While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 15
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The cuts will reportedly affect about 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Amazon plans to lay off 10,000 people starting this week
Amazon plans to lay off approximately 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs starting as soon as this week, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would be the largest job cuts in the company’s history.
The cuts will focus on Amazon’s devices organisation, including the voice-assistant Alexa, as well as at its retail division and in human resources, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
The total number of layoffs remains fluid.
But if it stays around 10,000, that would represent roughly 3% of Amazon’s corporate employees and less than 1% of its global workforce of more than 1.5 million, which is primarily composed of hourly workers.
Google to pay nearly US$400 million to settle state location-tracking probe
REUTERS
Alphabet’s Google will pay US$391.5 million (S$537 million) to settle allegations by 40 states that the search and advertising giant illegally tracked users’ locations, the Michigan attorney general’s office said Monday.
The investigation and settlement, which was led by Oregon and Nebraska, is a sign of mounting legal headaches for the tech giant from state attorneys general who have aggressively targeted the firm’s user tracking practices in recent months.
In addition to the payment, Google must be more transparent with consumers about when location tracking is occurring and give users detailed information about location-tracking data on a special web page, the Iowa attorney general’s office said.
Three members of University of Virginia football team slain in shooting, suspect in custody
NYT
A suspect in a shooting at the University of Virginia that left three members of the University of Virginia football team dead was in custody on Monday, hours after he allegedly opened fire on a bus full of students returning from a field trip.
University police said during a news conference that the suspect, student Christopher Darnell Jones, 22, was arrested hours after the shooting that unfolded at 10.30pm on Sunday (0330 GMT on Monday) at the school in Charlottesville, Virginia, attended by 25,000 students.
Minutes after the shooting, school officials issued alerts on social media telling students and staff to shelter in place with one tweet saying to “RUN HIDE FIGHT.”
Musk complains of ‘too much work’ after taking over Twitter
REUTERS
The fear Tesla investors had as soon as Mr Elon Musk made his bid for Twitter has come to fruition: He’s taken on more than he should.
“I have too much work on my plate, that’s for sure,” Mr Musk said on Monday during an appearance at B-20 Indonesia, a business conference running alongside this week’s Group of 20 summit in Bali.
“I’m working the absolute most that I can work – morning to night, seven days a week.”
Comedian Jay Leno suffers burns in car fire in his LA garage
REUTERS
Comedian Jay Leno was taken to Grossman Burn Center after his face was burned in his Los Angeles garage when one of his cars burst into flames..
The left side of former The Tonight Show host’s face was burned, but Leno’s eye and ear were not severely damaged.
Leno confirmed the news to Variety, saying in a statement, “I got some serious burns from a gasoline fire. I am ok. Just need a week or two to get back on my feet.”
