The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block Microsoft from completing its deal to buy video game company Activision Blizzard, the latest antitrust challenge to the proposed merger but one that could hasten its conclusion

German airline Lufthansa on Thursday signed a deal with the Italian government for a minority share in the long-struggling ITA Airways, formerly Alitalia

A huge bubble of galaxies that is one billion lightyears across could be a remnant of the ripples caused by the Big Bang, according to astronomers who have mapped the structure. The structure, named Hoʻoleilana by University of Hawaii scientists, is thought to have been caused by so-called Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs). These were ripples in the particles of the early Universe in the period following the Big Bang, when planets, solar systems and galaxies were not yet fully formed. As the ripples went outward, they created areas of density in the particles, causing bubble-like structures in which galaxies eventually coalesced. Until now, the BAOs were just a prediction – part of the wider Big Bang theory. No specific structures in the Universe had been found which mimicked their patterns. But Hoʻoleilana fits the description of these huge cosmic bubbles perfectly, according to Brent Tully, who led the study at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy. “We were not looking for it. It is so huge that it spills to the edges of the sector of the sky that we were analyzing,” he said. “As an enhancement in the density of galaxies it is a much stronger feature than expected. The very large diameter of 1bn light years is beyond theoretical expectations. “If its formation and evolution are in accordance with theory, this BAO is closer than anticipated, implying a high value for the expansion rate of the universe.” The bubble is absolutely huge. It is made up of several superclusters, structures which themselves are thought to be among the Universe’s largest arrangements of matter. This includes the Hercules Supercluster, the Corona Borealis Supercluster and the Sloan Great Wall. All of these structures contain thousands of galaxies. In the middle of Hoʻoleilana sits the Bootes Supercluster and the Bootes Void, an immense space of nothingness which is an incredible 330m lightyears across. Daniel Pomarede, from the CEA Paris-Saclay University, who contributed to the research, said: “It was an amazing process to construct this map and see how the giant shell structure of Ho’oleilana is composed of elements that were identified in the past as being themselves some of the largest structures of the universe.” The research was published on 5 September in The Astrophysical Journal. 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.

Shares of GameStop are plunging before the opening bell after the company fired CEO Matthew Furlong, the former Amazon executive that was brought in two years ago to turn the struggling video game retailer around

A report says Meta Platforms is weighing a proposal that would charge Europeans almost $14 a month for ad-free versions of Instagram or Facebook, Ford and GM lay off an additional 500 workers amid the ongoing UAW strike, and Oddity Tech issues third-quarter guidance higher than initial forecasts.

At WWDC 2023 on Monday, Apple unveiled Vision Pro, its long-awaited augmented reality headset. With

Just in time for Blind Awareness Month, LEGO is launching a new line of bricks

Apple is planning a host of powerful new Macs, according to new rumours. The company is testing a high-end MacBook Pro, powered by a new M3 chip with more cores than in the existing M2 line, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. And it is also testing a new version of the Mac Mini, due for release next year, he reported. Apple has updated nearly all of its current Macs to the M2 line of chips – which also includes the M2 Pro, Max and Ultra – over recent months. That includes the Mac Pro, which had been long neglected and received an update at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference event in June, bringing Apple’s full line-up onto the same chip architecture. Now Apple is planning for the successor to those chips, the M3. They are expected to arrive with updated computers: the MacBooks and Mac Mini, as well as the iMac which has not gone updated since 2021. They could start arriving in computers from late this year, Mr Gurman reported. The high-end MacBook Pro updates are expected to arrive in 2024, he said. Apple said during its earning call last week that it was expecting to see Mac revenue decline in the fourth quarter of its financial year. That further suggests that Apple is not planning new Macs before the next financial year, which begins in October. Apple is widely expected to release new iPhones next month. The Pro models are due to receive a new chip in the form of the A17, which might offer some insight into the details of the M3, since Apple shares significant technologies between its iPhone and Mac chips. Read More Apple’s iPhone 15 release date leaked amid reports of ‘severe shortages’ Apple gives update on its plans for AI – and says it is coming to every product Apple results show sales slumping

Chris Pantons is what you'd call a Google Pixel super fan. The Knoxville, Tennessee native loves the software, the camera, the virtual assistant, all of it. He even credits the phone's car crash detection tool with saving his life a few years ago when he was in an accident.

Sen. Tim Scott announced he's running for the Republican nomination for president on Monday, setting up a challenge to former President Donald Trump, the current frontrunner.

Adin Ross gained attention by announcing a Kim Jong Un interview as he attracted 330,000 Twitch viewers

China hasn't issued any laws or rules to ban the use of iPhones or any other foreign phone brand, a Chinese government spokesperson said on Wednesday.