Investments and Business

More Republicans are coming to the view that economic inequality, or a lack of social mobility, is a problem in the United States — and that more can be done to enable families to attain or regain a middle-class life.Though discussions about inequality tend to be most visible among liberals, about four in 10 Republican or Republican-leaning adults think there is too much economic inequality in the country, according to a Pew Research survey. And among Republicans making less than about $40,000 a year who see too much economic inequality, 63 percent agree that the economic system “requires major changes”…

Hundreds of people at Chevron’s liquefied natural gas plants in Western Australia halted work on Friday, an industrial action affecting three facilities that account for about 6 percent of the world’s supply of the essential fuel.At 1 p.m. local time, about 500 employees began short work stoppages and bans on some types of work, after union negotiations over pay and working conditions stalled.The stoppages are scheduled to continue until Thursday. At that point, if the impasse remains, the unions will escalate with rolling strikes of up to 24 hours a day, for up to two weeks, according to the Offshore…

Climate change is an issue that stretches across borders, touching every facet of our lives. Addressing it likewise requires shifts in almost every industry and institution. On Sept. 21, The New York Times will bring together newsmakers, including innovators, activists, scientists and policymakers, for an all-day event examining the actions needed to confront climate change.The livestream is available for Times subscribers.Sessions will include:Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank GroupAl Gore, former vice president of the United StatesBill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationEbony Twilley Martin, executive director of Greenpeace USAEleni Myrivili,…

Five people died last week when a hillside elevator plunged into a ravine at a resort on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. The victims were not international tourists, but young men and women who cleaned the property’s Instagrammable, hundreds-of-dollars-a-night pool villas.As of Thursday, the Bali police were still investigating how the glass elevator’s cable snapped at the Ayuterra Resort on Sept. 1, killing the five workers, aged 19 to 24.But this much is clear: The accident highlights the vulnerabilities of the labor force serving the foreign guests who see the island as a tropical paradise, and whose spending drives…

In the midst of the U.S. commerce secretary’s good will tour to China last week, Huawei, the telecom giant that faces stiff U.S. trade restrictions, unveiled a smartphone that illustrated just how hard it has been for the United States to clamp down on China’s tech prowess.The new phone is powered by a chip that appears to be the most advanced version of China’s homegrown technology to date — a kind of achievement that the United States has been trying to prevent China from reaching.The timing of its release may not have been a coincidence. The Commerce Department has been…

The Justice Department has spent three years over two presidential administrations building the case that Google illegally abused its power over online search to throttle competition. To defend itself, Google has enlisted hundreds of employees and three powerful law firms and spent millions of dollars on legal fees and lobbyists.On Tuesday, a judge in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will begin considering their arguments at a trial that cuts to the heart of a long-simmering question: Did today’s tech giants become dominant by breaking the law?The case — U.S. et al. v. Google — is the federal…

These were supposed to be boom times for Pederson’s Natural Farms.In the days this spring after the Supreme Court upheld a California law banning the sale of certain pork products made from pigs raised in small gestation pens, the phones were ringing off the hook at Pederson’s headquarters in Hamilton, Texas.California grocery stores and restaurants were desperate to line up supplies of bacon and pork chops that met the new state standards by a July 1 deadline. Pederson’s products filled the bill, and the company was happy to help send them to California, which consumes about 15 percent of the…

Shareholders of a cash-rich shell company approved a measure on Tuesday that will give the firm 12 additional months to complete its long-delayed merger with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company.The shareholder vote increases the likelihood that Trump Media & Technology Group will get access to at least $300 million in badly needed cash to operate Truth Social — a right-leaning social media platform.Truth Social has emerged as Mr. Trump’s primary megaphone for railing against his political opponents, as well as the federal and state prosecutors who have brought four indictments against him. Online ads on the social…

Federal auto safety regulators moved Tuesday toward a recall of about 52 million airbag inflaters used by a dozen major carmakers, calling the parts unsafe and susceptible to rupture.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration scheduled a public meeting on Oct. 5 on its recommendation to recall the airbags, manufactured by ARC Automotive and Delphi Automotive Systems. ARC rejected the agency’s initial findings that its airbags were defective.The agency said that at least seven people had been injured and one killed in seven incidents in the United States as a result of the defective airbags.Of the 52 million airbags, 41 million…