Author: Jeffery Carter

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025.Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe Trump administration sent emails on Saturday evening to U.S. federal government employees telling them to detail their work accomplishments from the previous week by Monday night or risk losing their jobs.The emails came shortly after Elon Musk, the billionaire head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, posted on the social media site X that not responding to the email request would be viewed as a resignation.”All federal employees will…

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Novo Nordisk — Shares rose 4.9% after the Food and Drug Administration said Friday that the U.S. shortage of Novo Nordisk’s weight loss injection Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic is resolved after more than two years. Hims & Hers Health — The telehealth stock, which offers compounded Wegovy and Ozempic, plunged 22.9% after the FDA announced that the semaglutide shortage is now “resolved.” Hims & Hers sells a cheaper version of the GLP-1 drug by combining ingredients to customize treatments, but compounding pharmacies are only allowed to sell brand-name medication during a shortage. Under…

Protesters demonstrate in support of federal workers outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Feb. 14, 2025 in Washington, DC.Anna Moneymaker | Getty ImagesOn Feb. 11, Elizabeth Aniskevich, an attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, received a notice that she was being terminated immediately.”I was completely shocked,” said Aniskevich, 39. She had been with the CFPB for nine months and imagined spending her entire career in the federal government.”I didn’t expect it to unfold this way,” she said.More than a week later, she’s still scrambling for basic answers. “There’s no information about what’s going on…

Federal agencies are divided in their responses to an email from Elon Musk directing their employees to email in a list of five tasks completed last week – or else.On Saturday, an email went out from the Office of Personnel Management, which Musk now controls, asking employees across the federal government, “What did you do last week?””Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” a copy of the email seen by USA TODAY read.Musk threatened in a post to X the same day, “Failure to respond will be taken…

By Andrew Mills DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar’s government has signed a five-year deal with AI data company Scale AI to deploy AI-powered tools and training in a push to improve government services in the Gulf Arab state, a senior Scale AI executive told Reuters on Sunday. “(This deal) can be a blueprint for other governments around the world, and it allows us to really commit in a way that I think could drive impact even faster,” said Trevor Thompson, global head of growth at the San Francisco, California-based company. The deal will allow Qatar’s government to adopt tools such as…

OpenAI says it has removed the “warning” messages in its AI-powered chatbot platform, ChatGPT, that indicated when content might violate its terms of service. Laurentia Romaniuk, a member of OpenAI’s AI model behavior team, said in a post on X that the change was intended to cut down on “gratuitous/unexplainable denials.” Nick Turley, head of product for ChatGPT, said in a separate post that users should now be able to “use ChatGPT as [they] see fit” — so long as they comply with the law and don’t attempt to harm themselves or others. “Excited to roll back many unnecessary warnings…

Kash Patel, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the FBI, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Jan. 30, 2025.Evelyn Hockstein | ReutersNew FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be named the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a Justice Department official said Saturday.Patel could be sworn in next week, the official said, putting Patel in charge of two of the Justice Department’s largest agencies in an unusual arrangement that raises questions about the future of the bureau that has long drawn the ire…

Salah grabs a goal and an assist as Liverpool take a major step towards lifting the Premier League title.Undaunted by playing at the home of Manchester City, Liverpool produced a performance worthy of champions to move 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League. A 2-0 win at the Etihad on Sunday extended Liverpool’s lead over second-placed Arsenal and consigned four-time defending champions City to another humbling defeat in an ever-worsening season. On Wednesday, a 3-1 loss to Real Madrid sent Pep Guardiola’s team crashing out of the Champions League. Back to domestic matters on Sunday, and City…

Thu, Feb 20 202511:40 AM ESTEurope stocks close lower European markets closed lower on Thursday after a choppy start in early deals, with the Stoxx 600 index ending the session 0.18% lower to 551.12.The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was lower by 0.57%, while France’s CAC 40 was up 0.15%. Germany’s DAX was also down 0.41%. Italy’s FTSE Mib was lower by 0.26%.— Sawdah BhaimiyaThu, Feb 20 202511:21 AM ESTWinners and losers on the Stoxx 600 index The biggest winner on the Stoxx600 index on Thursday afternoon was Danish facility management services company ISS, which was up around 13% after reporting full-year…

Images By Tang Ming Tung | Digitalvision | Getty ImagesTax identity theft remains a ‘serious problem’One key reason to file your return early is to avoid tax identity theft, experts say. By filing sooner, you can block thieves from using your Social Security number to file a fraudulent return, Brewer said.  Tax-related identity theft continues to be a “serious problem,” with many victims facing processing and refund delays, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins wrote in her January report to Congress.   At the end of fiscal year 2024, the average processing time to resolve identity theft victim assistance cases was more…