Posts by Amelia Frost
WeightWatchers Files for Bankruptcy to Reduce $1 Billion in Debt
[ad_1] WeightWatchers, a 62-year-old health and wellness company that has faced stiff competition from new weight-loss drugs and programs, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday in an effort to reduce its debt by more than $1 billion while it expands its telehealth business. In its heyday, WeightWatchers shaped how millions of people in the United States…
Read MoreOpenAI’s Latest ChatGPT AI Models Are Smarter, But They Hallucinate More Than Ever
[ad_1] Artificial intelligence is evolving fast, but not always in the right direction. OpenAI’s latest models, GPT o3 and o4-mini, were built to mimic human reasoning more closely than ever before. However, a recent internal investigation reveals an alarming downside: these models may be more intelligent, but they’re also more prone to making things up.…
Read MoreAsian Stocks Rise As China-US Trade Talks Boost Optimism
[ad_1] Asian equities rose Wednesday after China and the United States said they would hold trade talks at the weekend, fanning optimism that the superpowers can row back eye-watering tariffs that have heightened recession fears. Beijing’s moves to ease some key monetary policy tools to kickstart the world’s number two economy boosted hope among investors…
Read MoreWhat’s A Cardinal? The ‘Princes’ Of The Church Electing A New Pope
[ad_1] Cardinals from all over the world will gather in conclave on Wednesday to elect a successor to Pope Francis. But what exactly is a cardinal? A cardinal (from the Latin “cardinalis”, or principal) is a high dignitary of the Catholic Church chosen by the pope to assist him in his government. The main dicasteries…
Read MoreWhite Smoke: Signalling A New Pope Down The Ages
[ad_1] When Catholic cardinals vote in the conclave, they then burn their ballots, sending up black smoke to signal no decision or white smoke to show they have chosen a new pope. The centuries-old tradition of using smoke has changed over time — as has the technology used. All conclaves bar one have taken place…
Read MoreThe Vatican: A Papal Powerhouse, World’s Smallest State
[ad_1] The Vatican, headquarters of the Catholic Church, is the smallest state in the world, with its own newspaper, national anthem in Latin and supreme leader: the pope. Some 900 people live within its ancient walls, from the pontiff himself to red-capped cardinals, nuns, priests, diplomats, and lay people such as gardeners, cooks and cleaners.…
Read MoreWhy China Is Investing So Much Money in Moroccan Factories
[ad_1] When Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, returned from the Group of 20 summit in Brazil last November, he made a stopover in Casablanca, where he was greeted with dates and milk, the traditional welcome for honored guests, and a meeting with Crown Prince Moulay Hassan of Morocco. The brief visit was a sign of…
Read MoreChina Cuts Interest Rates to Shore Up Economy Hit by Trade War
[ad_1] China’s central bank cut interest rates and made it easier on Wednesday for banks to increase lending and pump more money into the economy, in the most significant policy steps taken by Chinese officials to limit the impact of the trade war with the United States. The central bank, the People’s Bank of China,…
Read MoreFearing Trump, Some Law Firms Decline Pro Bono Immigration Cases
[ad_1] Hours after Donald J. Trump was sworn in for a second term, he issued an executive order laying the groundwork for mass deportations of immigrants and denying them legal assistance. Public interest groups focused on immigrant rights teamed up to fight the order and called in Gibson Dunn, a major law firm with the…
Read MoreTikTok, Facing a U.S. Ban, Tells Advertisers: We’re Here and Confident
[ad_1] “TikTok is here — we are here,” Khartoon Weiss, the company’s vice president of global business solutions, told a packed warehouse of advertisers on Tuesday in Manhattan. “We are absolutely confident in our platform and confident in the future of this platform,” she declared. That statement was the closest TikTok advertising executives got to…
Read MoreElon Musk Tried Keeping Issues at His Texas Mansion Private, Emails Show
[ad_1] Few people want beefs with their neighbors to become public. That includes Elon Musk. In March, Mr. Musk’s team lobbied officials in the upscale city of West Lake Hills, Texas, to keep quiet the details of one of his mansions and security operations, according to emails to city employees obtained by The New York…
Read MoreU.S. and China to Hold First Trade Talks Since Trump’s Tariffs
[ad_1] Top officials from the Trump administration will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this week, the first formal meeting about trade between the United States and China since President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to triple-digit levels last month. Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative,…
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