Latest Developments

Europe
The Guardian

As billionaires’ wealth soars, US workers struggle: ‘The rich keep getting richer for no good reason’

People protest against the SpaceX IPO outside JPMorgan Chase in New York City on 12 June 2026. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPAView image in fullscreenPeople protest against the SpaceX IPO outside JPMorgan Chase in New York City on 12 June 2026. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPAUS income inequalityAs billionaires’ wealth soars, US workers struggle: ‘The rich keep getting richer for no good reason’Ultrarich face backlash as billionaire tax in California makes it to the ballot and Americans organize for higher wages The day that Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, Gilberto Rubio, a security officer in the San Francisco area, said he was thinking about how to cut back on meals to save money. Jessica Ordeñana, a bartender in midtown Manhattan, was worrying about air conditioning ahead of a heatwave because she can’t afford her soaring electricity bills. Ordeñana and Rubio are just two of the millions of workers in the US struggling to make ends meet in an economy in which inflation has wiped out recent gains in wage growth and consumer confidence is at an all-time low, even as wealth has surged for the ultrarich. On Thursday, California’s controversial billionaire tax measure officially made it to the ballot after an expensive and hard-fought campaign that saw some of the world’s richest people pour millions into efforts to derail the effort. That fight will now continue until November’s general election, with Silicon Valley expected to spend even more money to prevent the measure from passing. The wealthiest 0.00001%, about 20 individuals, hold wealth equal to 12% of the US’s gross domestic output, according to data compiled by the French economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez, about four times greater than levels seen during the gilded age. Musk lost his trillionaire status on Wednesday. It dipped below the threshold as investors soured on AI. But he has still added $327bn to his fortune in the last 12 months alone. A stock market rally would soon push him back over the top and bring his cohort up with him. The rise in Musk’s extraordinary wealth – up from about $28bn in 2020 to now close to $1tn – was cemented by SpaceX’s stock market listing. More millionaires and billionaires will be minted in the coming months as SpaceX’s share sale is followed by offerings from AI rivals Anthropic and OpenAI. The US is home to 989 billionaires. They owned more than $9.2tn in wealth in 2026, up 31.8% since 2025, according to a report by Americans for Tax Fairness. And as the billionaires’ wealth has soared, workers in the US are falling behind. In 2025, US workers took their smallest share of gross domestic product on record since 1947, falling to 53.8% of GDP in the third quarter. The US inflation rate hit 4.2% in May 2026, wiping out 3.4% in wage growth for the past year.

As billionaires’ wealth soars, US workers struggle: ‘The rich keep getting richer for no good reason’
Europe
The Guardian

US reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fine

Catherine Herridge at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington in April 2025. The case has concerned press advocates. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenCatherine Herridge at the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington in April 2025. The case has concerned press advocates. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty ImagesMediaUS reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fineCatherine Herrridge makes final bid to stave off penalty related to series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News More than two years ago, a US district court judge took the extraordinary step of holding the veteran investigative journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt, ordering her to pay a steep daily fine of $800 per day unless she reveals her sources for a series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News. Since then, the case has slowly moved through the appeals process, with Herridge dealt a series of defeats. On Tuesday, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit issued a one-sentence ruling denying Herridge’s plea to stay the February 2024 ruling holding her in contempt, an order made by district court judge Christopher R Cooper. With time running out before the fine might go into effect, Herridge’s legal team is attempting one more legal maneuver to try to stave off the penalty. On Friday, Herridge filed a petition for a stay with the US supreme court. The petition was filed by Paul D Clement, a prominent appellate attorney who has also been retained by Disney to protest the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation of the ABC broadcast The View. John Roberts, the supreme court chief justice, responded to Herridge’s petition by issuing a stay of the appeals court’s rulings to give the other party in the case, Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen, until 1 July to file a response. “We are pleased with the supreme court’s decision to temporarily stay the deeply troubling contempt order,” Fox News said in a statement on Friday. “Fox News stands firmly behind the first amendment and the principle that reporters must be able to do their jobs without the threat of crippling fines or forced exposure of their sources.” Chen’s attorney, Andy Phillips, expressed confidence in his client’s case. “Both the district and circuit courts have now ruled five times over that Ms Herridge has no privilege to continue to shield the identity of a federal official who broke the law and abused his or her position to cause harm to an American citizen by leaking protected materials,” he said in a statement. “We are confident that the supreme court will reach the same result.” Press advocates have long been extremely worried about the convoluted case, which stems from a privacy act lawsuit that was filed by Chen to uncover who might have provided information to Herridge about a US government investigation of her background and an educational program she operated in Virginia. Herridge was not named in the lawsuit, but Chen’s lawyers have argued that their client can only get justice if the journalist is compelled to reveal how she obtained information about the government’s investigation of Chen. Herridge, who worked at CBS News after leaving Fox, has refused to reveal her sources, believing it to be an abdication of her responsibility as a national security journalist – a position that press freedom groups have backed. Because there is no federal shield law protecting journalists from having to reveal their sources, the case shows the vulnerable position facing reporters who cover sensitive stories with national implications. It’s not clear yet whether Herridge would personally be on the hook for the $800 daily fee, or whether her employer at the time, Fox News, could front it. Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, expressed optimism that the supreme court would take Herridge’s petition seriously. “The supreme court should use this opportunity to make clear that plaintiffs and prosecutors cannot commandeer the fourth estate to help them build their cases,” he told the Guardian on Friday. “Reporter-source confidentiality is the lifeblood of investigative journalism. Whistleblowers in a position to expose abuses won’t trust journalists to protect them, and won’t come forward, if they believe reporters will be threatened with financial ruin for not outing them in court.”

US reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fine
North America
CNBC Finance

'Reward for failure': Investor support for Target Chair Brian Cornell falls to lowest level ever

Target has promised investors that it's pursuing an aggressive turnaround with a new CEO at the helm, but its longtime former top executive Brian Cornell still leads the retailer's board of directors — and some major investors are signaling they're hungry for change. Shareholder backing for Target's former CEO and current Executive Chairman Cornell fell to its lowest level ever during the company's annual general meeting this month. While Cornell, 67, was comfortably reelected to his position on Target's board of directors, he saw the steepest drop in support since he joined the retailer's board more than a decade ago, when he was hired as its CEO. In all, 87.2% of shareholders voted to reelect him to the board — a 4% decline from the year-ago period and a material drop from his historical average of 95% support. It's also well below the average level of support directors have received across the S&P 500 this year, which Harvard Law puts at 96.6%. "Getting over 95% is normal. Getting under 95% is poor, and getting under 90 is very poor. It means people are going out of their way to say they don't want you there anymore," said Kevin Kaiser, an adjunct full professor of finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania who teaches a course on shareholder activism. Given how many investors automatically approve what major proxy firms or boards suggest they vote for, "anything below 90 is considered a very bad result" and is rare to see, Kaiser said. Cornell's drop in support comes after he stepped down from his CEO role and transitioned to be Target's executive chairman in February as the company contended with dwindling profits, a falling share price and three straight years of annual sales declines. Neil Saunders, retail analyst and GlobalData managing director, said some analysts and investors viewed Cornell's appointment to executive chair as a "reward for failure" and wanted a clean break from the management team that oversaw so many of Target's issues. "If you don't do a good job as CEO, then arguably you should be cleared out of the boardroom and I think that's how most people view it," Saunders said. "I don't think that that is unreasonable. To get rewarded for delivering a decline in the share price and causing problems for the company, it just doesn't sit well with a lot of people." A Target spokesperson declined to comment and instead referred CNBC to its 2026 proxy statement and a press release it issued announcing the voting results of its annual general meeting. In its proxy statement, the company said keeping the roles of board chair and CEO separate "is appropriate given the company's immediate strategic and operational priorities" as the positions have "distinct roles and responsibilities." "The separated structure allows [CEO Michael Fiddelke] to focus on the business, including implementation of key initiatives, during the initial phase of his CEO tenure, while Mr. Cornell's service as Executive Chair allows the Board to continue to leverage his in-depth knowledge of our business and industry during this transitional phase," the statement reads. Since joining Target as the retailer's CEO in 2014, Cornell grew sales by more than 44% and helped transform it into a $100 billion-plus juggernaut as he oversaw the expansion of its digital presence, grew stores and steered the company through the Covid-19 pandemic.

'Reward for failure': Investor support for Target Chair Brian Cornell falls to lowest level ever
North America
CNBC Finance

Lucid to lay off roughly 18% of U.S. workforce, COO Marc Winterhoff leaves

Lucid Group said Monday it is cutting its U.S. workforce by approximately 18% as part of a cost-savings plan. The all-electric vehicle maker said its plan would give it annualized cost savings of approximately $158 million. The company also said Monday that its chief operating officer, Marc Winterhoff, is leaving the company effective immediately. Winterhoff was interim CEO at the company until Silvio Napoli took over the top job on June 1. The role of COO has been eliminated, Lucid said. Lucid's workforce reductions include full-time employees, contractors and hourly production workers in manufacturing, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The automaker had about 9,000 employees globally as of Dec. 31. "These are difficult decisions taken to align production with demand, reduce inventory, and adapt to declining market conditions," a Lucid spokesperson said in a statement. "They are part of a broader effort to simplify the company, sharpen execution, and position Lucid to become more competitive over time." In February, Lucid laid off about 12% of its U.S. workforce in a push for profitability. Lucid said Monday it expects to incur cash charges of approximately $32 million related to severance, employee benefits and employee transition associated with the latest cuts, according to its filing. The automaker also said it would be eliminating the second shift of production at its AMP-1 factory in Arizona. Lucid said last month that Napoli would be evaluating the company's business operations. It suspended its guidance as a result, adding that it needs to lower its "elevated inventory" of vehicles, which for automakers has historically meant decreasing or idling vehicle production. Lucid held its first investor day in nearly five years in March. It said at the time that it expects to be cash-flow positive by later this decade. While Lucid has been able to increase sales and narrow losses, the company lost $2.7 billion on revenue of $1.35 billion in 2025. It had negative free cash flow of $3.8 billion last year, roughly 31% larger than the year earlier. Lucid and its electric vehicle peers are increasingly facing a more challenging market than they did in recent years amid slower-than-expected adoption of EVs and changing regulations under the Trump administration, including the elimination of a $7,500 federal incentive for purchasing an EV.

Lucid to lay off roughly 18% of U.S. workforce, COO Marc Winterhoff leaves
North America
CNBC Finance

UPS to invest $48 million in temperature-controlled facilities amid healthcare boom

United Parcel Service is investing $48 million in 27 temperature‑controlled facilities as the industry sees a boom in healthcare logistics, CNBC has learned exclusively. The facilities, located across the Americas, Europe and Asia, are optimized for moving around shipments that need to be kept at certain temperatures. The company said the investment will help it stay ahead of a boom in medicines and pharmaceuticals — like some GLP-1s — that have to be kept at certain temperatures by improving speed and end-to-end chain of custody. "Our global cross-dock facilities strengthen our end-to-end cold-chain capabilities to ensure critical treatments are delivered safely and reliably to patients around the world," said Kate Gutmann, UPS' president of international, healthcare and supply chain solutions. "This effort – and all of our work in healthcare logistics – extends from a deep understanding that we're doing more than moving packages." The demand for temperature-sensitive biologics is projected to grow at an 8.3% compound annual growth rate through 2033 and reach a market value of roughly $39.1 billion, according to Growth Market Reports. Many new medicines are required to be stored at specific temperatures to maintain efficacy, UPS said, making healthcare logistics more crucial than before. According to the World Health Organization, up to 50% of global vaccines are wasted every year, with a significant portion of that coming from cold-chain storage issues. "These investments reflect our commitment to continue to align our leading end-to-end supply chain to protect innovative treatments and diagnostics, supporting better patient outcomes," UPS Healthcare President John Bolla said in a statement. UPS' move comes as the industry overall has seen growing investments in the space, especially with the meteoric rise of GLP-1 drugs. Medicines like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic require strict refrigeration and temperature control during transit. A November KFF poll found that 1 in 8 Americans are taking GLP-1s. UPS CEO Carol Tomé said on the company's first-quarter earnings call in April that healthcare remains one of the company's top priorities and biggest areas of growth. "Our global healthcare portfolio has gained market share every year since 2021," she said on the call. "And in the first quarter of this year, we generated our first $3 billion healthcare revenue quarter ever, with all three of our segments delivering year-over-year revenue growth." Tomé added that UPS is committed to continuing to "lean into that space in a meaningful way." Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

UPS to invest $48 million in temperature-controlled facilities amid healthcare boom
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Time has come to look at separate AI legislation: IT Secretary

India appears set to move towards a dedicated regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, with IT Secretary S Krishnan on Friday saying the time has come to look at a separate AI regulation. Krishnan noted that while existing legal provisions have so far been adequate in addressing initial concerns on issues like deepfakes and AI-generated synthetic content, an "additional regulation or law may be needed." "It is a conversation which has commenced, and my Minister (IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) and I have both been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right, and it appears that the time is getting right, and we will start looking at it," Krishnan said. He added: "We have used the IT rules, and other provisions of existing law to address various concerns that AI raises, but now, probably the time has come to look at a separate legislation." Asked about the timelines for bringing out a new AI regulation, the IT secretary said: "As Ministry, at an official level, what we can do is prepare draft legislation...when it finally comes out, is not something which I can comment, especially when it is a legislation." Last month, in an interview to PTI, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that the current information technology law was framed much before the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and that a new legal framework may be required to deal with the changing landscape. Vaishnaw had said discussions are on with the industry and that the government will seek to strike a balance between innovation and regulation. Policymakers, across the globe, are grappling with challenges posed by generative AI, including deepfakes, misinformation, and online harms. In February this year, the government brought in stricter obligations for online platforms on handling AI-generated and synthetic content, including deepfakes, saying platforms, such as X and Instagram, must take down within three hours any such content flagged by a competent authority or court. The government notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, that formally define AI-generated and synthetic content. The amendments defined "audio, visual or audio-visual information" and "synthetically-generated information", covering AI-created or altered content that appears real or authentic. Routine editing, accessibility improvements, and good-faith educational or design work have been excluded from this definition. The Centre has also mooted stricter disclosure norms for AI-generated content, proposing tweaks to IT rules that would require clear and continuous labels identifying synthetically generated information to be visible throughout the entire duration of the visual display. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Time has come to look at separate AI legislation: IT Secretary
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Tata Power commissions 100.8 MW wind farm in Maharashtra

Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) on Friday commissioned its 100.8 MW Jewali Wind Project in Dharashiv district, Maharashtra, adding to its growing clean energy portfolio. The project will supply electricity to Tata Power Mumbai Distribution and support its Renewable Purchase Obligation compliance. The facility comprises 28 SG 3.6-145 horizontal-axis wind turbine generators and is expected to produce approximately 299 million units of electricity annually. The project is projected to offset roughly 245 million kg of CO₂ emissions each year, based on an estimated reduction of 0.82 kg of CO₂ per unit generated. With this addition, TPREL’s wind energy portfolio now exceeds 3.9 GW, of which more than 1.3 GW is operational. Projects under various stages of development span Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. TPREL’s total renewable utility capacity has reached 11.6 GW following the commissioning. Of this, 6.7 GW is currently operational — comprising 5.4 GW of solar and 1.3 GW of wind — while 4.9 GW remains under implementation, including 2.1 GW of solar, 2.6 GW of wind, and 0.2 GW of battery energy storage, expected to be commissioned over the next 6–24 months. The Jewali project is part of Tata Power’s stated goal of achieving 100 per cent clean energy generation by 2045 and Net Zero emissions by the same year. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Tata Power commissions 100.8 MW wind farm in Maharashtra
Europe
BBC Business

US eases oil sanctions as Iran denies Vance claim on nuclear inspectors

Iran has denied a claim by Vice-President JD Vance that it will allow nuclear inspectors back into the country, after the first round of talks between Washington and Tehran to reach a final deal to end the war. Following negotiations in Switzerland, Vance said discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could be happening "as soon as today". But Iran's foreign ministry told state media that Tehran had made "no new commitments" on nuclear inspections. It came as the US temporarily waived sanctions, allowing Iran to sell oil in US dollars for the first time in decades. In a joint statement released on Monday, mediators Qatar and Pakistan said that after the first round of talks in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, the US and Iran had agreed to "a roadmap towards reaching a final deal within 60 days". The US vice-president said the teams had discussed the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and "de-confliction for the regional ceasefire". The 60-day sanctions waiver issued by the US Treasury on Monday dismantles central pillars of Washington's long-running embargo, which has historically choked off Tehran's economy. The emergency licence authorises the production, sale and delivery of Iranian crude and petrochemicals until 21 August. Iranian oil can even be imported directly into the US, under the sanctions relief. It unlocks banking transactions, insurance and transportation and does away with the complex networks that Iran has previously used to sell crude. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that in exchange for the 60-day waiver, Tehran had committed to keeping the vital Strait of Hormuz open and allowing IAEA nuclear inspectors back into the country. Speaking in Switzerland on Monday morning, Vance was asked by reporters when nuclear inspectors would be returning to Iran.

US eases oil sanctions as Iran denies Vance claim on nuclear inspectors
Europe
The Guardian

US media regulator Brendan Carr accuses Disney of ‘misinformation’ on investigations

Brendan Carr, FCC chairman, attends the Conservative Political Action Conference USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, on 27 March 2026. Photograph: Daniel Cole/ReutersView image in fullscreenBrendan Carr, FCC chairman, attends the Conservative Political Action Conference USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, on 27 March 2026. Photograph: Daniel Cole/ReutersABCUS media regulator Brendan Carr accuses Disney of ‘misinformation’ on investigationsDisney-owned ABC launched awareness campaign about two FCC investigations it faces, urging viewers to write in Brendan Carr, the Trump-aligned chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has accused Disney of running a “campaign of misinformation” as the media group defends itself against investigations the regulator has initiated. Disney-owned ABC launched a public awareness campaign earlier this week to encourage viewers to back the network as it faces two separate investigations before the US media regulator. Since ABC began running advertisements encouraging viewers to file public comments, the FCC has received more than 51,000 submissions on its investigation into whether the daytime talk show The View violated equal time provisions around political candidates appearing on programs. There have also been nearly 40,000 submissions regarding the commission’s broader investigation into whether ABC should be able to renew its licenses for the eight local television stations it owns around the country. The outcome of that license renewal process, which could take more than a year, is extremely crucial for the future of the network. Carr said that Disney “is running a fairly standard, off-the-shelf PR strategy” and is seeking to litigate the case in the media. Taking it one step further, Carr said: “I do think that Disney is running a campaign of misinformation here, I think in a lot of ways.” He specifically called out ABC for saying in its advertisement raising awareness about The View investigation that “the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.” “Our position is that we are enforcing the provisions of the Communications Act that Congress has passed,” he said. “We’re going to apply the law. Again, we have not made a decision one way or the other. We’re open-minded. We’ll see what they say.” Asked whether the FCC would factor in the overwhelming proportion of comments that are defending ABC when making decisions about the network, Carr said: “We have our ways of combing through the comments and we evaluate the merits of what people are saying. We look at the facts and the arguments that are being presented. This is what we do day in and day out. Maybe it’s more comments than we normally get, but it’s not entirely unprecedented when you get issues that break above the media noise floor.” Some telecom experts critical of Carr have said the license renewal process could ultimately take years, leaving the network in limbo. Asked by the Guardian about those concerns, Carr said it’s too early to say how long it could go. “It’s not been decided at the FCC yet whether to renew the licenses, or whether we can’t make a finding to renew and therefore you set it for hearing through a hearing designation order,” he said. “Again, at this point, all options remain on the table and it can be dictated by the facts and the law, and we just got to go forward. If it’s short, great. If it’s long, great. But we got to apply the Communications Act and the provisions.” Anna M Gomez, the lone Democrat-appointed FCC commissioner, reiterated her belief that Carr is using investigations and the license renewal process to put editorial pressure on ABC to go soft on the Trump administration, and not out of concern about whether Disney is discriminating against employees based on their race and gender, the rationale the chairman has given. “It is so clear that this early license renewal is being done to pressure Disney,” she said. “This is all designed to pressure Disney to cave.”

US media regulator Brendan Carr accuses Disney of ‘misinformation’ on investigations