Author: News Room

In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration hired experts in surgical robots and pioneers in artificial intelligence. It scooped up food chemists, lab-safety monitors and diabetes specialists who helped make needle pricks and test strips relics of the past.Trying to keep up with breakneck advances in medical technology and the demands of a public troubled by additives like food dyes, the agency enticed scores of midcareer specialists with remote roles and the chance to make a difference in their fields.In one weekend of mass firings across the F.D.A., much of that effort was gone. Most baffling to many were…

As President Trump uses tariffs as a weapon in his quest to even the score on trade with the world, Asia is emerging as target No. 1. And it’s not just because of China.Asia is home to seven countries that run the biggest trade surpluses with the United States, Mr. Trump’s go-to yardstick. It has some of the biggest exporters of goods that Mr. Trump promised to tax, like Japanese and South Korean cars, Taiwanese chips and Indian drugs. Many of the region’s countries have become top destinations for Chinese goods and investment, evidence that Mr. Trump cites to accuse…

For 15 years, Elizabeth Spiridakis Olson used a matte lip pencil in a shade of red called Dragon Girl. In her view, it was “one of the great reds, and the perfect consistency.”Ms. Spiridakis Olson, a freelance creative director in South Orange, N.J., used it almost daily. She kept one Dragon Girl lip pencil in her home office and another in her handbag. If she misplaced or lost them, it was no big deal. She could always buy more.Then one day last year, Ms. Spiridakis Olson made a chilling discovery while shopping at Sephora: The store no longer carried her…

The good, bad and puzzlingCorporate leaders and investors expected a bit of volatility to accompany President Trump’s second term. In many ways, that’s exactly what has happened one month in, with the radical cutting of the federal government, threats of trade wars and more.But amid a flurry of unexpected announcements — talks over a possible Ukraine peace plan that exclude Kyiv, the retention of tough Biden-era deal guidelines and a potential Elon Musk-enabled stimulus plan, for starters — and a lack of clarity over where Trump stands on a host of issues, many executives are asking themselves: How do we…

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said on Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had agreed to drop its lawsuit against the company, lifting a legal cloud over the global crypto industry and signaling a broader retreat by federal regulators.Coinbase, in a post on its website and in a regulatory filing, said it had reached an agreement in principle with the S.E.C. to have the lawsuit withdrawn without any financial penalty. If the S.E.C. confirms the proposed settlement, it would be a remarkable reversal by the agency after years of legal battles against crypto firms.The S.E.C. sued Coinbase, the largest U.S.…

When German voters go to the polls on Sunday, the fate of companies like SKW Piesteritz will be at the top of their minds. The chemical factory halved its annual Christmas bonus for workers last year, and it just shut down one of its two ammonia plants.Hammered by high energy costs and what they call excessive German regulation, executives say they might be forced to move production abroad. That would jeopardize 10,000 jobs in and around the small community of Lutherstadt Wittenberg in the country’s economically depressed eastern region, which has already been hurt by pullbacks at the company.“It is…

“How high is up?”When Mark Woodbury became Universal’s theme park chief in 2022, he pressed his lieutenants to answer that question. The former architect was not referring to a roller coaster incline.Universal’s parks had already become a surprise growth engine for NBCUniversal, but Mr. Woodbury saw an even bigger opportunity to lift the business firmly out of Disney’s shadow. “How do we become the destination of choice in each of the markets that we operate in and in all of the markets that we choose to expand into?” he said in a recent interview.Mr. Woodbury, 67, is starting to unveil…

The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it would dismiss a case against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, in which the rocket company had been accused of discriminating against people based on their citizenship status.In an unopposed motion filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the Justice Department said it intended to file a notice of dismissal with prejudice, which means prosecutors would not be able to file these charges again.The motion did not say why the case was being dropped.The Justice Department had filed the case against SpaceX on Aug. 23, 2023, accusing the company of…

Airbus, the world’s largest commercial airplane maker, said on Thursday that it was preparing for the possibility of new U.S. tariffs and would be able to “adapt accordingly,” including passing on higher costs to its American airline customers.In a wide-ranging media conference at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, France, the company’s chief executive, Guillaume Faury, also stepped up calls for European companies and governments to increase collaboration on defense at a time when the United States appears to be retreating from its security role in Europe.President Trump’s rapid pivots on longstanding U.S. trade and security policy have increased uncertainty for businesses…

Democratic senators on Thursday questioned Steven Bradbury, President Trump’s nominee for deputy secretary of the Transportation Department, about his handling of the congressional investigation into two Boeing Max plane crashes in 2018 and 2019, and his safety record during his previous tenure at the agency.The Boeing investigation occurred during Mr. Trump’s first administration, when Mr. Bradbury, 66, served as general counsel of the Transportation Department from late 2017 through January 2021. In that role, he oversaw the agency’s legal work and coordinated its legislative efforts and regulatory programs.The investigative report, written under the direction of Senator Roger Wicker, then the…