Universal rejects billionaire Bill Ackman's takeover bid Universal Music Group, the entertainment giant behind acts such as Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Kendrick Lamar, has rejected a takeover offer by billionaire Bill Ackman's investment firm. The music giant said Pershing Square's $64.3bn (£48bn) takeover offer was not in the best interests of the company, shareholders, artists, fans and other stakeholders. Universal said the offer fundamentally and materially undervalues the business, which also runs Abbey Road Studios and owns labels such as EMI and Island Records. Pershing Square, which already owns a stake in Universal, declined to comment on the rejection. The investment firm launched its takeover bid for the world's largest music company in April, a move which would have seen it listed as a new company in America.

Dean Phillips may not go quietly into the night after the expected fizzle of his longshot primary challenge to President Joe Biden The Minnesota Democratic Rep. told the New York Times Saturday that he would mull running on the ticket of No Labels, the third party organization loathed by liberals that is considering mounting a presidential bid. Phillips said that he might join No Labels if Biden and Trump were set for rematch--as it appears they currently are--and if polls showed that "Biden is almost certain to lose." Currently general elections polls suggest a dead heat. No Labels has courted self-styled centrist figures like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and former Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland to lead its potential ticket. The dark money group denies that its possible entrance into the presidential race would drag down Biden more than Trump, but it has received funding from longtime GOP donors, Mother Jones has revealed, and reportedly also received support from Harlan Crow, the eccentric consevative donor whose lavish gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have ignited scrutiny of high court corruption.

The 2024 culture wars have begun in earnest, coalescing around the unexpected and extraordinarily messy topic of academic integrity. Last week, Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, resigned following accusations that she had plagiarized parts of her dissertation. Though Gay, Harvard's first Black president, admitted to copying text without attribution, she identified the accusations as part of an ideological campaign by right-wing political activists to "unravel public faith in pillars of American society." The allegations against Gay wouldn't be the last. The same week, Business Insider published a pair of articles reporting that Neri Oxman, a former professor at MIT, plagiarized some of her academic work.