California regulators are considering a plan to charge a fee for text messaging on mobile phones to help support programs that make phone service accessible to the poor. The Mercury News reports Wednesday that the proposal is scheduled for a vote next month by the state Public Utilities Commission. The wireless industry and business groups…
read moreIntelligence experts say Russian outreach to the Trump campaign fits the pattern of an intelligence operation. Former officials have reviewed the attempts by Russians to establish contact as laid out in recent court filings by special counsel Robert Mueller. They conclude they were apparently targeted and more frequent than would be expected during a typical…
read moreSports, disaster and death were among the top searches on Google last year. Each December, the technology company releases it’s top trending searches of the year. Topics that drew the interest of Americans included the World Cup, Hurricane Florence and three people who died in 2018 — rapper Mac Miller, designer Kate Spade and TV…
read moreMichael Cohen, the longtime personal attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison, after telling a New York judge that his “blind loyalty” to the U.S. leader led him to “cover up his dirty deeds.” U.S. Judge William Pauley imposed the sentence on Cohen for an array of crimes,…
read moreDozens of retired state and federal judges called Wednesday on U.S. immigration officials to stop making arrests at courthouses of people suspected of being in the country illegally, saying immigrants should be free to visit halls of justice without fearing they will be detained. Nearly 70 former judges from 23 states — including federal judges and…
read moreTwitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey is under fire for failing to address the humanitarian crisis involving the Rohingya Muslims during his recent meditation retreat in Myanmar. Dorsey published a thread on his Twitter page Sunday praising Myanmar’s people as “full of joy,” and heaping equal praise on the nation’s cuisine. Critics angrily accused Dorsey…
read moreWood consumption — including logging and the production of charcoal — is a leading cause of forest degradation in Africa. In some of Kenya’s coastal regions, recurring droughts have made the problem even worse. Now, farmers in those regions are planting trees, putting their once-barren land to use in a venture that enables them to earn…
read moreFormer Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was charged Wednesday with tampering with the final audit report into a defunct state investment fund, adding to a long list of corruption allegations against him since his ouster in May elections. Najib was charged along with Arul Kanda Kandasamy, the former head of the 1MDB fund, which is…
read moreCash-strapped Avianca Brasil, the country’s fourth-largest airline, on Tuesday sought bankruptcy protection from creditors but reassured passengers that flights will continue. “Due to resistance from the lessors (of their aircraft) to reaching a friendly settlement, we have filed seeking protection from creditors, to protect clients and passengers,” a company statement said. Operations are not expected…
read moreIf short films are shorter than feature films and commercials are shorter than both, what’s shorter than everything? GIFs. At 18 seconds or less, these micro-films are getting their time in the spotlight. Tina Trinh reports. …
read moreGreece’s parliament on Tuesday voted to scrap plans to cut state pensions, in a motion led by the left-led governing coalition hoping to shore up its flagging support ahead of a general election next year. Athens agreed two years ago to cut pensions in 2019, in an attempt to placate lenders and get the International…
read moreWhile the United Nations says child labor has fallen sharply in Cambodia’s garment factories, many informal subcontractors using children are escaping scrutiny, activists said Tuesday. Better Factories Cambodia, a U.N. International Labor Organization and World Bank initiative, found just 10 cases of child labor, down from 74 in 2014, in its latest survey of almost 500…
read moreA new proposal from the Trump White House would roll back more Obama-era environmental regulations. Trump administration officials say Tuesday’s proposed change in the Clean Water Act provides “a clear, understandable, and implementable definition” of what kinds of bodies of water the government can regulate. Environmental groups say the new rules are a concession to…
read moreA senior U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday that Chinese cyber activity in the United States had risen in recent months, targeting critical infrastructure in what may be attempts to lay the groundwork for future disruptive attacks. “You worry they are prepositioning against critical infrastructure and trying to be able to do the types of…
read moreEnvironmental groups opposed to offshore drilling sued the federal government Tuesday to prevent future seismic tests for oil and gas deposits in Atlantic waters off the U.S. East Coast. Seismic testing, which uses air gun blasts, violates federal laws that protect marine mammals, endangered species and national environmental policy, according the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in…
read moreLawyers for President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort told a U.S. judge on Tuesday they need more time to evaluate prosecutors’ allegations that Manafort lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and breached his plea deal. During a hearing at the U.S. District Court in Washington, Manafort’s lawyer Richard Westling said the defense…
read moreFrance will overshoot the European Union’s budget deficit ceiling next year without deeper spending cuts after President Emmanuel Macron caved in to anti-government protests. Macron announced wage increases for the poorest workers and a tax cut for most pensioners on Monday in an effort to quell a near month-long public revolt. But the measures will…
read moreProtesters disturbed a U.S.-sponsored event promoting fossil fuels on the sidelines of U.N. climate change talks on Monday. The event called “U.S. innovative technologies spur economic dynamism,” touting the benefits of burning fossil fuels more efficiently, infuriated campaigners and many government delegations who want the talks to focus on moving away from coal, oil and…
read moreGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai insisted Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee that he runs the U.S. technology giant without political preference. “We find that we have a wide variety of sources, including sources from the left and sources from the right. And we are committed to making sure there are diverse perspectives,” Pichai told the…
read moreWalt Disney Studios is again ending the year on a high note, posting more than $7 billion in global box office earnings, thanks to hits such as “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” “This is only the second time in history any studio has surpassed the $7 billion mark, after Disney’s own industry-record 2016 global…
read moreChina and the United States discussed the road map for the next stage of their trade talks on Tuesday, during a telephone call between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Earlier this month in Argentina, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Democratic leaders Tuesday in a final effort to secure border wall funding as part of a larger government spending package that must be passed by Dec. 21. The funding marks the final legislative action of the Republican-controlled Congress and a must-pass bill to avert a partial government shutdown…
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