China passed a law on Friday that for the first time explicitly allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could make the contested waters around China more choppy. China has maritime sovereignty disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China… Read More China passes law that allows coast guard fire at foreign vessels if necessary
Google and a French publishers’ lobby said on Thursday they had agreed to a copyright framework for the U.S. tech giant to pay news publishers for content online, in a first for Europe. The move paves the way for individual licensing agreements for French publications, some of which have seen revenues drop with the rise… Read More Google reaches content payment agreement with French news publishers
In a landmark verdict in one of the mining world’s most high profile legal cases, a Swiss criminal court found Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz guilty of corruption and forgery on Friday and sentenced him to five years in jail with a sizeable fine. The ruling after a two-week trial is a blow for Steinmetz, a… Read More Swiss court sentences Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz to five years imprisonment on corruption charges
Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, the quiet, unassuming slugger who broke Babe Ruth’s supposedly unbreakable record for most home runs in a career and battled racism in the process, died on Friday, the Atlanta Braves announced. He was 86. Aaron joined the Braves management to become one of the few African-Americans in a baseball… Read More Baseball legend Hank Aaron dies at 86
U.S. President Joe Biden will seek a five-year extension to the New START arms control treaty with Russia, the White House said on Thursday, in one of the first major foreign policy decisions of the new administration ahead of the treaty’s expiration in early February. “The President has long been clear that the New START… Read More U.S. President Joe Biden seeks five-year extension of New START arms treaty with Russia
Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Friday it would block its search engine in Australia if the government proceeds with a new code that would force it and Facebook Inc to pay media companies for the right to use their content. Google’s threat escalates a battle with publishers such as News Corp that is being closely… Read More Google says it will block search engine in Australia over publishing rules
Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it will recall 3 million vehicles for air bag inflators that could rupture, at a cost of $610 million. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday ordered Ford to issue the recall for driver-side air bag inflators, rejecting the automaker’s 2017 petition to avoid it. The defect, which… Read More Ford to recall three million vehicles over faulty air bags
Google parent Alphabet Inc is shutting down its internet balloon business, Loon, which aimed to provide a less expensive alternative to cell towers, saying on Thursday that it was not commercially viable. Founded in 2011, Loon aimed to bring connectivity to areas of the world where building cell towers is too expensive or treacherous by… Read More Alphabet to shut down its internet balloon business unit Loon
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