Economy

William H. Donaldson, who made an early fortune as co-founder of the innovative securities firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later pushed for tougher financial regulation as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals , died Wednesday at his home in Westchester County, New York, at the age of 93. The cause was leukemia, his son Adam said. Mr. Donaldson also briefly served as undersecretary of state under Henry A. Kissinger, ran the New York Stock Exchange and was chief executive of the insurance company Aetna Inc. In 1975, he…

Tiana's Bayou Adventure uses the same trails as Splash Mountain, and riders continue to ride in vehicles made to look like hollowed-out logs. But everything else has been redesigned. Instead of a suspenseful story that sees Br'er Rabbit thrown into a field of brambles, the new attraction focuses on a Mardi Gras party: Tiana and her friend Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator, are on a quest to creatures to form a gang with. Midway through the film, the cheerful Mama Odie, a voodoo queen in "The Princess and the Frog" and now a "fairy godmother of the bayou," casts a spell,…

George Bochetto, a Philadelphia lawyer who claimed to own the house with his late partner's widow, bought it in 2016 for $60,000. “It was abandoned for many years. It was run down,” Mr. Bochetto said in an interview Tuesday. He marveled at how “this little house on the western edge of Louisville, modest as it was, could produce a magnificent world figure.” He added: “Muhammad Ali was one of my heroes as a child.” Mr. Bochetto said he wants the new owners to "make sure the house is preserved" as an honor to him. The sale would also include the…

For months, Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI have largely escaped the brunt of the Biden administration's regulatory scrutiny. But things started to change when generative AI, capable of producing human-like text, photos, video and audio, hit the scene in late 2022 and created a frenzy in the industry. Regulators have recently signaled that they want to get ahead of developments in artificial intelligence. In July, the FTC launched an investigation into whether OpenAI had harmed consumers through data collection. In January, the FTC also launched a broad investigation into strategic partnerships between tech giants and AI startups, including Microsoft's investments in…

The humiliation of Modi's party resonates in part as an expression of popular frustration that India remains a land of economic peril for hundreds of millions of people, as well as a country characterized by startling contrasts in wealth. In big cities, five-star hotels boasting luxurious spas look down on teeming, unsanitary slums. In rural areas, malnutrition prevails under many roofs and families struggle to find the money to send their children to school. Even though its working-age population numbers about a billion, India has only 430 million jobs, according to the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, an independent research…

Ms Bongiorno and Mr Chaudhri said Humane was working on problems with the device. The startup has added more voice navigation options to the device, as well as sound effects, to make it easier to use. The updates include the integration of OpenAI's latest chatbot system, GPT-4o, designed to improve battery life by 25% and reduce the device's response time to two seconds. Those updates responded to questions raised by auditors, the founders said. Ms. Bongiorno defined the reviews and feedback as “a gift that has been given to us”. Companies are interested in the device, he added. Within 48…

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sony bought Alamo from Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group, as well as the chain's founder, Tim League. Mr League said the cinema chain was “more than thrilled” with the deal. This comes at a time of financial difficulty for the Alamo and the film industry as a whole. Many of Alamo's franchised locations filed for bankruptcy and closed this month, making Sony's move a potential lifeline for the struggling chain. Alamo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021 before a private equity firm intervened. The theaters will continue to operate under…

Summer at the spa - a ritual that has lasted nearly 200 years - began early in Saratoga Springs, New York, with the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, held Saturday for the first time at Saratoga Race Course, a relic revered where elites and others mingle, but horses dominate. Broadway, the city's central thoroughfare, was abuzz with activity. Lines for picnic tables along the trail formed before dawn. A new color, Belmont Green, blends with the track's signature red and white coating. Owners, trainers, runners and loyalists all hailed the break with tradition for the 156th…

Tesla could use shareholder approval to support Musk's case in court. If it wins the vote on Musk's compensation, the company is likely to turn to Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the Delaware Court of Chancery judge who rejected the compensation plan, and argue that shareholders, armed with information she says she not having had it when they approved the package, they ratified the proposal again. This, according to the company, makes the issue controversial. If McCormick were to declare the plan acceptable, it is likely that the plaintiffs who initially sued will appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court. Among their potential…

Linked media - Connected media Mr. Choa, 64, has spent much of his international architectural career wrestling with such details. After the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, he took part in a commission tasked with sketching out the future of Lower Manhattan. He later lived and worked in China, where he oversaw master plans in major urban areas. After moving to London in 2006, he continued such work in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. He first grappled with a detailed plan for Gaza in 2015 through work commissioned by Palestinian business interests. He…