Business News

Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer has died at age 58

ATLANTA (AP) — Walt Ehmer, the president and CEO of Waffle House and a member of the board of trustees for the Atlanta Police Foundation, has died at age 58. The police foundation announced his death Sunday. The board of directors for Waffle House said Ehmer died after a long illness. According to his alma mater, Georgia Tech, Ehmer joined Waffle House in 1992 and quickly rose to senior leadership. He became president of the restaurant chain in 2002 and later added the titles of CEO and chairman. The Waffle House chain of around-the-clock diners opened in 1955 and now has more than 1,900 locations in 25 states.

Google faces new antitrust trial after ruling declaring search engine a monopoly

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — One month after a judge declared Google’s search engine an illegal monopoly, the tech giant is defending against another antitrust lawsuit that threatens to break up the company. A judge heard opening statements Monday in the trial at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend Google built and maintains a monopoly over online advertising. The government contends Google’s dominance on both the buy side and the sell side enables it to keep up to 36 cents on the dollar when it brokers sales between publishers and advertisers. Google says the government’s case is based on an outdated perception of the internet.

US seeks new pedestrian safety rules aimed at increasingly massive SUVs and pickup trucks

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency wants the auto industry to design new vehicles including SUVs and pickup trucks so they reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in a statement Monday that it’s proposing a new rule setting performance requirements to minimize the risk of pedestrian head injuries. The rule is aimed largely at SUVs and pickup trucks, which have grown in size and hood height over the years, causing blind spots for drivers. The agency says the rule would save 67 lives per year. Data show that pedestrian deaths when hit by the front of a vehicle are most common for SUVs and trucks.

How the iPhone 16 is different from Apple’s recent releases

Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone is about to break new ground with a shift into artificial intelligence that will do everything from smartening up its frequently dim-witted assistant Siri to creating customized emojis on the fly. The new era will dawn Monday with the unveiling of the hotly anticipated iPhone 16 in a Cupertino, California, auditorium named after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who pulled out the first iPhone in 2007 and waved it like a magic wand while predicting it would reshape society. Apple’s AI package will run mostly on the device instead of remote data centers. That distinction requires a special processor that is expected to drive huge demand for the iPhone 16.

Stock market today: Wall Street claws back some of its losses from a weak week

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising and clawing back some of the losses from their worst week in nearly a year and a half. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% in early midday trading Monday and was on track to break a four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 373 points, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4%. Boeing helped lead the market after reaching a tentative deal with its largest union on a new contract. Yields held relatively steady in the bond market after swinging sharply last week, when a highly anticipated update on the job market came in weak enough to worsen worries about the economy.

The EU buys too much defense equipment abroad, especially from the US, a major report says

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries are buying too much of their defense equipment abroad, much of it U.S.-made, and failing to invest in joint military projects, a landmark report is warning. The report comes as the EU struggles to find enough weapons and ammunition to help Ukraine survive the full-scale Russian invasion. Monday’s report, drafted by former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, says that “Europe is wasting its common resources.” It notes that between mid-2022 and mid-2023, 63% of all EU defense orders were placed with U.S. companies, and a further 15% with other non-EU suppliers. Last week, the Netherlands joined a list of EU members ordering big-budget U.S.-made F-35 warplanes.

Mario Draghi has solutions for Europe’s sluggish economy. Will EU governments listen?

BRUSSELS (AP) — A long-awaited report on how to rescue Europe’s economy from weak growth and red tape is in. The question is, how much of its recommendations will actually be enacted by the often slow-moving politics of the European Union? The report stands out from other recipes for improvement because of its author: Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank who also served as Italy’s prime minister in 2021-22. The report, requested by the European Union’s executive commission, says Europe needs to massively ramp up its public investment in infrastructure and green energy and slash burdensome regulation in order to return to consistent, strong growth – and stop relying so much on the U.S. for defense.

Battery-powered devices are overheating more often on planes and raising alarm

Battery-powered devices are overheating more often on planes, and that is raising safety concerns because of the fire danger. The risk is coming from lithium-ion batteries that power all kinds of portable electronics. Safety-science group UL Standards said Monday that overheating incidents rose 28% from 2019 to 2023, although such events remain relatively rare overall. E-cigarettes and power banks overheated most often. That’s significant because about a quarter of passengers surveyed say they put those devices in checked baggage. TSA rules say vaping cigarettes and power banks using lithium-ion batteries can only go in carry-on bags.

A capsule has been propelled through a hyperloop test tube in a step forward for the transit system

VEENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Hyperloop has achieved significant liftoff in the northern Netherlands. Hyperloop is a new form of mass transit involving capsules whizzing on magnetic fields through depressurized tubes, A company involved in developing the high-speed transit system once promoted by Elon Musk said Monday that a test vehicle was levitated and zipped through a tube at a testing facility. Marinus van der Meijs of hyperloop company Hardt said the test levitated the vehicle and turned on its guidance propulsion systems. Musk first proposed the idea more than a decade ago. He suggested that it could shuttle passengers the nearly 400 miles or 645 kilometers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes.

Oman state-run oil firm OQ will make initial public offering and potentially seek billions

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Omani state-run oil and gas company says it will make an initial public offering of its exploration and production business, potentially seeking billions in a major move toward privatization in the sultanate. OQ, formerly known as the Oman Oil Co., follows moves by the Saudi oil giant Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. to seek to raise money through the markets. It also could provide a boost for its local Muscat Stock Exchange, long viewed as being the sleepiest among the Gulf Arab states. OQ said Monday it will offer up to 25% of shares in its exploration and production arm.