Author: News Room

Days after its chief executive met with President Trump, Apple said on Monday that it planned to spend $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, hire 20,000 people and open a new factory in Texas to make the machines that power the company’s push into artificial intelligence.“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our longstanding U.S. investments,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in a statement.Mr. Cook met with President Trump last week. After that meeting, Mr. Trump said that the company would shift production to the United…

A clash over Musk’s latest missiveMonday could bring a standoff between Elon Musk and huge swaths of the federal government, including Trump-appointed agency leaders.The fate of the latest example of Musk’s brutal management style — having government workers justify their employment by midnight or risk being fired — may reveal the limits of President Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief’s efforts.“For now, please pause any response,” a top Pentagon official told employees this weekend, adding that the Defense Department “will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures.” Similar messages went out from Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; Kash Patel, the…

The nation’s largest association of psychologists this month warned federal regulators that A.I. chatbots “masquerading” as therapists, but programmed to reinforce, rather than to challenge, a user’s thinking, could drive vulnerable people to harm themselves or others.In a presentation to a Federal Trade Commission panel, Arthur C. Evans Jr., the chief executive of the American Psychological Association, cited court cases involving two teenagers who had consulted with “psychologists” on Character.AI, an app that allows users to create fictional A.I. characters or chat with characters created by others.In one case, a 14-year-old boy in Florida died by suicide after interacting with…

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor nominated by President Trump to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, has been a relentless promoter of controversial private insurance plans for older Americans.“I’d be signing up,” he told viewers, directing them to a call center in an episode that is still available on his YouTube channel.What Dr. Oz did not tell the audience was that he made money from touting the plans, known as Medicare Advantage. The for-profit company operating the call center, TZ Insurance Solutions, paid to be featured.Dr. Oz even became a licensed broker for TZ Insurance in almost every state, according…

The Trump administration is sending a startling message to corporate America: After three years as an international pariah, Russia could once again be open for business.President Trump is pressuring Ukraine to accept a deal to end the war. And Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, told a delegation from Moscow in Riyadh last week that the United States and Russia could pursue “potentially historic economic partnerships” and “incredible opportunities,” if Moscow ended its war.The question, though, is whether American businesses are interested.And the answer, analysts and investors agreed, is not likely.“I don’t think America’s big businesses are going to rush…

Ken Rosenthal, who opened a bakery cafe in the St. Louis area, with sourdough bread as its star, and built it into a small chain that would become Panera Bread, died on Feb. 14 at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 81.His wife, Linda Rosenthal, said the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.Mr. Rosenthal had no interest in running a retail bakery in the mid-1980s, when he and his wife owned a women’s apparel store called Kenlyn’s in Chesterfield, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis.“I was a person who never went into a kitchen, much less understood how to bake anything,”…

Frozen shakes sold to nursing homes, hospitals and other institutions have been recalled after the drinks were tied to a yearslong deadly listeria outbreak, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.Since 2018, at least 11 people have died from the outbreak and dozens have been hospitalized, the F.D.A. said, but previous investigations had not been able to find a source of the bacteria.In 37 of the 38 known cases, the patients were hospitalized; 34 of those infected were in long-term care facilities or had been hospitalized before becoming sick with listeria.Cases have been reported in 21 states, including California,…

Decades ago, John Glover, a lawyer then in his early 30s with a wife and two children, found himself standing in a bank lobby trying to figure out how he could stretch what little remained in his account to cover his expenses. Foreclosure loomed. He wanted to float a check, write it and worry about having the money in the account later.“There was just no money,” said Mr. Glover, who had gone out on his own to build a law firm, but was struggling with self-worth issues and becoming an entrepreneur. “It was a dark time. I didn’t see a…

Andrew Rackstraw has lived in Marlow, a small, wealthy town on the River Thames about 30 miles west of London, for nearly three decades. Its main streets are dotted with luxury boutiques, high-end cafes and stores like Saddle Safari, Mr. Rackstraw’s bike shop.With a population of about 14,000, Marlow also has a plush cinema and a rowing club that dates to the 19th century. Around the corner from Mr. Rackstraw’s shop is a Michelin-starred restaurant. Farther down the road is Britain’s only two-Michelin-starred pub.It is the picture of an idyllic English town.But there is a threat, as locals see it,…

A private company is aiming to heave a microwave oven-size spacecraft toward an asteroid later this week, its goal to kick off a future where precious metals are mined around the solar system to create vast fortunes on Earth.“If this works out, this will probably be the biggest business ever conceived of,” said Matt Gialich, the founder and chief executive of AstroForge, the builder and operator of the robotic probe.That may sound familiar: A decade ago, news stories were aflutter about the wealth promised by asteroid mining companies. But things didn’t quite work out.“We blossomed three or four years too…