Author: Editor

A Starbucks store is shown in Encinitas, California, on Feb. 24, 2025.Mike Blake | ReutersStarbucks plans to roll out a generative artificial intelligence assistant created with Microsoft Azure’s OpenAI platform to 35 locations this month as part of its strategy to simplify baristas’ jobs and speed up service in its cafes.The coffee chain showed off the new technology to more than 14,000 North American store managers at its Leadership Experience in Las Vegas on Tuesday. A broad launch of the “Green Dot Assist” platform across the U.S. and Canada is slated for the company’s fiscal 2026, which starts in the…

At a used car market in Beijing, salesman Ma Hui said he fears China’s electric vehicle industry is in a race to the bottom.EV makers, led by the country’s market leader BYD, have been engaged in a bruising price war, depressing profits for the brands, as well as sellers such as Ma.”All of us were losing money last year,” Ma said about his fellow used car sellers in the market. “There are too many companies making too many new energy cars.”A BYD dealership in Beijing on June 4, 2025.CNBCChina’s trading partners have often accused the country of flooding the global…

Eleven accountants were given the Elijah Watt Sells Award by the American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.The award is granted to candidates who earned a cumulative average score above 95.50 across four sections of the CPA exam, pass the four sections on their first attempt and have completed testing in 2024. More than 74,000 individuals sat for the exam last year, meaning 0.01% of test takers reached this criteria.”The Elijah Watt Sells Award represents one of the highest honors in the CPA profession, and this year’s 11 recipients have demonstrated extraordinary commitment, intellect…

FanDuel is upping the ante in Illinois with a new 50-cent surcharge on all wagers, and DraftKings may be next.Flutter-owned FanDuel is introducing the charge to mitigate the impact of new taxes that the state instituted with its new budget, which disproportionately affect the two leading sportsbooks.The new tax is applied to each wager that a sportsbook accepts — 25 cents per bet for the first 20 million wagers, 50 cents per wager after that.”Should the state reverse its decision at any point in the future, FanDuel will immediately remove the $0.50 transaction fee,” Flutter said in a press release.DraftKings…

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. leaves the stage after discussing the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025. Elizabeth Frantz | ReutersHealth and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has gutted a key government panel of vaccine advisors, saying he wants to “re-establish public confidence” in shots.Some health policy experts say firing the committee members will do the opposite. “Rather than restoring public trust, his actions are…

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s pressuring Senate Republicans to refrain from changing a deal to increase the state and local tax deduction cap to $40,000, pushing back on President Donald Trump’s willingness to scale back the write-off.”I’ve asked them to modify it as little as possible because I’ve got a very delicate balance there,” Johnson told reporters at the White House on Monday.”The reality is that we have a very diverse conference,” Johnson added, noting that he has several members who represent high-tax areas in New York, New Jersey and California. “This is a very important thing for their…

President Donald Trump touted a provision in his tax bill that would deposit $1,000 into an investment account for babies born in the next few years alongside corporate leaders who said they would aid the effort.Under the initiative, the federal government would make the one-time contribution into a tax-deferred, low-cost index fund that will track the overall stock market, White House officials told Bloomberg. Guardians of the children would have control over the accounts.Trump said Monday at a White House event that the accounts would help “countless American children to have a strong start in life.””In addition to the substantial…