China looked to Europe as an amicable partner as the continent’s leaders resisted being drawn into President Donald Trump’s conflicts with Beijing over trade, technology and human rights. On Monday, that image shattered when the European Union joined Washington, Britain and Canada in imposing sanctions on Chinese officials over accusations they abused ethnic minorities. Beijing […]
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Britain plans to cut the size of its army and boost spending on drones, robots and a new “cyber force” under defense plans announced by the government on Monday. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the British Army would shrink from 76,500 soldiers to 72,500 by 2025. He said the army hadn’t been at its “established […]
Apple Inc. has been slapped with a $308.5 million penalty to be paid to Personalized Media Communications (PMC) following a decision by a federal judge in Texas that found the company infringing a tech patent related to data rights management. The patent in question primarily dealt with a “method of decrypting programming at a receiver […]
Visa is under investigation by the Department of Justice’s antitrust division over whether the company pushes merchants into more expensive forms of debit card payments, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The investigation is focused on how merchants route debit card transactions when a consumer makes an online transaction, according to the Journal, which cited […]
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that an infrastructure plan expected soon from President Joe Biden will offer a “once in a century” opportunity to remake transportation in the United States, where cars and highways are no longer king. Speaking at the Austin, Texas-based South by Southwest conference, which is being held virtually this year, […]
The Justice Department has charged a Swiss hacker with computer intrusion and identity theft, just over a week after the hacker took credit for helping to break into the online systems of a U.S. security-camera startup. An indictment against 21-year-old Till Kottmann was brought Thursday by a grand jury in the Seattle-based Western District of […]
China on Friday put on trial one of two Canadians held for more than two years in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive. Canada said its consular officials were refused permission to attend the proceedings against Michael Spavor, who is accused by China of stealing state secrets. Jim Nickel, the […]
The Senate confirmed Katherine Tai as the top U.S. trade envoy in an overwhelming bipartisan vote on Wednesday . She will be the first Asian American and first woman of color to hold the position. Tai is considered a problem-solving pragmatist, and her nomination by President Joe Biden to be U.S. trade representative drew support […]
The Federal Communications Commission has fined Texas-based telemarketers $225 million—the largest fine in FCC history—for transmitting approximately 1 billion robocalls, many of them illegally spoofed, to sell short-term, limited-duration health insurance plans, the agency said. According to the agency press statement, the robocalls falsely claimed to offer health insurance plans from well-known health insurance companies […]
The actions of Canadian and American authorities during the arrest of a senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies “spanned the spectrum from negligence to casual indifference” of her rights, defense lawyers told an extradition hearing Wednesday. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company’s chief financial officer, at Vancouver’s […]