Two years ago, Andrew Feldman couldn’t find Abu Dhabi on a map. But like many Silicon Valley leaders, the artificial intelligence entrepreneur has been wooed by the promise of Middle Eastern partnership and money.
On trips to the glittering capital of the United Arab Emirates, he’s toured a government-built synagogue and a local outpost of the Louvre. The city is so teeming with the tech sector that he ran into fellow California start-up founders in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel. Meanwhile, millions from the oil-rich UAE are allowing Feldman’s Cerebras to build advanced supercomputer data centers in Stockton, Calif., Dallas and on theoutskirts of the Emirati desert city.
RFK JR. SUES MARK ZUCKERBERG, META FOR ELECTION INTERFERENCE AND CENSORSHIP
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who will appear on the California ballot with the far-right American Independent Party, filed a lawsuit Monday against tech giant Meta.
The lawsuit accuses the company, and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, of censorship and election interference.
Lawyers on behalf of Kennedy and his super PAC, American Values 2024, filed the federal lawsuit Monday in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.
The lawsuit alleges Meta, which encompasses Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger, purposefully suppressed users from viewing and sharing a 30-minute documentary, “Who is Bobby Kennedy?” which was released by American Values 2024 on May 3.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into Alphabet-owned Waymo (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) self-driving vehicles after receiving reports of collisions and instances in which the vehicle’s automated driving system (ADS) appeared to disobey traffic safety rules.
The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received reports of 22 incidents involving Waymo vehicles wherein the vehicle ADS behavior caused single-party crashes and potential traffic safety law violations. Of the 22 incidents, 17 involved crash with stationary and semi-stationary objects.
ODI has opened a preliminary evaluation of an estimated 444 Waymo vehicles, which are equipped with Waymo’s 5th generation automated driving system. The investigation will evaluate the ADS’s performance in detecting and responding to traffic control devices and in avoiding collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles.
Pride merchandise on display at a Target store in Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, New York, in May of 2023.
Duncan Osborne
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One year after Target scrambled to remove Pride merchandise in response to threats from right wing groups and individuals, the retail giant is again restricting LGBTQ-themed products in stores this year.
Target will sell Pride merchandise in select stores based on product performance and feedback, according to a fact sheet posted on the Target website. Target will, however, still sell all of its Pride merchandise online.
“We’re offering a collection of products including adult apparel and home and food and beverage items, curated based on consumer feedback,” Target said in the fact sheet. “The collection will be available on Target.com and in select stores, based on historical sales performance.”
(CNN) — A Louisiana bill would classify the abortion-inducing drugs misoprostol and mifeprostone as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances in the state, placing them in the same category as highly regulated drugs such as narcotics and depressants.
The amendment that would classify the drugs as Schedule IV substances was added to a Senate bill that would make it a crime to give abortion medication to a person without their consent.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Thomas Pressly, said he proposed the legislation after his sister was given misoprostol against her will.
Abortion is already banned in Louisiana with no exceptions for rape or incest.
The bill sparked outcry from a group of nearly 270 Louisiana physicians, health care providers and medical students, who signed a letter to Pressly expressing concerns over the reclassification.
(Reuters) -Illinois state treasurer Michael Frerichs urged Exxon Mobil shareholders to vote against the election of CEO Darren Woods, as the oil major pursues a lawsuit against two shareholders, a filing showed on Monday.
Frerichs also recommended voting against Exxon’s Lead Independent Director Joseph Hooley at the company’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled to take place on May 29.
Exxon, which is frequently the focus of critical shareholder resolutions, struck back earlier this year when it filed a lawsuit seeking to block a vote on a climate proposal submitted by two small activist investors.
While the investors responded by dropping the proposal, Exxon has refused to drop the legal action against them.
“The actions taken by the company signify poor judgment and oversight by board leadership,” Frerichs said in a letter dated May 9, according to the filing.
Last Friday, Glass Lewis had recommended investors vote against Hooley, citing concerns about Exxon’s “unusual and aggressive tactics” in pursuing a lawsuit against activist investors.
“By telling people to vote against our board, these groups are making it clear they have no interest in creating long-term shareholder value,” an Exxon spokesperson said in response to Frerichs’ letter.
A spokesperson for Frerichs’ office said he would vote against Hooley and Woods with the shares he directly controls, including assets in the state’s college-savings plans, only about 82,000 shares in all, rather than larger state pools.
(Reporting by Sourasis Bose and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Shounak Dasgupta)
Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.59, for a total transaction of $4,148,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,602,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,485,677,624.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.
Home Depot’s sales continued to soften in the first quarter as the nation’s largest home improvement retailer was not only constrained by high mortgage rates and higher inflation for its customers, but it also had to deal with a delayed start to spring.
Sales slipped 2.3% to $36.42 billion for the period ended April 28, just shy of the $36.65 billion that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected. It was the third consecutive quarter of declining sales for the retailers, which saw sales skyrocket during the pandemic.
Customer transactions dipped 1% in the quarter, with shoppers also spending a bit less, averaging $90.68 per receipt compared with $91.92 a year earlier.
Sales at store open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, declined 2.8% globally, and 3.2% in the U.S.
The S&P 500 could be on the verge of a sharp move down, as inflation isn’t cooling much further from here, according to Stifel analysts.
In a note, the investment firm predicted the S&P 500 would fall to 4,750 in the second or third quarter of this year. That implies around a 10% decline from the benchmark index’s current levels at around 5,222 on Monday.
Inflation will likely remain stubbornly high, the strategists predicted, as the economy is coming out of what they described as a “pseudo-recession” that took place from early 2022 and lasted through the middle of 2023. That accounted for the bulk of the disinflation seen to date, and economic activity has since revved up.
“We have been wary of a broad S&P 500 correction in the middle quarters of 2024. While most strategists were expecting a recession last year or eagerly attempting to call the start of one in the next year, we have been of the view that the ~5 quarters 1Q22 to 2Q23 were a ‘pseudo-recession’ and the Fed has already harvested all the normal post-recession disinflation we would expect,” the firm wrote.
Who: Plaintiff Kimberley Dennie filed a class action lawsuit against Bank of America.
Why: The lawsuit claims Bank of America does not legitimately investigate fraud claims, instead sending out form letter denials making customers responsible for banking fraud.
Where: The Bank of America fraud claims lawsuit was filed in federal court in North Carolina.
A consumer filed a class action lawsuit against Bank of America saying the bank does not legitimately investigate fraud claims, instead sending out form letter denials arguing its customers are responsible for banking fraud.
The lawsuit alleges that the company often denies Bank of America fraud claims — even when they are submitted properly — by claiming that fraudulent payments were actually made by an authorized card user.
AT&T’s application to end its landline phone obligations in California is likely to be rejected by state officials following protest from residents worried about losing access to phone lines.
An administrative law judge at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recommended rejection of the application in a proposed decision released Friday. The CPUC is set to vote on finalizing the proposed decision at its June 20 meeting.
Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola found that AT&T’s application to end its Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligation should be dismissed with prejudice. State rules require a replacement COLR in order to relieve AT&T of its duties, but there is no other COLR in AT&T’s wireline territory “and no potential COLR volunteered to replace AT&T,” he wrote.
“It is not clear why AT&T filed this Application, under existing rules, and then attempted to convince the Commission that it should ignore its rules, based on flawed and erroneous assertions regarding the law and regulatory policy that slowed down the adjudication of this proceeding,” Glegola wrote.
For years, President Joe Biden was flying west to east with the prevailing winds, economically speaking. During Covid, politicians (primarily Democrats) closed down large portions of the economy. When Covid ended, the economy “grew” because that’s what happens when you go from a partially closed economy to an entirely open one.
The truth is that Biden’s economic numbers were never any good. And now that the easy-growth environment of the post-Covid era is well behind us, Biden — and the country — face a terrible economic reckoning.
Lowe’s (LOW – Free Report) closed at $232.98 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.87% move from the prior day. The stock’s change was less than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.02%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.21%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 0.29%.
Shares of the home improvement retailer have appreciated by 1.28% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Retail-Wholesale sector’s gain of 1.42% and the S&P 500’s gain of 1.29%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Lowe’s in its forthcoming earnings report. The company’s upcoming EPS is projected at $2.94, signifying a 19.89% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $21.07 billion, down 5.7% from the prior-year quarter.
The specter of stagflation has returned. On April 25th, The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that GDP only grew by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year, well below expectations.
Consumer spending on goods actually declined in the quarter as ordinary Americans are financially tapped out. The report also showed inflation remains stubbornly high, continuing a recent trend of resurgent inflation running about twice the Federal Reserve’s target rate.
American small businesses are the biggest victims of the stagflationary economy, which is being weighed down by big government policies. This was the most important storyline coming out of this Month’s National Small Business Week.
President Biden is claiming a small business “boom” under his administration. The reality is entrepreneurs grapple with a triple threat: a decelerating economy, soaring inflation, and escalating credit expenses due to his bad policies.
American consumers have a record $1.2 trillion of credit card debt. They are experiencing declining real wages and face a cost-of-living crisis. They can’t afford to keep up their discretionary spending, which small businesses rely on to survive and thrive.
Gen Z have been relentlessly mocked for spending money they don’t have on avocado toasts, designer bags and luxury holidays—and then complaining that they’ll never be able to save up enough for a house deposit. But in reality, research echoes that the youngest generation of workers really do have it worse financially.
A new study from credit reporting agency TransUnion found those in their early 20s are earning less, have more debt and see higher delinquency rates than millennials did at their age.
The research compared the credit usage of 22 to 24 year olds to millennials, who were 22-24 years old 10 years ago. It found that 20-somethings today are taking home around $45,500, while millennials at their age were earning $51,852 when adjusting for inflation.
Despite earning less, young people today are being forced to dig deep for basic necessities like food groceries and gas thanks to inflation, with interest rates currently at a 23-year high in the U.S.
A political action committee for a ubiquitous home improvement company is doing some financial renovations in the wake of fraud, according to a new financial filing.
“The PAC has taken action to prevent this from happening in the future by closing that bank account and opening a new account,” said a report to FEC from May 8. “In addition, the PAC is using positive pay through the bank to prevent any future occurrences.”
The $7,500 charge was “fraudulent activity on the bank account and has been reversed,” the report said.
Governor JB Pritzker’s administration is shedding more light on plans to close a state prison in Chicago’s south suburbs as early as September, and possibly move another.
Capitol News Illinois reports top officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections on Friday laid out the agency’s plans to close and rebuild two state prisons that are in dire states of disrepair.
Pritzker announced the plan in March, but IDOC officials have been slow to release details. Now, the agency is acknowledging it’s aiming to close the Stateville Correctional Center at the end of summer.
Organized labor is pushing back on the plan. AFSCME Council 31 represents most state prison workers. The union’s Deputy Director Mike Newman cast doubt on the state’s assurances that prison employees would be guaranteed jobs at other facilities.
Less than two weeks until its scheduled adjournment, state lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker appear to be at-odds in budget negotiations.
The Democratic governor is requesting legislative approval of a $52.7 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, accompanied with approximately $800 million in tax increases. Those increases, namely extending an expiring cap on losses that corporations can claim on taxes to gain $526 million and increasing the tax on sportsbooks’ revenues from 15% to 35% to collect another $200 million, are meeting resistance in Springfield.
Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at the Hoogland Center for the Fine Arts Thursday, May 2, 2024.
During a May 13 news conference, Pritzker said Democrats and Republicans — often clashing with the governor — were both raising concerns. Mathematically, however, he just needs Democratic backing since the party holds super-majorities in both the House and Senate.
The governor and Democrats have often been in lockstep throughout his first five years in office, yet tweaks to his budget proposals have occurred in prior budget negotiations. Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Chicago that he welcomes changes as long as they keep spending in-check.
“My one principle around this budget is its got to be balanced,” he said. “We’re not going to overspend, we’re not gonna start sweeping dollars from accounts that had been done before I became governor. And we’re not gonna go back to the old practices of, you know, making us a credit unworthy state.”
In preparation for legislative resistance, Deputy Gov. and former local state senator Andy Manar sent out a letter to department heads last week requesting their help in identifying $800 million in collective budget cuts. Their focus, he wrote, should be on items such as “grant programs and other discretionary spending that has increased in recent years.”
Others leading counter efforts to Pritzker’s spending plan include the Sports Betting Alliance, a nationwide advocacy group representing gaming interests such as DraftKings and FanDuel. The alliance claims the new rate will lead to an uptick in illegal offshore sports betting.
Last year, Illinois collected $150 million in tax revenues from sports wagering meaning the increased rate would bring in $350 million to the state’s coffers. Pritzker said the 35% is subject to the sportsbooks themselves and not on those placing bets, a point that he’s had to clarify with lawmakers.
Scheduled adjournment for the spring session is set for May 24, but lawmakers have built a contingent schedule tacking on a week in case negotiations are still ongoing. If negotiations are not wrapped up by the end of the month, a three-fifths vote in both chambers will be necessary. FY25 starts on July 1, 2024.
Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report.
Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.
Elon Musk is the CEO of several companies including Space X, Tesla, and xAI, while Mark Zuckerberg owns Meta platforms including, Facebook and Instagram. — AFP/File
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has criticised Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg for being “excessively greedy”. He said that the Facebook owner takes credits for advertisers’ campaigns on its platforms which he should not, India Today reported.
The dispute unfolded after a user posted on X formerly known as Twitter about the attribution of conversions in advertising campaigns on both X and Meta platforms.
The user shared that despite running ad campaigns on both the platforms, the majority of conversions came from Meta while only some were from X.
(Bloomberg) — Using Facebook in the lead-up to the US 2020 presidential election might have increased the chances of someone voting for Donald Trump, university researchers said in a study published Monday in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
As part of the study, the researchers asked nearly 19,900 Facebook and 15,600 Instagram users to stop using the platforms ahead of the 2020 election. The authors, led by Stanford University professors Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow, found some evidence suggesting that people who used Facebook might have been more likely to vote for Trump. They noted that their finding fell “just short” of being statistically significant.
“So we need to take it with a grain of salt,” Gentzkow said in a statement. “But if it’s real, it’s big enough that it could impact the outcome of a close election.”
An Australian federal court sided with Elon Musk on Monday, rejecting an Australian safety regulator’s request to extend a temporary order blocking a terrorist attack video from spreading on Musk’s platform X (formerly Twitter).
The video showed a teen stabbing an Assyrian bishop, Mar Mari Emmanuel—whose popular, sometimes controversial TikTok sermons often garner millions of views—during a church livestream that rapidly spread online.
Police later determined it was a religiously motivated terrorist act after linking the 16-year-old charged in the stabbing to a group of seven teens “accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney,” AP News reported. Bishop Emmanuel has since reassured his followers that he recovered quickly and forgave the teen, Al Jazeera reported.
In April, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, had cited Australia’s Online Safety Act and asked X to remove 65 posts showing footage from the attack, Reuters reported, but X refused to remove the posts.
Minutes after it became clear that Javier Milei had been elected president of South America’s second-largest nation in November, Elon Musk posted on X: “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina.”
Since then, Mr. Musk has continued to use X, the social network he owns, to boost Mr. Milei. The billionaire has shared videos of the Argentine president attacking “social justice” with his 182 million followers. One doctored image, which implied that watching a speech by Mr. Milei was better than having sex, is among Mr. Musk’s most viewed posts ever.
Mr. Musk has helped turn the pugnacious libertarian into one of the new faces of the modern right. But offline, he has used the relationship to press for benefits to his other businesses, the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.
“Elon Musk called me,” Mr. Milei said in a television interview weeks after taking office. “He is extremely interested in the lithium.”
(CNN) — Rudy Giuliani was suspended from New York City radio station WABC and his talk show canceled after he flagrantly ignored orders not to discuss false 2020 election conspiracy theories, the station’s owner said Monday.
Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Donald Trump lawyer who has hosted a daily talk show on the AM station for three years, was pulled from the airwaves Friday after he repeated bogus claims of vote rigging in the 2020 presidential election.
In recent months, Giuliani was repeatedly directed to not make claims of electronic voting manipulation surrounding the 2020 election, John Catsimatidis, the billionaire GOP donor and owner of the radio station, said in a statement.
Catsimatidis said the station received a letter in January 2021 from election technology company Dominion Voting Systems, which has been the target of baseless vote rigging claims by right-wing media figures, including Giuliani. WABC instructed its on-air hosts, including Giuliani, to avoid the subject, Catsimatidis said.
