Perplexity AI offered Google on Tuesday $34.5 billion for its popular Chrome web browser, which the internet giant could potentially be forced to sell as part of antitrust proceedings.The whopping sum proposed in a letter of intent by Perplexity is nearly double the value of the startup, which was reportedly $18 billion in a recent funding round.”This proposal is designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator focused on continuity, openness, and consumer protection,” Perplexity chief executive Aravind Srinivas said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP.Google is awaiting US District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling on what “remedies” to impose, following a landmark decision last year that said the tech titan maintained an illegal monopoly in online search.US government attorneys have called for Google to divest itself of the Chrome browser, contending that artificial intelligence is poised to ramp up the tech giant’s dominance as the go-to window into the internet.Google has urged Mehta to reject the divestment, and his decision is expected by the end of the month.Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Perplexity’s offer vastly undervalues Chrome and “should not be taken seriously,” Baird Equity Research analysts said in a note to investors.Given that Perplexity already has a browser that competes with Chrome, the San Francisco-based startup could be trying to spark others to bid or “influence the pending decision” in the antitrust case, Baird analysts theorized.”Either way, we believe Perplexity would view an independent Chrome — or one no longer affiliated with Google — as an advantage as it attempts to take browser share,” Baird analysts told investors.Google contends that the United States has gone way beyond the scope of the suit by recommending a spinoff of Chrome, and holding open the option to force a sale of its Android mobile operating system.”Forcing the sale of Chrome or banning default agreements wouldn’t foster competition,” said Cato Institute senior fellow in technology policy Jennifer Huddleston.”It would hobble innovation, hurt smaller players, and leave users with worse products.”Google attorney John Schmidtlein noted in court that more than 80 percent of Chrome users are outside the United States, meaning divestiture would have global ramifications.”Any divested Chrome would be a shadow of the current Chrome,” he contended.”And once we are in that world, I don’t see how you can say anybody is better off.”The potential of Chrome being weakened or spun off comes as rivals such as Microsoft, ChatGPT and Perplexity put generative artificial intelligence (AI) to work fetching information from the internet in response to user queries.Google is among the tech companies investing heavily to be a leader in AI, and is weaving the technology into search and other online offerings.

Dozens of activists and locals protested on Tuesday against a visit by US Vice President JD Vance to an idyllic rural region of southwest England, where he is on holiday with family.Around 60 people gathered for the demonstration in the town of Charlbury in the Cotswolds region, carrying signs including “Go Home”, “Not Welcome Party” and “Sod Off”.UK police and US security detail dotted the usually quiet roads leading to the nearby hamlet where Vance was staying, blocking some roads and footpaths in the countryside region popular with tourists.”The people of the Cotswolds are out here today telling JD Vance that he is not welcome here,” Jake Atkinson from the Stop Trump Coalition told AFP at the gathering.Co-organiser Atkinson cited US President Donald Trump’s policies including on immigration and the war in Gaza for the local anger. He said the anti-Trump coalition would also turn out against the US president, who is due in the UK for a state visit in September.Earlier in the day, a black van bearing a meme image of Vance edited to look bald and bloated drove past the quaint cottages and winding streets of the town.”We wanted to extend the same welcome that he extended to (Volodymyr) Zelensky from the White House,” said 75-year-old Charlbury resident Lou Johnson, referring to the cold reception Vance gave the Ukrainian leader during a press conference in Washington in February. Vance kicked off his British holiday last week by meeting UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who hosted the American politician in his country retreat in Chevening in Kent, southeast of London.Reports have also said Vance will later visit Scotland, where Trump spent five days at his golf resorts last month.- Heightened security -Residents said they were surprised by the heavy security around Dean, the village where Vance was staying.”If somebody’s just in the Cotswolds on holiday, you wouldn’t imagine they’d need a 20-car motorcade and all the roads to the entire village,” said Phil Ball, 53, a local resident and cameraman.”It’s been disruptive and quite a surprise.”Victoria Dawson, an artist from nearby Witney, said locals were protesting “against somebody who we think is immoral… somebody who is doing terrific damage around the world along with Trump”. “Because JD Vance is here, suddenly roads are closed everywhere, there are police everywhere,” she added. “It’s not what we expect or accept.”Lou Johnson also complained that heightened security had been “invading everywhere” in the rural area he has called home for 50 years.”People think it’s just a gentle little village but every now and then we do stand up for what we believe in,” said Johnson.

A US judge ordered Tuesday that migrants being held at a Manhattan federal facility where individuals are often arrested after attending court hearings to fight deportation be kept in humane conditions.Images have emerged showing unsanitary and cramped conditions in a holding room in New York City’s 26 Federal Plaza, where migrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are detained.Manhattan Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order directing that no detainee be kept in less than 50 square feet (4.6 square meters) of space, without clean bedding and hygiene products, or be deprived of private attorney-client calls.ICE “shall not retaliate in any manner against Plaintiff (including in his or her immigration proceedings…) for complaining about any alleged violation of this temporary restraining order,” Kaplan ordered.Hundreds of migrants have passed through the facility as immigration officers have stepped up their arrests of those going through the immigration court in a downtown skyscraper.Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to deport large numbers of migrants, has encouraged authorities to be more aggressive as he seeks to hit his widely reported target of one million deportations annually. Since Trump’s return to the White House, Homeland Security agents have adopted the tactic — criticized by rights groups — of waiting outside immigration courts nationwide and arresting migrants as they leave at the end of asylum hearings.Armed agents with badges from different federal agencies loiter outside court hearings in the tower block in central New York, holding paperwork with photographs of migrants to be targeted, AFP has seen.In the complaint filed Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Foundation sued the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of Sergio Mercado and other unnamed detainees.The filing alleged that “immigrants (are) being detained in crowded rooms at a federal building in the heart of Manhattan without beds, sufficient food, hygiene products, access to showers, or the ability to communicate confidentially with attorneys.” “They bring this action to challenge these unlawful conditions of confinement and ban on attorney access,” said the class action suit.Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said “today’s order sends a clear message: ICE cannot hold people in abusive conditions and deny them their Constitutional rights to due process and legal representation.””We’ll continue to fight to ensure that peoples’ rights are upheld at 26 Federal Plaza and beyond.”The judge set a deadline of August 18 for the government to respond to the claims in the complaint ahead of a ruling on a preliminary injunction.

Global stocks mostly rose on Tuesday, with Wall Street indices ending at fresh records as US inflation data showed a still-subdued impact from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.That, combined with Trump extending by 90 days a trade truce with China, cheered investors.New York jumped after the US consumer price index (CPI) reading for July showed annualized inflation at 2.7 percent, unchanged from a month earlier.Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh records.European markets were likewise boosted by the US inflation numbers, with all but Frankfurt rising.While the headline CPI figure was lower than expected, underlying price increases indicated that Trump’s tariffs were nevertheless starting to ripple through the US economy.Core inflation, which strips out volatile costs such as food and energy, accelerated in July to the fastest pace in six months.”Inflation from tariffs is beginning to feed into the core figure but not yet at the stage that is a major concern for markets,” said Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter, a wealth management firm.The dollar slipped against major currencies.Investors calculated that the CPI data was not enough to sway the US Federal Reserve away from an expected interest rate cut next month.The US central bank, which has an inflation target of two percent, also has to weigh other recent data, including signs in the labor market of slower economic growth.Trump has relentlessly pressured Jerome Powell to ease monetary policy, reiterating his call for the Fed Chairman to cut rates immediately in a sneering post on his Truth Social platform.Trump said he may allow “a major lawsuit” against Powell for his oversight of renovations of Federal Reserve buildings.Katy Stoves, investment manager at Mattioli Woods, warned however: “This gentle cooling of the economy will certainly not justify a cut of interest rates to one percent as President Donald Trump is calling for.”Oil prices were lower, after OPEC’s latest growth projections maintained estimates for 2025. The oil cartel raised its demand forecast for 2026, signalling it expected stronger global activity next year.Trump’s announcement on Monday that he would put off reimposing sky-high levies on China to November, to give more time for talks, buoyed market sentiment.Stock markets in Asia rose on the news, with Tokyo hitting a record.Investors are also awaiting a summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday, with the US president playing down the possibility of a breakthrough in ending the war in Ukraine.In corporate news, China’s real estate giant Evergrande Group said on Tuesday it will delist from Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the wake of its 2021 default. The company is emblematic of a years-long crisis in China’s property market.Intel rose 5.5 percent after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump, who praised the executive after previously calling for him to step down.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 44,458.61 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 1.1 percent at 6,445.76 (close)New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.4 percent at 21,681.90 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,147.81 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,753.42 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 24,024.78 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 42,718.17 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 24,969.68 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,665.92 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1677 from $1.1615 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3501 from $1.3432 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.77 yen from 148.15 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.45 pence from 86.48 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $66.12 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.2 percent at $63.17 per barrel