Take a moment to remember those we have lost, and grapple with the magnitude of the toll taken by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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General Electric (NYSE: GE) agreed to sell its lighting business to Savant Systems, a Hyannis, Mass.-based smart home management company backed by KKR. Why it matters: This cuts GE's last product ties to Thomas Edison. No terms were disclosed, but the WSJ puts the price tag at around $250 million (including assumed liabilities).That's only half of what GE hoped to get when it first decided to divest in 2017.The bottom line: GE is no longer in the consumer products business, although Savant plans to maintain the GE bulb branding via a long-term licensing agreement. As for what's next, GE could become the global leader in giant robot worms.
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South Africa now has 29 240 coronavirus cases after a spike of 1 837 infections were recorded in the last 24 hours. There are 34 new deaths, bringing the total fatalities to 611. Have a look at some of our top stories: British American Tobacco in new urgent court bid to undo cigarette ban British American Tobacco South Africa will recommence with urgent legal proceedings to challenge the governments decision to extend the ban on tobacco sales during Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown. The state says the ban is needed to safeguard public health, as evidence suggests cigarette smokers are more likely to develop severe Covid-19 symptoms than non-smokers. Here are the rules and dates for grades going back to school The Department of Education has released rules and guidelines as the ...
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Twitter disabled a video this week on a post by the Trump campaign in a move that could escalate its tensions with the president, whose tweets have recently been subject to warning labels from the company. This time, however, the takedown happened for a more traditional reason. The video in the Trump campaign tweet was a four-minute tribute to George Floyd, the black man in Minneapolis who died after a police officer pressed his knee into Floyds neck for nearly nine minutes, setting off a wave of protests about police brutality and racism that has swept the nation. Twitter said it had removed the video after it received a copyright complaint. We respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives, a Twitter spokesperson told Recode. ...
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Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here. As President Donald Trump fumes at Twitters decision to fact-check two of his tweets this week, a ready-made replacement social network is trying to convince him to join. Gab, a far-right social network that is filled with conspiracy theories, racism and antisemitism, is rolling out the red carpet for the president, with a verified account that has already amassed over 27,000 followers. The account, which has the same handle and profile picture as Trumps Twitter account, has a blue tick to show its a verified account. The holding page also claims Trump has been a member since 2016, even though he has yet to actually join and Gab itself only launched in 2017. In an email sent to its members on Wednesday night, Gab said...
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When Anthony Rek LeCounte and Alex Siciliano tied the knot last summer, they didnt expect their wedding to become a flashpoint in a congressional campaign. Shortly after moving down to Charlottesville for graduate school at the University of Virginia, the pair of gay Republican activists had become volunteers for Denver Riggleman, a libertarian-leaning distillery owner and former Air Force intelligence officer running for an open House seat. Theyd struck up a friendship, and after he won a hard-fought race, asked him to officiate their wedding at a nearby vineyard that summer. "It was so exciting and such an honor for Alex and Rek to ask me to conduct a same-sex wedding," Riggleman told VICE News, calling the pair friends who "obviously love each other." But some of the GOP activists ...
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Marqeta, an Oakland-based card issuing platform, raised $150 million in new funding at a $4.3 billion valuation. Coatue Management led, and was joined by Vitruvian Partners. Existing backers include Visa, Goldman Sachs, 83North, Granite Ventures, and Iconiq Capital. http://axios.link/C4cR Pie Insurance, a Washington, D.C.-based workers comp insurer, raised $100 million in new equity funding. Gallatin Point Capital was joined by return backers Greycroft, SVB Capital, Aspect Ventures, Elefund, and Sirius International Insurance Group. www.pieinsurance.com SmartRent, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based provider of smart home automation solutions, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Spark Capital led, and was joined by Fifth Wall, Energy Impact Partners, the Amazon Alexa Fund, Bain Capital Venture...
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A trailer smoldered behind a Target store near the Minneapolis Third Police Precinct on Friday morning, days after the death of George Floyd in police custody spurred violent protests in the city. Only hours before, the precinct building itself was set on fire. Small groups of protesters had begun to gather Friday in the area, shouting slogans including “I can’t breathe,” which Floyd told the Minneapolis police officer who had a knee on his neck in a bystander's video of the incident. It's unclear whether the graphic video has alone sparked the outrage across the Twin Cities and the country, or if it's a culmination of anger from a string of high-profile incidents in which three black people were killed. A timeline of what has transpired in recent weeks and days: Residents flock to th...
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