The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing Walmart and a financial technology firm, alleging they illegally forced drivers into using costly deposit accounts to receive their pay. The agency alleges that Walmart and the vendor, Branch Messenger, forced the drivers, who were part of Walmart’s Spark Driver gig-work platform, to…
The toy industry is headed for its second consecutive annual sales decline, but it’s got one thing propping it up: colorful, interlocking plastic bricks. At a time when toy companies are struggling to match the massive gains of pandemic-era sales, Lego is growing rapidly. The Danish company saw revenue jump 13%…
Nordstrom on Monday announced it will become a private company after it agreed to a buyout deal valued at roughly $6.25 billion from Nordstrom’s founding family and Mexican department store El Puerto de Liverpool. The company’s board of directors unanimously approved of the transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of…
(AP) — Burt, the huge crocodile that rose to fame with a cameo in the movie “Crocodile Dundee” and continued to impress visitors with his fiery temper and commanding presence, has died. Burt died over the weekend, the Crocosaurus Cove reptile aquarium in Darwin, Australia, said. He was at least…
One of Colombia’s infamous drug lords and a key operator of the Medellin cartel has been deported back to the South American country, after serving 25 years of a 30-year prison sentence in the United States. A short while later, Fabio Ochoa was again a free man. Ochoa arrived in…
The residence of the Argentine ambassador in Caracas, Venezuela, is mostly silent these days. Rather than diplomatic chatter or Christmas carols at this time of the year, the only noise is that of a small diesel power generator the residents turn on twice a day to charge their phones. The…
Mozambique’s top court on Monday confirmed the ruling party Frelimo’s victory in an October election, which has sparked massive protests by opposition groups who say the vote was rigged. The Constitutional Council has the final say over the electoral process and its ruling is likely to spark further protests in…
At least 12 people were killed in a blast at an explosives and ammunition factory in the Karesi district of Balikesir province in northwest Turkey on Tuesday, the country’s interior ministry said. At least four others were injured in the explosion, which also caused a building to collapse, according to…
When Islamist rebels swept through Syria’s second largest city in an operation that would eventually culminate in the ouster of the brutal Assad regime, Christians were given assurances that their churches and property would remain protected. Three weeks since the rebels’ successful campaign to topple Assad, Syria’s Christians now join…
2024 was the year of the vote. More than 60 countries – home to nearly half the planet’s population – selected their leaders. In the history of democracy, it is a first. In the history of humankind, it was a remarkable coming of age, an evolution, that at its best…









