Business category, Page 168

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook said it will shut down its face-recognition system and delete the faceprints of more than 1 billion people amid growing concerns about the technology and its misuse by governments, police and others. “This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage...

BILLINGS, Mont. — The Biden administration is planning to sell oil and gas leases on huge tracts of public land in the U.S. West, despite the Interior Department’s conclusion that doing so could cost society billions of dollars in climate change impacts. Administration officials announced last week that government regulators...

The Justice Department is suing to block a $2.2 billion book publishing deal that would have reshaped the industry, saying consolidation would hurt authors and, ultimately, readers. German media giant Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House, already the largest American publisher, wants to buy New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include...

Kennametal Corp.’s sales jumped by 26% in the July-through-September quarter compared with a year ago and earnings per share rose 69 cents from the same quarter a year ago, the company said Monday. The Pittsburgh-based maker of metalworking tools said it earned 43 cents a share on sales of $483.5...

Stocks closed with modest gains Monday on Wall Street, extending the major indexes’ recent record-setting run. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% after spending much of the day wavering between small gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% and the Nasdaq rose 0.6%. The gains pushed the three...

John Maynard Keynes, a canny investor as well as a famous British economist, wrote in 1936 that the stock market resembles a beauty contest, with a twist. The goal, he said, is not to select the contestants who are “really the prettiest,” but rather those whom the other judges will...

The popular gaming site Roblox went back online Sunday after being down for most of the weekend. The online platform crashed Friday. In a statement, the company tweeted Sunday evening that “Roblox is back online everywhere! Thank you for your continued patience as we get back to normal.” The company...

DALLAS — American Airlines has canceled nearly 700 flights so far Sunday, adding to more than 1,000 already called off as the airline struggled to recover from slowed operations caused by weather on Thursday and Friday. Nearly a quarter of the mainline operations for the Fort Worth-based carrier were sidelined...

Merck fell out of the race to develop covid-19 vaccines earlier this year but could vault to head of the pack for treatments in 2022. The drugmaker’s potential antiviral, molnupiravir, may generate $5 billion to $7 billion in sales through next year, company executives told analysts Thursday morning. That could...

To help pay for his big economic and social agenda, President Joe Biden is looking to go where the big money is: billionaires. Biden never endorsed an outright “wealth tax” when he campaigned for the White House last year. But his more conventional proposed rate increases on the income of...

WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes jumped 14% in September to the fastest pace in six months as strong demand helped offset rising prices. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 800,000 units last month which was well...

General Motors is planning to install up to 40,000 electric vehicle chargers across the U.S. and Canada as part of a new community charging program. The vehicle maker said Tuesday that the program will start next year. It will work with its dealers to have the charging stations in locations...

NEW YORK — The Perfect Pigg, a gift shop owned by Ginger Pigg, is the go-to place for residents of Cumming, Ga., to pick up gift items like kids toys and home goods. But this year, store shelves might be a little sparse. Because of bottlenecks in the global supply...

DETROIT — Tesla wants to keep secret its response to the U.S. government’s request for information in an investigation of its Autopilot partially automated driving system. The electric vehicle maker sent a partial response by a Friday deadline to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is investigating how the...

Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — not to mention the last shreds of its carefully crafted, decade-old image as a benevolent company just wanting to connect the world. Thousands of pages of internal documents provided to Congress by a former employee depict an internally conflicted...

Group of 20 diplomats have all but given up on their lofty goal of consigning coal to history and are instead closing in on a more modest plan to stop governments funding foreign coal-fired power plants, according to people familiar with the situation. With the energy crisis changing the dynamics...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s oil and gas regulator on Thursday proposed that the state ban new oil drilling within 3,200 feet of schools, homes and hospitals to protect public health in what would be the nation’s largest buffer zone between oil wells and communities. It’s the latest effort by Democratic...

DETROIT — Volvo is recalling another 195,000 vehicles in the U.S. because the front driver’s air bags could explode and send shrapnel into the cabin. It’s the company’s third U.S. recall for the issue with air bag inflators made by supplier ZF/TRW. It stems from the death of an unidentified...

NEW YORK — Nine months after being expelled from social media for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s launching a new media company with its own social media platform. Trump says his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology...

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes bounced back in September to their strongest pace since January as mortgage rates tick higher, motivating buyers to get off the sidelines. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing homes sales rose 7% compared with August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate...