review | Common News Update

Mar82021 by adminNo Comments

Whitehaven coal mine firm seeks judicial review of council U-turn

Science

West Cumbria Mining CompanyA company planning to build a coal mine in Cumbria is taking legal action over the county council's decision to reconsider its approval of the scheme.The authority granted West Cumbria Mining (WCM) planning permission in October but the plans had not been formalised.WCM said the decision to reconsider approval "cannot be justified" and it is seeking a judicial review.Cumbria County Council has been approached for comment.The firm's CEO Mark Kirkbride said it was "extremely regrettable that WCM has been placed in this position after committing so much time, resource and private funding"."The latest actions of the council have created a very real risk that the project will never be delivered, which would be devastating for West Cumbria, as well as the Northern Powe...

Feb22021 by adminNo Comments

£2.7bn buy-now-pay-later market to face tougher rules after review

Business

Interest-free "buy-now-pay-later" (BNPL) deals face tighter regulation under plans announced by the government.A review published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that the currently unregulated use of BNPL products nearly quadrupled to £2.7bn during 2020 and five million people had used them since the start of the pandemic. It concluded the market should be brought under regulation "as a matter of urgency" as there was "significant potential for consumer harm". Image: Companies such as Klarna have seen customer numbers surge The Treasury said interest-free BNPL agreements will now be regulated by the FCA.It means that providers will need to undertake affordability checks before lending and ensure that customers are treat...

Jan312021 by adminNo Comments

Google halts Play Store ‘review bombing’ by GameStop traders

Technology

Getty ImagesGoogle has removed a wave of negative reviews of popular stock-market trading apps targeted by furious investors.Platforms such as Robinhood have been hit after preventing independent traders buying GameStop and AMC shares.Users of a Reddit message board had managed to upset the market by buying the shares and inflating their value, hitting established hedge funds.Many online traders, feeling betrayed by Robinhood's restrictions, have hit back with critical reviews of the app.Google has removed tens of thousands of one-star reviews for the widely-used trading app - which had previously had a four-star average.It says it takes action when it sees "fake ratings", designed to manipulate a product's average score.But more one-star ratings - the minimum possible - have continued to ...

Dec262020 by adminNo Comments

Business review of 2020: Covid-19 and Trump

Business

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Dec92020 by adminNo Comments

Google CEO says company will review AI scholar’s abrupt exit

Technology

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has apologized for how a prominent artificial intelligence researcher’s abrupt departure last week has “seeded doubts” in the companyBy MATT O'BRIEN AP Technology WriterDecember 9, 2020, 10:11 PM• 2 min readGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai has apologized for how a prominent artificial intelligence researcher's abrupt departure last week has “seeded doubts” in the company.Pichai told Google employees in a Wednesday memo obtained by Axios that the tech company is beginning a review of the circumstances leading up to Black computer scientist Timnit Gebru's exit and how Google could have “led a more respectful process.”Gebru, a top scholar in the field of AI ethics, said she was fired last week. Google has referred to it as a resignation.Pichai's note doesn't c...