News

Russia threatens to block Twitter in a month

Russian authorities said Tuesday they would block Twitter in a month if it doesn’t take steps to remove banned content, a move that escalates the Russian government’s drawn-out standoff with social media platforms that have played a major role in amplifying dissent in Russia. Russia’s state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, last week announced it was slowing […]

Encrypted messaging app Signal blocked in China

Encrypted messaging app Signal appears to have been blocked in mainland China, the latest foreign social media service to cease working in a country where the government tightly controls the flow of information. As of Tuesday, users of the app within China had to connect to a virtual private network (VPN) that allows them to […]

News Corp strikes Facebook pay deal for Australian news

News Corp and Facebook have reached pay deals for news in Australia three weeks after the government passed laws that would make digital giants help cover the costs of journalism. The New York-based news business that operates mainly in the United States, Britain and Australia said Tuesday it had reached a multi-year agreement with Facebook […]

Japan Post, Rakuten tie-up in digital delivery, cashless pay

Japan’s postal system is investing 150 billion yen ($1.4 billion) in an 8% stake in the e-commerce venture Rakuten to strengthen a partnership in deliveries, fintech and other areas. Rakuten’s shares shot up 8.6% in Tokyo trading Friday on news of the tie-up with Japan Post. Japan Post’s gained 4.9%. Japan Post Holdings President Hiroya […]

Fire at French cloud computing firm disrupts websites

Numerous companies and websites in France suffered outages and disruptions to services after a fire swept through a cloud computing provider’s facility. Disruption continued Thursday after OVH said the fire erupted early Wednesday in a room at one of its data centers in Strasbourg in eastern France. No one was injured in the blaze, which […]

GM partner LG to invest $4.5 billion in US battery operation

LG Energy Solution will invest more than $4.5 billion in U.S. battery production by 2025 as more automakers commit to churning electric vehicles sooner than anyone had expected. The Korean company, which has a joint venture with U.S. automaker General Motors, said the investment will help create 10,000 jobs, including subcontractors. GM and LG are […]

Lou Ottens, inventor of the innovative cassette tape dies, aged 94

The inventor of the cassette tape, Lou (Lodewijk Frederik) Ottens, has passed away at the age of 94, his family confirmed to news media. As much as the world has lived with game-changing new technologies over the last several decades, at the time of its invention, over 50 years ago, the cassette greatly changed the […]

Biden immediately begins selling virus aid plan to public

The White House began highlighting the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill immediately after it gained final congressional approval on Wednesday, wasting no time in selling the public on President Joe Biden’s first legislative victory. The West Wing began an ambitious campaign to showcase the bill’s contents while looking to build momentum for the next, perhaps […]

Why the pandemic left long-term scars on global job market

Esther Montanez’s housecleaning job at the Hilton Back Bay in Boston was a lifeline for her, a 31-year-old single mother with a 5-year-old son. The pay was steady and solid — enough to pay her bills and still have money left over to sock away savings for her child. But when the pandemic slammed the […]

Twitter sues Texas AG, claiming retaliation for Trump ban

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming the Republican used his office to retaliate against it for banning the account of former President Donald Trump following the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Days after the deadly January insurrection, Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter and four other major technology companies […]