TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan plans to stoke competition in smartphone app payments, dominated by Apple and Google, by banning major app store operators from forcing software developers to use the operators’ own payment systems, a government panel said. The final report by the panel, released on Friday, also said major suppliers of smartphone operating systems…
By Ismail Shakil and Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Labor Department on Friday slapped a $298,000 penalty on Hostess Brands, alleging that safety and training failures at the bakery firm led to a worker in Chicago losing a fingertip in December. The department said its investigation found that the Hostess could have prevented…
(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Defense began sending real-time satellite and sensor data to Canadian authorities on Friday, technology it said would help more quickly identify new fires as that nation endures one of its most destructive early wildfire seasons. The U.S. has already dispatched more than 600 firefighters to Canada to help battle…
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – Iowa’s highest court did not revive a 2018 ban on most abortions on Friday, meaning that abortion will remain legal in the state up to 20 weeks of pregnancy for now. One of the court’s seven justices did not take part in the ruling for an unspecified reason, and the…
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea convened a key party meeting to decide its diplomatic and defence strategy “to cope with the changed international situation”, with leader Kim Jong Un attending, state media KCNA said on Saturday. The enlarged plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) opened on Friday…
By Noel Randewich and Sruthi Shankar (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended lower on Friday, weighed down by Microsoft and other market heavyweights as comments from two Federal Reserve officials curtailed optimism that the central bank is nearing the end of its aggressive interest rate hikes. The Nasdaq also ended the week lower, although the…
(Reuters) – Microsoft, which is seeking to buy games giant Activision, faces two legal fights in coming weeks with U.S. antitrust enforcers who are determined to stop the $69 billion transaction. Microsoft has pressed for a decision sooner rather than later, noting that the purchase agreement has a termination date of July 18, although such…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday threatened to use congressional appropriations to block funding for a U.S. visa waiver program for Chile, blaming rising criminal activity in the United States on the program. At a news conference in Santa Ana, California, McCarthy called on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro…
(Reuters) -Electric-vehicle startup Faraday Future Intelligent Electric said on Friday it was planning a reverse stock split, as it looks to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price requirements. Nasdaq requires shares trade above $1 and sends a notice when a company trades below that mark for 30 consecutive business days. Companies then have a…
By Timothy Gardner and Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Energy got ransom requests from the Russia-linked extortion group Cl0p at both its nuclear waste facility and scientific education facility that were recently hit in a global hacking campaign, a spokesperson said on Friday. The DOE contractor Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the…
