Author: Grace Johnson

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced on Friday that Washington will take a 10% ownership stake in Intel. “This historic agreement strengthens American leadership in semiconductors. It will grow our economy and protect our technological edge,” Lutnick wrote on X. He shared the message with a photo of himself alongside Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. President Donald Trump revealed the deal earlier in the Oval Office. He described it as “a great deal for them.” Shares of the Santa Clara-based chipmaker climbed more than 5% on Friday. Intel confirmed that the US government will invest $8.9bn (£6.6bn) in its common…

Elon Musk and his platform X have agreed to settle with former staff. The workers had sued the company for $500 million in severance pay. The settlement appeared in a court filing on Wednesday. Both sides asked the San Francisco appeals court to postpone a hearing. They want time to complete the paperwork. Lawsuit followed mass layoffs The dispute arose after Musk dismissed around 6,000 employees in 2022. That represented more than half of the company’s staff. Many of those workers filed lawsuits challenging the severance arrangements. Lawyers for the employees and representatives of X have not commented publicly. Court…

Sony will increase the price of the PlayStation 5 in the US by about $50 starting Thursday. The Japanese technology company faces mounting costs and a cooling video game market. Sony executive Isabelle Tomatis wrote in a blog post that the firm operates in a “challenging economic environment.” All three console versions will become more expensive. The Pro edition will now retail for $749.99. US tariffs drive price increases The decision follows tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on several trade partners, including Japan. These tariffs sparked fears of rising costs. Tomatis said: “We made the difficult decision to raise…

The Kremlin has downplayed the possibility of an imminent summit between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, Donald Trump renewed his call for the two leaders to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The push for direct talks comes after Trump met Putin in Alaska last week. On Monday, he welcomed seven European leaders and Zelensky to the White House. Trump admitted the conflict was difficult to solve. He acknowledged that Putin might not want to end hostilities. “We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks,” he said on…

An Australian court has fined airline giant Qantas 90 million Australian dollars for unlawful sackings during the Covid-19 crisis. The company had dismissed more than 1,800 ground staff in 2020. Australia’s Transport Workers’ Union welcomed the decision. It called the fine the largest in history for breaches of industrial relations law. Court delivers a clear warning Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said the penalty must serve as real deterrence. He stressed that employers must know such conduct has consequences. Qantas accepted the ruling and announced it will pay the fine. The company admitted it caused harm to its workers. “We…

A US senator has opened an investigation into Meta. A leaked document reportedly showed the company’s artificial intelligence allowed “sensual” and “romantic” conversations with children. Leaked paper sparks controversy Reuters reported the internal document carried the title “GenAI: Content Risk Standards.” Republican Senator Josh Hawley called it “reprehensible and outrageous.” He demanded access to the document and the full list of affected products. Meta rejected the allegations. A spokesperson said: “The examples and notes in question were erroneous and inconsistent with our policies.” They stressed Meta had “clear rules” restricting chatbot responses. These rules “prohibit content that sexualizes children and…