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Scottish Premiership live on Sky Sports this weekend

• Friday: Dundee Utd vs Rangers | From 7pm, kick-off 8pm
• Saturday: Falkirk vs St Mirren | From 2pm, kick-off 3pm
• Saturday: Aberdeen vs Hearts | From 5.15pm, kick-off 5.30pm
• Sunday: St Johnstone vs Kilmarnock | From 1pm, kick-off 2pm
• Sunday: Hibernian vs Motherwell | From 4pm, kick-off 4.30pm
• Monday: Celtic vs Dundee | From 6.30pm, kick-off 7.30pm

Following one of the best seasons ever, as Celtic clinched the title on the final day against Hearts, there are new managers, players, rules and much more to look out for during the campaign.

• Can the new Scottish Premiership season top the best campaign in decades?
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Ahead of the big kick-off, here's an A-Z of everything that's new about the league this year...

A - Astroturf: There's only one artificial surface left. Kilmarnock have switched to grass at Rugby Park and Livingston have been relegated, so the Falkirk Stadium is the only plastic pitch.

B - Broken Hearts: After losing out on a first top-flight title in 66 years on the final day last season, the squad has been broken up. Captain Lawrence Shankland departed for Rangers one year into a three-year deal. Head coach Derek McInnes followed, before influential midfielder Cammy Devlin made the trip to Ibrox too after rejecting a new Tynecastle deal.

C - Captains: Aberdeen, Hearts, Kilmarnock, Rangers and St Mirren all have new players wearing the armband this year following the departures of Graeme Shinnie, Lawrence Shankland, Brad Lyons, James Tavernier and Mark O'Hara.

D - Deadline Day: The Scottish Premiership transfer window closes on September 3 at 5pm, that's two days after the Premier League window. So if you're worried that your club hasn't made enough signings yet, don't worry, you've still got well over a month to go.

• Scottish Premiership ins and outs - the confirmed deals so far...

E - Europe: Five Scottish clubs started out competing in European qualifiers this summer but this year it's a race for the top four, as it's almost certain that Scotland's faltering coefficient ranking will cost one place.

F - Flag days: Champions Celtic will raise the league flag once again when they take on Dundee in the final game of opening weekend on Monday. Newly promoted St Johnstone will also raise the Championship flag at home to Kilmarnock on Sunday.

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G - Gordon: This will be the first time since the maiden year of the SPFL in 2013 in which there will be no Craig Gordon in Scotland. The 43-year-old Hearts legend announced his retirement from football following Scotland's exit from the World Cup, 25 years on from making his professional debut.

H - Hogh: Celtic have broken their transfer record to sign Bodo Glimt striker Kasper Hogh for £11m plus add-ons. The Denmark international has been brought in to replace Daizen Maeda, who departed for Ipswich.

I - International breaks: We've just had the World Cup but be prepared for an almost three-week-long break over September and October. The international match calendar has changed from three international windows to just two for this year.

J - Johansson: Motherwell's new boss Alfred Johansson has big shoes to fill after Jens Berthel Askou left for Toulouse. He's the youngest manager in the league at just 35.

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K - Kenobi: Did you know that Aberdeen's new left back Nesta Guinness-Walker is the great-grandson of Sir Alec Guinness, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy?

L - Law changes: Just as we saw at the World Cup, VAR can now intervene on second yellow cards. Meanwhile, players will have a five-second countdown to take throw-ins and goal kicks, while there is just 10 seconds for a substitute to leave the field, plus a minute break for those who undergo treatment.

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M - McInnes: For the fifth season in a row, Rangers start with a new manager. Derek McInnes is tasked with doing what the last five permanent Rangers bosses failed to do, win the league title.

N - New mascot: St Johnstone are looking for someone new to take on the role of Brogan the Beagle after the previous Brogan hung up the paws after 11 years.

O - O'Neill: At 74 years old, Martin O'Neill is back at Celtic for what is technically his fourth spell. He won a league and cup double last term after replacing Brendan Rodgers, then Wilfried Nancy.

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P - Promoted: St Johnstone are back in the Premiership after a year out. They're the only newly promoted side after St Mirren beat Partick Thistle in the play-off final in May.

Q - Questionable haircuts: New season means new trim but Falkirk's League Cup trialist David Ninkovic will take some beating!

R - Robinson's rebuild: Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson is about to begin his first full season at Pittodrie. Staying with Aberdeen, R is also for Rachel Corsie. The Sky Sports pundit and former Scotland captain has been appointed to the club's Board of Directors.

S - Six: The number of games on opening weekend live on Sky Sports. Yes, that's right, all 12 clubs will be shown live on the home of Scottish football on the same weekend for the very first time.

Scottish Premiership live on Sky Sports this weekend

• Friday: Dundee Utd vs Rangers | From 7pm, kick-off 8pm
• Saturday: Falkirk vs St Mirren | From 2pm, kick-off 3pm
• Saturday: Aberdeen vs Hearts | From 5.15pm, kick-off 5.30pm
• Sunday: St Johnstone vs Kilmarnock | From 1pm, kick-off 2pm
• Sunday: Hibernian vs Motherwell | From 4pm, kick-off 4.30pm
• Monday: Celtic vs Dundee | From 6.30pm, kick-off 7.30pm

T - Transfers: The 12 Premiership clubs have made more than 80 new signings already, and there is still more than a month left until the window closes.

U - Ultras: Love them or loath them, all 12 Premiership clubs now have dedicated ultras groups, aiming to bring more passion and noise to the stands.

V - Vrancken: Hearts have chosen Wouter Vrancken as the man to replace Derek McInnes and put up a title fight once more. He was named Belgian manager of the year last year and came within minutes of winning the league with Genk in 2023.

W - World Cup: The new Premiership season kicks off just 12 days after the World Cup final. Winners Spain sadly didn't have anyone from our league in their squad, but there are two new Spaniards in the division. Unax Alvarez at St Johnstone and Samuel Ramos at St Mirren.

X - Xperience: Yes, a bit of cheating here! But Motherwell captain Paul McGinn is now the oldest player in the division at 35, that's the same age as his manager Alfred Johansson!

Y - Years: It's now been 41 years since a non-Old Firm club won the league. Hearts took it to the final day last year, can they, or someone else, mount a challenge this time?

Z - Zero: That's the number of Scottish Premiership games which will not be live on Sky Sports this weekend. It all starts at Tannadice on Friday night as Rangers take on Dundee Utd. %!s()

The start of the Rockets' chase was not fluent by any means but the Fire bowlers were sloppy, giving away four free-hits in the powerplay and seven in total.

Duckett faced the first four, only finding the boundary once, but he and Finn Allen (33) still managed to move the visitors onto 42-0 after 25 balls with little cause for concern.

• Scorecard: Welsh Fire men vs Trent Rockets men
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• Watch The Hundred and more sport contract-free on NOW

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The explosive Allen began to accelerate, taking 17 runs off Sam Cook's first five. He and Duckett cruised along against an uninspired Fire attack, taking the score to 75 before Allen fell lbw to fellow Kiwi Rachin Ravindra for 33.

Duckett, joined by Tom Banton (31), continued on his merry way, bringing up a second half-century in as many games, this time from 42 balls, as the Rockets made it two wins from three.

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Hosts Fire had earlier ended their batting powerplay on 26-2, having been asked to bat first. They lost Phil Salt and Joe Root for five runs apiece to the seam of Matt Henry (2-16), the latter failing to connect with a ramp.

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After reaching 59-2 at halfway, the Fire looked to push on, but proceeded to lose three wickets in the next 14 balls, including the set Matt Short for 36 from 26.

Jordan Cox (33) countered by launching Mitchell Santner's left-arm spin for three consecutive sixes, but perished going for a fourth, spectacularly caught on the cover boundary by a diving Allen.

Fire then limped to 122-7 with Asa Tribe (13no) and Chris Woakes (4no) failing to find the boundary off Mohammad Amir and Lewis Gregory in the closing stages of the innings.

Their target would prove easily surpassable by Trent Rockets, who moved up to second in the table with their second win from three games.

'The bowlers take credit for the win'

Meerkat Match Hero - Ben Duckett - on Sky Sports Cricket:

"The bowlers were superb. Coming here, we spoke about adapting to the pitch as early as you can. They take massive credit for this win.

"My aim was to try and get through the powerplay and then it might actually become easier. It's made a lot easier when you've got Finn Allen at the other end whacking it.

"Four free-hits really help as well, but, to be honest, I really struggled to find rhythm throughout that whole innings. I'm pretty sure everyone saw that. Finn played beautifully and Bants came in and took all the pressure off me.

Spirit beat MI London by seven wickets thanks to Pretorius heroics

Twenty-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius smashed 64 from 28 balls to help London Spirit to a seven-wicket win over MI London in a hotly contested London derby.

Chasing 165 to win, Jonny Bairstow and Pretorius flew out of the blocks with the left-handed Pretorius smashing Trent Boult out of the ground, a towering blow 106 metres over midwicket.

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The pair brought up the Spirit's 50 off just 18 balls and closed the powerplay on 61-0, breaking the back of the chase in brutal fashion.

Bairstow departed for 23 from 12, but Pretorius kept up the momentum, reaching his first half-century in The Hundred from 23 balls, clearing the ropes seven times in total, as the Spirit cantered towards their target.

He would fall to Boult with the score on 101 just before the halfway mark of the Spirit innings, but the damage was done as Dewald Brevis cracked 37 not out from 18 balls to see the Spirit climb off the bottom of the table with a first victory of the season with 11 balls to spare.

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MI London's innings hadn't featured the same lightning start. Will Jacks (65) and James Vince (26) had their work cut out for them against David Willey (0-22) and Adam Milne (0-21), reaching a modest 28-0 at the close of the powerplay against a moving ball.

They were to be rewarded for their patience, moving up through the gears against Adam Zampa and Andrew Tye, England man Jacks moving to his half-century from 30 balls.

Things then swung back in the favour of the visitors when Vince fell to James Coles for 26 and Jamie Overton (3-30) saw the back of Jacks and new man Nicholas Pooran in the space of three balls. Jacks departed for a fine 65 from 44 balls, becoming the highest run-scorer in the history of The Hundred men's competition in the process.

Overton continued the Spirit's fightback, removing Jason Roy caught behind on review, the veteran batter back in the MI London side in place of skipper Sam Curran who sat out the match with muscle tightness as a precautionary measure.

Late hitting from Sherfane Rutherford propelled MI London past the 160 mark before the West Indian fell for 41 off 19 from the final ball of the innings. Rutherford's lusty blows looked to have given the hosts something to defend but the big hitting of Pretorius made light work of the chase and kept Spirit in the competition.

'Let's carry this momentum forward'

Meerkat Match Hero - Lhuan-dre Pretorius - on Sky Sports Cricket:

"I'm glad we got over the line. It's really good to get off the mark and hopefully we can carry this momentum forward.

"I batted for a while yesterday at training, I was working with DK [batting coach Dinesh Karthik] on that shot over short-fine and fine-leg and it paid off luckily. It also got me out but that's part of the game. I'm glad I could contribute to the team winning."

What's next in The Hundred?

Southern Brave host Birmingham Phoenix on Thursday, live on Sky Sports, with the women's match at 3pm followed by the men's fixture at 6.30pm. Watch The Hundred and more contract-free on NOW %!s()

Those incentives are starting to clash as Microsoft posts blockbuster financial results. The company just reported an extremely profitable quarter with $90 billion in revenue and net income of $35.8 billion. For the fiscal year, which ended June 30, Microsoft reported $331.8 billion in revenue with a net income of $133.7 billion for the year.

And CEO Satya Nadella is not about to let the trajectory of Anthropic and OpenAI — which are expanding into applications and agentic infrastructure that could ultimately let them own customer relationships — derail that kind of cash.

Nadella has been preaching to enterprises to use multiple models and to stop relying on the frontier AI labs for the agentic harness/app layer.

Doing so is dangerous, he’s been saying, because it requires companies to share too many of their internal secrets with model makers of dubious trustworthiness. He knows his customers. Enterprise IT fears both data leaks and being locked into a vendor.

Now he has openly told Wall Street analysts during the company’s quarterly conference call Wednesday that this is an opportunity for Microsoft to sell customers its own homegrown models, alongside agents, AI security and more, while promising lower costs.

In other words, he’s pitching Microsoft as an alternative to many of the upscale services that OpenAI and Anthropic are developing for their own growth.

When UBS analyst Karl Keirstead specifically asked Nadella to weigh in on the open vs. closed-sourced debate roiling the AI industry, and how Microsoft will benefit from it, Nadella came out swinging.

“The goal is to have the firm be in control of their own destiny,” the CEO said of enterprises. “We are very, very clear about the architectural sort of design of the platform, which is you got to keep your harness separate from the model … that means any model at any given time is swappable.”

Microsoft, of course, sells a menu of harnesses (aka AI agents), too, under the Copilot name, including its coding agent GitHub Copilot. Coding agents are where much of the AI dollars are being spent today.

And he used the high-profile incident from last week as proof of his warnings.

“If you look even at the Hugging Face incident, the biggest thing that we should take away from that is you can’t sort of depend on any one model,” Nadella said. “You will maybe need multiple models to even remediate some challenges that get caused by one model. Like that’s the way to think about it, right? Which is you can’t be subject to a refusal of one model.”

The incident involved an unreleased model from OpenAI breaking out of its sandbox and successfully mounting a full-scale hack on Hugging Face, all in pursuit of besting a benchmark. Trying to understand what happened, Hugging Face at first tried to use a private frontier model (which it hasn’t named) that refused to help it. So it turned to the Chinese open-source model Z.ai GLM 5.2 to analyze logs and defend its infrastructure. The incident has so shocked the industry that even Sam Altman is now saying that maybe AI development should slow down a bit.

Nadella also made clear that Microsoft is happily selling its own homegrown models, the MAI family, on its own homegrown AI chips, Maya, and pitching them as cheaper alternatives.

“Every customer wants the right model for each task based on quality, latency, cost, and compliance. We offer the broadest model catalog in the cloud with over 11,000 models, including the leads from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, xAI, as well as our own MAI family,” he said.

He added: “We’re also accelerating our own model development. We announced more than a dozen new models across image, voice, transcription, coding, security, including our first reasoning model, MAI thinking one, all with cost-efficient inference at the core for the enterprise use cases. We are co-designing these models with our silicon, and we are seeing 40% better performance per watt when running MAI models on Maya 200.”

As for Mythos? Nadella pointed to Microsoft’s new Mythos competitor announced earlier this week, MAI Cyber One Flash. It “achieves better performance than the much larger Mythos model, but at half the cost when combined with our multi-agent security harness,” he said.

Sure, the Microsoft CEO says that enterprises should use the frontier models that OpenAI and Anthropic offer in their mix. But his bigger message is: don’t trust them enough to rely on them.

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"Americans are concerned about what data centers and Big Tech's push for more AI means for their communities, jobs, property values, and future," Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) wrote in a letter to Musk on Wednesday. "Electricity prices are skyrocketing, the electric grid is strained, our clean air and water are being polluted, and noise is wearing on communities' health and patience."

Public opposition to data centers is rising in the U.S. after xAI's buildout in Memphis, and with others underway from OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and Google. Gallup found in a survey published in May that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of an AI data center in their local area, with 48% strongly opposed.

Pallone has demanded information about Musk's facilities by Aug. 11.

SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.

SpaceXAI's Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee on June 17, 2026.

Andrew Evers, CNBC

SpaceX's artificial intelligence facilities, known as Colossus and Colossus 2, include three data centers packed with cutting-edge Nvidia processors. They were built by xAI, before SpaceX acquired Musk's startup, which is the developer of Grok's AI models, chatbot and image editing tools.

The facilities are at the heart of SpaceX's AI ambitions, as the company tries to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, and to eventually build orbital data centers.

Pallone excoriated SpaceX and Musk for a "disregard for the health and well-being of local communities." He said the company has created "a massive health risk" to neighbors by "trucking in off-grid gas turbines" to power the facilities, all without the proper permits and pollution controls.

President Trump's Department of Justice has filed a motion to intervene, and to effectively help xAI fight off a lawsuit, which was filed by environmental advocates and the NAACP in Mississippi to stop the company's use of allegedly illegal, air-polluting turbines.

"The Trump Administration has essentially claimed that it alone decides whether SpaceXAI and other companies get a free pass to pollute unimpeded," Pallone wrote. "But just because the Trump Administration will bend over backward to give tech companies free rein over community air, water, and land does not make your actions legal."

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, enacted legislation earlier this month to ensure data center operators pay a fair share for electricity, instead of shifting costs to residents and businesses.

Read the letter here. %!s()

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Samsung Electronics extended its record run with second-quarter operating profit topping analysts' estimates, as robust artificial intelligence demand continued to drive growth in its memory chip business.

Here are Samsung's first-quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:

• Revenue: 171.5 trillion won vs. 172.65 trillion won expected 
• Operating profit: 89.5 trillion won vs. 88.13 trillion won expected

Shares of Samsung were trading up 1.6% early Thursday.

The South Korean tech giant posted a record second-quarter operating profit, up 1,814% year on year, while revenue rose 130%. Profit jumped over 56% from the previous quarter, while revenue climbed more than 28%.

Both operating profit and revenue were in line with Samsung's forecast released earlier this month.

The company cited proactively addressing AI server demand as the key driver for its record-breaking memory earnings, which helped its achieve all-time high DRAM and NAND sales. The company said it scaled up HBM4 sales and shipped industry's first HBM4E samples to major customers.

For the second half of the year, the company expects robust demand for memory centered on servers and continuing AI infrastructure capex amid a broader adoption of agentic AI. It also expects to see a growth in demand for server DRAM, eSSDs, and HMB, accelerating.

Samsung last week unveiled its latest product lineup featuring new foldable smartphones, alongside an announcement of an expanded strategic collaboration with Broadcom across memory and foundry technologies.

Its domestic rival SK Hynix reported another record second-quarter profit on Wednesday, though it missed analysts' estimates, sending its shares down nearly 10%. %!s()