Author: Press Room

Japan is a country of more than 127 million people, but it rarely sees more than 10 gun deaths a year. Culture is one reason for the low rate, but gun control is a major one, too. Japan has a long list of tests that applicants must pass before gaining access to a small pool of guns.  Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go. download the app A recent spate of mass shootings has prompted intensified discussions around gun control in the US. On Saturday, four people…

Alphabet is combining its DeepMind and Google Brain AI research units, ending a long-running internal rivalry between the London and Silicon Valley-based groups as it tries to make up lost ground in generative AI against Microsoft and OpenAI.The shake-up will leave Demis Hassabis, the British head of DeepMind, in charge of an expanded group that can lay claim to many of the research breakthroughs that have turned AI into the industry’s most important new technology since the arrival of the internet.He will also take on a more direct role in developing advanced AI systems that are central to Google’s future…

The case against former Fugees rapper Pras Michel, accused of playing a central role in a geopolitical conspiracy spanning two US presidencies, will be in the hands of the jury Monday morning. In prosecutors’ closing arguments, which concluded late Thursday afternoon, they laid out their case of how Michel allegedly took more than $100 million from Malaysian billionaire Jho Low to gain political influence for Low in the Obama and Trump administrations. Defense attorneys argued Michel was simply helping people make connections and never willfully or deliberately broke the law. Michel faces multiple counts, including conspiracy to serve as an…

Elon Musk doesn’t seem all that worried. The CEO is betting on future profit coming from self-driving Tesla (ticker: TSLA) vehicles. Wall Street’s views are mixed on that idea. The quarter overall looked OK. Tesla reported first-quarter earnings per share of 85 cents, which roughly matched Wall Street estimates. But automotive gross profit margins including leases, but excluding regulatory credits, came in around 19%, below the 21% analysts projected. Tesla’s price cuts were responsible for the declines. Musk defended the cuts on Tesla’s earnings conference call. “We’ve taken a view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is…

Gold prices declined on Monday, briefly slipping below the key $2,000-an-ounce threshold for the first time in a week, following a Friday selloff that saw the most-active gold futures contract snap a streak of weekly gains. Price action Gold for June delivery GC00, -0.25% GCM23, -0.25% declined by $8.80, or 0.4%, to close at $2,007 an ounce on Comex after prices declined by 0.5% last week. The contract touched an intraday low of $1,993.30. May silver SI00, -0.25% SIK23, -0.25% shed 37.2 cents, or 1.5%, to finish at $25.197 an ounce. Palladium for June delivery PAM23, +0.40% gained $64.20, or…

Women are the backbone of the U.S. economy, but their contributions both at work and at home have long been undervalued. The U.S. gender- and racial wage gaps are stark examples of this — a gap that despite some modest improvements has a severe impact on women’s economic security. According to the latest data, in 2021, women working full-time, year-round earned just 84 cents for every dollar their male counterparts made, and all women working earned just 77 cents for every dollar men made. These disparities were even greater for many women of color, who often face multiple and intersecting…

U.K. bond yields jumped Wednesday after data showing inflation lingering above 10%. The yield on the 2-year gilt TMBMKGB-02Y, 3.713% rose 15 basis points to 3.83% as the Office for National Statistics reported that inflation in March slowed to 10.1% year-over-year from 10.4%, and that core inflation stayed at 6.2%. Economists polled by Reuters expected inflation to ease to 9.8%. The pound GBPUSD, -0.02% moved up to $1.2444 from $1.2424. U.S. stock futures ES00, +0.01% NQ00, +0.10% also dropped after the data was released. Unlike in the U.S., core goods inflation has remained stubbornly high, owing to prices on clothing…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 14, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump wants to attend next week’s trial involving the writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of rape, but may not because of security issues the former U.S. president’s appearance would cause, his lawyer said on Wednesday. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan federal court, Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said that while Trump “wishes to appear at trial,” the…

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s imports rose 8.5% in 2022 as Europe’s biggest economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and the bill for its purchases soared as oil prices surged, official data showed on Monday. Russia remained Germany’s biggest supplier but its share dropped to 25.4% from 34.1% in 2021, statistics issued by the BAFA foreign trade office showed, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to sanctions. On Dec. 5, 2022, the European Union banned Russian crude imports and G7 countries set a price cap on Russian seaborne exports, reducing subsequent arrivals, forcing Germany to find other sources of supply this…

(Reuters) – Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:) missed estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday as higher provisions to cover loan losses offset the impact of rising rates on its interest income. Shares of Utah-based Zions fell 3% to $31.75 in extended trading after the lender reported a 3% drop in deposits from the previous quarter and a 16% fall from a year earlier. “The fundamentally solid results that we and many other banks produced in the first quarter were overshadowed by concerns about liquidity and capital strength in the wake of two prominent bank failures in mid-March,” CEO Harris Simmons said.  …