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In Case You Missed It · Page 11
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Energy Department Offers Vistra Up to $4.2 Billion to Upgrade Nuclear Plants
The Energy Department offered Vistra a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion to upgrade…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Meta and Sierra Launch an Open Standard for How AI Agents Shop for You
Meta and Sierra, the AI customer-service company co-founded by Bret Taylor, introduced the Personal Agent Protocol,…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Levi Strauss Raises Its Profit Outlook as Tariff Refunds Lift Margins
Levi Strauss & Co. raised its full-year profit outlook Wednesday after third-quarter revenue rose 4% to…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Eva Marie Saint, Oscar Winner for “On the Waterfront,” Dies at 102
Eva Marie Saint, who won an Oscar for her first film, "On the Waterfront," and starred…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra Opens for Preorders at $2,599
Microsoft and Nvidia opened preorders for the Surface Laptop Ultra, a 15-inch flagship built on Nvidia's…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Labor Department Drops Plan to Pull Wage-and-Hour Guidance From Federal Rules
The Labor Department withdrew a proposal that would have pulled roughly a quarter of its Fair…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Spotify Plans to Bring Audiobooks to More Than 180 Markets
Spotify is expanding audiobooks from 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026,…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Google Locks In 3,590 Megawatts From Constellation in Major Nuclear Power Deal
Google has contracted for 3,590 megawatts of power from Constellation Energy, the country's largest nuclear operator,…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 8, 2026
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Shoppers Started Buying for Halloween and Winter in September
Shopify merchants saw holiday and cold-weather demand arrive early in September, with orders for babies’ Halloween…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 7, 2026
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A Fusion Startup Raised $200 Million to Put Power on the Grid by 2034
Type One Energy raised a $200 million Series B led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Clutterbuck…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 7, 2026
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LibreOffice Is Selling the Absence of AI as a Feature
The Document Foundation said LibreOffice will not include AI features in its default installation “for the…
By Social Storytellers Collective News Desk · October 7, 2026
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The Grammys Are Keeping Asian Pop Separate. Two of Its Biggest Acts Are Sitting Out.
The Recording Academy says its new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category will move forward at the 2027…
By Leena Alridge · October 7, 2026
Canadian poet, essayist and translator Anne Carson, 76, has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, recognizing a body of work that crosses the boundaries separating poetry, prose, classical scholarship and performance. The Swedish Academy praised her inventive engagement with classical literature, according to Reuters' coverage of Thursday's announcement. Carson is particularly known for Autobiography of Red, which reimagines Greek mythology through contemporary storytelling, and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, which connects ancient drama with the mythology surrounding Marilyn Monroe. The award carries a prize of 12 million Swedish crowns, approximately $1.2 million. Carson's recognition offers a cultural counterpoint to an increasingly format-driven publishing industry, demonstrating the continued importance of literary experimentation that resists conventional classification.
The Food and Drug Administration expects to complete its safety review of mifepristone by March 2027, according to a federal court filing that could shape the future of medication-abortion access. Reuters reports that the agency is examining potential risks through a comparison involving 100,000 patients who used mifepristone and a group who underwent surgical abortions. The review could provide a basis for reconsidering regulations permitting remote prescriptions and mail delivery. Major medical organizations maintain that the medication is safe and effective when used as directed. Medication abortion accounted for approximately 65% of U.S. abortions in 2023, making any future regulatory restrictions consequential for patients and providers. No new restriction has been announced, but the agency's timeline establishes a clearer point at which existing access rules could change.
More than 37 million people in Myanmar, approximately 68% of its population, are living in poverty or vulnerable to falling into it, according to a United Nations Development Programme report released Thursday. The findings, reported by The Associated Press, identify nearly 18 million people already experiencing poverty and another 19.5 million at risk. Armed conflict following the military's 2021 takeover, weakened public services and prolonged economic instability have compounded the country's difficulties. The figures show that poverty extends well beyond households already classified as poor, leaving millions exposed to additional economic shocks. The report raises questions about whether humanitarian assistance alone can restore access to basic services when the institutions responsible for delivering them remain under sustained pressure.
Bar Leone in Hong Kong was named the world's best bar for the second straight year as The 50 Best Bars 2026 list was revealed Wednesday night in Milan. Co-founded by Italian bartender Lorenzo Antinori, the bar built its reputation on "Cocktail Popolari," or cocktails for the people: sharp classics, a neighborhood feel, football memorabilia on the walls and a mortadella sandwich on the menu. Milan's Moebius Milano ranked No. 2 and Cartagena's Alquímico No. 3, according to the organizers' announcement.
AMD will substantially increase its chip supply in 2027 to keep up with AI demand, CEO Lisa Su told reporters in Taipei on Tuesday, adding that the company could still use more. Su said demand looks very high for the next several years, and AMD has stretched its planning window with suppliers from one to two years out to three to five so new capacity comes online in step, according to Yahoo Finance. She also said AMD will raise the $10 billion Taiwan investment it committed to in May, without giving a new number.
The Energy Department offered Vistra a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion to upgrade three nuclear plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the latest federal push to get more power out of reactors already running. The money would fund uprates and modernization at Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania and Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio, adding 433 megawatts of new capacity, preserving nearly 4 gigawatts of existing power and supporting 20 more years of operation beyond current licenses, according to the Department of Energy. The package also includes an option to finance future uprates at Vistra's Comanche Peak plant in Glen Rose, Texas.
Meta and Sierra, the AI customer-service company co-founded by Bret Taylor, introduced the Personal Agent Protocol, an open standard for how a person's AI agent signs in to a business and gets tasks done on their behalf. Built on OAuth, the same plumbing behind "Log in with Google," the protocol lets users grant an agent read-only or write access to their accounts while businesses decide what to expose and can see what agents are doing, according to Sierra's announcement. Shopify, Stripe, Walmart, Genesys, Instinct and Rocket are on board, and a first version of the spec is due later this month.
Levi Strauss & Co. raised its full-year profit outlook Wednesday after third-quarter revenue rose 4% to $1.6 billion and adjusted earnings climbed to 48 cents a share from 34 cents a year earlier. The company now expects adjusted earnings of $1.54 to $1.56 a share for fiscal 2026, up from $1.46 to $1.52, and plans a new $100 million accelerated share buyback, according to its earnings release. Wholesale grew 6%, Asia grew 10% organically and Beyond Yoga grew 9%.
Eva Marie Saint, who won an Oscar for her first film, "On the Waterfront," and starred opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," has died at 102. A family representative said she died of natural causes Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles, Euronews reported. She was the oldest living Academy Award winner.
Microsoft and Nvidia opened preorders for the Surface Laptop Ultra, a 15-inch flagship built on Nvidia's RTX Spark chip, starting at $2,599 and shipping October 16. The companies revealed pricing Wednesday at Microsoft's first major Windows and Surface event in more than two years, held in San Francisco, alongside a Surface RTX Spark Dev Box for developers starting at $5,999, according to Tom's Hardware. Machines on the same platform from Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP and MSI ship the same day.
The Labor Department withdrew a proposal that would have pulled roughly a quarter of its Fair Labor Standards Act interpretive guidance out of the Code of Federal Regulations, leaving the rules employers and workers lean on for wage-and-hour questions right where they are. The 2025 plan targeted nine parts, about 229 pages covering topics like who the law covers and industry-specific exemptions, and would have moved them into an appendix of the Wage and Hour Division's field handbook, according to a National Law Review analysis of the withdrawal notice published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
Spotify is expanding audiobooks from 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026, putting books in front of a potential 750 million listeners. The rollout started Wednesday and was announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair, with new markets getting more than 350,000 titles across more than 120 languages, including new catalogs in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Polish, according to Spotify's newsroom. In much of Africa, Asia and Argentina, the Audiobooks+ add-on will be the main way in.