BusinessReutersU.S. FTC will not appeal decision allowing Meta to purchase VR content maker Within
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it will not appeal its loss in federal court in its fight to stop Meta Platforms from buying VR content maker Within Unlimited, but could still pursue the case with an internal FTC administrative law judge. Judge Edward Davila of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California last week declined to stop Meta from acquiring the VR content maker, rejecting the regulator's concerns the deal would reduce competition in a new market. An FTC official said that no decision had yet been made as to whether the agency would try to stop the deal in a process before an FTC administrative law judge.
BusinessReutersU.S. Treasury secretary to visit GM JV battery plant in Tennessee
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit a General Motors LG Energy Solution joint venture battery cell manufacturing plant in Tennessee on Wednesday to tout rising U.S. electric vehicle and battery production, the department said Monday. The 2.8-million-square-foot, $2.6 billion Ultium Cells plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, is set to begin production later this year and is the second of three planned JV plants. The plant is expected to eventually employ 1,700 people and will produce cells for the Cadillac Lyriq, which is produced at the adjacent GM assembly plant.
NewsHuffPostDOJ Charges 2 In Extremist Plot To Attack Baltimore Power Stations
Federal authorities say neo-Nazis Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Clint Russell planned to destroy the Baltimore power grid.
NewsAFP NewsUS recovering balloon debris, won't return it to China
The United States is recovering debris from the downed Chinese balloon in the Atlantic for analysis by intelligence experts and there is no plan to give the remains back to Beijing, officials said Monday.China says the balloon was an errant weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but the United States says it was a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle.
NewsAFP NewsSilent phones, freezing rain and anguish in Turkey quake
A stream of cars crawled north out of the shattered city of Sanliurfa, taking traumatised residents a little further from the scene of Turkey's most powerful earthquake in decades.Sanliurfa, one of the bigger cities of southeastern Turkey, was hammered by the massive quake that claimed at least 3,000 lives across the mostly Kurdish region and neighbouring Syria.
BusinessReutersLaw firms in Meta antitrust lawsuit clash over lead role
Two major U.S. law firms are feuding over which one will lead a consumer antitrust class action against Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook, after a judge scrapped a prior order appointing them both as co-leaders for the plaintiffs and started from scratch. U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said in January that he would make a new determination to select one of the firms to lead the class action amid quarreling between Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Part of the clash included a Hagens Berman partner accusing Quinn Emanuel of discounting her views based on her gender.
NewsAFP NewsWorld powers rush to offer Turkey, Syria aid over quake
Countries around the world mobilised rapidly to send aid and rescue workers on Monday after a massive earthquake killed more than 2,600 people in Turkey and Syria.- Gulf states - Qatar said it would send 120 rescue workers to Turkey, alongside "a field hospital, relief aid, tents and winter supplies".
NewsHuffPostRep. George Santos Now Accused Of Sexually Harassing A Prospective Staffer
The embattled congressman is accused of inappropriately touching a volunteer in his office and rescinding the man's job offer after his advance was rebuffed.
NewsAFP NewsRussia's Lavrov to visit Mali in sign of deepening ties
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in Mali late Monday for talks with its junta leaders seeking Moscow's help in battling an Islamist insurgency that remains entrenched despite years of fighting.The visit of less than 24 hours will be Lavrov's third trip to Africa since July, part of a bid to expand Russia's presence on the continent amid broad international isolation since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year.
NewsAFP NewsUS charges 'neo-Nazi' leader in plot to attack power stations
US authorities announced the arrests Monday of the co-founder of the notorious Atomwaffen neo-Nazi group and a woman he met online in the latest extremist plot to attack public electricity facilities.In February 2022, three men with neo-Nazi ties pleaded guilty in Columbus, Ohio to plotting to use rifles and explosives to damage power infrastructure in various locations.
NewsAFP NewsFormer military ruler Musharraf's body arrives in Pakistan
The body of Pakistan's exiled former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who became a key US ally during the "war on terror", was repatriated on Monday, aviation sources told AFP. Musharraf, who fled Pakistan in 2016 for medical treatment after a travel ban was lifted, died on Sunday aged 79 in Dubai, after a long illness.A military source told AFP that his funeral would take place on Tuesday.
BusinessReutersGetty Images lawsuit says Stability AI misused photos to train AI
Stock photo provider has sued artificial intelligence company Stability AI Inc, accusing it in a lawsuit made public on Monday of misusing more than 12 million Getty photos to train its Stable Diffusion AI image-generation system. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware federal court, follows a separate Getty case against Stability in the United Kingdom and a related class-action complaint filed by artists in California against Stability and other companies in the fast-growing field of generative AI. London-based Stability AI released Stable Diffusion, an AI-based system for generating images from text inputs, and image generator DreamStudio last August.
ScienceAFP NewsSmall asteroid 'serendipitously' detected using James Webb telescope
European astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected a previously unknown asteroid about the size of Rome's Colosseum in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.The European astronomers "serendipitously detected" the asteroid, NASA said in a statement, adding that more observations would be needed to better characterize its nature and properties.
BusinessAFP NewsStock markets fall on US rate-hike fears
Stock markets slid and the dollar firmed Monday after a forecast-busting US jobs report fanned expectations of more Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to cool sky-high inflation."Throwing cold water over the party were stronger than expected jobs figures in the US, something closely monitored by the Federal Reserve when making interest rate decisions."
NewsHuffPostInside The Race To Tap A Controversial Source Of Carbon-Free Energy: Nuclear Waste
There's enough energy in spent uranium fuel to power the U.S. for over a century, but recycling waste was a challenge even in America's atomic glory days.
NewsAFP NewsFrench parliament debates pension reform as new strike looms
A stormy debate kicked off in France's parliament on Monday over a highly contested pension reform championed by President Emmanuel Macron, a day ahead of new strikes and mass demonstrations against the plan.Left-wing opponents of the administration filed thousands of amendments ahead of the parliamentary debate beginning.
BusinessReutersAI stocks rally in latest Wall Street craze sparked by ChatGPT
Software firm C3.ai rose 11%, analytics firm BigBear.ai jumped nearly 21% and conversation artificial intelligence company SoundHound surged 40%. Tickers for the three small-cap companies were among those that were being bandied about on the investor-focused social media platform, stocktwits.com.
NewsAFP NewsUN chief fears world headed for 'wider war' over Ukraine-Russia
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned nations Monday that he fears the likelihood of further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict means the world is heading towards a "wider war.""I fear the world is not sleepwalking into a wider war.
BusinessAFP NewsRenault and Nissan hail 'rebalanced' alliance to bury tensions
French automaker Renault and Japanese partner Nissan said on Monday they were opening a "new chapter" in their tension-marred alliance as they signed a deal to reboot their 24-year relationship.- 'New agile partnership' - Monday's statement said the overhaul would "open a new chapter" for the alliance.
NewsAFP NewsMother, seven children die in fire in France
A mother and her seven children aged two to 14 died on Monday after a faulty dryer apparently set ablaze their house in eastern France, authorities said.The tragedy was the worst such incident in France since 2013, when five children between two and nine died asphyxiated in an accidental fire, also in northern France.
NewsReutersSaudi Arabia says tech giants to invest more than $9 billion in kingdom
Saudi Arabia has attracted more than $9 billion in investments in future technologies, including by U.S. giants Microsoft and Oracle Corp, which are building cloud regions in the kingdom, a government minister said on Monday. Saudi Minister of Communication and Information Technology Abdullah Alswaha said Microsoft will invest $2.1 billion in a global super-scaler cloud, while Oracle has committed $1.5 billion to build a new cloud region in Riyadh. "The investments... will enhance the kingdom of Saudi Arabia's position as the largest digital market in the Middle East and North Africa," Alswaha said at LEAP, an international technology forum taking place in Riyadh.
NewsReutersIndia's markets regulator asks green debt issuers to appoint third-party reviewer
Issuers of green debt securities will have to appoint a third-party reviewer or certifier for the post-issue management of proceeds starting April, India's markets regulator said on Monday. The third-party reviewer will also verify internal tracking and impact-reporting of these debt securities, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a notification. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to issue sovereign green bonds - so called because proceeds would go towards funding various sustainable projects - in the 2022-23 budget as India attempts to tap its domestic debt market to finance green infrastructure projects.
NewsAFP NewsIsraeli forces kill five Palestinians in Jericho raid
Israel said its forces killed on Monday five alleged Palestinian gunmen in a raid in the occupied West Bank, after a days-long search for suspects in a shooting near Jericho.Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
BusinessAFP NewsAdani shares dive again as Indian opposition stages demos
Investors dumped more Adani stock on Monday as India's opposition staged protests calling for a full inquiry into allegations of major accounting fraud at the country's biggest conglomerate.The main opposition Congress party, which has called for a "serious investigation" into Adani's companies by the central bank and regulator, on Monday staged protests, including in New Delhi and Mumbai.
NewsAFP NewsAt least 592 dead in Syria after Turkey earthquake
At least 592 people were killed in Syria as buildings collapsed after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck neighbouring Turkey before dawn on Monday, state media and rescuers said.Rescuers rushed to dig for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in the pouring winter rain.
