GM to write down value of China business by more than $5bn

General Motors told shareholders on Wednesday that it would write down the value of its China business by more than $5bn.The company’s board of directors determined that the non-cash charges were necessary “in light of the finalization of a new business forecast and certain restructuring actions” with the joint venture, according to a company filing.CEO Mary Barra has been transforming GM’s operations in China as the former profit engine slipped to a loss in the last year. Barra told investors in October that they would see improvements from this effort by the end of the year, saying there would be “a significant reduction in dealer inventory and modest improvements in sales and share”.The automaker lost about $350m in the region in the first three quarters of this year

Duolingo backer in £802m raid on London-listed training company

An educational training company is joining the exodus from the London stock exchange after agreeing to an £802m takeover by US private equity firm General Atlantic.General Atlantic, which has a stake in the language-learning app Duolingo, is buying Learning Technologies Group (LTG) for £802.4m in a gamble on rising training requirements for large corporations as they adapt to artificial intelligence.LTG, which provides corporate training tools including mobile apps and videos, has been faltering amid the rapid evolution of generative AI and companies turning away from custom content creation to reduce costs.General Atlantic said LTG would require further investments in its products to adapt to the changing landscape and compete, as well as offset the potentially disruptive impact of AI

Smartphones should carry health warning, Spanish government told

Smartphones sold in Spain should carry a label warning users about their potential health impacts, experts have told the Spanish government, in a report that calls for doctors to ask about screen time during checkups.As Spain pushes forward with a draft law to limit children’s exposure to technology, the 50-member committee of experts has also called for minors to have limited exposure to digital devices until they are 13 to mitigate what they see as a public health problem.The experts’ nearly 250-page report, seen by the newspaper El País, recommends that children under the age of three do not have any exposure to digital devices, while children up to six years old should be allowed to access them only on an exceptional basis.For children between six and 12, the use of so-called “dumb phones” – which do not have access to the internet and which are limited to calls – should be prioritised, as should offline activities such as sports.The report called on the government to consider adding a warning label to digital devices sold in Spain, informing consumers of the health risks that some have linked to social media and digital devices, as well as the possible impacts that access to inappropriate content could have on the development of children

‘Progressive except for Palestine’: how a tech charity imploded over a statement on Gaza

The board of the non-profit Code for Science & Society blocked a statement against genocide. The fallout tore the high-profile organization apartMiliaku Nwabueze, a senior program manager at Code for Science & Society, had been concerned for some time about the role of technology in state violence. Then, on 7 October of last year, Hamas entered Israel, killing and kidnapping about 1,400 people. Less than a week later, as Israel ordered 1.1 million Palestinians out of northern Gaza in the onset of its deadly retaliation, Nwabueze decided to write a message to her colleagues on the US-based non-profit organization’s Slack channel

Colorado’s Travis Hunter: college football’s mind-warping dual threat is one of one

No player has been as impactful, as exciting or as deserving of the Heisman Trophy than Colorado’s two-way superstar. So why will he almost certainly be snubbed?The Heisman Trophy is college football’s supreme individual honor, an annual tribute to the best player in the game, and more often than not it’s the country’s top quarterback who takes the prize. But this could be the year Colorado’s Travis Hunter breaks with tradition.Hunter is college football’s mind-warping dual threat, a game-changing wide receiver and cornerback. It’s not uncommon for the nation’s best college football prospects to play offense and defense as high schoolers, especially if there aren’t enough bodies to fill out every position on the roster

College football’s playoff field has tripled. Turns out picking 12 teams is just as hard

The College Football Playoff has expanded to from four to 12 teams this season, yet the debate around it remains as intense as ever. Here’s our foolproof selection methodThis season is the best of times and the worst of times to institute a 12-team playoff in the top tier of college football.It’s the best of times because the results so far have yielded a muddled picture in which picking just four teams would have been extraordinarily difficult, and we’ll need these playoff games to lend some clarity.It’s the worst of times because picking 12 teams is also extraordinarily difficult.Like referees and judges, playoff committee members are doomed to the realization that someone is going to feel aggrieved by their work