All posts tagged: business

Lightsaber Darth Vader Used in ‘I Am Your Father’ Duel in ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Goes up for Auction

Lightsaber Darth Vader Used in ‘I Am Your Father’ Duel in ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Goes up for Auction

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In July, a lightsaber with Luke Skywalker’s severed hand from “The Empire Strikes Back” sold for $3.75 million at auction, the highest price ever fetched for a prop used in a “Star Wars” film according to the auction house. Now, someone can buy the saber that did the severing. A Darth Vader lightsaber used in the climactic duel in Cloud City where he tells Skywalker “I am your father” is among the highlights of the Ultimate Star Wars Auction to be held by Heritage Auctions on Nov. 12. The Vader saber, also used in “Return of the Jedi,” is expected to fetch at least $1 million. It is one of more than two dozen lightsaber props that will be up for sale at the auction that spans “Star Wars” Episodes I through IX and other films and TV shows from the galaxy George Lucas created. Others include dueling lightsabers forcefully wielded by Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker in “Revenge of the Sith” that are expected to go …

EU and China Strike Interim Trade Deal That Could Cut Chinese Hybrid Exports, EU Envoy Says

EU and China Strike Interim Trade Deal That Could Cut Chinese Hybrid Exports, EU Envoy Says

Published by Sam Flores

HONG KONG (AP) — The top trade envoys for China and the European Union agreed Friday on a broad initial agreement following two days of talks aimed at calming escalating tensions over trade imbalances, the EU trade commissioner said Friday. Neither side provided clear details on the preliminary deal, but European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic said it includes lower tariffs for some European goods to China as well as measures to stabilize rare earth supply chains. The EU trade envoy said the deal could cut up to 50% of Chinese electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle imports to the EU and could lower tariffs on products benefitting “almost every” EU nation. The agreement would require agreement from leaders across the 27-nation EU. The two sides were seeking to resolve key factors behind China’s growing trade surplus, which hit 360 billion euros ($410 billion) last year. China has been pushing for the EU to stop blocking its imports of advanced computer chipmaking machines, restrictions imposed on national security grounds at Washington’s behest. Earlier, Sefcovic had said …

Samuel Alito’s unfinished business could be a gift to Democrats

Samuel Alito’s unfinished business could be a gift to Democrats

Published by Sam Flores

The Supreme Court convened on Monday for another exciting round of “how far will they go?” and, as luck would have it, the putative leader of the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito, is out on a book tour talking about the philosophy that will guide their decisions.  “So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country” is a collection of essays adapted from speeches he has given since 2007, many with straightforward titles, including “Let Judges Be Judges.” While an associate justice, Alito’s power on the Court shouldn’t be undersold. While all the other conservatives justices — aside from Clarence Thomas — don’t openly identify as originalists, they have shown themselves happy to follow Alito’s lead when it suits their ends. In fact, the so-called Roberts Court, named by tradition after the chief justice, is a misnomer. It’s really the Alito Court, which should send a chill down your spine if you have any concerns about where America is heading. Alito gave a long interview to CBS News legal correspondent Jan Crawford, addressing a …

James Murdoch and Kathryn Murdoch Discuss ‘New York Magazine’—But Not Rupert Murdoch

James Murdoch and Kathryn Murdoch Discuss ‘New York Magazine’—But Not Rupert Murdoch

Published by Sam Flores

For New York magazine staffers, this archival pit stop was a relief. It signaled real interest—a sign that the Murdochs’ $300 million–plus purchase, through their investment company called Lupa, was not a vanity play. “You can just tell when someone is passionate about something versus when it is just a business decision,” Bankoff had told me just days before the deal officially closed. “They’re not someone who is curious and maybe did something in a different realm and now wants to enter the media space—they know the media space better than anyone,” he’d said. To say the media is in James’s blood, or part of his DNA, would be both cliché and true. He was four years old when his father, Rupert, purchased New York and 18 when he sold it. When we met on a sultry early June afternoon at Lupa’s headquarters, in downtown Manhattan, he had the unmistakable swagger of a Murdoch. “I remember that it was part of the sort of portfolio…because back then it was—” James says haltingly, careful not to …

How a 100-Year-Old Indie Movie Theater Stays In Business

How a 100-Year-Old Indie Movie Theater Stays In Business

Published by Daniella Wilson

Doreen Sayegh’s Cranford Theater, the last indie and family-run cinema in Union County, New Jersey, is about to turn 100. Sayegh, who owns the five-screen cinema in Cranford, near to New York City, will mark the centennial with a throwback screening of Padlocked, the silent film that opened the theater’s doors on November 29, 1926, with an accompanying organ player. But while honoring the legacy of her family in the exhibition business since the 1980s, Sayegh is just as committed to transforming the Cranford Theater with new programming and experiences to keep bringing customers through the door for the foreseeable future. “I want us to honor this incredible history while continuing to evolve and ask, what can the next 100 years look like?” Sayegh tells The Hollywood Reporter. As a child, she learned the cinema business alongside her father, Jesse Y. Sayegh. He ran an independent chain of movie theaters in New Jersey during the 1990s — when cinemas had far less competition for customers — and purchased the twin-screen Cranford Theater in 1997 from …

G7 Nations Will Release 100 Million Barrels of Oil and Diesel Fuel After Prices Soar

G7 Nations Will Release 100 Million Barrels of Oil and Diesel Fuel After Prices Soar

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Group of Seven wealthy democracies said Friday that they plan to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products in the coming weeks, starting with “substantial” amounts of diesel after the fuel recently hit record high prices in the United States. President Donald Trump said the diesel release would happen “immediately,” echoing a G7 promise to start “immediately” with a “frontloaded substantial release” of diesel within the next 20 days and the rest over four months. Trump and his Republican Party face pressure to address surging prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and Trump announced the action Friday on social media. The president’s approval ratings on the economy hit a new low, according to an AP-NORC poll, as the Iran war and his trade battles have increased U.S. prices for oil and other goods. Gas prices in the U.S. and abroad have soared during the eight-month-long war, a cost Trump has repeatedly said is worth it for making sure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. The national average …

Amazon to Invest B Into Data Center Communities Amid Backlash Against Data Center Rollouts

Amazon to Invest $1B Into Data Center Communities Amid Backlash Against Data Center Rollouts

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is investing more than $1 billion over the next five years into communities where it operates data centers for education, job training, water and energy preservation projects and other local priorities as it reacts to a growing backlash from politicians and consumers to the tech industry’s rollout of the massive buildings. According to a blog post on Friday by Matt Garman, Amazon’s CEO of its cloud computing arm, Amazon has already spent more than $1 billion in communities with a large data center presence over the past three years. Garman also said that Amazon is no longer using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies it works with on its projects, and it said it hosts open houses in communities where it operates to share information about what it’s doing. He also warned against the spread of what he believes is misinformation about data centers’ impact on the environment and energy rates — and he cited the dangers of over 100 moratoriums against these centers being considered across the country. “If these …

Can Europe still compete with the US and China? | Business and Economy

Can Europe still compete with the US and China? | Business and Economy

Published by Sam Flores

Europe faces growing pressure from the US and China as it struggles to stay competitive. For decades, Europe relied on the United States for security and on China for cheap goods. Now, it is lagging behind both. Tensions with its ally, Washington, are rising over tariffs, defence spending and Greenland, putting the transatlantic relationship under strain. Beijing dominates key supply chains and raw materials Europe still depends on. When Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met last week, Europe was not in the room, but their decisions still land on the continent’s doorstep. Europe has leverage of its own, including a single market of 450 million consumers. But closing its competitiveness gap requires deep reform and massive investment. Published On 1 Oct 20261 Oct 2026 Share Can Europe still compete with the US and China? on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Source link

Who owns AI risk at work? Business and tech leaders can’t agree, PwC survey finds

Who owns AI risk at work? Business and tech leaders can’t agree, PwC survey finds

Published by skeptic

ZDNET’s key takeaways PwC reveals business leaders can’t agree on who is responsible for AI. AI agents may lack the identity controls that manage employees today.  Is a dedicated AI executive or leader the answer? Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption continues to surge, with agentic AI and large language models (LLMs) now integrated into everything from enterprise applications to chatbots that help you with food delivery. Also: LLMjacking can run up your business’ AI bill fast – how to stop it The benefits of AI are clear: it can streamline business operations, reduce manual workloads, serve as a research and analysis assistant, and give employees tools that make day-to-day work less strenuous and time-consuming.  But we’re now experiencing the trade-offs. Rogue AI models, friendly AI hacking innocent companies, potentially thousands of AI-related security incidents being investigated, and AI agents acting as new entry points into corporate networks.  Who should be responsible and take ownership of AI when things go wrong? According to new research from PwC, businesses can’t agree.  Cybersecurity and AI in the boardroom On …

Furry Airline Pilots Are Just Minding Their Own Business

Furry Airline Pilots Are Just Minding Their Own Business

Published by skeptic

The greatest threat to humanity’s survival isn’t climate change, nor is it AI. It’s airline pilots who like dressing up as hot cartoon foxes. That seemed to be the takeaway from a bizarre speech made last week by Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville on the Senate floor last week. During a lengthy anti-trans rant about “gender confusion,” Tuberville started pontificating on the furry fandom, a subculture consisting of people who enjoy drawing and dressing as anthropomorphized animals. “Many airline pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic controllers are part of the furry community,” Tuberville alleged. “Lord help us. It’s terrifying when you think about this.” To bolster his point, he later posted a viral audio clip of airline pilots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport meowing and barking at each other over the radio, though there is no evidence that the pilots in question were furries; the video was possibly a reference to a joke in the 2001 movie Super Troopers. “When you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could …