Coronavirus9 hours ago (Apr 30, 2020 04:20AM ET) (C) Reuters. ROME, Reuters – Italy’s unemployment rate dropped steeply to 8.4% in March, the lowest for almost nine years, data showed on Thursday, as people stopped looking for work due to the coronavirus emergency. February’s jobless rate was revised down to […]
Russian manufacturing activity plunges to record low in April: PMI
Economic Indicators11 hours ago (Apr 30, 2020 02:10AM ET) (C) Reuters. Employees work at Rostvertol aviation plant manufacturing upgraded heavy Mi-26T2V helicopters in Rostov-on-Don MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian manufacturing activity has sunk to a record low in April as factory closures and lockdowns in response to the coronavirus epidemic strangle […]
A Rare Sighting-A Reporter Apologizes to POTUS for Bad Stats
On a number of occasions, President Trump has called on the media to apologize for inaccurate reporting. On Tuesday, a reporter from Yahoo News actually did apologize to Trump for asking him a question about coronavirus testing that was based on a false statistic. “Mr. President, overall, South Korea has […]
Ad Dollars Keep Flowing Into Google and Facebook–for Now
Back in April 2018, as public outrage over the Cambridge Analytica scandal neared its zenith, Mark Zuckerberg sat before Congress for a marathon two-day hearing. One of the most memorable interactions came when Republican senator Orrin Hatch asked Zuckerberg how Facebook could possibly sustain a business model that doesn’t charge […]
A New Chatbot Tries a Little Artificial Empathy
Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant can set a timer, play a song, or check the weather with ease, but for a real conversation you may as well try talking to the toaster. Speaking as naturally as a person requires common-sense understanding of the world, knowledge of facts and current events, […]
U.S. pending home sales fall sharply in March
Economic Indicators14 hours ago (Apr 29, 2020 10:15AM ET) WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Contracts to purchase previously owned homes declined sharply in March as the coronavirus outbreak kept would-be buyers away, National Association of Realtors data showed on Wednesday. The NAR’s pending home sales index fell to a reading of 88.2, […]
U.S. Economy Shrunk by 4.8% in Q1, Worst Since 2008
Sign In/Free Sign Up 0 Economic Indicators15 hours ago (Apr 29, 2020 09:02AM ET) (C) Reuters. By Geoffrey Smith Investing.com — The U.S. economy shrunk by an annualized 4.8% in the first quarter of the year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Wednesday, posting the […]
Even under best outlook, World Bank sees Western Balkans economies shrinking up to 5.6%
Economic Indicators16 hours ago (Apr 29, 2020 08:00AM ET) By Daria Sito-Sucic SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Economies in the Western Balkans region will contract by up to 5.6% under the best scenario of how the coronavirus pandemic unfolds in Europe, the World Bank said on Wednesday. According to that “baseline scenario”, […]
Physicists Clear the Air With a Sweet Frickin’ Laser Beam
In the first two months of 2019, Malte Schroder spent several weeks on a suburban Maryland college campus directing a dramatic scene that was set entirely inside a small styrofoam box. First, he set the stage by filling the box with thick fog, a thousand times denser than a cumulus […]
The US Supreme Court Rules That Laws Can’t Be Paywalled
A narrowly divided US Supreme Court on Monday upheld the right to freely share the official law code of Georgia. The state claimed to own the copyright for the Official Code of Georgia Annotated and sued a nonprofit called Public.Resource.Org for publishing it online. Monday’s ruling is not only a […]