Author: News Room

The Justice Department on Thursday accused three of the nation’s largest health insurers of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks over several years to insurance brokers that steered people into private Medicare plans.Federal prosecutors also accused two of the insurers of colluding with brokers to discriminate against people with disabilities, by discouraging enrollment in the private Medicare plans because the insurers believed coverage would be more costly.About 12 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are younger than 65, covered by the federal insurance program because they are disabled. Their care can be expensive given complex health needs.According to the…

As much as Amazon may have wanted to dodge the spotlight in President Trump’s trade war, there was no avoiding it for America’s largest online retailer.First, the e-commerce company was entangled in the fleeting spat Tuesday with the White House over a faulty report that Amazon was going to show shoppers the costs of tariffs.Two days later, the economic reality arrived when Amazon reported among the slowest growth ever in its North American retail business.The region, Amazon’s largest, contributed to first-quarter financial results that showed the slowest overall sales growth since the depths of the pandemic, the company reported Thursday.…

The U.S. dollar has fallen about 9 percent in the past three months, according to an index that tracks its performance against a basket of major trading partners. Not since the 1970s has the currency performed so badly in a president’s first 100 days.The drop isn’t surprising. The U.S. economic outlook is far cloudier than it was on Inauguration Day, as President Trump’s tariffs set the stage for slower growth and higher inflation. U.S. assets look far less attractive now.But could there be something more existential afoot? Questions are swirling about the dollar’s global standing and whether after more than…

SharkNinja is recalling more than 1.8 million pressure cookers after it received more than 100 reports of burn injuries, federal safety regulators said on Thursday. The injuries prompted more than two dozen lawsuits against the company.The company, based in Needham, Mass., is recalling its Ninja Foodi OP300 Series Multi-Function Pressure Cookers, which also functions as an air fryer, after customers reported that the pressure cooker’s lid could be opened during use and that hot food could “escape” and pose a burn risk.The affected products have a 6.5-quart capacity, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a recall notice. The…

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan that would require placebo-controlled studies for all new vaccines, surprising some experts who noted that such testing already routinely takes place.In a statement, Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that “all new vaccines will undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials” before approval, and called the move a “radical departure” from existing standards.Modern studies tend to use placebos. One exception has been the Covid booster shots, which have been authorized without human trials to target new strains of the virus as it has evolved. It’s…

Sitting in front of a packed auditorium in Dubai, a founder of the Trump family cryptocurrency business made a brief but monumental announcement on Thursday. A fund backed by Abu Dhabi, he said, would be making a $2 billion business deal using the Trump firm’s digital coins.That transaction would be a major contribution by a foreign government to President Trump’s private venture — one that stands to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trump family. And it is a public and vivid illustration of the ethical conflicts swirling around Mr. Trump’s crypto firm, which has blurred the boundary…

Last month, four Republicans from the House and Senate sent letters to the presidents of Ivy League schools demanding years of data about how they decide what to charge.These institutions, the letters said, “establish the industry standard for tuition pricing, creating an umbrella effect for all colleges and universities to justify higher tuition costs than they could otherwise charge in a competitive market.”In fact, no more than a few dozen other schools can command Ivy League prices from a high percentage of their students and their families. Every other private institution — and most public ones — compete brutally on…

General Motors cut its profit forecast for 2025 on Thursday by more than 20 percent and said that the Trump administration’s tariffs would increase its costs by $4 billion to $5 billion this year.In a conference call with analysts, G.M. executives said the company now expects to make $8.2 billion to $10.1 billion this year, down from a previous forecast of $11.2 billion to $12.5 billion.“G.M.’s business is fundamentally strong as we adapt to the new trade policy environment,” the company’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said.In April, President Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on imported vehicles and will…

Musk or not, Tesla’s challenges remainTesla shareholders appear relieved that Elon Musk seems set to stay on as C.E.O., after the automaker’s chair denied a report that the board had explored finding his successor. Company shares are up in premarket trading.But even if Musk — who has said he’s dialing back his government cost-cutting work — is sticking around, the company still faces operational and competitive challenges. And then there’s the question of how much time he can still devote to Tesla, and whether his plans for the company will work out, though Musk has a track record of proving…

The chair of Tesla’s board of directors denied a report that the company had begun to look for a replacement for Elon Musk, the chief executive who has been spending much of his time working for President Trump while the automaker’s sales and profits plummet.Robyn Denholm, who has led the board for more than six years, said on X that the report in The Wall Street Journal was “absolutely false.”“The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead,” Ms. Denholm said on Tesla’s account…