Canucks pull off comeback, top Predators 4-3 in OT
Elias Lindholm scored 1:02 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks came all the way back to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday.
The Biden administration is taking aim at Apple and Google for operating mobile app stores that it says stifle competition.
The finding is contained in a Commerce Department report released by the administration on Wednesday as U.S. President Joe Biden was set to convene his competition council for an update on efforts to promote competition and lower prices.
And on another competition front, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was pushing forward with efforts to limit credit card late fees.
The report from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration says the current app store model -- dominated by Apple and Google -- is "harmful to consumers and developers" by inflating prices and reducing innovation. The firms have a stranglehold on the market that squelches competition, it adds.
"The policies that Apple and Google have in place in their own mobile app stores have created unnecessary barriers and costs for app developers, ranging from fees for access to functional restrictions that favor some apps over others" the report said.
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in January, Biden called on Democrats and Republicans to rein in large tech firms without mentioning Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. and Mountain View, California-based Google LLC by name.
"When tech platforms get big enough, many find ways to promote their own products while excluding or disadvantaging competitors -- or charge competitors a fortune to sell on their platform," Biden said. "My vision for our economy is one in which everyone -- small and midsized businesses, mom-and-pop shops, entrepreneurs -- can compete on a level playing field with the biggest companies."
A representative from Apple told The Associated Press that "we respectfully disagree with a number of conclusions reached in the report, which ignore the investments we make in innovation, privacy and security -- all of which contribute to why users love iPhone and create a level playing field for small developers to compete on a safe and trusted platform."
And a Google spokesperson said the firm also disagrees with the report, namely "how this report characterizes Android, which enables more choice and competition than any other mobile operating system."
A legal battle over app store dominance is already playing out in the courts.
Apple has defended the area surrounding its iPhone app store, known as a walled garden, as an indispensable feature prized by consumers who want the best protection available for their personal information. It has said it faces significant competition from various alternatives to video games on its iPhones. And Google has long defended itself against claims of monopoly.
The Commerce Department report said "new legislation and additional antitrust enforcement actions are likely necessary" to boost competition in the app ecosystem.
Alan Davidson, the NTIA administrator, told reporters the report "identifies where legislation would be needed to address some of these issues."
Meanwhile, the White House said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would move forward with a proposed rule to limit credit card late fees, which the bureau estimates would save consumers roughly US$9 billion in late fees annually.
Rohit Chopra, the bureau's director, said the rule is projected to reduce typical late fees from roughly $30 to $8 for missed payments and could go into effect as soon as 2024.
"Historically, credit card companies charge relatively small penalty amounts for missed payments, but once they discovered that these fees could be a source of easy profits, late fees shot up with a surge occurring in the 2000s," Chopra told reporters. "And in recent years, these late fees have surged to as much as $41 for a missed payment. These fees add up, with consumers being hit with $12 billion a year in late fees in addition to the billions of dollars in interest they're paying."
The bureau is the nation's financial watchdog agency created after the Great Recession.
Elias Lindholm scored 1:02 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks came all the way back to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday.
Three women diagnosed with HIV after getting 'vampire facial' procedures at an unlicensed medical spa are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles.
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs are shut down Sunday, and there is no estimate on when they will be back open.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed wide devastation in part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging more than 140 buildings.
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday described domestic violence as a 'national crisis' after thousands rallied around the country against violence toward women.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Vancouver Canucks when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.