general news

Political wrangling in Congress over government funding for the semiconductor industry is leaving tens of billions of dollars of potential factory projects hanging in limbo and could dent the ambitions of some political and industry leaders to recharge America’s chip-making prowess.Numerous companies are waiting for Congress to pass a $52 billion incentive package for chip production and research before committing to significant expansion efforts, according to company executives and funding proposal documents. The…

After a draft of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade became public, Max Hoberman spoke to attorneys for the independent videogame company he runs about covering travel costs for employees if they needed to leave Texas to get an abortion. The lawyers warned of legal risks, so Mr. Hoberman made another offer: The company, Austin-based Certain Affinity Inc., would help some employees move out of the state for good. Ron Horne, CEO…

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. wage growth accelerated, as weekly earnings jumped more than 7% in April and May of 2020 compared with the same months a year earlier. Newsletter Sign-up Real Time Economics The latest economic news, analysis and data curated weekdays by…

A growing number of cities and towns all over the U.S. are handing out cash grants and other perks aimed at drawing skilled employees of faraway companies to live there and work remotely. A handful of such programs have existed for years, but they have started gaining traction during the pandemic—and have really taken off in just the past year or so. Back in October there were at least 24 such programs in the U.S. Today there are 71, according to the Indianapolis-based company MakeMyMove, which is contracted by cities and…

BARVINKOVE, Ukraine—Along much of the Ukraine-Russia front line, commercial cellphone towers providing voice and internet service have been knocked out by power outages, Russian shells and jamming.But Elon Musk’s Starlink service, which provides internet connectivity using a swarm of satellites, is up and running here. Mr. Musk has sent thousands of kits into Ukraine, turning the country into a high-profile testing ground for the service, which he is trying to sell in other countries around…

Transportation and warehousing jobs, benefiting from an e-commerce boom, have grown the fastest among major industry groups since the Covid-19 pandemic started, according to an analysis of Labor Department data. Employment in the sector now well exceeds early 2020 levels. Sectors with a high concentration of white-collar office jobs, such as professional and technical services, technology-heavy information and finance, also had employment levels in June above February 2020 levels, helping drive the broader economic…

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration’s international tax agenda suffered a setback when Sen. Joe Manchin rejected a 15% minimum tax on multinational companies this past week, dimming prospects of turning last year’s global tax agreement into reality.Biden administration officials had planned to use Democratic fiscal legislation to enact the U.S. piece of the deal struck last year by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and more than 130 other countries. They wanted…

Mr. Birchall, a straight-laced, 48-year-old wealth manager who rose to become Mr. Musk’s top deputy and the head of his family office, had growing concerns about a new power player in the Tesla Inc. TSLA 0.74% CEO’s orbit. Mr. Musk was increasingly relying on a new adviser, a 34-year-old, Russian-born ex-professional gambler named Igor Kurganov. Mr. Kurganov spent some of the pandemic sleeping in Mr. Musk’s home, where they…

Walt Disney is raising prices on its ESPN+ sports streaming service as the company faces rising costs to acquire sports programming. Photo: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News…

Merck & Co.’s roughly $40 billion deal for Seagen Inc. is unlikely to be finalized ahead of the pharmaceutical giant’s earnings later this month, though the talks remain on track, according to people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Merck aimed to agree on a purchase of the cancer biotech within a few weeks, a plan that has since been delayed, the people said.…