National Business - The Morning Sun

US challenges 'bogus' patents on Ozempic and other drugs in effort to spur competition

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The Federal Trade Commission is challenging patents on 20 brand name drugs, including the blockbuster weight-loss injection Ozempic. Tuesday's announcement is part of a wider effort by the Biden … more

By MATTHEW PERRONE | 4/30/24

FILE - An Amazon Prime truck is seen on Friday, April 5, 2024, in Portland, Ore. Amazon will reports earnings on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Amazon reports strong 1Q results driven by its cloud-computing unit and Prime Video ad dollars

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Amazon has reported strong results for the first quarter. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said it earned $143.31 billion in revenue in the first three months of this year. That's a 13% jump … more

By HALELUYA HADERO | 4/30/24

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a Contractors of America conference, Jan. 10, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa. A Florida bill waiting to be signed by DeSantis would strip the term “climate change” from much of state law and reverse a policy then-Gov. Charlie Crist championed as he built a reputation for being a rare Republican fighting to promote green energy over fossil fuels. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)

Climate change could virtually disappear in Florida — at least according to state law

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Florida is on the verge of repealing what’s left of a 16-year-old law that puts climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions. Instead, a bill waiting for Republican Gov. Ron … more

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON | 4/30/24

FILE - Starbucks sign hangs outside a casino along Main Street Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Deadwood, S.D. Starbucks will reports earnings on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Starbucks reports weaker-than-expected fiscal Q2 results as customer traffic slows

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Starbucks is reporting weaker-than-expected sales in its fiscal second quarter as customer traffic dried up in many key markets. The Seattle coffee giant said on Tuesday that its same-store sales – … more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN | 4/30/24

FILE - Ground beef is displayed for sale at a market in Washington, Saturday, April 1, 2017. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will test ground beef samples for bird flu particles, though officials said Tuesday, April 30, 2024, they're confident the nation's meat supply is safe. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The USDA is testing ground beef for bird flu. Experts are confident the meat supply is safe

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will test ground beef for bird flu. Officials say they're confident that the nation's meat supply is safe, but are launching the studies after inactive … more

By DEVI SHASTRI | 4/30/24

FILE - A map of a new proposed community in Solano County, Calif., is displayed during a news conference in Rio Vista, Calif. on Jan. 17, 2024. The Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a new city in California for up to 400,000 people said Tuesday, April 30, 2024, it has submitted enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the November election. (AP Photo/Janie Har, File)

Campaign to build new California city submits signatures to get on November ballot

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A Silicon Valley-backed campaign to build a new city in California for up to 400,000 people says it submitted enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the November election. If Solano County … more

By JANIE HAR | 4/30/24

FILE - In this Friday, March 22, 2019, file photo, a marijuana plant is visible at Compassionate Care Foundation's medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple-effects across the country. The DEA’s proposal still must be reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift, AP sources say

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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across … more

By ZEKE MILLER, JOSHUA GOODMAN, JIM MUSTIAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST | 4/30/24

FILE - OpenAI's ChatGPT app is displayed on an iPhone in New York, May 18, 2023. With companies deploying artificial intelligence to every corner of society, state lawmakers are playing catch-up with the first major proposals to reign in AI's penchant for discrimination — but those bills face blistering headwinds from every direction. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Eight U.S. newspapers sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement

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A group of eight U.S. newspapers is suing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the technology companies have been “purloining millions” of copyrighted news articles without … more

4/30/24

Visitors take a photo in front of a convenient store at Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, with a backdrop of Mr. Fuji on April 28, 2024. The town of Fujikawaguchiko, known for a number of popular photo spots for Japan's trademark of Mt. Fuji, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 began to set up a huge black screen on a stretch of sidewalk to block view of the mountain in a neighborhood hit by a latest case of overtourism in Japan. (Kyodo News via AP)

To fend off tourists, a town in Japan is building a big screen blocking the view of Mount Fuji

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The Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko has had enough of tourists. Known for a number of scenic photo spots that offer a near-perfect shot of iconic Mount Fuji, the town on Tuesday began constructing a … more

By AYAKA MCGILL and MARI YAMAGUCHI | 4/30/24

The sun sets behind spinning land-based wind turbines in Atlantic City, N.J., on Dec. 13, 2023. On April 24, 2024, eight Jersey Shore towns wrote to New Jersey utility regulators saying that a proposed wind farm off Long Beach Island will be costlier than expected. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

New Jersey seeks fourth round of offshore wind farm proposals as foes push back

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New Jersey is seeking a new round of proposals to build wind energy farms off its coastline, forging ahead with its clean energy goals even as local opposition and challenging economics create … more

By WAYNE PARRY | 4/30/24

FILE - An order is entered by an employee at a diner on Nov. 17, 2020, in Philadelphia. It's never fun to be scammed, but if you're a small business owner falling for a scam can have long-lasting effects on a business, damaging client relationships and profit. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Fraudsters target small businesses with scams. Here are some to watch out for

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It’s never fun to be scammed, but if you’re a small business owner then falling for a scam can have long-lasting effects on a business, damaging client relationships and profit. Plenty of types … more

By MAE ANDERSON | 4/30/24

FILE - A shopper loads her car after shopping at a Walmart in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Walmart announced Tuesday, April 30, 2024, is closing its health centers and virtual care service, as the retail giant has struggled to find success with the offerings. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Walmart to close its 51 health centers and virtual care service

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Walmart is closing its health centers and virtual care service after struggling to find success with the offerings. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said Tuesday that after managing the … more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN | 4/30/24

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at the Business, Government and Society Forum at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Tech CEOs Altman, Nadella, Pichai and others join government AI safety board led by DHS' Mayorkas

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The CEOs of leading U.S. technology companies are joining a new artificial intelligence safety board to advise the federal government on how to protect the nation’s critical services from … more

4/30/24

Instagram, YouTube the biggest likely winners of TikTok ban but smaller rivals could rise too

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While a bill to ban TikTok if it doesn't change owners has received President Joe Biden's signature, it could still be years before the popular video-sharing app is actually blocked from U.S. app … more

By BARBARA ORTUTAY | 4/30/24

FILE - People arrive before the start of a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Miami Field Office in Miami, Aug. 17, 2018. Authorities say lottery bids for highly-educated worker visas plunged nearly 40% this year, claiming success against people who were "gaming the system" by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase their chances. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Lottery bids for skilled-worker visas plunge in the US after changes aimed at fraud and abuse

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Authorities say lottery bids for highly educated worker visas plunged nearly 40% this year. They say the drop shows they've successfully cracked down against people who were “gaming the system” … more

By ELLIOT SPAGAT | 4/30/24

FILE - Exterior view of the offices of Vastaamo psychotherapy centre, in Pasila, Helsinki, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020. A Finnish court on Tuesday sentenced a 26-year-old man to six years and three months in prison for hacking tens of thousands of patient records at a private psychotherapy center and seeking ransom from some patients over the sensitive data. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP, File)

Finnish hacker imprisoned for accessing thousands of psychotherapy records and demanding ransoms

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A Finnish court has sentenced a 26-year-old man to more than six years in prison for hacking thousands of patient records at a private psychotherapy center and seeking ransom from some patients over … more

By JARI TANNER | 4/30/24

FILE - This June 19, 2015, file photo, shows the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington. The FCC has leveraged nearly $200 million in fines against wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon for illegally sharing customers’ location data without their consent. Officials first began investigating the carriers back in 2019 after they were found selling customers’ location data to third-party data aggregators. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FCC fines wireless carriers for sharing user locations without consent

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The Federal Communications Commission has leveraged nearly $200 million in fines against wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon for illegally sharing customers’ location data without … more

4/30/24

A customer fills up his vehicle's gas tank at a gas station in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, the Conference Board reports on U.S. consumer confidence for April. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Confidence of US consumers continues to decline as Americans worry about the future

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U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated for the third straight month as Americans continue to fret about their short-term financial futures. The Conference Board, a business research group, said … more

By MATT OTT | 4/30/24

FILE - A person walks past an art installation outside a United Nations conference on plastics on April 23, 2024, in Ottawa, Ontario. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

5 takeaways from the global negotiations on a treaty to end plastic pollution

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The world’s nations finished a round of negotiations early Tuesday on a treaty to end plastic pollution and made more progress than they have in three prior meetings. Among the takeaways from the … more

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT | 4/30/24

FILE - A sign for Eli Lilly & Co. sits outside their corporate headquarters in Indianapolis on April 26, 2017. Rapidly climbing sales of the new obesity drug Zepbound and its counterpart for diabetes, Mounjaro, pushed Eli Lilly to a better-than-expected first quarter profit, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

Lilly rides Mounjaro, Zepbound to better-than-expected 1Q profit despite supply issues

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Rapidly climbing sales of the new obesity drug Zepbound and its counterpart for diabetes, Mounjaro, pushed Eli Lilly to a better-than-expected first quarter profit. The drugmaker also hiked its … more

By TOM MURPHY | 4/30/24