By Federica Urso and Federico Maccioni ROME (Reuters) -Florence wants to ban residential properties in its historic centre from being used for short-term rentals by platforms such as Airbnb in order to free up more homes for local people in the Tuscan city. Dario Nardella, the mayor of one of Italy’s most popular tourist destinations,…
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Casino revenues in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, surged 366% from a year ago to total 15.6 billion patacas ($1.93 billion) in May, the highest since January 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had still to fully grip China. The monthly take was bolstered by a five-day national holiday that saw hundreds…
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Thursday it is fining British Airways $1.1 million for failing to provide timely refunds to passengers for flights to and from the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 2020, USDOT received over 1,200 complaints alleging British Airways failed to provide…
By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Kevin McCarthy earned his stripes as Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, navigating fierce hardline opposition to pass a debt ceiling bill containing federal spending limits that President Joe Biden for months vowed to resist. Six months after he endured 15 humiliating floor votes just…
By Steve Holland COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden predicted on Thursday Sweden will join NATO “soon”, speaking at the U.S. Air Force Academy days after he hinted at a possible deal to overcome Turkey’s opposition to admitting the Nordic country to the alliance. Biden, in a flag-waving commencement address in Colorado…
By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday it had uncovered an American espionage operation that compromised thousands of iPhones using sophisticated surveillance software. Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab said dozens of its employees’ devices were compromised in the operation. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said in…
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 6 whether to clear Amazon.com Inc’s $1.7 billion acquisition of the maker of robot vacuum cleaner iRobot Corp, according to a European Commission filing on Thursday. U.S. online retailer Amazon announced the takeover in August last year that will boost its portfolio…
By Emma Farge GENEVA (Reuters) – The incoming head of the U.N. migration agency said on Thursday that she has talked to companies like Microsoft to see how they can build partnerships to manage migration. A record number of people — more than 100 million — are forcibly displaced around the world and the Geneva-based…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said on Thursday it planned to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) including a potential ban on deep fakes and realistic-looking but false content, amid concerns the technology could be misused. The move comes on the heels of a meeting of top AI executives earlier this week when they raised the “risk of…
By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A search for Wes Anderson on YouTube turns up trailers that the famed director with a distinctive style appears to have made for adaptations of “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings” featuring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and other stars. Artificial intelligence allowed people with…
