Investments and Business

Anthony J.F. O'Reilly, a charming, ambitious, Irishman, former chairman of the H.J. Heinz Company, who also owned newspapers, luxury brands and trophy homes in France and the Bahamas, only to lose almost everything in his eighth decade, has died on May 18 in Dublin. He was 88 years old. The Irish Times and other Irish newspapers, quoting a family spokesman, said he died in hospital. The cause was not given. From his earliest days, Mr. O'Reilly, known as Tony, has shown awkwardness about gifts. He was a world-class rugby player while still a teenager: the “red-haired pin-up of Irish rugby”,…

The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation continues to show signs of cooling, accompanied by moderate growth in consumer spending — welcome news for central bankers seeking to control rising prices and dampen demand. In May, the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index rose 2.6% from a year earlier, meeting economists' expectations and down slightly from April's 2.7% increase. Excluding more volatile food and fuel prices, core inflation also rose 2.6% year-on-year, down from 2.8% in April. On a monthly basis, inflation remained particularly subdued, with overall prices showing no significant increases. The Federal Reserve is likely to scrutinize this new…

Boeing is facing new criticism after the revelation of a January crash involving a 737 Max plane. During a factory tour, a Boeing executive revealed details about missing bolts that led to a panel coming off mid-flight . This sharing of information infuriated the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which called it a "blatant violation" of its investigation rules. The NTSB is investigating the crash and says Boeing is not permitted to discuss details or speculate about the causes. As punishment, they will limit Boeing's access to investigation information and prevent them from questioning others at an upcoming hearing. This…

An American Airlines passenger who kicked and spat at flight attendants and passengers and attempted to open a cabin door before being secured to a seat with duct tape has been sued by the Federal Aviation Administration for a fine of $81,950, the largest ever issued by the agency for unruly behavior. The passenger, Heather Wells, 34, of San Antonio, was traveling first class from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 7, 2021, when About an hour into the flight she ordered a Jack Daniel's and became agitated and…

The European Union (EU) accuses Microsoft of foul play after regulators accused the tech giant of unfairly bundling its popular Teams video conferencing software with its Office suite. This practice, the EU says, gives Teams an unfair advantage over competitors like Zoom and Slack. The issue centers on how Microsoft packages Teams within its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions, which include programs like Word, Excel, and Outlook. Regulators believe this bundling essentially forces companies to adopt Teams if they want Microsoft's other widely used programs. This, they argue, harms competition by limiting customer choice. This is just the latest…

That has changed significantly in recent years, as the three national credit reporting agencies – TransUnion, Equifax and Experian – have eliminated much of that debt from credit reports. In the last two years, they stopped reporting debts less than $500 and debts less than a year in collections. According to a recent study by the Urban Institute, these changes have erased medical debt from the credit reports of millions of Americans. The percentage of Americans with unpaid healthcare bills on their credit reports dropped from 12% in August 2022 to 5% in August 2023. Americans who cleared medical debt…

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement that the company is appealing the sanctions and denied that the company used "fixed quotas." Spokeswoman Maureen Lynch Vogel said that “individual performance is evaluated over an extended period of time, compared to the performance of the entire site team” and that workers can “review their performance whenever they wish.” . California law also prohibits quotas that interfere with employees' ability to take mandatory breaks or use the bathroom, or that prevent employers from following state health and safety laws. Experts said the law was among the first in the country to regulate…

In the Shek Tong Tsui area, where Return Home Hunan opened in May, many of the brightly colored restaurants – once mainstays of the neighborhood – had recently closed their doors. A restaurant that served cheap noodles and milk tea was gone, as was a restaurant where retirees gathered to eat dim sum and catch up on the day's news. “The restaurant business is hard work,” said Roy Tse, the owner of a local restaurant that sold lunch rice dishes once popular among office workers in Hong Kong's Taikoo Shing business district. There are fewer visitors at lunchtime these days.…

At the center of the federal criminal trial is an incident in 2021 in which Mr. Watson's deputy deceived Goldman Sachs employees on a fundraising call by posing as a YouTube executive. The revelation of the call precipitated Ozy's downfall. Defense lawyers for Mr. Watson and Ozy accused his deputy, Samir Rao, of the false phone call and of misrepresenting Ozy's financial details to potential investors. Ms. Frison said in her opening statement in May that Mr. Rao was “incompetent for the role he was filling.” Mr. Rao and Suzee Han, Ozy's former chief of staff, pleaded guilty last year…

GM and Ultium released statements saying they were pleased with the deal. The union said it wants to use the Ultium Cells contract as a model to negotiate local deals at other battery plants that GM and its Detroit rivals are building. GM began production this year at a battery plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and has another under construction in Lansing, Michigan. Ford Motor plans two battery plants in Kentucky, one in Tennessee and one in Michigan. Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles, plans two battery plants in Indiana. Aside from a Ford location, these…