Author: News Room

For about $1,000, you may leave an Apple store with a brand-new, hermetically sealed iPhone that’s been personalized for you by a verified Genius.Or, for hundreds or even thousands of dollars more, you can buy a used phone with a cracked screen and dirt-filled speakers, from someone on the internet.It all just depends on how much you love TikTok.When the video-sharing app stopped working in the United States on Saturday evening after the Supreme Court backed a law that effectively banned the app, some users deleted the app from their phones. The next day, the app started working again when…

The S&P 500 clambered back to a record high on Thursday, inching above a peak reached in early December, building on gains after President Trump reiterated his commitment to bring down oil prices — a major component of inflation.The S&P 500 rose just 0.5 percent on Thursday, but the gain added to a winning streak that began more than a week ago with data that showed inflation slowing in December by more than economists had expected. With Thursday’s rise the index is up 4 percent in the first three weeks of the year.The recent rally arrived after the market had…

The Justice Department has abruptly rescinded job offers made to dozens of recent law school graduates who were to be placed in entry-level positions in its antitrust, criminal, civil rights, immigration and national security divisions, and at the F.B.I., according to people familiar with the situation.The offers were made through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, which has functioned without controversy — or much notice — under presidents of both parties for decades. The program appears to be the latest target of Trump political appointees intent on reversing even the most workaday decisions made by their predecessors.The move was part of…

President Trump took an unexpected swipe on Thursday at the big banks that have cheered his return to office, as he raised longstanding Republican complaints that they are discriminated against by major lenders.The moment came almost as an aside, as Mr. Trump was participating virtually in a question-and-answer session with executives gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.His questioner, Brian T. Moynihan, Bank of America’s chief executive, asked a rote, prepared question about the new administration’s plans for the economy.Mr. Trump capped off a nearly two-minute response by observing:“By the way, speaking of you — and you’ve done…

In his first term as president, Donald J. Trump targeted what many Republicans consider blatant welfare waste — a rule that gives food stamps to millions of people with incomes above the usual limit on eligibility.His proposed change would have saved billions but hurt low-income workers making the bootstraps efforts that conservatives say they want to encourage. Advocates for the needy resisted and the effort to shrink the program died during the pandemic, but it illustrates a challenge Mr. Trump may face as he pledges to cut spending in his second term while courting the working class.Republicans are mulling deep…

The Supreme Court on Thursday revived a federal law requiring companies to report information about their owners in an effort to combat money laundering, the drug trade and terrorism.The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The ruling was provisional, reinstating the law while a challenge to it moves forward.Critics say that the law, the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021, is needlessly burdensome, a threat to privacy and an unconstitutional federal intrusion on matters that have been historically regulated by states.The challenge to the law was brought by a firearms dealer,…

For months, the fight for management control of Korea Zinc, a leading metals producer, between its two founding families seemed headed for a dramatic showdown at a shareholder meeting.But instead of a conclusion, the meeting on Thursday launched what could be a prolonged legal battle after a last-minute stock maneuver by Korea Zinc’s chairman, Yun B. Choi.Mr. Choi, and his family, took steps on Wednesday to invalidate votes held by Korea Zinc’s largest shareholder, the conglomerate Young Poong, which was seeking to oust him from running the company.It was the latest twist in the bitter monthslong dispute between the Choi…

A new study suggests a possible alternative to the abortion pill mifepristone, a drug that continues to be a target of lawsuits and legislation from abortion opponents.But the potential substitute could further complicate the politics of reproductive health because it is also the key ingredient in a contraceptive morning-after pill.The new study, published Thursday in the journal NEJM Evidence, involved a drug called ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the prescription contraceptive Ella, one of two types of morning-after pills approved in the United States. (The other, Plan B One-Step, which does not require a prescription, contains a different drug…

Seven months after the Supreme Court struck down a deal that would have resolved thousands of opioid cases against Purdue Pharma, the company’s owners, members of the Sackler family, have increased their cash offer to settle the litigation — but with a novel catch.Under the framework for a new deal, the Sacklers would not receive immunity from future opioid lawsuits, a condition that they had long insisted upon but that the court ruled was impermissible.Instead, they would pay up to $6.5 billion — $500 million more than the previous agreement — but with a new condition: Claimants, including states, municipalities…

Crackdown President Trump made clear for months that he would take aim at diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives when he took office. But the ferocity with which he has done so — both within the federal government and, soon, in the corporate sector — has set off alarm bells in boardrooms.“We have heard from many, many clients,” James A. Paretti Jr., a shareholder at the law firm Littler Mendelson who specializes in workplace issues, told DealBook’s Sarah Kessler about the reaction to the executive order.The latest in Trump’s attacks on D.E.I.: Federal workers face “adverse consequences” if they don’t report…