Volkswagen sales plunge as German automaker lays out plan to slash number of brands
BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen has reported weak sales numbers, with a significant drop in China. The company said Friday plans to cut its model lineup by nearly half. Volkswagen said group sales fell 8.6% in the second quarter to just under 2.1 million vehicles. Sales in China alone plummeted by more than one-third. CEO Oliver Blume aims to make VW faster and more competitive by reducing complexity and overcapacities. Volkswagen cited challenges like geopolitical tensions and rising costs. On Thursday, employees protested outside the Zwickau plant, demanding job protections as the factory shifts to electric car production.
EU demands Facebook and Instagram dismantle design features it calls addictive for users
The European Union is accusing Meta of breaching social media laws by designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive. On Friday, the EU's executive arm demanded Meta disable features like infinite scrolling and autoplay by default. The charges are part of an investigation under the Digital Services Act, which requires tech platforms to protect users or face hefty fines. The commission says Meta failed to assess the risks these features pose to users' health, including minors. Meta has tools to manage usage, but they are easily dismissed. Meta can respond before a final decision, which could lead to significant fines.
Trump will let bipartisan housing bill become law without signing in protest over GOP voter ID law
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has chosen not to sign a sweeping housing affordability bill on Friday, in protest of Congress not approving a strict voter ID bill that does not have enough support to pass. Still, the housing measure could become law on Friday without Trump’s signature, as he had 10 days to issue a veto and stop the measure. Trump’s post simply says that he will not sign it.
SK Hynix rises 14% in debut on Wall Street as demand for memory chips soars amid AI frenzy
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix rose 14% as they made their debut on Wall Street, at a time when demand for chips is surging thanks to the frenzy around artificial intelligence. SK Hynix priced its American depositary receipts, or ADRs, at $149 each Thursday and they opened Friday at $170 on the Nasdaq. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs raised proceeds of $26.5 billion, making it the biggest-ever initial share sale in the U.S. by a foreign company. SK Hynix has a dominant position globally for high bandwidth memory, which is essential for the development of advanced AI technology.
China blocks exports of helium, key for chipmaking, as Iran war squeezes supply
HONG KONG (AP) — China is temporarily blocking helium exports, a key element for chipmaking, as the Iran war's escalation disrupts global supply. China's commerce ministry and customs agency announced the ban Friday, citing the Foreign Trade Law. Helium is crucial for semiconductor manufacturing and medical uses like MRI cooling. Since the Iran war began in late February, helium supply has been disrupted and prices have risen. China produces about 15% of its helium, importing much from Qatar. The move aims to protect local industries amid tight global supply, as China boosts self-sufficiency in chipmaking and AI.
Stocks rise, oil prices fall, while South Korean AI darling SK Hynix leaps in its Wall Street debut
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged higher and oil prices fell as Wall Street leans toward a quiet finish for the week. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Friday and is on track to close out its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 127 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Shares of South Korean tech giant SK Hynix that trade in the United States jumped in their debut on Wall Street. Oil prices eased, while Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. Stock indexes outside the United States were mixed.
Andreessen, Chetty among leaders of Fed's new task forces evaluating operations
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, economist Raj Chetty and former Bank of England governor Mervyn King are among a slate of names released by the Federal Reserve Thursday that will help develop recommended changes to the central bank’s operations. Warsh called for “regime change” at the Fed last year while he was under consideration by the Trump administration to replace former chair Jerome Powell. He has sought to communicate less about the Fed’s thinking on interest rates and has said he wants to reduce the central bank’s roughly $6.7 trillion in holdings of government bonds. Yet it’s not yet clear how transformative the task forces will be.
AI notetakers promise easy meeting recaps, but some professionals question their use
NEW YORK (AP) — AI notetakers can quickly summarize meetings and create to-do lists, but they raise privacy concerns. Everything said in a meeting becomes data, which could include confidential information. Attorney Justin Daniels warns that this could compromise attorney-client privilege. Many professionals worry about data being shared with third parties or used to train AI models. Privacy advocates are also concerned about biometric profiles being created without consent. Experts suggest checking for AI notetakers in meetings and understanding where data is stored. Some recommend not allowing AI notetakers in sensitive meetings to protect privacy.
News outlets urge a judge to sanction OpenAI in a high-stakes AI copyright fight
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times, the Daily News and other media outlets are asking a federal judge to impose sanctions on OpenAI, escalating a legal fight over artificial intelligence and copyright that could shape the future of a struggling news industry. The newspapers allege the ChatGPT maker is hiding evidence important to what could be a landmark copyright infringement trial over how OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft built their AI technologies using millions of news articles. At issue is whether AI chatbots are unfairly competing as an information source, siphoning off web traffic without doing the journalistic work it took to gather the news.
Africa secures $900 million in new clean cooking commitments
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — African countries have secured $900 million in new financial commitments to expand access to clean cooking. The International Energy Agency announced the funding Thursday, building on $2.2 billion mobilized at the Africa Clean Cooking Summit in Paris. This brings total commitments to over $3.1 billion. Nearly 1 billion Africans still rely on polluting fuels like charcoal and firewood, which contribute to 850,000 premature deaths annually. The IEA's latest tracking shows $740 million has already been deployed across 22 African countries. The agency is working with the African Union to strengthen clean cooking policies and launched a new program to improve global supply chains for cooking fuels.
