Impact

EXPLAINER: How vaccine passports for global travel will work

Boarding pass, suitcase, passport and … digital vaccination certificate? Keen to avoid losing another summer of holiday revenue to the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union, some Asian governments and the airline industry are scrambling to develop so-called COVID-19 vaccine passports to help kickstart international travel. They’re working on systems that would allow travelers to use […]

8th noose found at Amazon site despite additional security

NAACP, state and local officials on Wednesday denounced what they called continued racism at an Amazon warehouse construction site in Connecticut where eight nooses have been found within a month, despite additional security measures added last weekend. The latest noose was found at the site in Windsor on Wednesday morning, the day of a scheduled […]

DC files antitrust case vs Amazon over treatment of vendors

The District of Columbia has sued Amazon, accusing the online retail giant of anticompetitive practices in its treatment of sellers on its platform. The practices have raised prices for consumers and stifled innovation and choice in the online retail market, the DC attorney general alleges in an antitrust suit. The suit filed Tuesday in the […]

Daimler Truck says batteries, hydrogen are the future

The world’s largest truck and bus maker is charting an ambitious zero-emission future and says it’s not that far off – despite higher costs and the current lack of support infrastructure. Daimler AG’s truck division says it plans to shift most of its vehicle development resources to zero-emission vehicles by 2025 and predicts that battery […]

Biden plan would pick winners, losers in move to green jobs

In Georgia, school bus-maker Blue Bird has visions of going from selling a few hundred electric buses annually to 15,000. In Michigan, Ford plans to produce an all-electric version of its F-150 pickup truck. Both companies are looking to President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal to help transform the automotive sector as electric vehicles […]

Spotify co-owner Ek says Kroenkes reject bid to buy Arsenal

Spotify co-owner Daniel Ek says a bid to buy Arsenal has been rejected by the Kroenke family which owns the London-based Premier League club. The Swedish entrepreneur behind the music-streaming service first revealed his takeover interest last month after owner Stan Kroenke’s ill-fated attempt to lead Arsenal into a European Super League. The project collapsed […]

US joins global push against violent extremism online

Two years after a white supremacist in New Zealand livestreamed the slaughter of 51 Muslim worshippers on Facebook, French President Emmanuel Macron says the internet continues to be be used by terrorists as a weapon to propagate hate. Macron and other leaders from tech giants and governments around the world — including the U.S. for […]

Spain adopts landmark law to protect 'gig' delivery workers

Spain approved a pioneering law Tuesday that gives delivery platforms a mid-August deadline to hire workers currently freelancing for them and that requires transparency of artificial intelligence used to manage workforces. The royal decree passed by the center-left ruling coalition immediately affects some 30,000 couriers. It comes in the wake of a ruling by Spain’s […]

Girl Scout cookies take flight in Virginia drone deliveries

Missing out on Thin Mints in the pandemic? A Google affiliate is using drones to deliver Girl Scout cookies to people’s doorsteps in a Virginia community. The town of Christiansburg has been a testing ground for commercial delivery drones operated by Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s corporate parent Alphabet. Now the company is adding the […]

EXPLAINER: China prepares space station core module launch

China plans to launch the core module for its first permanent space station this week in the latest big step forward for the country’s space exploration program. The Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony” module is set to be hurtled into space aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center on the southern island […]