Google’s head of philanthropy says the company is having “a lot of conversations” internally amid worries about the tech giant’s bottomless appetite for consumer data and how it uses its algorithms.Vice President Jacqueline Fuller wouldn’t comment on specific data privacy controversies dogging Google lately, but says she shares other concerns many have about Big Tech.…
read moreLouisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has stunned Republicans again, narrowly winning a second term Saturday as the Deep South’s only Democratic governor and handing Donald Trump another gubernatorial loss this year.In the heart of Trump country, the moderate Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support with his focus on bipartisan, state-specific issues to defeat Republican businessman…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump made an unexpected visit to a military hospital Saturday afternoon for what the White House said was an early start to his annual health checkup.“Anticipating a very busy 2020, the president is taking advantage of a free weekend here in Washington, D.C., to begin portions of his routine annual physical exam at…
read moreA senior White House budget official arrived on Capitol Hill Saturday to testify behind closed doors before congressional investigators who are conducting an impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump.Mark Sandy, a longtime career official with the Office of Management and Budget, is the first agency employee to be deposed in the inquiry after three…
read moreA new report by leading health and safety agencies finds millions of sanitation workers in developing countries are forced to work under horrific conditions that put their health and lives at risk.Sanitation workers everywhere occupy the lowest rung of society and are stigmatized and marginalized because they do the dirty work that other people do…
read moreIt’s looking like an anti-robocall bill will be sent to President Donald Trump this year, helping tackle an infuriating problem in the U.S.House and Senate leaders said Friday they’ve reached an agreement in principle on merging their two bills against robocalls.The House bill had gone further than the Senate one. Details about what’s in the…
read moreAs House Democrats bring witnesses to testify in the public impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump continues to attack the witnesses and opposition Democrats. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara takes a look at the president’s communications strategy and at his supporters and opponents in Congress. …
read moreThe National Rifle Association’s embattled top executive earned about $2 million last year at a time when the gun rights lobby is beating back challenges from regulators, longtime members and gun control groups, according to tax filings cited in media reports.The tax filings come as the NRA faces investigations in New York and Washington that…
read moreNew rules from the Trump administration Friday would require insurers and hospitals to disclose upfront the actual prices for common tests and procedures to promote competition and push down costs.But the sweeping changes face stiff pushback from the health care industry. A coalition of major hospital groups quickly announced that hospitals will sue to block…
read moreU.S. regulators on Friday approved a new medicine that can prevent some extremely painful sickle cell disease flare-ups.The Food and Drug Administration approved Novartis AG’s Adakveo for patients 16 and older. The monthly infusion, which halves occurrences of sickle cell pain episodes, will carry a list price of roughly $85,000 to $113,000 per year, depending…
read moreTwitter’s new ban on political ads will cover appeals for votes, solicitations for campaign contributions and any political content. But the company quickly acknowledged Friday that it expects to make mistakes as individuals and groups look for loopholes. Twitter is defining political content to include any ad that references a candidate, political party, government official, ballot…
read moreNew Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is on the ballot in New Hampshire, where he hopes his patience will pay off. The Democratic presidential hopeful signed up for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Friday, the final day of the filing period. Though he lags behind in polls, Booker says he’s not one to switch…
read moreRoger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was found guilty Friday of witness tampering and lying to Congress about his pursuit of Russian-hacked emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election bid. Stone was convicted of all seven counts in a federal indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with…
read moreThe World Health Organization warns disease outbreaks are flourishing in Yemen and many people are dying from a lack of health care and serious shortages in supplies and personnel.Yemen’s economy is in tatters and its health care system in a state of near total collapse after more than five years of conflict. The WHO says…
read moreThere was a collective sigh of relief for more than 350,000 HIV-positive patients in Botswana, after the southern African country’s Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the government in a legal tussle over the supply of life-prolonging anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.In January, Botswana’s government was taken to court by a major ARV supplier that cited…
read moreU.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday he was certain that the awarding of a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft instead of Amazon was done fairly. The Pentagon awarded the contract to Microsoft in late October, and Amazon said there was “unmistakable bias” on the government’s part and it intended to challenge the decision…
read moreIn a sharply divided country, here is something many Americans agree on: It’s hard to know what’s a true and honest fact.A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts finds that regardless of political belief, many Americans say they have a hard time figuring out if information is true.…
read moreAustralia’s national carrier Qantas Friday successfully completed a 19½-hour, nonstop flight from London to Sydney, which was used to run a series of tests to assess the effects of ultralong-haul flights on crew fatigue and passenger jetlag.The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner took off from London’s Heathrow Airport Thursday morning and touched down at Sydney Airport 45…
read moreFederal prosecutors have opened an investigation into Rudy Giuliani, the personal lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reports.The prosecutors are conducting an inquiry into possible finance violations against Giuliani and his failure to register as a foreign agent, according to the Bloomberg account.Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, has emerged as a key…
read moreThe founder of a Malawian maternity clinic for poor women says it has set a record – delivering more than 8,800 babies with not a single death of mother or child. For her efforts improving access to safe childbirth, Charity Salima has become known as “Malawi’s Florence Nightingale,” the English founder of modern nursing. Lameck…
read moreThe Republican National Committee confirmed Thursday that it would hold its winter meetings at Trump National Doral, bringing business to one of the president’s struggling properties. The news came weeks after President Donald Trump canceled plans to host next year’s Group of Seven summit of world leaders in Doral after facing accusations that he was using…
read moreCigarette smoking among American adults fell to an all-time low last year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The report, out Thursday, said 13.7% of adults smoked cigarettes in 2018, a dramatic drop from the 42% adult smoking rate in 1965, when the CDC began keeping records.”This marked…
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