Author: News Room
A federal regulator sued a mortgage finance firm owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate on Monday, claiming it made loans to buyers of manufactured homes that it knew they could not afford.The civil suit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance ignored “clear and obvious” signs that borrowers would not be able to repay the loans.The consumer bureau said Vanderbilt overlooked that some borrowers were already falling behind on debt obligations when the loans were issued.“Vanderbilt knowingly traps people in risky loans in order to…
Michael Barr will step down from his role as the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision by Feb. 28, or sooner if President-elect Donald J. Trump appoints a successor, the Fed said on Monday.Mr. Barr will continue to serve on the central bank’s Board of Governors. “The Board does not intend to take up any major rulemakings until a vice chair for supervision successor is confirmed,” the central bank said.As vice chair for supervision, Mr. Barr oversaw an attempt to rewrite financial rules that would have increased the amount of easy-access money that banks must have at the ready, potentially…
Hollywood hoisted a white flag in the culture war on Sunday.That summation of the 82nd Golden Globe Awards will undoubtedly aggravate some people in the movie capital. Us? Conceding the moral high ground to President-elect Donald J. Trump and his supporters? Never.They could point — fairly — to the movies that won prizes on Sunday. “Emilia Perez,” honored with four Globes, is a Spanish-language musical about trans identity. “The Brutalist,” which received three, is an epic about immigrant struggles. “Conclave,” the winner of best screenplay, is about the selection of a Mexican, intersex pope. “Wicked,” which was given a newish…
A tale of two Bezos businesses Jeff Bezos surprised many when he spoke of his hopes for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to power at the DealBook Summit last month. The duo’s reset took a new twist with Amazon’s announcement that it would release a documentary on Melania Trump shot by an outcast filmmaker, and more tumult at The Washington Post.But Bezos, like other business leaders, has been moving closer to the president-elect, and the decisions are inevitably being analyzed in that context.Amazon called it a “behind the scenes” look at Trump — but she will have a big say. The…
U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel sued the United States government on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to revive their attempted merger after President Biden blocked it last week on the basis that the transaction posed a threat to national security.The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington, accused Mr. Biden and other senior administration officials of corrupting the review process for political gain and of harming steel workers and the American steel industry by blocking the deal under false national security pretenses.Mr. Biden moved to block the merger after a government panel charged with reviewing foreign investments failed…
Can Paxlovid treat long Covid? A new report suggests it might help some patients, but which patients might benefit remains unclear.The report, published Monday in the journal Communications Medicine, describes the cases of 13 long Covid patients who took extended courses of the antiviral drug. Results were decidedly mixed: Nine patients reported some improvement, but only five said it lasted. Four reported no improvement at all.Perhaps more than anything, the report underscores that nearly five years after the pandemic began, there is still little known about what can help the millions of people with long Covid. While some people improve…
A Jeju Air crash in South Korea last week, the deadliest plane accident in years, has stunned the global aviation industry. The country is regarded as a model for how to turn poor air safety practices into some of the world’s best.Three decades ago, South Korea had a dismal record of air safety. Its flagship airline, Korean Air, experienced several deadly crashes in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2001, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded South Korea’s air safety rating for failing to meet international standards.Around the turn of the century, South Korea began an immense project to overhaul its…
Amazon said on Sunday that its Prime Video streaming service will release a “behind-the-scenes” documentary about Melania Trump’s life.The film will head to movie theaters and stream on Amazon Prime in the second half of this year, the company said in a statement. Mrs. Trump will be an executive producer of the documentary, which started filming in December, the month after her husband, Donald J. Trump, won the presidential election.Amazon said it was “excited to share this truly unique story.”The company and its founder, Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, had a rocky relationship with Mr. Trump during…
Do you have a question for our culture writers and editors? Ask us here.Q: Why do the Oscars honor producers when a movie wins best film? What did they do exactly?You’re confused for good reason: Producers themselves have a hard time describing their job.“I do the impossible for the ungrateful,” one cracked when I asked. “You can learn it, but you can’t teach it,” another told me, referencing something the pro wrestler Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon used to say about his profession. One longtime producer advised me to abandon this assignment entirely. “Forget it, Jake — it’s Chinatown,” he said,…
When Jeju Air’s status as South Korea’s biggest low-cost carrier seemed under threat from the merger of the country’s two biggest airlines last year, the company’s chief executive assured employees that it would “actively respond,” possibly by acquiring smaller rivals.Now, a week after a crash that killed 179 people on Dec. 29, Jeju Air’s future is clouded by even deeper questions.South Korean officials on Thursday raided the company’s offices and imposed a travel ban on Kim E-bae, the chief executive, as part of the investigation into the country’s worst air disaster in almost three decades. Passengers are canceling bookings, adding…