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McDonald’s to create tiered loyalty program to lure repeat visitors

By Waylon CunninghamSept 23 - McDonald’s will shift its loyalty program to a new tiered system, chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley said at the chain’s investor day on Wednesday, in a bid to more sharply differentiate between more frequent and casual customers.The move follows a trend in the restaurant space to adopt tiers and to move away from broad discounting that can hurt profit margins. Starbucks announced a similar change to its loyalty program in January.McDonald's will seek to attract new loyalty program members and to increase the frequency of purchases by existing members with

Trump to raise detainees with Xi, but other rights issues may not come up

Ethiopia has shown restraint despite interference, president says

MidEast|Political|World

Turkey and Iraq agree Turkey will turn over military camp in northern Iraq

Turkey and Iraq agreed on Wednesday for Turkish forces to hand over a military camp in northern Iraq to the Iraqi government gradually, they said after talks in New York, adding they also agreed to end the presence of "outlawed armed elements" in northern Iraq.After Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the sides said in a joint statement they had agreed to deepen security cooperation."Within this framework, they reached an agreement on fully establishing state authority in Sinjar and ending the pres

Newsom talks climate with world leaders in New York, accuses Trump of abdicating that responsibility

US diplomats told to use term ‘super intelligence’ not ‘artificial intelligence’ after Trump's call

Political|US|World

Kremlin says it is considering US invitation for Putin to join G20 meeting

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Russia would consider the invitation extended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for President Vladimir Putin to attend a G20 meeting later this year in the United States."We saw the reports in the media and the statements by the secretary of state. We are grateful and appreciative for this invitation," Russian news agencies quoted Peskov as saying."We will make a decision and work through it via diplomatic channels."Rubio, speaking after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said he hoped Putin would accept t

Wells Fargo's chief risk officer Derek Flowers to retire

Kansas becomes the latest headache for Republicans, with Democrats eyeing a ‘miracle’ in Senate race

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Election|Political|US

Republican former state lawmaker vows he’ll ‘never’ support Paxton in new ad as Texas Senate race heats up

As Republicans ramp up spending for Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, a top group supporting his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, is pushing back with a new surrogate: a Republican former state lawmaker who voted to impeach Paxton in 2023.“I’ll never trust Ken Paxton, I’ll never support Ken Paxton and the last place he should be is the United States Senate,” former state Rep. Glenn Rogers says in a new 30-second ad for the pro-Talarico Lone Star Rising PAC.The ad will run statewide on digital and streaming platforms as part of the group’s eight-figure effort in the general ele

What Trump’s Greenland deal could realistically change

The Greenland deal signed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday after months of threats appears to make small changes to a 1951 treaty that frames the US military’s footprint on the self-governing territory, according to experts, keeping non-NATO countries out and permitting a small uptick in US forces.Trump had threatened to forcibly take Greenland if he did not find a deal to his liking, with European nations sending troops to the territory as tensions simmered.The agreement between the US, Denmark, and Greenland serves as a supplement to the 70-year-old defense treaty that gave the US perm

Judge orders Texas to have air conditioning at all prisons by end of 2029

Missouri’s embattled, Trump-backed congressional map returns to Supreme Court for a third time

Business|Finance|Sports|Stock Markets|US

President Trump’s money managers made more than 1,100 trades in July

President Donald Trump’s money managers made 1,152 trades on his behalf in July alone, according to his latest financial disclosure Tuesday — an astronomical number relative to his predecessors, and still high by the standard of active traders.The transactions included many companies such as SpaceX and RTX (formerly known as Raytheon) that do business with the federal government, in industries his administration helps regulate.The financial transactions amount to roughly 50 trades a day, a heavy volume for a typical investor but consistent with Trump’s portfolio activity in his second te

Political|US|World

Fact check: Trump’s false claims to the United Nations

President Donald Trump made multiple false claims in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, though he largely stuck to a prepared text.Here is a fact check of some of his assertions.Trump and warsTrump, repeating a frequent false claim, said, “Since I took office, it has been my great honor to settle eight wars.”He specified that he was talking about conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand; Kosovo and Serbia; Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; India and Pakistan; Armenia and Azerbaijan; and the war in Gaza. And he has previously claimed that the other two

Trump signs US-Denmark-Greenland agreement to bolster Arctic security after prolonged tensions

Trump says freedom will come to Cuba in UN speech

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Trump's White House media ban faces long odds in court, legal experts say

US President Donald Trump’s move to ban several news outlets from the White House over his dislike of their coverage likely runs afoul of US legal prohibitions against viewpoint discrimination by the government, four legal experts told Reuters.Trump’s announcement on Friday that he would ban CNN, MSNOW and Politico for reporting what he deemed “FAKE NEWS” was the latest move by his administration to curtail press access, part of the Republican president’s wider pressure campaign against news coverage he dislikes. Trump said on Saturday that he might ban other outlets as well. The

Political|World

Trump administration tells Congress it will admit 17,500 white South African refugees in 2027

The Trump administration plans to limit the number of refugees admitted to the country in 2027 to 17,500 mostly white South Africans, the administration told Congress Tuesday, as it continues to transform a program that at one point served as a pathway to safety for people fleeing war and strife from countries around the world. In a notice to Congress obtained by The Associated Press, the administration said the white South Africans faced seizures of their land and other forms of persecution and would be likely to assimilate when they come to America. The South African governmen

Iran, US still far apart in peace talks, Iranian official says; Pezeshkian vows no surrender

Trump threatens to annihilate Iran as diplomats push for deal at UN

Environment|Science|Travel|World

Major hurricane Polo intensifies off Mexico's Pacific coast

Hurricane Polo, which earlier on Tuesday reached Category 5 strength, the highest possible, continued intensifying off Mexico's Pacific coast, posing life-threatening flooding risks, the US National Hurricane Center said. Despite its proximity and the heavy rains it will bring, Polo is expected to move slowly off the coast in the next couple of days and shift its trajectory heading farther from the shore, an NHC advisory added."A turn toward the northwest and west-northwest is expected tonight and Wednesday," NHC warned. "On the forecast track, the core of Polo is expected to be near the c

Arts|Business|Economy|World

Trump at UN: Threats, diplomacy and 'super intelligence'

President Donald Trump used his address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to defend the US-Israeli campaign against Iran while laying out his foreign policy priorities. Here are the major issues he addressed in a 37-minute speech:* IRAN. He warned he could annihilate Iran without a peace deal and predicted one would be reached after US midterm elections on November 3 when the makeup of Congress will be decided.* UKRAINE. About Russia's war in Ukraine, he said, "We're working very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, and we will get that one done," adding, "It's going to happen,

Suspect in Canada’s Yom Kippur shooting has died, authorities say

Supreme Court rejects surrogate’s request to have a say in sick baby’s care

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Judge says Trump's White House media ban may not comply with legal precedents

In UN farewell, Macron denounces Trump's Gaza diplomacy as spectacle of shame

France's President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday dismissed US President Donald Trump's claims of having secured peace in Gaza, saying not a single

Business|Economy|Food

Aldi cuts U.S. grocery prices for fall season amid inflation, competition pressure

Private discount grocer Aldi said on Wednesday it would lower prices on a range of grocery items in the U.S. this fall, a move the company estimates will save shoppers about $86

Arts|Business|Finance|Science|Technology

Meta says its Muse AI agent can do things for you. I put it to the test

Arts|Entertainment|Finance

Defending reporter ban, Justice Department argues stories on Trump’s ballroom project, Iran war threaten national security

Economy|Environment|Science|Technology

Sen. Bernie Sanders unveils bill to ban artificial superintelligence and create Department of AI

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar are introducing legislation that would ban artificial superintelligence, pause development of advanced AI systems and create a new Department of Artificial Intelligence

Economy|Election|Political

Trump’s midterm woes deepen amid worsened economic backdrop: CNN poll

Business|Finance|Science|Stock Markets|Technology

Wall Street expects Meta's AI agent to shape into a new revenue engine

Wall Street has turned bullish on Meta Platforms, betting that its new AI agent Muse could open a new revenue stream for the social media giant and reshape the

Business|Economy|Environment|Food

California farmers are struggling to sell grapes as demand for wine drops

It’s harvest time in California wine country, but many growers are struggling to sell their grapes as Americans cut back on drinking

Crime|Europe|MidEast|Political

Spain clears way for US extradition case against millionaire activist

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From LA to Scottsdale: The Founder Behind AdDynamix Is Building the Bridge Between AI and Business Tools

An LA digital advertising veteran of 28 years has moved to Scottsdale and is building what he calls the missing piece between business software and the AI assistants people now use every day. SCOTTSDALE, AZ. When Benoit Pecqueur talks about his latest company, he sounds less like a founder pitching a product and more like an operator who got tired of watching the same problem repeat itself. “Most small business owners are watching the AI revolution from the sidelines,” he says. “Not because they don’t want it. Because their tools don’t talk to ChatGPT or Claude. Their accountant still pulls