Workers in Saudi Arabia say Amazon failed to compensate them for labor abuses: ‘They played a game against me’

Thirty-three of 44 current and former contract workers who paid large recruiting fees say they didn’t receive refunds after working within the company’s Saudi operations In February, one of the world’s richest employers, Amazon, announced it had refunded nearly $2m to more than 700 overseas workers who had been forced to pay big recruiting fees to get work at the company’s warehouses in Saudi Arabia.It was a rare win for migrant laborers, a class of vulnerable workers who are often targeted for deceptive recruiting tactics and other abuses. One Nepali laborer said he was so shocked when a refund from Amazon appeared in his bank account that he stayed up much of the night, rechecking his account balance on his phone.But not all of the migrants who had worked for Amazon in Saudi Arabia are happy with the online retailer’s efforts to make things right. Many say they never got any reimbursement from the company

Smartphones are an unwelcome distraction | Letters

Channel 4’s Swiped: The School That Banned Smartphones deserves a medal (TV review, 11 December). Its emphasis on the pathological effects of smartphone use was convincing. And yet something was missing: that adults are themselves infected by the disease. No one should be using smartphones. They distract those who should be talking naturally with children, helping youngsters’ intellectual development

Elon Musk showcases grip on Washington by impeding spending bill

Using the power of the social media platform he owns and the threat of spending millions against Republicans in primaries, Elon Musk effectively tanked a bipartisan congressional spending bill that would have kept the government running.After their initial failure at Musk’s hands, House Republicans on Thursday scrambled to put together another deal, which they said would provide a few months of spending and, according to reports, suspend the debt limit at Donald Trump’s request. The pared-down spending bill failed to pass the US House in a vote on Thursday evening.The world’s richest man flexed the muscle he gained during the 2024 election, in which he spent big to help elect Trump and spread rightwing rumors on X. Since the spending bill was introduced, Musk has fired off tweet after tweet attacking it, amplifying false claims about what it includes and dooming its fate

Man who falsely claimed to be bitcoin creator sentenced for continuing to sue developers

An Australian computer scientist who falsely claimed to be the creator of bitcoin has been given a one-year suspended prison sentence after the high court in London ruled he was in contempt because he would not stop suing people.Mr Justice Mellor had already found that Craig Wright, 54, repeatedly lied about his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the person or people who launched bitcoin – the cryptocurrency that was first mined in 2009 and recently soared in value to £79,000.Wright had claimed intellectual property rights associated with bitcoin, but that was demolished when the high court found he lied about his role, deploying often clumsy forgeries “on a grand scale” and “technobabble”. The real Nakamoto is likely to be a billionaire because they are thought to own 1 million bitcoins.Wright was then ordered to stop taking legal actions against bitcoin developers, but defied that court order in October when he brought suits against cryptocurrency developers amounting to more than £900bn in respect of his claimed intellectual property rights related to bitcoin

Why are Amazon workers on strike – and what does it mean for Christmas deliveries?

With Christmas less than a week away, thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across the countries are on strike after the company refused to start contract negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.Though it’s been well over two years since the first Amazon warehouse union was formed in New York City, and workers at several other warehouses across the country have started to unionize, the company has refused to recognize and negotiate a contract with the union.The Teamsters gave Amazon a 15 December deadline to come to the bargaining table, which the company refused to acknowledge.Here’s what you need to know about the Amazon warehouse strike.Amazon employs more than 1

AI learns to distinguish between aromas of US and Scottish whiskies

Notch up another win for artificial intelligence. Researchers have used the technology to predict the notes that waft off whisky and determine whether a dram was made in the US or Scotland.The work is a step towards automated systems that can predict the complex aroma of whisky from its molecular makeup. Expert panels usually assess woody, smoky, buttery or caramel aromas, which can help to ensure they don’t vary substantially between batches of the same product.“The beautiful thing about the AI is that it is very consistent,” said Dr Andreas Grasskamp, who led the research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Freising, Germany