Author: News Room

A Russian organization linked to the Kremlin’s covert influence campaigns posted more than 8,000 political advertisements on Facebook despite European and American restrictions barring companies from doing business with the organization, according to three organizations that track disinformation online.The Russian group, the Social Design Agency, evaded lax enforcement by Facebook to place an estimated $338,000 worth of ads aimed at European users over a period of 15 months ended in October, even though the platform itself highlighted the threat, the three organizations said in a report released on Friday.The Social Design Agency has faced punitive sanctions in the European Union…

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.As a reporter covering the technology industry, I spend a lot of time thinking about artificial intelligence.Billboards for A.I. companies are scattered around my neighborhood in San Francisco. I regularly talk to people — company executives, my friends and family — about A.I. chatbots. I even tried using A.I. clones to fix my dating life.So when I came across a Facebook group called “A.I. for Church Leaders and Pastors,” my interest was piqued. On the page I found a community of…

On Wednesday afternoon, executives at Meta held a Q&A session with some of its employees about the state of American politics.Alex Schultz, the chief marketing officer, addressed questions about Meta’s embrace of the incoming Trump administration and what he said was the company’s precarious standing overseas, according to two attendees. He also said that Meta was paying close attention to the fate of one of its greatest competitors: TikTok.Depending on what happened to TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and faces a ban in the United States, Meta needed to prepare for what could be a seismic…

The U.S. economy is on track to grow faster this year than previously expected, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday, citing strength in the labor market and an acceleration in investment.The I.M.F. projects 2.7 percent U.S. economic growth in 2025 in its latest World Economic Outlook report, up from an estimate of 2.2 percent. That stands in stark contrast to reduced growth projections for the euro area, which the fund attributed in large part to weakness in the manufacturing sector and heightened political uncertainty.“The big story is the divergence between the U.S. and the rest of the world,” Pierre-Olivier…

That would slow the growth of the government’s spending on obesity drugs even as more people on Medicare started using them.New prices for the 10 drugs in the first round of price negotiations were announced last summer. Those prices will go into effect next year.Drugmakers were relieved that those cuts were not deeper. They have sued, unsuccessfully, to block the price negotiation program.Drugs Selected for Medicare’s Second Round of Price NegotiationsPrices will go into effect in 2027.1. Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, for diabetes and obesity2. Trelegy Ellipta, for lung conditions3. Xtandi, for prostate cancer4. Pomalyst, for blood cancer5. Ibrance, for…

The cause of the fatal plane crash in South Korea last month is still to be determined, but it thrust into the spotlight a subject little understood by the general public: how airplanes are maintained.Jeju Air, the airline that operated the flight in which 179 people died, said that checks before the flight had raised no concerns and that the jet, a Boeing 737-800 that was about 15 years old, had no history of accidents.While there is no evidence that poor upkeep played a role in the crash, experts say that the plane’s repair history, which includes work performed by…

As the Supreme Court was poised on Friday to announce its landmark decision on whether to uphold a law that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States, the popular Chinese-owned app and its allies launched a last-minute push to fend off the statute’s enforcement.The company’s representatives have swarmed Capitol Hill in recent days, pressing lawmakers with TikTok’s case that the app, which is owned by ByteDance, should win a reprieve from potentially going dark on Sunday, when the law is scheduled to go into effect, three people familiar with the efforts said.Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic…

Days before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office, China is gearing up for economic battle with the United States.It threatened a widespread investigation into American chipmakers. It zeroed in on one American retailer, accusing it of “inappropriate conduct” that could lead to sanctions usually reserved for weapons sellers. And it got ready to slap duties on imports of industrial plastics.The flurry of retaliatory gestures, all delivered this week, could have far-reaching implications for American companies. They join other measures by China in recent weeks with one objective: putting the incoming Trump administration on notice.“It’s a warning shot to the new…

Sales of electric vehicles have been rising steadily over the past few years, in part because of a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 that makes buying such cars and trucks more affordable.But understanding which cars it applies to and under what circumstances can be confusing. And all of those rules could change drastically under the incoming Trump administration; President-elect Donald J. Trump and Republicans have promised to repeal or scale back the incentives.The tax credit was designed to bring the cost of buying or leasing electric vehicles closer to the cost of comparable gasoline models, helping to address…

A pair of 50-page policy proposals laying out the plan in detail. Discussions about the specifics with President-elect Donald J. Trump and his advisers. And talks with cabinet nominees about how to pay for it.On the eve of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the cryptocurrency industry is pushing his incoming administration to execute an audacious plan that would have seemed unimaginable just a year ago: a government program to buy and hold billions of dollars in Bitcoin.As he campaigned last summer, Mr. Trump vowed to create a federal “Bitcoin stockpile” that would serve as a “permanent national asset to benefit all Americans.”…