiansofthegalaxy #gotg3 #gotg #relatable #marvel #viraltiktok #viralvideo #viral #trendingvideo #fyp #fypage #fypシ゚viral #foryourpage #foryoupage #adamwarlock #mum #me #literallyme Others even attempted to recreate the Flying Adam Warlock meme themselves. In one video with 1.2 million views, a guy could be seen lying on a longboard and rolling towards the camera resembling the original clip. @dankusama0.0 Right on time ? #fyp #fypシ #fypage #foryoupage #foryou #real #relatable #meme #memes #humour #haha #hehe #funnyvideo #gym #gymtok #gymrat #gymbro #gymmeme #gymmemes #guardiansofthegalaxy #adamwarlock #humour #gymlife #fitness #fittok #marvel One TikToker replied: “This COULD be Adam Warlock.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

When NASA’s Perseverance Rover observed an image from Mars of its moon Phobos eclipsing the Sun, it was a reminder that the astronomical body is doomed to crash into the planet. Phobos is the closest of Mars’ two moons and it is due to fall out of orbit relatively soon. When it does, it will either crash into the surface of the planet or break up completely. Before it does, it will drift ever closer to Mars at a relatively rapid rate. "Phobos is nearing Mars at a rate of six feet (1.8 meters) every hundred years; at that rate, it will either crash into Mars in 50 million years or break up into a ring," NASA says about the moon. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A statement about the recently recorded eclipse states: "Scientists already know that Phobos is doomed. “The moon is getting closer to the Martian surface and is destined to crash into the planet in tens of millions of years. But eclipse observations from the surface of Mars over the last two decades have also allowed scientists to refine their understanding of Phobos’ slow death spiral." NASA's Perseverance Rover Sees Solar Eclipse on Mars www.youtube.com Mars is the subject of much scientific interest right now, especially after Nasa discovered “diverse organic matter” on the surface of the planet, which could change our understanding of the red planet and the search for life in the universe. The Perseverance rover made the discovery in the Jezero Crater on Mars and a number of different explanations for the existence of the material have been posited. The materials could have been formed when water and dust interacted, or was dropped onto the planet by dust or meteors. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

HONG KONG Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the global rise of artificial intelligence (AI) with Bill Gates and

Hostile states are using organised crime gangs to carry out illegal activity in the UK, the head of the National Crime Agency has warned. NCA director-general Graeme Biggar highlighted “the emerging links between serious and organised crime and hostile states” in a speech outlining the agency’s annual assessment of crime threats to Britain. Speaking in Westminster, central London, on Monday, he said: “North Korea has for some time used cybercrime to steal funds and more recently cryptocurrency. “The Russian state has long tolerated and occasionally tasked the cybercrime groups on its territory, and had links with its oligarchs and their enablers. “And over the last year we have seen hostile states beginning to use organised crime groups – not always of the same nationality – as proxies. “It is a development we and our colleagues in MI5 and CT (counter-terrorism) policing are watching closely.” Mr Biggar said the biggest group of offenders in the UK is those who pose a sexual threat to children, estimated to be between 680,000 and 830,000 people – around 10 times the prison population. He warned that the availability of abuse images online has a radicalising effect by normalising paedophiles’ behaviour, and that viewing images, whether real or AI-generated, increases the risk of someone going on to abuse a child themselves. There are around 59,000 people involved in serious organised crime in the UK, with around £12 billion generated by criminal activities each year, and around £100 billion of dirty cash from across the globe laundered through the UK. Key threats to the UK include: – Criminals exploiting migrants travelling to the UK in small boats. The number of arrivals doubled to more than 45,000 in 2022, with gangs using “bigger, flimsier, single-use boats” and packing more people on to each craft, Mr Biggar said. – Illegal drug use that fuels a raft of other crimes including violence, theft, use of guns and modern slavery. Nearly 120 tonnes of cocaine and 40 tonnes of heroin are consumed in the UK every year, and NCA analysis of waste water suggests cocaine use is increasing by 25% in some areas. The agency wants to stop the use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl getting a hold here as they have done in the US. – Online fraud, which accounts for more than 40% of all crime. Mr Biggar said: “We assess that 75% of fraud is partially or fully committed from overseas. Generative AI is also being used to make frauds more believable, through the use of ever better deep fake videos and Chat GPT to write more compelling phishing emails.” Mr Biggar said developments in technology such as increased use of end-to-end encryption are making the agency’s work harder. He finished his speech by saying: “Law enforcement, including the NCA, needs to do more to be at the leading edge of new technology: this will require collective vision and sustained investment. “And, secondly, we need more effective strategic partnership from technology companies. “This is about responsible behaviour about designing public safety into their products alongside privacy, so that we all reap the benefits from technology, rather than suffering their consequences.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Kim Kardashian, Rylan Clark and Dalai Lama among those joining new app Threads Mastercard helping banks predict scams before money leaves customers’ accounts Art historian helps build new Assassin’s Creed game after son’s suggestion

Many Microsoft Outlook corporate users will soon have the option to create and send AI-written emails as the company widens its roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot, an artificial intelligence companion.

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By Amruta Khandekar and Saeed Azhar (Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Monday as a surge in

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 17, 2023--

A large network of accounts on Facebook and Instagram have been promoting Russia's Wagner mercenary group to hundreds of thousands of followers, months after Meta vowed to remove content glorifying the group, according to a new report by disinformation experts.

Scientists are optimistic about the possibility of finding life on other planets. Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) found a possible sign of a gas that, on Earth, is produced by simple marine organisms. It was detected this month in the atmosphere of a planet named K2-18b, which is 120 light years away. The planet is in what astronomers call ''the Goldilocks zone' - the right distance away from its star for the surface temperature to be neither too hot nor too cold, but just right for there to be liquid water, which is essential to support life. The team expects to know in a year's time whether the hints are confirmed or have gone away. "We live in an infinite Universe, with infinite stars and planets. And it's been obvious to many of us that we can't be the only intelligent life out there," Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland's Astronomer Royal told the BBC. "We now have the technology and the capability to answer the question of whether we are alone in the cosmos." Prof Nikku Madhusudhan of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University, who led the study, told the BBC that if the hints are confirmed "it would radically change the way we think about the search for life". "If we find signs of life on the very first planet we study, it will raise the possibility that life is common in the Universe." He predicted that within five years there will be "a major transformation" in our understanding of life in the Universe. If his team don't find life signs on K2-18b, they have 10 more Goldilocks planets on their list to study - and possibly many more after that. Even finding nothing would "provide important insights into the possibility of life on such planets", he said. Meanwhile there are other separate projects all looking for signs of life in the universe. Pretty exciting. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.