Author: IBJ News

A new cryptocurrency project is aiming to transform how people connect and support each other in sobriety. Sober.Buzz, creator of the $BUZZ token, has emerged as a unique initiative developed by and for people in recovery from alcohol and substance addiction. Their slogan “spreading the good $BUZZ“ is what Sober.Buzz is all about. Unlike typical cryptocurrency ventures focused solely on financial returns, this project centers on building a supportive global community. The recovery-focused cryptocurrency was created with the specific mission of connecting individuals who are navigating sobriety or supporting loved ones through addiction recovery. The $BUZZ token will have real…

International Airlines Group unveiled plans Friday to purchase 71 long-haul aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, dividing a substantial fleet renewal and expansion between the aerospace rivals just one day after Britain and the United States announced a new trade deal. The parent company of British Airways will acquire 32 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners for its flagship carrier, while ordering 21 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft to be distributed among its other airlines including Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL. The announcement also disclosed previously unrevealed options exercised in March for 18 additional aircraft: six Boeing 777-9s, six Airbus A350-900s, and six Airbus A350-1000s. “This…

X has begun the process of restricting access to more than 8,000 accounts in India following executive orders from the Indian government, the social media platform announced Thursday. The directive targets a wide range of users, including international news organizations and prominent individuals, according to a statement posted by X’s Global Government Affairs account. The Elon Musk-led platform said it had “no choice but to act” to prevent the entire service from potentially being banned in India. “The orders include demands to block access in India to accounts belonging to international news organizations and prominent X users,” the platform wrote.…

President Donald Trump is set to announce a trade agreement with the United Kingdom on Thursday morning, marking the first such deal since his administration imposed broad tariffs last month that rattled global markets. The announcement, scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Oval Office, was teased by Trump in a social media post Wednesday night, where he referred to it as a “MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY.” While Trump did not name the country in his post, multiple sources confirmed to The Washington Post that the agreement would be with the United Kingdom.…

Skechers, the third largest footwear company in the world, agreed Monday to be acquired by investment firm 3G Capital in a deal valued at $9.4 billion, marking one of the largest transactions in the footwear industry to date. The transaction comes at a time when the footwear industry faces significant uncertainty due to President Donald Trump’s recent tariff policies, which have particularly affected companies with manufacturing operations in China. Under the terms of the agreement, Skechers shareholders will receive $63 per share in cash, representing a 30% premium over the company’s recent average trading price. Alternatively, investors can opt for…

Canadian tech firm Telus International has terminated the contracts of over 2,000 content moderators in Barcelona following Meta’s decision to cancel its agreement with the company, according to Spanish labor union CCOO. The job cuts affect precisely 2,059 employees who were responsible for reviewing content across Facebook and Instagram platforms, union officials said Monday. Telus, which operates locally as Barcelona Digital Services, has provided content moderation services for Meta since 2018. During a Monday morning meeting, Telus informed workers it had terminated the contracts “of all workers who were performing content moderation tasks” for Meta, the union stated. The layoffs…

The Trump administration announced Monday a new initiative offering $1,000 stipends to migrants who voluntarily depart the United States, marking its latest effort to accelerate deportations while reducing costs. The Department of Homeland Security said the stipend and travel assistance would be available to migrants who elect to “self deport” using the government’s CBP Home app. Officials emphasized that this approach would be substantially less expensive than formal deportation proceedings. According to DHS, the average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting someone without legal status is currently about $17,000. The agency claims that even with the $1,000 payment, a voluntary…

In a major pivot that upends months of planning, ChatGPT maker OpenAI announced Monday that its nonprofit division will retain control over its for-profit operations, abandoning earlier plans to restructure as an independent for-profit entity. The decision follows intense scrutiny from regulators, criticism from former employees, and legal challenges from early investor Elon Musk, who had argued the conversion would betray the company’s founding mission to develop artificial intelligence that benefits humanity. “OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit,” OpenAI Board Chairman Bret Taylor wrote in a statement on the company’s blog.…

President Donald Trump announced sweeping plans to impose a 100 percent tariff on movies produced outside the United States, describing Hollywood’s decline as a matter of national security and pledging to revitalize domestic film production. “The movie industry in America is dying a very fast death,” Trump wrote Sunday on his Truth Social platform. “This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat.” The president’s announcement represents an expansion of his administration’s tariff agenda, which has already targeted goods from numerous countries including China. Trump previously implemented a universal 10 percent tariff on most imported…

Temu, the fast-growing Chinese online retailer known for ultra-discounted merchandise, has abruptly changed its business model in the United States after the Trump administration eliminated a key trade provision that allowed the platform to ship goods directly from China without paying import duties. The company has shifted its website and app to only display products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses, with items previously shipped directly from China now labeled as out of stock. The change comes as the so-called “de minimis” rule expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. A Temu…