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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Over 18,000 people in Mexico have registered online to run for Supreme Court seats and federal judgeships in the country's contentious new selection process , but a random drawing in the end will determine who gets on the ballot, officials said Monday. The ruling party pushed through a constitutional reform in September to make all federal judges stand for election, replacing the system where court employees and lawyers mainly move up through the ranks. Current court employees and their supporters have staged dozens of demonstrations against the reforms, calling them part of a ruling-party campaign to weaken checks and balances and eliminate independent regulatory and oversight bodies. Now, candidates for Supreme Court seats and federal judgeships need only a law degree, a grade point average of 3.2, “five years of professional experience” and five letters of recommendation from neighbors or friends. That, and some luck in the final drawing. Officials rejected criticism that has called the process rushed or amateurish for the often highly technical posts that can hear cases including intellectual property, organized crime and Constitutional law. “The results have been spectacular,” said Arturo Zaldivar, a top advisor to President Claudia Sheinbaum. According to the plan, evaluation committees will have just over a month to review thousands of resumes and whittle the field to about 10 candidates or less for each for the 881 judgeships and nine seats on the Supreme Court. Then 1,793 names chosen at random from those selected will appear on the ballot on June 1. Critics warn that many who land on the ballot will be unknowns who perhaps have never argued a case in the courts they seek to run. “You don’t elect a doctor or a surgeon for an operation based on their popularity, you elect them based on their technical expertise, their ability, their knowledge,” said Sergio Méndez Silva, the legal coordinator for the civic group Foundation for Justice. “That also applies for a judge.” With candidates now having to run election campaigns, critics warn there's a chance drug cartels or political parties could finance them to get friendly judges onto the bench. There are also concerns that the evaluation committees deciding who makes the cut for the selection to appear on ballots may not be impartial. Most committee members were appointed by the legislative or executive branches, controlled by the ruling Morena party. Some critics argue that the current justice system, which is riddled with nepotism, corruption and a lack of accountability, needs to be changed. “We need a justice system that gives results,” said Martínez Garza, an academic and former head of the human rights commission in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon who has registered to run for a Supreme Court seat. Trials in Mexico can last for years, and the ruling party has added to the growing list of crimes for which bail is not allowed, meaning that a large percentage of the prison population is people awaiting trial.

Tech investors are facing a new form of disruption. This investment cohort has historically paid little attention to macroeconomics, as ever-improving product features and innovative growth strategies have driven investment returns in high tech far more than things like aggregate growth and inflation. But artificial intelligence -- and its enormous capital requirements -- are ripping up this script. The proposed spending on AI infrastructure by established tech companies in the coming years is eye-watering. In 2025 alone, big tech firms including Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Apple are projected to spend over US$200 billion on capex -- almost double what they shelled out in 2021, the year before the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT debuted. The increase in capex is almost entirely due to efforts to build out generative AI capabilities. This highlights the key difference between the AI investment surge and the high-tech boom of the prior two decades: investment today is focused more on hardware than software -- and hardware is obviously more capital-intensive. If the economy slows and business prospects for these tech companies deteriorate, their executives will likely think twice about these ambitious -- and entirely discretionary -- spending plans. This complicates investors' calculations of the likely returns that can be expected from this nascent technology. In the first two decades of this century, software engineers disrupted one industry after another with business models that were nimble, scalable, and had low fixed costs. A small group of whip-smart entrepreneurs bootstrapped their start-ups, found quick success with early prototypes, and then made a series of strategic pivots. Think Amazon, Netflix, and many social media companies. Fast forward to the age of generative AI, and the storyline has changed dramatically. The new business model typically revolves around very smart, complex and expensive machines that require a tremendous amount of energy to run and often take a long time to build. For example, the Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC's Arizona foundry cost US$40 billion, and commercial production won't commence until 2025, four years after construction began. Importantly, investment in AI is typically expected to take years to pay back. In the meantime, many factors could negatively impact the value of AI infrastructure, including concerns related to business confidence and cost inflation, as well as regulatory hurdles and geopolitical tensions that influence where companies can do business. This means tech investors can no longer easily ignore top-down concerns. AI start-ups, unlike their counterparts in software, are also often very capital intensive, making them highly sensitive to market conditions and access to funding. Most of these young companies rely on private capital, which many venture capitalists have been eager to supply in recent years. Investments in AI and machine learning, a related field, accounted for nearly half of all VC funding in the United States in the first half of 2024. And these investments have often been enormous. In October, OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in equity capital from eight investors and another $4 billion in debt financing from nine lenders. The average size of these checks is over half a billion dollars. Checks of this size can be written at a time when the S&P 500 is hitting new record highs, the US economy is growing above trend, and inflation is heading downward. But what happens when the economy inevitably softens and public stock prices dip? Or what if the cost of capital in the US remains elevated? AI start-ups may then find it more challenging to fund their ambitious visions, which could, in turn, stall the pace of growth and innovation in the broad AI ecosystem. This, of course, could reduce demand for the AI infrastructure that big tech companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in. Hardware businesses also exhibit more cyclical characteristics than software. That's because they can't rely on continuous adjustments to meet shifts in customer demand, given the substantial inputs and manpower needed to create new products. Consider that $3.5 trillion-plus chipmaker Nvidia has now adopted a "one-year rhythm" for new products, doubling the speed from its previous product release cadence. This means these companies are subject to traditional inventory cycles: when demand exceeds current supply, inventory is drawn down, and prices rise, and vice versa. Hardware businesses, unlike nimble software companies, will thus struggle to scale their capacity up or down at short notice. So both the volumes and prices of hardware will typically fluctuate, subject to economic conditions. It's notable that semiconductor sales have been positively correlated with manufacturing PMIs for decades. This relationship started breaking down in 2022 as AI euphoria really took off. If historical patterns hold, this could mean the boom in global semiconductor sales is overdue for a correction. That's just one example of why tech investors may need to become as macro-aware as the rest of the investment community. Reuters Taosha Wang is a portfolio manager at Fidelity International.

Angela Rayner will press ahead with plans to prioritise for housebuilding an area of the green belt bigger than Surrey, insisting there is no alternative to large-scale development in the countryside around big cities. The deputy prime minister is expected to set out an expanded definition of “low quality” green belt on Thursday that experts say will result in about 100,000 homes a year being built on previously protected land. Conservation campaigners warned of “the worst sprawl since the 1950s” as they criticised ministers for moving far beyond their original plan to build on disused petrol stations and other “ugly” parts of the green belt . Sir Keir Starmer, however, has vowed to take on “blockers” stalling housebuilding and infrastructure by overhauling “ruinous” planning rules,

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OTTAWA — Canada's telecoms regulator says it's looking for feedback on how to give consumers more control over their internet and cellphone services. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission says the three consultations will run until Jan. 9, seeking feedback on potential changes around notifications, fees and self-serve options. For fees, the CRTC says it is considering preventing providers from charging customers when their cancel or change plans, making it easier for Canadians to switch. On notifications, it's looking into measures to ensure people know when their plans or discounts are about to end to avoid bill shocks. The CRTC is also exploring potential self-serve options for when customers need to change or cancel their plans to make those actions easier. It says it also soon plans to launch more consultations, including on making it easier to compare plans when shopping for internet services. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024. The Canadian PressA Connecticut couple has been charged in Minnesota with being part of a shoplifting ring suspected of stealing around $1 million in goods across the country from the upscale athletic wear retailer Lululemon. Jadion Anthony Richards, 44, and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards, 45, both of Danbury, Connecticut, were charged this month with one felony count of organized retail theft. Both went free last week after posting bail bonds of $100,000 for him and $30,000 for her, court records show. They're due back in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul on Dec. 16. According to the criminal complaints, a Lululemon investigator had been tracking the pair even before police first confronted them on Nov. 14 at a store in suburban Roseville. The investigator told police the couple were responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses across the country, the complaints said. They would steal items and make fraudulent returns, it said. Police found suitcases containing more than $50,000 worth of Lululemon clothing when they searched the couple's hotel room in Bloomington, the complaint said. RELATED STORY | Florida social media influencer arrested for stealing from Target According to the investigator, they were also suspected in thefts from Lululemon stores in Colorado, Utah, New York and Connecticut, the complaint said. Within Minnesota, they were also accused of thefts at stores in Minneapolis and the suburbs of Woodbury, Edina and Minnetonka. The investigator said the two were part of a group that would usually travel to a city and hit Lululemon stores there for two days, return to the East Coast to exchange the items without receipts for new items, take back the new items with the return receipts for credit card refunds, then head back out to commit more thefts, the complaint said. In at least some of the thefts, it said, Richards would enter the store first and buy one or two cheap items. He'd then return to the sales floor where, with help from Lawes-Richards, they would remove a security sensor from another item and put it on one of the items he had just purchased. Lawes-Richards and another woman would then conceal leggings under their clothing. They would then leave together. When the security sensors at the door went off, he would offer staff the bag with the items he had bought, while the women would keep walking out, fooling the staff into thinking it was his sensor that had set off the alarm, the complaint said. Richards' attorney declined to comment. Lawes-Richards' public defender did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday. "This outcome continues to underscore our ongoing collaboration with law enforcement and our investments in advanced technology, team training and investigative capabilities to combat retail crime and hold offenders accountable," Tristen Shields, Lululemon's vice president of asset protection, said in a statement. "We remain dedicated to continuing these efforts to address and prevent this industrywide issue." The two are being prosecuted under a state law enacted last year that seeks to crack down on organized retail theft. One of its chief authors, Sen. Ron Latz, of St. Louis Park, said 34 states already had organized retail crime laws on their books. "I am glad to see it is working as intended to bring down criminal operations," Latz said in a statement. "This type of theft harms retailers in myriad ways, including lost economic activity, job loss, and threats to worker safety when crime goes unaddressed. It also harms consumers through rising costs and compromised products being resold online." Two Minnesota women were also charged under the new law in August. They were accused of targeting a Lululemon store in Minneapolis.

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ATLANTA (AP) — Deliberations are underway in Atlanta after a year of testimony in the gang and racketeering trial that originally included the rapper Young Thug. Jurors are considering whether to convict Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, on gang, murder, drug and gun charges. The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Opening statements in the trial for six of those defendants happened a year ago . Four of them, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. The rapper was freed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses. Both seemed to be in good spirits Tuesday morning after closings wrapped the previous night. Kendrick was chatting and laughing with Stillwell and his lawyers before the jury arrived for instructions. The jury started deliberating Tuesday afternoon and was dismissed at 5 p.m. Jurors are expected to resume deliberations Wednesday morning. If they don’t reach a verdict by 3 p.m. Wednesday, the judge will send them home for the Thanksgiving weekend and they will return Monday morning. Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” in an Atlanta barbershop. Prosecutors painted Stillwell and Kendrick as members of a violent street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, co-founded in 2012 by Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. During closings on Monday, they pointed to tattoos, song lyrics and social media posts they said proved members, including Stillwell, admitted to killing people in rival gangs. Prosecutors say Thomas was in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged in the 2022 killing of Shymel Drinks, which prosecutors said was in retaliation for the killing of two YSL associates days earlier. Defense attorneys Doug Weinstein and Max Schardt said the state presented unreliable witnesses, weak evidence and cherry-picked lyrics and social media posts to push a false narrative about Stillwell, Kendrick and the members of YSL. Schardt, Stillwell's attorney, reminded the jury that alleged YSL affiliates said during the trial that they had lied to police. Law enforcement played a “sick game” by promising they would escape long prison sentences if they said what police wanted them to say, Schardt said. He theorized that one of those witnesses could have killed Thomas. The truth is that their clients were just trying to escape poverty through music, Schardt said. “As a whole, we know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rap, prison or death.” Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, an acronym of Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial" and “Slatty," which prosecutors presented as evidence in the trial. Weinstein, Kendrick’s defense attorney, said during closings it was wrong for prosecutors to target the defendants for their music and lyrics. Prosecutor Simone Hylton disagreed, and said surveillance footage and phone evidence supported her case. “They have the audacity to think they can just brag about killing somebody and nobody’s gonna hold them accountable,” Hylton said. The trial had more than its fair share of delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months , and Stillwell was stabbed last year at the Fulton County jail, which paused trial proceedings. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July because he had a meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present. Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors over moves such as not sharing evidence with defense attorneys, once accusing them of “poor lawyering.” But the trial sped up under her watch. In October, four defendants, including Young Thug , pleaded guilty, with the rapper entering a non-negotiated or “blind” plea, meaning he didn't have a deal worked out with prosecutors. Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna , accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against 12 others are pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case. Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon