Category: News and Views

IRS Holds Interest Rates Steady for Q2 2024 | Small Biz Trends

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced as of April 1, 2024, interest rates for overpayments and underpayments will remain unchanged for the second quarter of the year. This decision reflects the IRS’s ongoing assessment of the economic landscape and its implications for individual and corporate taxpayers.

For individuals, the sustained rate is set at 8% per annum, compounded daily, for both overpayments and underpayments. This means that taxpayers who have paid more than what was owed will earn interest at this rate, while those who have underpaid their taxes will incur interest at the same rate on the outstanding amount.

Corporate taxpayers will see a differentiated structure. The general rate for corporate overpayments stands at 7%, but for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000, the rate is reduced to 5.5%. Conversely, the underpayment rate for corporations mirrors that of individuals at 8%, with a heightened rate of 10% applying to large corporate underpayments.

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Alabama IVF ruling divides devout Christians: ‘Fewer children will be born’ | BBC News

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When Alabama’s Supreme Court defined frozen embryos as children, the shock and confusion was immediate. Major hospitals pulled fertility services and would-be parents scrambled for clarity on what would happen next.

The debate over reproductive rights in America has long been driven, in part, by opposition to abortion from Christian groups – but this ruling has divided that movement and ignited debate about the role of theology in US lawmaking.

Margaret Boyce is soft-spoken, a private person, and certainly not – in her words – a “crier”.

She had been taking fertility drugs for 10 months and was days away from her first appointment for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) when the justices of Alabama’s top court upended her life.

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Office Cleaner Fired After Eating Leftover Sandwich: Report | Entrepreneur

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A woman is suing her former place of employment, a law firm, after claiming she was let go for eating a leftover sandwich she found in the office.

Gabriela Rodriguez worked as a cleaner for London-based Devonshires Solicitors for two years, before reportedly being axed by the private contractor she worked for, Total Clean, for eating a tuna sandwich worth roughly $1.90 that someone had left behind in a meeting.

According to the legal affairs website RollOnFriday, the sandwich was purchased at popular British grocer, Tesco, and was set to be thrown out before Rodriguez ate the leftovers. She was fired for “theft” in taking client property “without authority or reasonable excuse.”

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America is on the cusp of a new biggest credit card company. Here’s what it means for you | CNN Business

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What’s in your wallet? Capital One is making a $35 billion bet that the answer will soon be: more of its credit cards.

The bank announced Monday evening it is acquiring Discover Financial Services (DFS) in a $35.3 billion all-stock deal. If approved by regulators and shareholders, Capital One’s (COF) acquisition will create the biggest US credit card company by loan volume.

So what does that mean for you?

For now, not a lot. Given that the deal isn’t expected to be finalized until late 2024 or early 2025, Discover and Capital One customers shouldn’t anticipate any immediate changes.

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Amazon is replacing Walgreens in the Dow Jones Industrial Average | CNN Business

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Walgreens Boots Alliance is getting the boot from the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average and Amazon is taking its place.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, which manages the index, said in a statement Tuesday that the change is intended to reflect “the evolving nature of the American economy” by increasing the Dow’s consumer retail exposure.

The change means that investors who bet on the Dow Jones Industrial Average will now have exposure to Amazon’s stock performance.

Amazon joins Apple and Microsoft as the third company from the “Magnificent Seven,” a group of high-performing tech stocks, to join the Dow 30. The other four companies in the group — Meta, Nvidia, Tesla, and Alphabet — are not included in the index, though all seven stocks are included in the much larger S&P 500 index.

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CRISPR ‘will provide cures for genetic diseases that were incurable before,’ says renowned biochemist Virginijus Šikšnys | Live Science

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Scientists introduced CRISPR to the world as a gene-editing tool in the summer 2012, when landmark papers from two independent groups demonstrated how the system could be wielded to make cuts in DNA. Now, less than 12 years later, we’re seeing CRISPR put to use in groundbreaking medical treatments.

Virginijus Šikšnys was a senior author of one of those paradigm-shifting papers.

“It’s really rewarding to see how fast the fundamental discoveries that were made in the lab actually are translated into the clinics,” said Šikšnys, who is chief scientist and head of the Department of Protein-DNA Interactions at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology in Lithuania.

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Uber, Lyft strikes: 10 cities where airport rides might be refused

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Tomorrow, passengers traveling to or from airports in 10 of America’s largest cities may have trouble getting an Uber or Lyft. That’s because drivers for those platforms have announced a strike to coincide with Valentine’s Day.

The strike is being spearheaded by the Justice for App Workers coalition, which represents more than 130,000 drivers and delivery workers. The coalition says the strike is to call attention to the fight for fair wages and better safety for drivers.

The strike is expected to take place at all airports located in these 10 cities: Austin (AUS), Chicago (ORD), Hartford, Connecticut (BDL), Miami (MIA), Newark, New Jersey (EWR), Orlando, Florida (MCO), Philadelphia (PHL), Pittsburgh (PIT), Providence, Rhode Island (PVD), Tampa, Florida (TPA)

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A new wave of cheap mini-LED gaming monitors has arrived | Digital Trends

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HDR-capable gaming monitors are all the rage these days. Whether they’re OLED or mini-LED, it’s finally possible to get a really killer HDR experience from your monitor. Until very recently, however, you’d be spending lots of money to do it.

Enter a new wave of mini-LED gaming monitors, with prices as low as $280, that call into question similar-priced monitors that are edge-lit or have no local dimming at all. You’d be right to be skeptical, and even though these new monitors can’t compare against some of the best gaming monitors, they’re a big leap forward for putting proper HDR monitors in front of a lot more gamers.

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Fortnite is getting a Disney universe made by Epic Games | Digital Trends

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Epic Games is partnering with Disney to create “an all-new games and entertainment universe” that’s compatible with Fortnite.

Announced Wednesday afternoon — at the same time as it was announced that ESPN would be available as a standalone subscription in 2025 —  this partnership follows a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games by Disney. They companies now plan to work together over several years to create this experience connected to Fortnite, which Disney says will “offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more.”

This announcement comes in the wake of Lego Fortnite’s success last year, which proved that full-on games like it, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival could exist within what was once primarily a battle royale game. From what Epic Games and Disney are saying, it looks like this Disney game will be the most expansive project in this vein yet.

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Snap to lay off ‘approximately’ 10% of its staff | BBC

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Social media giant Snap, which operates Snapchat, has announced plans to cut “approximately” 10% of its staff.

The firm said in November 2023 it had 5,000 employees, suggesting around 500 people are facing redundancy.

It comes a day before Snap reports its fourth-quarter results – having reported a net loss of $368m (£294m) in the previous quarter in October 2023.

Snapchat said the move would “reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration”.

“We are focused on supporting our departing team members and we are very grateful for their hard work and many contributions to Snap,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

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