Stories for August 14th 2019

Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 19:15 UTC
US tech companies seek protection from French government services tax

Alphabet Inc's Google unit, Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc are among the companies that will testify at a U.S. government hearing on the French government's digital services tax.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 18:33 UTC
Brazil: court injunction to prevent Bolsonaro's son appointment as ambassador in US

Brazilian federal prosecutors filed a court injunction on Tuesday seeking to bar the appointment of conservative president Jair Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo as ambassador to the United States due to his lack of experience as a diplomat.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 18:17 UTC
Brazil's mining industry given more time to close dangerous tailings dams

Brazil’s mining regulator on Monday extended the deadlines by up to four years for the closing of many dangerous mine tailings dams like the one that collapsed in January at a Vale SA facility, killing more than 240 people.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 09:40 UTC
French farmers protest trade deals with Canada and Mercosur

French anti-government protesters put up a large poster of Jean-Baptiste Moreau, one of President Emmanuel Macron's farming experts, with the word “Wanted” on it outside a local government building on Tuesday, as anger over recent trade deals escalates.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 09:39 UTC
Trump threatens to pull the US out of WTO: “they have been screwing us for years”

President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to pull the United States out of the World Trade Organization (WTO) if conditions are not improved. “We will leave if we have to,” Trump told a cheering audience of workers at a Shell chemical plant in Pennsylvania.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 09:38 UTC
US Aviation administration bans models of Apple's MacBook laptops on flights

United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned certain models of Apple Inc's MacBook Pro laptops on flights after the company recalled select units which had batteries posing fire risks.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 09:21 UTC
Carnival Fantasy fails CDC July 18 sanitation test

Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Fantasy cruise ship received a failing sanitation score after a July 18 inspection by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 09:08 UTC
What will be the IMF's reaction to the new Argentine political scenario?

Argentina's peso slipped further against the dollar Tuesday while the stock market partially recovered as South America's third-largest economy continued to take a pummeling in the wake of pro-business President Mauricio Macri's crushing defeat in party primaries.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 08:57 UTC
Facebook again caught ignoring privacy practices: it paid contractors to transcribe audio clips from its services

Facebook Inc has been paying outside contractors to transcribe audio clips from users of its services, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company confirmed that it had been transcribing users' audio, and said it was no longer doing so, Bloomberg reported.
Wednesday, August 14th 2019 - 08:49 UTC
FBI seeks to question Al-Qaeda suspect living in Brazil as legal resident

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking to question an alleged Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative believed to be living in Brazil, and the South American country has pledged to cooperate with the United States in any way it can.