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Boston Globe
10 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
McDonald's sales return to growth, pushed by promotions
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up NONPROFITS Advertisement Federal government restarts order for R.I.-based Edesia to ship food to children in Africa Edesia Nutrition CEO Navyn Salem walks past a delivery truck sitting idle at the company's North Kingstown, R.I., facility where they make Plumpy'Nut, a nutritional lifesaving peanut paste sent to malnourished children worldwide, on March 14. David Goldman/Associated Press After months of limbo, a backlog of 185,000 boxes of food intended for malnourished children around the globe that have been sitting in a Rhode Island warehouse following the dismantling of US Agency for International Development earlier this year will finally be on their way to Africa. Navyn Salem, CEO of the North Kingstown-based nonprofit Edesia Nutrition, wrote in an email on Wednesday that the US State Department issued a tender on Tuesday for 11,285 metric tons of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic, or RUTF, — 'enough life-saving food for 818,000 severely malnourished children in Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan, Chad, Madagascar, Niger, Sudan, Djibouti, and DRC.' The food is the first new federal government order to the nonprofit in months, and Edesia expects another order soon, Salem confirmed. Separately, Salem wrote the '185,535 boxes that have been sitting in our warehouse in RI have been assigned to Nigeria and the Central African Republic and will be on their way very soon.' 'We persevered,' Salem wrote. 'By not letting up or giving up, we held America to its ideals as a force for good in the world.' — CHRISTOPHER GAVIN Advertisement TECH Trump announces Apple investing another $100 billion in US manufacturing Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks as President Trump looks on in the Oval Office on Aug. 6. Alex Brandon/Associated Press Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Trump at the White House on Wednesday to announce a commitment by the tech company to increase its investment in US manufacturing by an additional $100 billion over the next four years. 'This is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhones sold in the United States of America also are made in America,' Trump said at the press conference. 'Today's announcement is one of the largest commitments in what has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation's history.' As part of the Apple announcement, the investments will be about bringing more of its supply chain and advanced manufacturing to the United States as part of an initiative called the American Manufacturing Program, but it is not a full commitment to build its popular iPhone device domestically. 'This includes new and expanded work with 10 companies across America. They produce components — semiconductor chips included — that are used in Apple products sold all over the world, and we're grateful to the President for his support,' Cook said in a statement announcing the investment. The new manufacturing partners include Corning, Coherent, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments and Broadcom among others. Apple had previously said it intended to invest $500 billion domestically, a figure it will now increase to $600 billion. Trump in recent months has criticized the tech company and Cook for efforts to shift iPhone production to India to avoid the tariffs his Republican administration had planned for China. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement RETAIL Claire's, teen jewelry chain, files for bankruptcy a 2nd time People shop at a Claire's in New York in 2018. Seth Wenig/Associated Press Claire's, the jewelry chain that was once an inescapable part of life for many teens, filed for bankruptcy a second time Wednesday, joining other retailers who have struggled amid the growth of online shopping and the uncertainty set off by tariffs. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. It said in a statement that it also planned to start insolvency proceedings in Canada that would allow it to restructure. 'This decision is difficult, but a necessary one,' said Chris Cramer, Claire's CEO, adding that the company was discussing its future with 'potential strategic partners.' He cited increased competition, consumer spending trends and the company's debt obligations. Stores in North America will remain open as the company explores alternatives, the statement said. Claire's, which is based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., operates more than 2,750 stories in 17 countries across North America and Europe, according to its website. — NEW YORK TIMES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Advertisement OpenAI offers ChatGPT for $1 a year to US government workers The OpenAI logo. Gabby Jones/Bloomberg OpenAI is providing access to its ChatGPT product to US federal agencies at a nominal cost of $1 a year as part of a push to get its AI chatbot more widely adopted. The move comes after the General Services Administration announced it approved OpenAI, along with Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Anthropic, as vendors in its new marketplace allowing federal agencies to buy AI software at scale. OpenAI is offering the enterprise version of its ChatGPT product, which includes enhanced security and privacy features. The US government's central purchasing arm has used its buying power before to negotiate discounts with software providers like Adobe Inc. and Salesforce Inc. But the $1-a-year pricing from OpenAI is the deepest yet, and the first for an artificial intelligence company, according to a GSA official familiar with the matter. The terms of the contracts with Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude haven't been disclosed. Besides encouraging more applications of its ChatGPT product — which now has nearly 700 million users a week — OpenAI executives said the government discount would help deliver on the White House's action plan for federal agencies to integrate new AI tools in their work. 'The focus of this effort is not to gain a market advantage over competitors. It is to scale the adoption of artificial intelligence across the federal workforce,' said Joe Larson, vice president of government at OpenAI, said in an interview. 'The private sector is embracing AI. We don't believe the government should be left behind.' — BLOOMBERG NEWS HIGHER EDUCATION College applications rise outside US as Trump cracks down on international students Graduating students take photos outside Senate House at Cambridge University in England on May 17. 2024. Joe Giddens/Associated Press In China, wait times for US visa interviews are so long that some students have given up. Universities in Hong Kong are fielding transfer inquiries from foreign students in the United States, and international applications for British undergraduate programs have surged. President Trump's administration has been pressuring US colleges to reduce their dependence on international enrollment while adding new layers of scrutiny for foreign students as part of its crackdown on immigration. The US government has sought to deport foreign students for participating in pro-Palestinian activism. In the spring, it abruptly revoked the legal status of thousands of international students, including some whose only brush with law enforcement was a traffic ticket. After reversing course, the government paused new appointments for student visas while rolling out a process for screening applicants' social media accounts. The United States remains the first choice for many international students, but institutions elsewhere are recognizing opportunity in the upheaval, and applicants are considering destinations they might have otherwise overlooked. The impact on US universities — and the nation's economy — may be significant. New international enrollment in the United States could drop by 30 percent to 40 percent this fall, according to an analysis of visa and enrollment data by NAFSA, an agency that promotes international education. That would deprive the US economy of $7 billion in spending, according to the analysis. Many international students pay full price, so their absence would also hurt college budgets. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
CNET
10 minutes ago
- CNET
Trump Media Is Testing an AI Search Engine Powered by Perplexity
President Donald Trump's media company, Trump Media, is beta-testing a new AI search feature, Truth Search AI, on the Truth Social platform. The Florida-based company announced the news on Wednesday in a press release. Trump Media and Technology Group is perhaps best known for its social-media program Truth Social. The company is separate from the New York-based Trump Organization. "We're proud to partner with Perplexity to launch our public Beta testing of Truth Social AI, which will make Truth Social an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in the statement. "We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform." Truth Search AI is now available on the Web version of Truth Social and will begin public beta testing on the Truth Social iOS and Android apps at an unnamed future date. Representatives for Trump Media and Perplexity didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Will results be politically biased? In today's divided political landscape, one immediate concern is that a search engine from a conservative president's media company will select only search results that favor conservative opinions. UAE state-owned newspaper The National conducted searches using the new product and reported that the AI-generated answers, perhaps unsurprisingly, source conservative-leaning media outlets. But 404Media was able to get some possibly surprising results. When reporters asked how the American economy is doing, the new search engine said it was "currently facing significant headwinds, with signs of slowdown." The media outlet pressed further, asking if the president's international tariffs are to blame. "Recent tariff increases in the United States have generally had a negative effect on economic growth and employment, raising costs for businesses and consumers while providing only limited benefits to some manufacturing sectors," Truth Search AI replied. Read more: What Is Perplexity? Here's Everything You Need to Know About This AI Chatbot Perplexity's history San Francisco-based Perplexity was founded in 2022. As CNET noted in a review, it calls itself the world's first "answer engine," and instead of showing a list of links, it pulls info directly from the sources and summarizes that information. The company has made headlines for how it acquires its content. In June, the BBC threatened to sue Perplexity for unauthorized use of its content, alleging the artificial intelligence company reproduced BBC material "verbatim." At the time, Perplexity gave a statement to the Financial Times calling the BBC's claims "manipulative and opportunistic" and that the broadcasting giant fundamentally doesn't understand how the technology, internet or IP law works. Perplexity also alleged that the threat of litigation shows "how far the BBC is willing to go to preserve Google's illegal monopoly for its own self-interest." As 404Media notes, Forbes, the New York Times, New York Post and the Dow Jones have all accused Perplexity of plagiarism, and News Corp's Dow Jones & Co., which publishes the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post sued Perplexity in 2024 for copyright infringement.
CBS News
11 minutes ago
- CBS News
Queens residents say they're suffering as unofficial airport parking lots take up valuable street spots
Parking problems have plagued one Queens neighborhood for years as residents say businesses catering to airline passengers are taking up valuable street spots. Neighbors who live near John F. Kennedy International Airport in South Ozone Park say they're facing new challenges. Residents in the vicinity of 124th Street say workers across the street at Drivo Rental Car and Purchase Park 2 Fly, which share the same lot, have been parking customers' cars on neighborhood streets instead of inside their gates. Resident Imran Isshack shared surveillance video from different occasions showing what appear to be employees parking SUVs in front of his home. He says sometimes vehicles are parked there for weeks. "Everyone want to leave because of this situation," Isshack said. It's also become common to hear car alarms at all hours of the day, he said. "One a.m., 2 a.m. They don't care. The alarm goes off all night," Isshack said. Many homes in the neighborhood are multi-family dwellings with small driveways. On Sunday, CBS News New York's Lisa Rozner walked down 124th Street with resident Jag Preet, and most of the cars had numbered tags on their window. "Those rare occasions that we do find spaces, but not even 20 minutes in, cars like these just take over," he said. "There is so many, so many headaches," South Ozone Park resident Rashpal Singh said. The situation is tricky because, legally, vehicles can be parked on city streets with no signage for up to a week, but the city says parking lot operators are not allowed to park customers' cars on the streets without their permission. On Sunday, Rozner saw what appeared to be employees moving customers' cars from the street. She tried to speak with employees at Purchase Park 2 Fly. Workers said no one could comment, but took a business card. When Rozner returned to the neighborhood Wednesday, the streets were a lot emptier. She e-mailed and then called Purchase Park 2 Fly again. After putting her on hold for 13 minutes, the business hung up on her. Late Wednesday afternoon, Rozner tried calling back and a representative said they moved cars Tuesday and Rozner's information was passed to a manager. By phone on Wednesday, Rozner spoke with Kay Kadirov, the regional manager for Drivo Rent-a-Car. "Occasionally, rarely, it might go into an overnight, but we are aware that it is very frustrating to the neighbors. And we try our best ability to limit that and bring it down to like, at times zero, where we're not parking any cars outside," Kadirov said. "We've exhausted all means with no help, but when CBS came, we saw a big differenc, and thanks to CBS for doing this for us. We hope this can continue," Isshack said. The NYPD says it's aware of the ongoing parking conditions, and officers are continuing to conduct parking enforcement in that area.
