Author: ALJAZEERA

Many unresolved claims remain over the bridge collapse, which killed six people and snarled local shipping for months.The owner and operator of a cargo ship that slammed into a bridge in the United States east coast port of Baltimore earlier this year, collapsing it and killing six people, will pay a $102m settlement for cleanup costs. The settlement, cleared Friday by a United States district judge, settles the US government’s claims against Singapore-based firms Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited. It covers money the US government spent responding to the disaster, including clearing the wreck of the…

The dam collapse unleashed wave of tailings in disaster that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless, flooded forests.Brazil has signed a 170 billion reais ($29.85bn) compensation agreement with miners BHP, Vale and Samarco for the Mariana dam collapse in 2015, one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. The agreement was signed on Friday. The collapse of the dam at the iron ore mine owned by Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP, near the city of Mariana in southeastern Brazil, unleashed a wave of tailings in a disaster that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless, flooded forests and polluted…

Reports of non-financial misconduct rose 72 percent between 2021 and 2023, according to survey by financial regulator.Allegations of bullying, discrimination and other non-financial misconduct in the UK’s financial sector have soared during the last three years, a survey by the country’s financial regulator has found. Reports of non-financial misconduct rose 72 percent between 2021 and 2023, according to the survey by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Bullying and discrimination made up the largest share of the 5,380 recorded complaints, accounting for 26 percent and 23 percent of the total, respectively. Another 40 percent of reports related to “other” claims of…

Texas-based company reports $2.2bn profit for July to September, after back-to-back disappointing quarters.Tesla has posted a forecasting-beating profit in the third quarter, breaking a recent streak of disappointing earnings for the electric carmaker. The Austin, Texas-based company on Wednesday reported net income of $2.2bn for the July-to-September period, up 17 percent year on year. Revenue rose to $25.18bn, up 8 percent from $23.35bn from a year earlier. Tesla’s strong earnings were driven in large part by revenue from sources other than vehicle sales. Revenue from charging services, sales of storage batteries, and sales of carbon emissions credits to other carmakers…

Abercrombie’s Mike Jeffries and associates lured dozens of young men into sex acts from 2008-2015, says indictment.Mike Jeffries, former chief executive of the US clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch, has been arrested for alleged sex trafficking and interstate prostitution following weeks of speculation over allegations of professional misconduct. Law enforcement officials announced the arrest of Jeffries in a press conference Tuesday, alleging the fashion executive oversaw a years-long enterprise that lured and exploited young men looking for a break in the fashion world. Jeffries’ romantic partner, Matthew Smith, and associate James Jacobsen were also arrested for their alleged role in…

Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster have turned to a United Kingdom court for compensation, almost nine years after tonnes of toxic mining waste poured into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities. The class action lawsuit at the High Court of Justice in London on Monday seeks an estimated 36 billion pounds ($47bn) in damages from the global mining giant BHP. That would make it the largest environmental payout ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the plaintiffs. BHP owns 50 percent of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where…

The island was hit by a nationwide blackout on Friday, but prime minister says country ‘not yet in a bottomless abyss’.Cuba’s government has announced it will halt all non-vital state services and businesses for three days as it battles an energy crisis that has caused marathon blackouts for much of the country. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero outlined the measures in an address Thursday night, saying the government had no choice but to “paralyse the economy.” This includes shuttering all cultural activities and recreation centres such as discos, as well as public schools until Monday, Cuba’s state-run electricity union said in…

Spirit says it does not have additional space to store the 767 and 777 fuselages it builds for Boeing planes.Spirit AeroSystems has told employees that it will furlough 700 workers for 21 days as a more than one-month strike at United States-based plane maker Boeing eats into the supplier’s cash and inventory space. The furloughs, announced on Friday, will affect Spirit Aero employees working on Boeing’s 767 and 777 wide-body jet programmes. Production of those jets was halted when more than 33,000 factory workers on the US West Coast went on strike on September 13. The furloughs follow other Spirit efforts to…

The technology helped recover $1.3bn in tax fraud in the 2024 fiscal year, says the Treasury.The United States Treasury Department is turning more to artificial intelligence (AI) to fight fraud, using the technology to thwart $4bn in improper payments in the last year. The agency released the estimate in a press release Thursday announcing the success of its “technology and data-driven approach”. In fiscal year 2024, which ran from October 2023 to September 2024, the Treasury used machine-learning AI to halt $1bn in cheque fraud, it said. At the same time, its AI processes helped weed out $3bn in other…

Taichung, Taiwan – Standing in line at her favourite boba tea shop in Taiwan’s second-biggest city, Lisa Chen was perplexed to hear that her preferred beverage had been embroiled in a headline-grabbing controversy halfway around the world. After a Montreal-based company pitched a “convenient and healthier” canned version of boba tea on Canada’s version of Dragons’ Den last week, a firestorm ensued. Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu, a potential investor on the reality show, raised concerns about so-called “cultural appropriation” and the lack of any indication that boba tea originated in Taiwan. “There’s an issue of taking something that is very…