Elon Musk Plans To Dump 'Block' Feature On Twitter, And People Are Pissed

Elon Musk’s latest plan for Twitter — er, X — apparently focuses on pissing off a large number of users.

The man-child mogul announced on Friday that the site would be largely dumping the “block” feature that allows users to heavily restrict interactions with the accounts of others, claiming that “It makes no sense.”

Report: Banks earned more than $10 billion in fees processing small-business loans

Banks that processed the small-business loans allocated by Congress in the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill made $10 billion in fees, according to financial records obtained by NPR.

The fees were earned while processing loans that require less review than regular bank loans and have little risk for banks.

All federally insured banks and credit unions could process the loans before they are approved by the Small Business Administration (SBA). 

Health Care CEO Who Makes Millions Says No to Hazard Pay for Coronavirus Workers

On Friday morning, doctors, nurses, and other employees of Partners HealthCare, the largest health care system in Massachusetts, received an email from the company informing them they would not be receiving hazard or crisis pay for dealing with coronavirus cases. The letter was signed by the CEO, who makes at least $2 million a year and perhaps up to $6 million.

One of America’s Biggest Genetic Testing Companies Refuses to Publicly Share Data That Could Save Countless Lives

Barbara Zeughauser had lost so many relatives to cancer: Her mother, her uncle, her grandmother, her second cousin. She thought that ghost in the family line might come after her, too. So in 2009, Zeughauser took a test offered by Myriad Genetics. It analyzed her DNA for mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that can make cancer more likely than not, raising the lifetime risk of breast cancer in women to between 55 and 85 percent, and to between 10 and 70 percent for ovarian cancer.

Bell, Rogers, Telus raise some internet prices — while small providers drop theirs

Getting connected online is becoming more costly for some Canadians. Bell, Rogers and Telus are all hiking rates for select home internet plans this year.

"Here we go again — they've got their hand in my pocket," says Toronto Bell customer Larry McLean about his latest price increase.

Everyone Is Freaking Out About the Panama Papers—But the Biggest Fallout Is Yet to Come

This is from a memo by one of the partners of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based outfit that specializes in setting up offshore accounts and shell corporations:

    Ninety-five per cent of our work coincidentally consists in selling vehicles to avoid taxes.

There’s A Huge New Corporate Corruption Scandal. Here’s Why Everyone Should Care.

Most people remember that the Arab Spring started with a guy who lit himself on fire. What they don’t remember is that he did it as a protest against corruption: Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor, decided he’d been shaken down by police officers one too many times.

Bouazizi’s death set in motion the biggest political upheaval of the 21st century. The Arab Spring was “mostly about corruption,” said FBI Special Agent George McEachern, one of the leading investigators of global graft. “Corruption leads to failed states, which leads to terrorism which leads to national security.”

How the University of Calgary's Enbridge relationship became controversial

Joe Arvai's tenure at the University of Calgary ended brusquely in July 2012 after the rising academic star balked at leading a new research institute that he felt would be perceived as little more than a corporate mouthpiece for Canada's largest pipeline company.

But Arvai is not the only professor to leave the university over concerns its relationships with the oil industry were too cozy, a CBC investigation has found.

Apple Music Is Another Tech Company Attempt to Please Investors by Trapping Customers

On Monday, Apple closed its annual Worldwide Developer Conference with the star-studded reveal of its long-rumored music streaming service. Named Apple Music, it is a reimagined version of Apple’s billion-dollar acquisition Beats Music, and will require a monthly subscription to listen to most songs.

In the run-up to this announcement, Apple has allegedly engaged in alarming behavior. The Verge reported the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are scrutinizing the company after it pressured record labels not to renew their license agreements for YouTube and Spotify’s free streaming services. Apple hoped to cripple the offerings of other services to increase the value of its own paid service, which is likely to come pre-installed on future operating system updates.

Money and influence cast long shadow over province's decisions on Fraser River, records suggest

Scientists say money and connections have too much power in B.C. politics, following the green-lighting of a controversial gravel mining project on the Fraser River expected to have serious impact on sturgeon and salmon habitat.

Asked whether political contributions may have influenced the approval, former provincial biologist Marvin Rosenau responded:

"Is the Pope Catholic? I am not trying to be trite, but the history of Fraser River gravel removal has been one of constant and intensive political interference from the gravel interests in the eastern Fraser Valley."

A Day In The Life Of Private Equity Giant TPG

How do private equity firms assure investors that they really do get up every day and work hard to deliver great returns? Part of the answer is by showing that they reallydo get up (exceedingly early in some cases) and go to work.

At a 2012 investor conference, private equity giant TPG, which manages about $65 billion, showed a video documenting a day in the life of the firm to the audience of pension fund managers and other large, institutional investors. " The video is set to the chords of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” and zooms around to TPG’s global offices.

Profits Outpace Job Growth Five To One At Largest U.S. Corporations

Profits have grown five times faster than jobs at America’s largest publicly-traded companies over the past dozen years, according to a new analysis by Reuters.

Staff levels rose by 31 percent from 2001 to 2013 at the companies analyzed while inflation-adjusted profits grew 150 percent, the wire service reports. The analysis is based on corporate filings by 100 of the largest publicly owned U.S. companies. The filings do not specify where hiring took place, and it is likely that a significant portion of the job growth reported in the documents came from outside the U.S.

Haisla First Nation Chief Councillor says Enbridge trying to buy Kitimat vote

This late in the day, a poll of its residents has no binding effect on the project. Next week, the District of Kitimat will seek the views of its residents on Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project. But to what end? If anything, it will lead to further uncertainty.

Deciding to hold a referendum at this late date is a slap in the face to all the work done by the Haisla Nation on this project. The Haisla Nation dedicated time and money toward testing Northern Gateway’s evidence and claims about safety and environmental protection, while the District stood by and did nothing.

UPS Fires 250 Drivers After They Protested A Coworker’s Firing

Two hundred fifty employees of the United Parcel Service (UPS) walked off the job for 90 minutes in February to protest the firing of one of their coworkers, Jairo Reyes. Reyes had driven for the company for over 20 years, and they felt his firing (which occurred after acomplicated saga over the hours that senior UPS workers could hold) was unfair.

Just How Dangerous Is A Giant Comcast?

It's been more than 100 years since the U.S. Supreme Court determined that one of the biggest companies in the world, Standard Oil, was an illegal monopoly and would have to be broken apart.

The size of the company didn't automatically violate antitrust law, the court ruled. Rather, it was the way it wielded that size that was a problem. The oil behemoth forced railroads to slash prices and agree to preferential deals to ship its products, driving smaller competitors out of business. Standard Oil came to control 90 percent of U.S. oil production through these methods, and the court determined that this led to higher prices and less oil, harming the overall market.

Bombardier To Launch Russian Factory As Layoffs Hit Canada

MONTREAL - Bombardier Inc. says it's close to finalizing an agreement to start producing its Q400 propeller-driven airliners in Russia.

A deal to establish a joint venture with state corporation Rostec could lead to some 100 turboprops, valued at US$3.4 billion at list prices, being built for the Russian market.

How Corporations Are Cashing In On The Worldwide Immigration Crackdown

Nearly a decade ago, Australian authorities discovered major problems inside detention centers run by a private, for-profit company entrusted with immigrants locked up for entering the country illegally.

The company, Global Solutions Ltd. -- now owned by the British corporation G4S, the world's largest security firm -- was failing to administer care to detainees with serious health problems, according to a government investigation. A separate inquiry found that guards transporting detainees on a seven-hour drive had denied them food, water and access to bathrooms, ignoring pleas for help.

The Internet Giants Oppose Surveillance—but Only When the Government Does it

Eight prominent Internet technology companies unveiled an open letter last week calling for reforms to the government surveillance programs revealed by Edward Snowden. “The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual—rights that are enshrined in our constitution,” reads the letter, published on a website that lays out five principles for reform, including greater oversight and transparency, as well as an end to bulk data collection.

Executives from seven of the firms will meet with President Obama on Tuesday, in the shadow of a federal judge’s ruling that the collection of domestic phone records is "almost certainly" unconstitutional. The opinion from US District Judge Richard Leon reinforces the impression that NSA overreach constitutes a primary threat to privacy and civil liberty. But some privacy advocates caution that even if the NSA’s programs are scaled back, surveillance infrastructure will persist in the private sector—thanks to the same companies now calling for reform, whose business models depend on the collection and sale of vast quantities of personal information.

Jamie Dimon Is Now A JPMorgan Cult Leader, And That Is Very Dangerous

JPMorgan Chase shareholders have signed a billion-year contract to join the Cult Of Jamie Dimon. For better or worse.

With their overwhelming vote on Tuesday to let Dimon keep both his chairman and CEO titles at the biggest U.S. bank, shareholders proved themselves vulnerable to incessant warnings from the bank, Dimon's fellow CEOs and board members, and the financial media that Dimon is indispensable, that no other human being on the planet could possibly lead JPMorgan.

U.S. ambassador David Jacobson to join BMO as vice chairman

The U.S. ambassador to Canada will become vice-chairman of one of Canada’s largest banking groups after his diplomatic appointment ends in July.

BMO Financial Group (TSX:BMO) says Ambassador David Jacobson will join the bank’s board of directors in October.

Jacobson will be based in Chicago, where BMO’s main U.S. operations are centred, and he’ll help build and strength relationships with the bank’s key customers.