September 9, 2021 By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Few know her name or have seen her on TV, but Elizabeth MacDonough is one of the most important people in Washington. As the Senate’s parliamentarian, MacDonough advises lawmakers about what is acceptable under the chamber’s rules and precedents. Her advice on arcane points of Senate […]
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Banking regulator fines Wells Fargo $250 million over remediation shortcomings
September 9, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top U.S. banking regulator fined Wells Fargo $250 million and placed new restrictions on the bank’s business after finding shortcomings in its earlier efforts to pay back customers it had previously harmed. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the bank had not met the requirements […]
Amazon.com to cut cost of COVID-19 PCR test kits
September 9, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com said it will cut the cost of its direct-to-consumer COVID-19 PCR Test Collection kit to $36.99, a $3 price reduction. The U.S. retailer said the price cut reflects its costs for selling the FDA-approved kit and is the result of a public-private partnership with the Biden administration. The White […]
For migrants bound for U.S., a long wait in a Colombian beach town
September 9, 2021 By Henry Esquivel NECOCLI, Colombia (Reuters) – Some 14,000 migrants – many of them Haitian – remain bottle-necked in the Colombian beach town of Necocli, awaiting their chance to enter Panama and continue their journey to the United States, as border crossing quotas are out-paced by new arrivals, migrants and the town’s […]
DoNotPay’s ‘robot lawyer’ can now help report potholes or fallen trees to the city, file damage claims
Tired of swerving around the same pothole every day but don’t know how to report it to your city? Already reported it but feel like said report was fired off into the ether, never to be read much less fixed? DoNotPay, a company that makes annoying processes less annoying through automation, might be able to […]
Twitter introduces a new label that allows the ‘good bots’ to identify themselves
Twitter today is introducing a new feature that will allow accounts to self-identify as bots by adding a label to their profile. This feature is designed to help people better differentiate between automated accounts — like bots that retweet the news, public service announcements, or other updates — from those operated by humans. It’s not, […]
Tennis – U.S. Open order of play on Friday
September 9, 2021 NEW YORK (Reuters) – Order of play on the main show court on the 12th day of the U.S. Open on Friday (prefix number denotes seeding): ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM Men’s doubles final (1600 GMT/12 PM ET) 4-Rajeev Ram (U.S.)/Joe Salisbury (Britain) v 7-Jamie Murray (Britain)/Bruno Soares (Brazil) Men’s singles semi-finals 12-Felix Auger-Aliassime […]
Soccer – Man United homecoming is no vacation, says Ronaldo
September 9, 2021 (Reuters) – Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo says his return to Old Trafford is not a vacation and he hopes to prove himself again with consistent performances over the next three to four years. The 36-year-old Portuguese spent six seasons at United between 2003-09, winning eight major trophies, and rejoined them from […]
U.S. congressman presses Facebook, Amazon on efforts to curb vaccine misinformation
September 9, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Democratic Representative Adam Schiff called on Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc on Thursday to provide a more thorough explanation of their efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. “Despite some concrete and positive steps previously taken, these companies owe both the public and the Congress additional answers […]
GameStop shares subdued on lack of rejig details
September 9, 2021 By Medha Singh and Sagarika Jaisinghani (Reuters) -Shares in GameStop Corp carved out a tiny gain on Thursday after dropping as much as 10.5% earlier in the session even as the video game retailer’s silence on its turnaround plan led its army of individual investors to question the meteoric rise in its […]
Missing Merkel already, Germans nervous about what comes next
September 9, 2021 By Tanya Wood and Oliver Barth BERLIN (Reuters) – Weeks before an era-defining national election, Germans are missing Chancellor Angela Merkel already, praising her calm and stabilising influence as they prepare with a mix of hope and trepidation for life under a new leader for the first time in 16 years. Four-time […]
Wildfire raging in Spain forces more than 900 to flee, a firefighter dies
September 9, 2021 By Jon Nazca ESTEPONA, Spain (Reuters) -A wildfire has forced the evacuation of more than 900 people from around the southern Spanish resort of Estepona, local authorities said on Thursday. A 44-year-old firefighter died while working on the wildfire, regional environment chief Carmen Crespo told journalists. The blaze started on Wednesday around […]
GM’s pickup money machine gets a technology tuneup
September 9, 2021 By Joseph White DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co will give its best-selling Chevrolet Silverado large pickup truck models a makeover next spring to fix competitive shortcomings that have left Chevy in third place in one of the most lucrative vehicle market segments in the world. Catching up with rival trucks from […]
Nielsen CEO defends company amid escalating criticism from TV industry
September 9, 2021 By Helen Coster (Reuters) – Nielsen’s chief executive defended the company Thursday, as the ratings behemoth comes under renewed fire from the TV industry and faces questions about the accuracy of a system through which $60 billion of advertising is bought and sold. “We haven’t been perfect,” CEO David Kenny wrote in […]
Exclusive-Tech woes will delay around $3 billion in U.S. Justice Dept grants -documents
September 9, 2021 By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Technological glitches will cause the U.S. Justice Department to be late in paying out around $3 billion in grants that fund programs such as victims services and criminal justice research, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. The problems with the grant management system known as […]
G7 seeks more progress on global corporate tax reform
September 9, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) -Finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations said on Thursday they had to make more headway on the small print of a reform of global corporate tax rules in time for a summit of world leaders in October. Britain’s Rishi Sunak said he urged his G7 peers during […]
Libyan parliament speaker says election plan approved
September 9, 2021 TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s eastern-based parliament speaker on Thursday signed a law allowing a presidential election to take place in December, though another body of state rejected the move, saying the legislation was flawed. Parliament speaker Aguilah Saleh has sent the law that would allow the Dec. 24 presidential election to other […]
Libyan interim PM discusses border closure with Tunisian president
September 9, 2021 TUNIS (Reuters) – Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh met President Kais Saied in Tunisia on Thursday after tensions in recent weeks over border closures during the coronavirus pandemic and security threats. Dbeibeh’s office said they had agreed that the Libyan and Tunisian health and interior ministries would prepare a joint protocol […]
Russia and Belarus agree closer energy, economic integration
September 9, 2021 MOSCOW (Reuters) – The leaders of Russia and Belarus on Thursday agreed to set up a unified oil and gas market and to deepen economic integration in the face of what they regard as unjustified Western sanctions on both their economies. The agreement, reached after Kremlin talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin […]
Motor racing – Russell says he’ll start on equal terms to Hamilton
September 9, 2021 By Alan Baldwin (Reuters) – George Russell said he would start on equal terms with seven- times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season but played down the prospect of friction between the two. The 23-year-old Briton will be Hamilton’s third team mate at Mercedes and the first pairing […]