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TECHNOLOGY
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Dutch quantum computing startup establishes base in Downtown Boston
At the Wednesday Qblox ribbon-cutting: Gregg Carman, general manager and head of North America for QBlox; Jeevan Ramapriya, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment; Kim Tran, attaché for Innovation, Technology & Science at Netherlands Innovation Network in Boston; Segun Idowu, chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion for the City of Boston; and Niels Bultink, CEO of Qblox.
Photo courtesy of Qblox
Dutch computing startup Qblox has picked a Financial District office tower as its launchpad into North America. The privately held company, which makes and sells hardware and software to quantum computing developers, hosted a grand-opening ceremony on Wednesday at its 99 High St. office, dubbed its North American headquarters. The 150-person company is leasing 3,000 square feet from building owner Synergy to start, and has hired 10 people in the Boston area and five others elsewhere in North America, most of them scientists. The five-year-old company has around 120 customers, including around 30 in the United States, including some in Greater Boston. The North American team is led by general manager Gregg Carman, and chief financial officer Bauke van Rhijn plans to move here from the Netherlands as well. (Quantum computing, still in its infancy, uses atomic particles instead of electronic transistors to perform much faster calculations.) Chief executive Niels Bultink, a physicist by training, said the company considered other US cities but picked Boston because of its proximity to top-notch research institutes and the wealth of computing talent here. Direct flights between Amsterdam and Boston's Logan Airport helped, too. 'It's really great to be more in the business district,' Bultink said. 'We actually see that other companies that are now looking at the area, also finding this a really attractive place.' — JON CHESTO
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ECONOMY
Inflation data threatened by government hiring freeze as tariffs loom
The US Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington, D.C.
Tierney L. Cross/Getty
The Labor Department has cut back on the inflation data it collects because of the Trump administration's government hiring freeze, raising concerns among economists about the quality of the inflation figures just as they are being closely watched for the impact of tariffs. The department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the monthly consumer price index, the most closely watched inflation measure, said Wednesday that it is 'reducing sample in areas across the country' and added that it stopped collecting price data entirely in April in Lincoln, Neb., and Provo, Utah. It also said it has stopped collecting data this month in Buffalo, N.Y. In an email that the BLS sent to economists, viewed by the Associated Press, the agency said that it 'temporarily reduced the number of outlets and quotes it attempted to collect due to a staffing shortage' in April. The reduced data collection 'will be kept in place until the hiring freeze is lifted.' President Trump froze federal hiring on his first day in office and extended the freeze in April until late July, suggesting future inflation reports will also involve less data collection. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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CONSUMER
Ground beef sold at Whole Foods may be tainted with E. coli, USDA says
This image provided by The US Safety and Inspection Service shows a package of Organic Rancher ground beef sold at Whole Foods markets that the US agriculture officials are warning may be contaminated with potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria.
Uncredited/Associated Press
US agriculture officials are warning that ground beef sold at Whole Foods markets nationwide may be contaminated with potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria. Officials issued a public health alert for 1-pound, vacuum-packed packages of Organic Rancher beef, produced on May 22 and May 23, by NPC Processing Inc., of Shelburne, Vt. The products have use-by dates of June 19 and June 20. The US Food Safety and Inspection Service did not request a recall because the products are no longer available for purchase. However, they may still be in consumers' refrigerators or freezers. The meat was produced in Australia or Uruguay and processed in the United States. It was sent to distributors in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, and Maryland and then to Whole Foods stores nationwide. The problem was discovered when company officials notified FSIS that they had shipped beef products that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, a type of bacteria that can cause serious illness. To date, no illnesses linked to the product have been reported, officials said. Consumers who have the product should throw it away or return it to the store. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Circle IPO is said to price above range to raise $1.1 billion
The Circle logo on a smartphone.
Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
Circle Internet Group Inc. and some of its shareholders raised nearly $1.1 billion in an upsized initial public offering, according to a person familiar with the matter, pricing its shares above a marketed range in a sign that stablecoin issuers are winning greater acceptance. The stablecoin firm and some of its backers including co-founder and chief executive Jeremy Allaire sold shares Wednesday for $31 each, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn't public yet. The number of shares in the base offering was increased to 34 million shares, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday. The offering was marketed at $27 to $28 per share after being upsized once before, an earlier filing showed. At that price, Circle would have a market value of $6.9 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in the filing. Accounting for employee stock options, restricted share units, and warrants, the company would have a fully diluted valuation of about $8.1 billion. A representative for Circle declined to comment. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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RETAIL
Walmart fires workers in two states over immigration ruling
A Walmart store in Cromwell, Conn.
Joe Buglewicz/Bloomberg
Walmart Inc. is informing stores across the country to begin identifying workers whose work authorization may be expiring after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could revoke protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants. The company is also terminating some workers in Florida and Texas who are losing temporary legal residency in the United States after the ruling. Following the Supreme Court's decision, employee authorization documents issued to nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela with a notation identifying their parole status are no longer valid for work authorization, according to a document viewed by Bloomberg News. Therefore, employment authorization for certain employees is ending sooner than what company's internal system shows, the document says. Employees are required to reverify their authorization documents this month. A company spokeswoman declined to comment. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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GOVERNMENT
Elon Musk urges Americans act to 'kill' Trump tax cut bill
Elon Musk spoke during a news conference with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30.
Evan Vucci/Associated Press
Tech titan Elon Musk ratcheted up his offensive against Donald Trump's signature tax bill on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to 'KILL' the legislation. 'Call your Senator, Call your Congressman,' Musk wrote in a social media post. 'Bankrupting America is NOT ok!' The post came one day after Musk lashed out at the tax bill, describing it as a budget-busting 'disgusting abomination' as Republican fiscal hawks stepped up criticism of the massive fiscal package. Trump hasn't publicly responded to Musk's comments, but the White House put out a statement Wednesday saying the legislation 'unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.' And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Musk is 'dead wrong' about the bill and that the tax cuts will pay for themselves through economic growth. Musk's public condemnation pits him against the president at a critical time as Trump is personally lobbying holdouts on the bill. His campaign against the legislation threatens to stiffen resistance and delay enactment of the tax cuts and debt ceiling increase. Musk has attacked the legislation days after leaving a temporary assignment leading the administration's Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut federal spending. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Atlantic
3 minutes ago
- Atlantic
What Claire's Once Gave Tween Girls
Mostly, I remember the fluffy pens. When I was in elementary and middle school, nothing could be cooler than a fluffy pen, at least until it got covered in backpack grime and started to look like an exceptionally long-tailed subway rat. And no place had fluffy pens in abundance like Claire's, a chain that sold accessories and other trinkets and, at the time, seemed to exist in every shopping center in America. Mine had an entire wall of fluffy pens, in every color, usually for some kind of absurd deal that allowed even a child to feel the intoxicating rush of acquisition. This was what Claire's was for. It was a temple to girlhood, a place where everything was frivolous and where tooth-fairy money could make dreams come true. But Claire's is in trouble. Earlier this month, the company filed for bankruptcy protection, for the second time in a decade, and began liquidating. Today, it announced that it would be selling the majority of its North American business to the private-equity firm Ames Watson, for $104 million, with the intention of keeping some of its stores open. Claire's has been saved, at least in the short term, but Ames Watson has its work cut out for it. Claire's is a mall store, and malls are dying. Inflation, higher interest rates, and rising labor costs have further squeezed profits—true for basically every company, but when your primary customers don't have jobs, they don't react well to raising prices. Recently, President Donald Trump's tariffs have complicated Claire's business model, which is heavily reliant on imports: From November 2024 to April 2025, 56 percent of its inventory came from China. The company is about half a billion dollars in debt. Claire's started as a wig shop in the 1960s before merging with an accessories retailer in 1973, and then getting into the ear-piercing business and staking its claim on preteen girls. It specialized in cheaply made, kaleidoscopically tacky junk, destined to dye your skin green and then end up in a landfill. It was bad, in the aesthetic sense and the environmental sense. But Claire's was special to me, because it was for me. It wasn't the checkout aisle at a store for older women or the costume corner of a kids' store. It wasn't for impressing boys; it was for impressing girls. It felt like a clubhouse. I can still remember how it smelled, like chemicals and vanilla cookies. I remember the purple walls, covered floor-to-ceiling in all the instruments of tweenage self-expression: charm bracelets, toe rings, impractically small purses, hair clips made to look like gummy bears or butterflies. I remember how easy it was to buy a pair of clear-lensed glasses or a flimsy flower crown and try on a new identity, how Claire's made figuring out who you were and what you liked feel fun and low-stakes. I remember getting my ears pierced there, obviously, by someone who couldn't have been much older than I was, one of my hands clutching my mother's and the other clutching my best friend's. Claire's seemed to exist for precisely that time in one's life: old enough to get your ears pierced, young enough to be scared; old enough to want a purse, young enough to not have much to fill it with; old enough to have the allowance money to buy a scrunchie, young enough to think it could change you. That moment is sacred, and I know now that it ends quickly. By the time I got my nose pierced, only a few years later, I didn't even consider going to Claire's. I wanted to go to the local tattoo place instead. Two decades later, retail has changed. So, I think, has childhood. When I was shopping at Claire's, my desires were largely assembled in the self-contained ecosystem of King Middle School. Sometimes a friend's older sister would give me advice, which I treated with biblical reverence, but for the most part, the people telling me what to like were girls my age, whom I knew in real life. This wasn't totally logical—in retrospect, I probably should not have allowed Gemma S. and An-Hae C. absolute power over my moods, interests, tastes, and values—but it was at least straightforward. I was a kid who shopped like a kid, because the people I was imitating were kids too. Today's young people are learning what's cool on the context-collapsed, algorithmically driven social web, much of the time from professional influencers who are older than them. Tweens still exist as a market category and a chronological distinction, but in practice, they act a lot like teens or even 20-somethings. To the degree that they are even shopping in person at all, it's often at grown-up places such as Sephora, where they can obsess over which expensive creams to add to their elaborate anti-aging skin-care routines, and Brandy Melville, which stocks clothes that I, an adult, would be perfectly comfortable wearing: high-necked cardigans, striped tops in tasteful neutrals. Maybe they should go to Claire's while they still can, though, and get their hands on a fluffy pen.
USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
After bankruptcy filing, Claire's says it has sold most of its North American business
After filing for bankruptcy for a second time and saying it could soon close more than 1,100 stores, Claire's announced on Aug. 20 that it would be selling most of its North American business to private equity firm Ames Watson. In a news release, Claire's said the sale was done to 'maximize the value of its business,' as well as to pause liquidation sales at most of its stores. In court filings earlier this month, Claire's CEO Chris Cramer stated that liquidation sales would continue until a buyer was found. Although a buyer was found, Claire's announced that liquidation sales will continue at select stores, but did not specify which locations would be impacted. 'As we continue through our restructuring proceedings, our team has worked tirelessly to explore every option for preserving the value of the Claire's business and brand,' CEO Chris Cramer said. The Illinois-based company, which operates 1,326 stores across the United States, has faced financial challenges due to the rise of fast-fashion brands like Shein and Temu, high rent costs, and new tariffs from supplier nations, including China, according to documents filed with the bankruptcy court. Claire's will seek approval of the sale on Aug. 21 at a court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware. Store closures amid hard times As part of its ongoing bankruptcy process, 18 Claire's-owned stores are set to close no later than Sept. 7 across the country. A map of closing stores can be found here. Find your local store by searching by city or state: Founded in 1961 in Chicago, Claire's specializes in selling necklaces, bracelets, and various accessories, including headphones and soft toys. For many American girls, getting their first ear piercing at Claire's has become a "rite of passage" that has continued for decades. The company claims to have pierced over 100 million ears since 1978. Contributing: Mike Snider, USA TODAY; and Reuters Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
India curbs solar power output to keep grid stable amid low demand, ministry says
By Sudarshan Varadhan and Sethuraman N R SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India is curbing solar output during periods of low demand to keep its power grid stable and to ease congestion in power lines as green energy supply rises, its Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) told Reuters. Congestion in power lines due to some new plants coming into operation ahead of schedule and delayed transmission projects have also forced power output curbs, also known as curtailment, the MNRE said in an emailed response to questions late on Monday. The curtailments are the latest setback to India's renewable power developers, who are increasingly languishing without supply contracts as demand for power slows. The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) said in a July 24 letter to the ministry that solar power producers in Rajasthan, the top green power producing state, were facing prolonged and frequent curtailments, which had risen to 48% of output during peak generation hours. The producers have lost more than $26 million in revenue since April due to the curbs, NSEFI said in the letter reviewed by Reuters. NSEFI, whose members include the green energy arms of Indian conglomerates Adani and Tata, Amazon Web Services, Dutch investment firm SHV and Malaysia's Gentari, said curtailments undermined project viability and future investments. "Projects in the state had been deferred by 18-20 months to accommodate for the delays in the transmission system, but are still unable to be commissioned due to even further delays," NSEFI said. NSEFI has asked the government to accelerate transmission and battery storage projects, some of which face up to two years of delay. The federal power ministry has said it is fast-tracking interstate transmission lines to support renewable energy. BEYOND RAJASTHAN While Rajasthan is the worst affected by curtailments, other major green energy producers such as the southern Tamil Nadu state, and Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west are also curbing output, according to four industry officials and analysts. Data compiled by Tamil Nadu's Renewable Energy Producers Association showed solar output was 10% lower than forecast in the quarter ended June. J Radhakrishnan, a spokesman for the Tamil Nadu energy department said solar was being curbed as a "last resort" measure, and that coal power was also being curtailed amid low demand. India's renewable energy generation, mainly solar, rose at a record pace in the six months ended June as previously awarded projects came online, while overall power generation growth was largely flat compared with an increase of nearly 6% in 2024. However, solar projects awarded in the three months ended June fell 75% annually and tenders for new projects declined 65%, according to clean energy consultancy Mercom. The decline reflects a "temporary recalibration rather than a slowdown," MNRE said, adding that bids were being issued in line with national targets and demand. Government data shows the usage rate of solar capacity fell to 21.4% in May and 19.5% in June. The MNRE said some of it was due to lower irradiance, adding it expected capacity utilisation of 21%–25% range from February to June in the future.
