(WASHINGTON) — U.S. employers added 678,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the latest figures released Friday by the Labor Department show, exceeding economists’ expectations.
Economists had expected to see employment grow by around 440,000 new positions.
The biggest increases in employment in February occurred in leisure and hospitality (179,000) followed by professional and business services (95,000) and health care (64,000), according to the Labor Department.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped slightly from 4.0% in January to 3.8% in February.
(NEW YORK) — It’s a dramatic tale of money, power, tragedy and deceit.
Elizabeth Holmes, once the world’s youngest female self-made billionaire and lauded by some as the next Steve Jobs for her supposedly “revolutionary” blood testing company, Theranos, fell from grace after being convicted of defrauding investors.
Holmes awaits sentencing this September, facing up to twenty years in prison for four counts of fraud for which she was found guilty in January. Her former boyfriend and ex-COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani claims he is innocent and is set to go on trial later this month.
The gripping story is recapped in a new 20/20 special, “The Dropout: The Rise and Con of Elizabeth Holmes,” airing March 4.
The television event features behind-the-scenes access to the new Hulu original limited series “The Dropout”, starring Oscar-nominee Amanda Seyfried. The limited series is based on the top ranked ABC News podcast hosted by ABC News Chief Business Correspondent Rebecca Jarvis. It premieres on Hulu on March 3.
The podcast, which first aired in 2019, chronicles the rise and fall of Holmes and Theranos through first-hand accounts and deposition tapes of Holmes, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, and other employees.
Listeners hear from the whistleblowers who say they tried to speak out about what was happening inside Theranos while being stalked and legally threatened. From broken machines to faulty test results, the company starts to go downhill as Holmes attempts to mitigate the damage to her reputation by traversing down a path of lies.
Season two of the podcast picks up in the middle of a worldwide pandemic three years after Holmes settled with the SEC with no admission of wrongdoing, at the beginning of her criminal trial. Holmes, now a mother, charged with 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 9 counts of wire fraud, faces the toughest and most important challenge of her life: convincing 12 jurors that she’s innocent of the charges at hand.
Each week, “The Dropout” team takes you behind the scenes and inside the courtroom to provide a detailed description of what is happening. In addition to courtroom coverage, the podcast also interviews legal experts, witnesses, and investors to help understand where Theranos went wrong.
Tune in to the limited series “The Dropout” exclusively on Hulu on Thursday, March 3, and “The Dropout: The Rise and Con of Elizabeth Holmes” on Friday, March 4. Hulu is a division of Disney, ABC’s parent company.
(NEW YORK) — Banana Republic is known for its modern luxury-style adult clothing, but now, the brand is expanding to also include great picks for babies.
The Gap Inc.-owned company announced BR Baby as a new category available now and shared that an athletics collection will also be coming later this month.
Launching with 40 pieces, Banana Republic’s new baby line has a wide variety of matching sets, knit tops, bodysuits, accessories and more that take a nod from many of the brand’s iconic adult picks.
Additionally, the latest baby line includes a limited number of adorable “mini-me” pieces — matching looks for babies and adults. The featured apparel is currently available in sizes 0-24 and prices start at $20.
“BR Baby and BR Athletics mix the mainstream with the unexpected and deliver elevated, thoroughly modern, lifestyle collections,” said Sandra Stangl, president and CEO of Banana Republic, in a statement.
She continued, “We approached both by deconstructing what made Banana Republic successful in the first place — taking things that people already know, have nostalgia for, and framing them in new ways that feel fresh.”
Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The Russian invasion of Ukraine has displaced thousands of people, many of whom are fleeing to nearby Poland and elsewhere. Now Airbnb.org — the non-profit wing of the popular home-sharing company — is stepping up to help.
Airbnb.org’s Open Homes Initiative got its “unofficial” start in 2012, and has since spread all over the world, Joe Gebbia, co-founder and chairman of Airbnb.org tells ABC Audio.
“[W]hen Hurricane Sandy hit…the Eastern seaboard and displaced a lot of people, the next day we get an email from one of our hosts who says, ‘Dear Airbnb, how do I offer my five guest rooms, my Brooklyn loft for free to those displaced by the hurricane?'” Gebbia recalls. “At the time, we had no way to actually facilitate that.”
“But after a 48-hour engineering marathon [fueled by] Red Bull and pizzas,” Gebbia says, they reconfigured their site and “within about a day or so” had hundreds of rooms available.
“For the last 10 years, we’ve been active in well over 100 countries supporting people fleeing typhoons, wildfires, hurricanes, floods,” he says. “It’s been incredible to see how our host community has to date housed over 100,000 people already all over the world.”
As for Ukraine, Gebbia says, “[S]o many lives have been disrupted with these scenes unfolding of the violence happening there. And I think this will likely produce one of the largest humanitarian crises since likely since World War II.”
Gebbia says the non-profit has offered governments of neighboring countries to help house Ukrainian refugees in hosts’ homes, with the goal of housing up to 100,000 people fleeing Ukraine.
“We’re doing everything we can to use our infrastructure to help, but we need more hosts,” he says.
(NEW YORK) — It’s no secret that your waist size today might not have the same exact measurements tomorrow, and that’s one reason why one of Old Navy’s latest denim launches is getting a lot of attention.
The brand’s FitsYou jeans feature a unique technology: one pair can fit up to three sizes.
The innovative “one-size-fits-three” technology adjusts to your size by using a unique yarn and fabric construction that enables the jeans to grow with your body as your weight fluctuates.
Falling in line with Old Navy’s commitment to “BODEQUALITY” announced last year, the jeans feature 70% stretch, Lycra-free technology which allows the fabric to expand over your body without feeling compressive.
According to the brand, there’s also a “Never-Quit Shape Retention” feature that works to hold the shape of the jeans over a period of time.
Old Navy’s FitsYou denim styles are available in sizes 00 – 30 and in several different colors. Right now, the brand is offering an extra 30% off when you use code HURRY at checkout.
(NEW YORK) — Ahead of wedding season, Eloquii, a plus-size clothing brand, announced its new bridal collection for 2022.
Launching this summer, Eloquii said it is releasing wedding wardrobe pieces in sizes 14-28.
This is the first time the retailer is putting out a dedicated bridal-focused line, and attire for bachelorette parties to bridal showers are included, it said.
In a statement, Eloquii said that it was inspired to create a bridal category as a result of that category being one of the top requests from customers. The company reported in a statement that searches for “white dress” on the brand’s website were one of the top on-site searches in 2021.
There will be a curated assortment of over 50 styles and accessories for all types of wedding events, and prices for dresses starting at $89, the company said.
“Our thoughtfully designed Bridal by ELOQUII collection features exquisite dresses and looks to suit every bride’s taste at an accessible price point,” said Eloquii design director Yesenia Torres. “We were inspired by our customer’s love of elegance, so we incorporated fresh and airy hues, delicate patterns, and luxurious fabrics that make ethereal statements.”
Torres said that the goal of the collection is to provide the ultimate wedding wardrobe of fashion-forward silhouettes that are expertly crafted in design and fit.
(NEW YORK) — Fitbit is recalling approximately one million smartwatches after 78 reports of burn injuries — including two reports of third-degree burns.
The recall impacts the company’s Ionic smartwatches, which were sold across the United States.
The lithium-ion battery in the smartwatch can overheat, posing a burn hazard, according to a release from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Fitbit has received at least 115 reports in the United States of the battery in the watch overheating, with 78 reports of burn injuries in the U.S., the CPSC said. This includes two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second-degree burns.
Consumers are advised to immediately stop using the recalled watches and contact Fitbit to receive pre-paid packaging to return the device. Upon receipt of the device, consumers will be issued a refund of $299 and receive a discount code for select Fitbit products, according to the CPSC, which said the company is voluntarily recalling the devices.
The devices were sold from September 2017 through December 2021 at various U.S. retailers. The company stopped production of the smartwatches in 2020, the CPSC said.
(NEW YORK) — LinkedIn, the career-focused social networking site, is giving job seekers a new way to describe gaps in their careers.
The site on Tuesday released a new feature, called “career breaks,” that gives users the ability to tell potential employers why they left the workforce and describe how that experience helped them grow and develop skills.
With the feature, users can choose from a drop-down menu that gives options ranging from parenting and caregiving to layoff, career transition, gap year, relocation or travel.
“The option of having listing career breaks allows you to openly embrace your time away from work on your profile, and show how the life experiences built during this time away can apply to prospective jobs,” LinkedIn said in a statement.
The new effort by LinkedIn comes as women continue to struggle to return to the workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic, during which women have disproportionately taken on more caregiving and household duties, data shows.
There are nearly 1.1 million fewer women in the labor force now compared to February 2020, according to the National Women’s Law Center, a policy-focused organization that fights for gender justice.
In January, over one million men joined the labor force, compared to 39,000 women, the NWLC reports, citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest jobs report.
During the pandemic, women ages 25 to 44 were almost three times as likely as men of the same age group to not be working due to child care demands, according to research from the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve.
Research from LinkedIn shows a nearly 40% spike in the length of career breaks women took in 2020 in the U.S. And the majority of women, around 61%, believe there is still a stigma attached to career breaks, according to LinkedIn.
Emma McCulloch, a mom of two, said she felt nervous about describing her career break on her resume when she decided to reenter the workforce recently after six years away caring for her sons, one of whom has cerebral palsy.
But McCulloch, of San Francisco, said she gained confidence as she saw how she was able to show potential employers that her time away made her a better employee.
“I certainly learned a lot of research skills to identify the therapies and the resources for my children,” said McCulloch, who now works as a manager for an education technology company. “And I think that personally, in my job right now, I’m much more empathetic to my employees and to the people that I work with, my colleagues, because of the experiences I had during my career break.”
Even as job seekers may believe there is still a stigma, 79% of hiring managers say they would hire a candidate with a career gap on their résumé, according to LinkedIn’s research.
Many companies are making a specific effort to bring women back to the workforce, including IBM, General Motors and JP Morgan, which are all now offering career re-entry and mentorship programs.
“We see a lot of companies raise their hands and say that attracting and retaining top women talent is a priority,” Jess Huang, a partner at McKinsey & Company, told Good Morning America. “And if you can find those companies that are really doubling down, they are likely a better fit, not just in the short-term as you’re looking to reenter and get rehired, but also in the long-term as you think about your career progression.”
(NEW YORK) — A pair of social media misinformation campaigns exploiting tensions in Russia and Ukraine were identified and disabled on Facebook over the weekend, according to two senior leaders at the social network’s parent company Meta.
One operation thwarted by Meta’s security team involved about 40 accounts described as “inauthentic” with some profile pictures suspected to have been generated artificially, Threat Disruption Director David Agranovich said Sunday night. The fictitious personas operated across the internet, the Meta employees said, including on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram and two Russian social media networks.
The campaign also included fake websites resembling news outlets that claimed to be based in Kyiv with the people behind the sites posing as news editors and expert sources.
The operation was connected to a campaign previously detected and taken down by Facebook in April 2020. At the time, the activity was found to have come from Russia, the Donbas region and two media organizations in Crimea.
“The campaign had a very limited following across its presence online,” Agranovich said.
When Meta took action against the accounts, they had fewer than 4,000 followers on Facebook and fewer than 500 on Instagram, Agranovich said. The security team did not say how many total impressions or views the inauthentic posts received.
Another operation involved the specific targeting of Facebook accounts belonging to members of the Ukrainian military, as well as politicians and a journalist. The profiles were used to share YouTube videos portraying Ukrainians as weak and surrendering to Russia, which Facebook said was done by compromising the accounts likely through personal email. One video appeared to show Ukrainian soldiers coming out of a forest waving a white flag.
The Meta employees did not disclose the total number of compromised accounts, only referring to them as “a handful.” They also did not reveal the names behind the accounts, citing privacy concerns.
While Facebook described the number of accounts affected as minimal, the phishing operation that led to the compromise was reportedly widespread and attributed by cybersecurity researchers to a previously known misinformation campaign called “Ghostwriter.”
“Ghostwriter has previously targeted the NATO alliance, seeking to erode support for the organization,” said Ben Read, director of Cyber Espionage Analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant. “I wouldn’t be surprised if similar operations were seen in the near future.”
Mandiant has linked the “Ghostwriter” campaign to the Belarusian military, and concerns remain over the exploitation of Ukrainians’ personal data.
“Leaking misleading, or fabricated documents taken from Ukrainian entities could be leveraged to promote Russia- and Belarus-friendly narratives,” Read said.
ABC News has tracked the spread of disinformation related to Ukraine and Russia across online forums and social media networks.
In one example, a video that appeared to show a man with his leg blown off was shared by a Russian separatist militia on Telegram last week. The stump of the man’s leg was blurred.
“Ukrainian punishers continue the genocide of the civilian population of Donbass,” the video’s caption read.
But other, unblurred videos of the scene show the man was, in fact, an amputee. There is no blood and the attachment for a prosthetic leg is clearly visible.
At Meta, Facebook has increased its fact-checking capacity in Russia and Ukraine and added new features to protect Ukrainians and help them lock down their accounts and check privacy settings. Meta will now also extend some of those features to Russia in an effort to protect the increased targeting of Russian protesters, the company announced.
Earlier this week, Russian state media was barred from running ads or monetizing the platform.
In response to calls for Meta to shut down Facebook and Instagram in Russia, Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said the company does not want to restrict services for Russians who are protesting and organizing against the war.
“The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities,” Clegg said in Tweet Sunday. “We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration on Monday emphasized the drastic nature of economic sanctions levied again Russia over the weekend in which the U.S. and allies targeted Russia’s Central Bank, preventing the Kremlin from accessing any of its more than $600 billion in reserves in the U.S., or in U.S. dollars in foreign countries.
The sanctions also target Russia’s National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance, and officials said it was clear from the beginning of the Ukraine invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to use Central Bank assets to mitigate any sanctions.
“Today’s announcement that prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Russia in the National Wealth Fund will significantly hinder their ability to do that, and inhibit their access to hundreds of billions of dollars in assets from our actions alone, they will not be able to access assets that are either in United States are in U.S. dollars,” officials told reporters.
“This fund and its leadership are symbols of deep seated rushing corruption and influence peddling globally … and it’s known to be intimately connected to kleptocracy at the highest levels of the Russian government,” an official added.
“Our strategy — to put it simply — is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backwards, as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion of Ukraine,” a senior administration official said.
Officials explained the sanctions — a major step for the Biden administration — were announced over the weekend when it became clear it was necessary to move before the markets opened Monday.
“We learned over the course of the weekend from our allies and partners was the Russian Central Bank was attempting to move assets and there would be a great deal of assets starting on Monday morning from institutions around the world. So, we took these that we’re taking these actions in a way that they will be effective immediately,” an official said.
Officials said the “actions represent the most significant actions the U.S. Treasury has taken against an economy of this size, and assets of this size,” noting the Russian Central Bank is many times larger than Iran’s or Venezuela’s.
Officials wouldn’t specify how much of the $630 billion “rainy day fund” would be affected, but noted the U.S. knows that the Russian Central Bank has its assets diversified around the world.
“What we’ve done today is not only preventing them from using those dollars in the United States, but preventing them from being able to use those dollars in other places like Europe or Japan to defend their currency and prop up their institutions. And our – our goal was to make sure that not only would they not have access to dollars, but also not have access to other currencies,” an official said.
On the energy front, officials said they have multiple interests in keeping energy out of the sanctions packages for now: “A — because we want to support the global economic recovery, but B — because we don’t want prices to spike for the benefit of President Putin as a major energy exporter.”
Officials said over the long term, the U.S. and allies will look to degrade Russia’s capacity to be a leading energy supplier, perhaps working to keep it from developing energy technologies.
