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U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar introduced two guaranteed income bills on Friday aimed at sending $1,200 monthly checks to most Americans before the end of the decade, according to reports.

Unable to produce the final text of a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, the Senate wrapped up a rare Saturday session making little visible progress on the legislative package, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed the work would get done.

Joe Burns / FinLedger : Mercury, which offers banking services to startups, raises $120M Series B, including a $5M allotment for crowdfunding, led by Coatue at a $1.62B valuation   —  Mercury, a company which offers software and banking services for scaling startups, announced raising a $120 million Series B led by Coatue, according to a company blog post.

Justin Hartley shared a birthday tribute to his new wife Sofia Pernas on Instagram just days after ex-wife Chrishell Stause confirmed her new relationship with "Selling Sunset" co-star and boss Jason Oppenheim.

ZZ Top performed for the first time since the death of longtime band member Dusty Hill. The guitarist passed away in his sleep at his home in Houston, Texas.

The actress was photographed on Friday out and about in sunny Los Angeles running errands and organizing the construction of her new home with members of her team.

Jessica Alba opened up about her relationship with her husband Cash Warren.

In a photo of herself post-op and hugging a bouquet of flowers, Crawley thanked her surgeons in a lengthy caption while admitting that coming to terms on her implant removal “wasn’t an easy decision.”

Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes : Rey, which uses VR-based tools powered by OxfordVR to provide on-demand mental health care services, raises $26M Series A, three months after launching   —  Technology can, and should, play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the burgeoning demand for mental health services and limited supply …

Housing and homeless advocates protested outside of Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home Saturday demanding the House Speaker reconvene Congress to pass an extension to the expiring eviction moratorium.

Sen. Ted Cruz blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week after she reinstated a mask mandate on the House floor amid the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Molly Wood / The Atlantic : Microsoft is avoiding antitrust scrutiny by rebranding itself as nice and boring, even as it reverts to some of the behaviors that led to prosecution the '90s   —  How has Microsoft escaped the scrutiny of reinvigorated antitrust regulators?  —  About the author: Molly Wood is the host …

Lopez, who just ushered in her 52nd birthday days ago, took it upon themselves to share a kiss while cozied up as their boat was docked in Naples, Italy.

Tatum Hunter / Washington Post : Many viewers are experiencing the Olympics primarily through TikTok, with some of the most-watched videos coming not from NBC but from athletes themselves   —  The Olympics through the lens of TikTok look widely different than TV  —  When NBC's “Today Show” told viewers that gymnast Simone Biles …

Billie Eilish claimed that internet trolls are the kind of people who would never say the "crazy stuff" to you in real life.

Photographers snapped the long-rumored couple engaged in a passionate kiss while out on a lunch date during a vacation to the Italian capital near the city’s famous Spanish Steps before they ultimately left and headed to the famed Trevi fountain where they tossed coins into the world-famous monument.

Comedian Bill Maher slammed “cancel culture” on his HBO program Friday night and said that the practice belongs in “Stalin’s Russia.”

A federal grand jury has indicted nine MS-13 gang members on a 60-count indictment with charges including murder, kidnapping and assault -- after a federal investigation led to their arrests, government officials announced this week.

Sofia Vergara showed off her bikini body Friday on social media. The "Modern Family" actress posed for a mirror selfie wearing a hot pink swimsuit.

Josh Centers / TidBITS : How Apple became an “antifragile” company, by building a diverse portfolio of products and performing even stronger during the pandemic than it did before   —  For over two decades, “APPLE IS DOOMED” was a common refrain in Internet discussions.  Originally, it was meant in a literal sense …

The Biden administration is touting a recent increase in COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States, amid new concerns about the highly contagious Delta variant and fresh coronavirus restrictions. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez paid thousands for personal security to a former Blackwater contractor, a review of Federal Election Commission records shows.

Jaime Llinares Taboada / MarketWatch : UK's CMA launches an inquiry into Facebook's acquisition of Kustomer, investigating whether the deal violates the UK's Enterprise Act 2002   —  The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that it has started a merger investigation into the acquisition by Facebook Inc. of Kustomer Inc.

A coalition of House Democrats are pushing mandatory vaccinations for congressional lawmakers and their staff as coronavirus cases spike nationwide, Fox News learned Friday.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were photographed kissing while at dinner during their Italian getaway. The couple has been on vacation celebrating the "Let's Get Loud" singer's birthday.

Reporters pressed deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about why the White House skipped its weekly coronavirus briefing with doctors and health experts this week, especially as the CDC released new guidance without including any of the data behind its decision.

Former President Trump instructed top officials at the Department of Justice to call the 2020 general election “corrupt” in support of his efforts to overturn the election.

Dan Wang / Foreign Affairs : How US sanctions forced Chinese companies to develop key tech themselves, aligning the companies' incentives with China's goal of economic self-sufficiency   —  In 2016, AlphaGo, a computer program developed by machine learning experts in London, beat the world's top players of the classical Chinese board game Go.

Peter Guest / Rest of World : As Southeast Asian governments introduce “fake news” laws to fight COVID-19 misinformation, conspiracists thrive on Telegram and other non-public platforms   —  Singapore's conspiracists thrive on Telegram, while a punk rocker and a former health official drive rumors in Indonesia.

Jasper Jolly / The Guardian : Deliveroo says it plans to pull out of Spain, citing limited market share; Spain unveiled a “rider law” in March to reclassify couriers as employees   —  Delivery firm says ‘disproportionate level of investment’ would be needed to achieve top-level market position

The Duke and Duchess of York share two daughters: Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.

The Emmy-winning actor, 58, took to social media on Friday to address the reports and thanked fans and loved ones for their well wishes.

Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy was approached by a female NRCC staffer who was filming her while asking a question about Speaker Pelosi.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is receiving support from one of the state's communist leaders, who said on Friday that residents should reject the ongoing recall effort in order to prevent one of former President Trump's "clones" governing the state.

The woman who accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her at the Executive Mansion last year has said she is willing to take a polygraph test, according to a report.

Every GOP senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee has demanded a second hearing for President Biden’s embattled nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over alleged past racist comments.

Eric Seufert / @eric_seufert : [Thread] Facebook's future prospects remain strong as the secular rise of digital advertising blunts any headwinds from regulators, Apple, critics, and others   —  My takeaway from $FB earnings: Facebook will inevitably become the most important company in the lives of most people on Earth for the next 20-30 years. I don't see any credible, extant mechanism that can constrain its growth (1/X)

Model Heidi Klum went topless Friday while boating with husband Tom Kaulitz.

Pelosi ditched her mask briefly while taking a photo with the newly minted Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, the day after Capitol Police were directed to arrest staffers and visitors who refused to wear masks on the House side of the Capitol.

The Department of Justice on Friday said Donald Trump’s tax returns must be released by the IRS to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Eva Dou / Washington Post : China's top court issues new guidelines that hotels, airports, and other commercial venues must get consent from customers to use facial recognition from Aug. 1   —  Guo Bing, a law professor in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, liked the zoo enough to purchase an annual pass.