News

NASA Names Woman, Black Astronauts to Artemis II Crew in Lunar First

NASA on Monday named the first woman and the first African American ever assigned as astronauts to a lunar mission, introducing them as part of the four-member team chosen to fly on what would be the first crewed voyage around the moon in more than 50 years. Christina Koch, 44, an engineer who already holds […]

US Manufacturing Near Three-Year Low; Casts a Shadow over Economy

U.S. manufacturing activity slumped in March to the lowest level in nearly three years as new orders plunged, and analysts said activity could decline further due to tighter credit conditions. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey on Monday showed all subcomponents of its manufacturing PMI below the 50 threshold for the first time since […]

EU Car Data Access Rules in Progress but No Timeline

The European Commission is working on rules to ensure fair access to valuable car data for companies and industry but does not know when they will be ready, a spokesperson said on Monday as industry groups fret about unfair competition from U.S. and Chinese tech companies. The huge potential of the connected car market, which […]

Why U.S. Natural Gas Output Keeps Rising as Prices Sink

U.S. natural gas prices last week plunged to a 30-month low, crossing below $2 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for the second time this year, even as some producers have cut drilling to stave off further convulsions. Since the start of the year, U.S. gas futures have collapsed by about 50%, a record drop […]

UBS and Credit Suisse Shares Drop as Swiss Prosecutor Investigates Takeover

Credit Suisse and UBS shares fell on Monday after Switzerland’s federal prosecutor opened an investigation into the emergency merger of the two lenders. The office of the attorney general said on Sunday that the prosecutor opened an investigation into the state-backed takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS Group last month, looking into potential breaches of […]

Global Central Banks Keep up Inflation Fight in March

The pace of interest rate hikes by major developed and emerging market central banks continued at a healthy clip in March though the scale of rises tapered off somewhat as turmoil in the banking sector clouded the outlook for global growth. March saw six interest rate hikes across eight meetings by central banks overseeing the […]

Japan Aims to Treble Sales of Domestically Made Microchips by 2030

Japan’s industry ministry said on Monday it aimed to treble sales of semiconductors made in Japan to 15 trillion yen ($112.55 billion) by 2030 as Tokyo strives to boost domestic microchip production following global supply chain snarls. Japan sees microchips as strategic products to strengthen its economic security and is providing hefty subsidies to Taiwan […]

Tesla Posts Record Quarterly Deliveries after Price Cuts, Up 4% from Q4

Tesla Inc on Sunday posted record quarterly vehicle deliveries, but quarter-on-quarter sales growth was modest despite price cuts as rising competition and a bleak economic outlook weighed. Tesla delivered 422,875 vehicles for the first three months of this year, up 4% from the previous quarter. This was 36% higher than a year ago. In January, […]

Humans vs. Machines: The Fight to Copyright AI Art

Last year, Kris Kashtanova typed instructions for a graphic novel into a new artificial-intelligence program and touched off a high-stakes debate over who created the artwork: a human or an algorithm. “Zendaya leaving gates of Central Park,” Kashtanova entered into Midjourney, an AI program similar to ChatGPT that produces dazzling illustrations from written prompts. “Sci-fi […]