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On Friday, President Donald Trump issued yet another executive order aimed at gutting our federal agencies in the name of fiscal efficiency, this time slashing much-needed funding for libraries and museums nationwide. His target is the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency charged with distributing funds approved by Congress to support libraries, museums, and archives program-grant recipients in all 50 U.S. states and territories. The move has sparked outrage and concern from a number of groups, including the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), which has opposed the IMLS cuts. The AAM argues that the agency is already operating at a minimum level, making up only 0.0046% of the overall federal budget, to support a sector that generates more than $50 billion in economic impact. The funding cuts would effectively dismantle and eliminate the only federal agency dedicated to supporting and funding museums, which goes against public opinion: 96% of Americans support maintaining or increasing federal funding for museums, which are vital anchors of local communities, according to the AAM. If you’re one of the 96%, here are some ways you can help fight back against the funding cuts to museums and libraries. 1) Sign a petition EveryLibrary, a nonprofit group that advocates for public library funding and has fought against book bans, has also come out against the cuts, arguing that the IMLS is required by Congress’s 2018 Museum and Library Services Act to send federal funds to state libraries. (As Fast Company articles have previously noted, only Congress can abolish federal agencies, not the president.) EveryLibrary is calling on all Americans “to join us in telling Congress to hold the line with the Administration and DOGE and keep these core programs, especially the Grants to States funding, intact.” You can sign the group’s petition to stop Trump’s executive order, which at press time already has 25,580 of the 40,000 signatures it needs. 2) Visit your local library Some other ways to support your local library: Check out a book, ebook, magazine, or audiobook. Every time you use your local library, it helps demonstrate demand, and therefore makes the case for funding. Follow your local library on social media, and engage with your librarians in person. Say hello at the front desk, and ask what you can do to help. You can also attend a local town hall meeting or email your local representative to ask about how to help. 3) Join a protest Want to do more? Consider joining one of the ongoing protests taking place almost monthly across the country organized by the 50501 Movement50 protests, 50 states, 1 movementfighting to uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach and protest the antidemocratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.” The movement, which started on Reddit r/50501, has spread rapidly across social media since Trump took office. Information about where and when the nationwide protests and street marches are planned near your hometown can be found here upon entering your city or state. The next protest is scheduled for April 5.
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E-Commerce
Air France on Tuesday unveiled a new first-class suite as it expands efforts to lure wealthy travelers from business jets and lend a ‘French touch’ to the tussle for premium revenue. The CEO of parent Air France-KLM, Ben Smith, told Reuters the unspecified investment aimed to place Air France at the top of the European league in airline luxury, signalling a battle with British Airways and Lufthansa. “A large percentage of the customers are flying for business reasons Many of them have the choice of a private jet or flying in first class,” Smith said in an interview. “What is new for us over the last few years is a marked increase in the number of luxury customers that are flying for leisure purposes.” The air travel industry is locked in a battle for high fare-paying customers as it recovers from the pandemic but is split over the value of investing in first class, with many carriers focusing on steady improvements in business-class seating. Air France’s latest first-class cabin, laid out in four pairs of grey, red-accented beds and seats on select planes, follows a years-long effort to re-invent a once loss-making product since Smith joined the national carrier in 2018. The Canadian executive has long been a champion of first class even as many rivals retrench to business class. But he said only a handful of airlines had the depth of demand or ability to tap into assets like France as a destination. “A lot of people like to experience France. When they get on the airplane outside France, they want to start their journey from San Jose, Tokyo or Sao Paulo already in France through the environment on the airplane,” he said. The launch comes weeks after arch-rival British Airways launched its own new first-class cabin. Lufthansa also offers first class. Neither airline responded to requests for comment. French brand power Smith declined to say how much the investment in the new seats would cost, but the airline says its first-class service is already profitable, in part because the price of the ticket has risen in recent years. An average one-way Paris-New York ticket costs around 10,000 euros in May, according to the Air France website. Tuesday’s rollout reflected the airline’s efforts to strike a chord with France’s broader reputation for luxury, with waiters passing Michelin-starred snacks in the presence of specially invited influencers in a Paris Fashion Week location. Smith insisted, however, that Air France’s “La Premiere” brand could stand on its own feet as a luxury product. Partially state-owned Air France has long been synonymous with first class, with its passenger list so powerful that seats were once reputed to be bugged by the country’s spy agencies. Now, it must compete with now-common lie-flat seats in business class or increasingly accessible private jets. Much of the cost is wrapped up not just in the seats but in bespoke ground services such as special check-ins or limousines. There is also the hidden cost of creating a sub-fleet of airplanes that can only operate on a handful of routes. “Unless it’s rock solid, it can be quite marginal because of the operational complexity, the capital investment and the risk of substituting seats that they could be sure of selling in business class,” said aviation consultant John Strickland. Joanna Plucinska and Tim Hepher, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Tuesdays news that Google would acquire the Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion was remarkable on several fronts. The deal, assuming it closes, will be the largest acquisition in Googles history. And its the biggest exit in Israeli history. Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs, Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport wrote in a blog post. [I]t will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a stand-alone company.” It also marks the close of a fast-paced, five-year chapter for the company. Founded in January 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, Wiz grew quickly, as the pandemic forced companies and workers online and cloud servers exploded in popularity. And as hybrid work has continued, so has the companys expansion. An IPO on ice In just 16 months, Wiz became a unicorn, with a $1.7 billion valuation. By October 2021, its valuation had ballooned to $6 billion and by February 2023, that figure had jumped to $10 billion. Last May, the company raised $1 billion in funding, giving it a $12 billion valuation. As Wizs fortunes rose, so too did its reputation. The companys researchers have alerted the public to a number of cloud vulnerabilities in everything from Microsofts Azure cloud system to the cloud systems of Oracle and IBM. In January, it raised a red flag about DeepSeek, finding that the Chinese AI system had inadvertently exposed a significant amount of sensitive data. The company has been on Googles radar for some time. Last year, Alphabet offered $23 billion to acquire Wiz but was rejected. Instead, Wizs founders planned to pursue an IPO. Saying no to such humbling offers is tough, Rappaport wrote at the time in a memo seen by CNBC. The move was a calculated gamble. Wiz officials were worried whether a takeover by Google would be approved by regulators, given the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)s fixation on Big Tech at the time and Googles own antitrust court battles then. But the IPO market has hardly been welcoming to most tech companies for the past several years. Wiz aimed to hit $1 billion in annual recurring revenue before it filed for a public listing, which gave it some breathing room, but market conditions havent improvedin fact, have worsened in the past two months. Between that stock market volatility and the change in White House administrations, which shifted regulatory sentiment, Wizs leadership began to reconsider its options. Why regulators might let this one through While Google is still facing a possible breakup following a verdict that found the company to be an illegal monopoly last August, Justice Department officials dropped the push for the company to sell off its AI investments. That could signal improved odds that Tuesdays deal will not face the same level of antitrust scrutiny it would have in 2024. Part of the secret to Wizs success is exactly why antitrust regulators might be amenable to the Google buyout. The company is a native multi-cloud platform. It works equally well on offerings from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, and more. That makes this both a security play for Google as well as an AI infrastructure one, as it can secure workloads across multiple platforms and doesnt force customers to use Google Cloud. Wiz and Google Cloud are both fueled by the belief that cloud security needs to be easier, more accessible, more intelligent, and democratized so more organizations can adopt and use cloud and AI securely, Wiz CEO Rappaport wrote in a blog post. We both also believe Wiz needs to remain a multi-cloud platform, so that across any cloud, we will continue to be a leading platform. We will still work closely with our great partners at AWS, Azure, Oracle, and across the entire industry. The deal is expected to close in 2026, pending regulatory approval.
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E-Commerce
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