The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing Walmart and a financial technology firm, alleging they illegally forced drivers into using costly deposit accounts to receive their pay. The agency alleges that Walmart and the vendor, Branch Messenger, forced the drivers, who were part of Walmart’s Spark Driver gig-work platform, to…
The IRS plans to issue automatic “special payments” of up to $1,400 to 1 million taxpayers starting later this month, the agency announced last week. The payments will go to individuals who did not claim the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit on their tax returns for that year and who are eligible for…
Mozambique’s top court on Monday confirmed the ruling party Frelimo’s victory in an October election, which has sparked massive protests by opposition groups who say the vote was rigged. The Constitutional Council has the final say over the electoral process and its ruling is likely to spark further protests in…
The residence of the Argentine ambassador in Caracas, Venezuela, is mostly silent these days. Rather than diplomatic chatter or Christmas carols at this time of the year, the only noise is that of a small diesel power generator the residents turn on twice a day to charge their phones. The…
One of Colombia’s infamous drug lords and a key operator of the Medellin cartel has been deported back to the South American country, after serving 25 years of a 30-year prison sentence in the United States. A short while later, Fabio Ochoa was again a free man. Ochoa arrived in…
(AP) — Burt, the huge crocodile that rose to fame with a cameo in the movie “Crocodile Dundee” and continued to impress visitors with his fiery temper and commanding presence, has died. Burt died over the weekend, the Crocosaurus Cove reptile aquarium in Darwin, Australia, said. He was at least…
A Chinese court has issued a suspended death sentence to a man who rammed his car into crowds outside a primary school in southern China last month, injuring more than two dozen people in one of several violent attacks that has recently rattled the country and prompted officials to ramp…
2024 was the year of the vote. More than 60 countries – home to nearly half the planet’s population – selected their leaders. In the history of democracy, it is a first. In the history of humankind, it was a remarkable coming of age, an evolution, that at its best…
When Islamist rebels swept through Syria’s second largest city in an operation that would eventually culminate in the ouster of the brutal Assad regime, Christians were given assurances that their churches and property would remain protected. Three weeks since the rebels’ successful campaign to topple Assad, Syria’s Christians now join…
At least 12 people were killed in a blast at an explosives and ammunition factory in the Karesi district of Balikesir province in northwest Turkey on Tuesday, the country’s interior ministry said. At least four others were injured in the explosion, which also caused a building to collapse, according to…