Category: Business News

Business News

Canadian burn survivor’s 40-shade foundation line gets picked up by beauty giant Sephora

Basma Hameed is living her childhood dream to create her own cosmetics. She has developed a 40-shade foundation called Basma — now selling online and soon to be available in stores at beauty giant Sephora. “It’s still hard to believe, but it’s incredible,” Hameed, 36, said of her success. “You don’t [expect] somebody who’s a burn survivor to launch a beauty brand.” When she was two years old, living in her native country of Iraq, Hameed was burned by hot oil in a kitchen accident — leaving permanent scars on part of her face that made her a target for…
Business News

Google, Meta executives push back against Canada online news bill

[1/2] A Google logo is displayed at the entrance to the internet based company’s offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 9, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Helgren TORONTO, May 3 (Reuters) – Google and Meta would withdraw access to news articles in Canada if legislation compelling internet companies to pay news publishers is passed, company executives told Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday. Canada’s proposed legislation would force platforms like Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) to negotiate commercial deals and pay Canadian news publishers for their content, part of a broader global trend to make tech firms pay…
Business News

Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting takeaways: Warren Buffett’s remarks

Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, criticized the government’s intervention in recent bank failures, saying on Saturday it averted what could have become an even bigger crisis. Yet he said the US banking system had become too complicated — and it was not surprising that the banks failed. He said he’d been selling bank stocks, first at the start of the pandemic and more recently over the past six months as banks increasingly face mismanagement and respond to bad incentives. “The American public doesn’t understand their banking system — and some people in Congress don’t understand it anymore…
Business News

ChatGPT makes its debut as a smartphone app on iPhones – Business News

ChatGPT now on iPhone Matt O’Brien, The Associated Press – May 18, 2023 / 11:27 am | Story: 427472 Photo: The Canadian Press FILE – The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen displaying output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. The head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT is set to testify to Congress as lawmakers call for new rules to guide the rapid development of AI technology. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is scheduled to speak at a Senate hearing Tuesday, May 16. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File) ChatGPT is…
Business News

Canadian forest fires are the latest costly climate disaster that public accounts fail to capture

You don’t have to tell the people of Calgary and other Canadian communities breathing orange air that forest fires have a cost. And while repeated studies draw a direct line between an increase in costly forest fires and climate change, economists and accountants right up to Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer say the benefits of stopping climate change and thus reducing the many harms it creates is simply impossible to measure for public accounting purposes. It is an interesting conundrum and the thousands of people displaced from their homes or breathing smoke from the current spate of forest fires are caught…
Business News

Visa and MasterCard agreed to lower the average credit card interchange fee below 1%

The government has announced new details of an agreement with Visa and MasterCard that will see them lower the amount that they charge retailers when a customer pays for a purchase with a credit card. Known as so-called interchange fees, they have long irritated merchants by allowing the credit card company to keep a percentage of each sale, instead of a flat fee for each transaction. On Thursday, the government announced a deal with the two card companies that will reduce interchange fees for in-store transactions to 0.95 per cent, on average. That means on a $100 purchase, if a…
Business News

Angelo’s is closing, Crazy Wisdom is reopening and other Washtenaw County business news

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI — Big news has been happening recently for businesses in and around Ann Arbor. Some longtime businesses are calling it quits after spending decades serving customers, while others are making their debut. There is even one beloved Ann Arbor book store that’s planning to return after closing in 2022. Here are some recent business news you might have missed. Angelo’s Restaurant to close as University of Michigan plans $4.5M purchase By December, people will no longer be able to enjoy the deep-fried French raisin toast or sandwiches at Angelo’s Restaurant in Ann Arbor. Related: ‘I will think…
Business News

The Bank of Canada is more worried than usual about debt loads

The Bank of Canada is more worried than it was last year about household debt loads, and is concerned about the abilities for households to stay on top of them in the coming years once mortgages renew at higher rates. That’s one of the main takeaways of the bank’s Financial System Review, an annual assessment of various risks the bank desires to be of concern to the stability of Canada’s financial system. While the bank highlighted the risks of cybersecurity attacks, the ongoing global banking crisis and climate change, the risk presented by growing mortgage debt was a recurring theme…