President Donald Trump's push for the sale of TikTok to a U.S. company marks a major escalation in his battle to keep data on American citizens out of Chinese hands and a move that, if successful, would be nearly impossible to overturn under U.S. law.

Trump's demand has set off a geopolitical tug-of-war, but it has ample precedent. The ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Federal prosecutors fighting Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes's request for access to grand jury records invoked the case of a woman accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail at a New York City police van who made a similar but mostly unsuccessful bid.

The woman, Samantha Shader, who has pleaded not guilty to hurling a fire ...Read more

Q: Last year, the Western Digital external hard drive for my Windows 8.1 PC stopped working. I bought another Western Digital external drive, but it wouldn't work, either. I then bought a Seagate external drive and began using it last November. But by late July, I got an error message saying the external drive couldn't be detected, even though I...Read more

Autonomous driving engineer Anthony Levandowski was ordered to spend 18 months prison for stealing trade secrets from Google as he defected to Uber Technologies Inc., in one of the highest-profile criminal cases to hit Silicon Valley.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco imposed the sentence Tuesday after Levandowski pleaded for ...Read more

A steady stream of Mexican residents strolled across the Gateway International Bridge into Brownsville, Texas, on a recent hot and humid evening.

In ones and twos, they walked two-tenths of a mile into America, to a plasma center with a sign welcoming them as heroes; convalescent plasma is being investigated as a treatment for COVID-19. Then, a...Read more

Despite winning a standoff with local health officials over reopening his factory, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is sticking with his threat to move company headquarters to another state.

"There's no question that our headquarters will remain in California for the short term," he said in a recent interview with Automotive News. "Long term, we...Read more

Walt Disney Co. suffered a major decline in earnings in its third fiscal quarter, illustrating the severe damage dealt to the world's most powerful entertainment company by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has kept Disneyland closed, cratered global tourism and delayed movie releases for months.

The Burbank, Calif., entertainment giant posted a net...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Marco Rubio and Susan Collins have introduced legislation to extend a popular small-business relief program past its Aug. 8 expiration date as talks between Republicans and Democrats on a larger relief package appear deadlocked.

Florida's Rubio and Maine's Collins introduced two proposals that would continue the Paycheck ...Read more

Amid the patchwork of state-level approaches to healthcare reform, California has always stood out for its all-in embrace of the Affordable Care Act.

The state expanded Medicaid, taking full advantage of a federal government subsidy of the expanded program's costs -- starting at 100% from 2014 to 2016 and settling at 90% this year and beyond.

...Read more

Corn farmers across the United States are preparing for a near-record harvest thanks to a smooth, fast spring planting and favorable summer weather.

Problem is, corn prices are horrible.

Minnesota's corn crop was 97% silking on Monday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's well ahead of the five-year average for this stage of...Read more

June's landmark Supreme Court decision bars bias against most LGBTQ people at work, but it doesn't end all legal discrimination that keeps them out of work.

For Kelly Jenkins, the most disheartening encounter she had after coming out as transgender happened not at her workplace, but at a clothing store. Jenkins, who was working as a teacher in ...Read more

The pharmaceutical company that makes remdesivir -- the only medication that has emergency authorization to fight COVID-19 -- should also be conducting human trials on a related drug with strong potential, according to a citizen advocacy group that believes the alternative could be more effective, less expensive and easier to produce.

...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Shares of Kodak began to soar last week even before President Donald Trump's announcement that the company was in line for a $765 million government loan to support the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients.

But was any of the unusual volume attributable to insider trading? That's what Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants the ...Read more

China's state-run media has struck back in the war over TikTok, branding U.S. demands for the sale of the social media app's American operations to Microsoft Corp. as "theft" and suggesting Beijing may block the transaction.

The editorial, published late Monday by the China Daily newspaper, represented Beijing's strongest defense yet of ...Read more

There you are, sitting at home near the phone or in front of your computer, working remotely or just trying to stave off boredom amid the pandemic.

That makes you typical of many if not most Americans.

It also makes you a sitting duck.

Just ask Phil Moore. The 73-year-old told me the other day that he's now getting about 10 scam calls a week,...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's push to ban the popular video-sharing app TikTok is only the latest in a yearslong struggle by his administration to slow China's technology juggernaut.

But experts say the U.S. effort lacks a well-coordinated policy that addresses domestic tech investment as well as concerns of key American allies.

"I ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- I did something last week that was financially unwise in this COVID-shaken world. I signed a lease for an office.

I am neither an entrepreneur nor an independent freelancer. I'm a full-time reporter here at the San Diego Union-Tribune, and my salary is modest enough that I've never entertained leasing anything other than a small ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- With the future of TikTok imperiled as President Trump threatens to shut it down in the U.S., an L.A.-based economy that has sprung up in just the last two years for the app's mostly young creators and influencers is at risk of tumultuous change.

TikTok is not just a fun diversion for bored lip-syncing teens.

The startling ...Read more