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A cargo plane carrying at least three people crashed into a bay in the southeastern part of Texas on Saturday, officials said. The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement confirming that a twin-engine Boeing 767 cargo jetliner crashed into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas about 12:45 p.m.

Jeff Bezos’ personal security team has launched an investigation into how his text messages ended up in The National Enquirer, and the inquiry is increasingly convinced that political motives are behind the disclosure. The investigation is taking place independent of Amazon, and Bezos, the world’s richest man, is personally funding it. Investigators want to know who leaked the texts that publicly blew up Bezos’ marriage earlier this month by revealing, in lurid detail, his affair with Los Angeles news anchor Lauren Sanchez. The leaked text messages contained flowery missives from Bezos such as “I want to smell you, I want...

Amazon announced its number of Prime customers for the first time last week. The online retailer counts 100 million of them — who, excluding students and others affiliated with educational institutions, each pay $99 — around the globe to subscribe. Sixty-seven million of these Prime customers live in the United States. A majority of U.S. households voluntarily joined this exclusive club, which, the numbers indicate, is not very exclusive. Members benefit from discounts, streaming television, movies, and music, expedited shipping, and other perks. Might Amazon soon offer health insurance coverage to Prime subscribers? The company, as CNBC reports, already sells...

Hoping to better compete with arch-rival Costco Wholesale (COST, +1.12%) and Amazon.com, Sam’s Club said on Wednesday that it’s now offering free shipping for many items to its premium members as part of a restructuring to its membership programs. The bulk retailer, a unit of Walmart Inc (WMT, +0.35%), says that the bulk of items it sells online will qualify and that there will be no minimum order size for customers who have a “Plus” membership, which costs $100 annually. Exceptions will include merchandise that is only available for curbside pickup such as fresh and frozen food (groceries account for...

All nine episodes of original drama series Britannia will premiere Friday, January 26 on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon also has released the trailer for the series which charts the Roman invasion of what would become Great Britain in 43 A.D.

Amazon is launching Prime Wardrobe, a new program that will let you try on clothes before you buy them. Once you select at least three Prime Wardrobe-eligible pieces from over a million clothing options, Amazon will ship your selections to you in a resealable return box with a prepaid shipping label. After you try on the clothes, you can put the ones you don’t want back in the box and leave it at your front door — Prime Wardrobe also comes with free scheduled pickups from UPS. If you decide to keep at least three items you will get a...

Amazon will now offer discount memberships to its Prime subscription service at a rate of $5.99 each month. Prime is best known for getting subscribers unlimited free two-day shipping on most items, as well as allowing access to Prime Music, Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Photos. For now, the discount is available to people with a valid Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, but Amazon said it plans to expand the lower rate to people on other government assistance programs. Amazon said a Prime membership helps customers “save time and money.” “We designed this membership option for customers receiving government...

Like most people, you probably signed up for Amazon Prime for one reason. Maybe it was the free shipping. Maybe it was the streaming videos or the free music. Maybe you wanted one special bargain and decided to jump onboard. But even now, several years after Amazon Prime was founded, few people know the full breadth of their membership perks. They've heard rumors of different benefits, and they've always thought about rereading the full list, but then they forget. Well, we've put together the master list of every major thing you can do with your Amazon Prime account. Granted, some...

On the off chance the US didn't already have a big enough problem thanks to a staggering $1.3 trillion in student loans which contrary to White House' claims, are crushing an entire generation under their interest expense weight, earlier today none other than billionaire Jeff Bezos announced he was entering the student loan business, when Amazon unveiled a partnership with Wells Fargo in which the bank’s student-lending arm would offer interest-rate discounts to select Amazon shoppers. In Amazon's latest attempt to entice shoppers into its premium Prime program, Wells Fargo will cut half a percentage point from its interest rate...

For the past decade, Hollywood’s battle against online pirates has been mainly been focused on leaked DVD screeners and illegal streaming sites. Now a pair of security researchers say they’ve discovered a vulnerability in the Google Chrome browser that allows people to save illegal copies of movies from streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime. The vulnerability, first reported by Wired, takes advantage of the Widevine EME/CDM technology that Chrome uses to stream encrypted video from content providers. Researchers David Livshits from the Cyber Security Research Center at Ben-Gurion University and Alexandra Mikityuk of Telekom Innovation Laboratories discovered a way...

Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, as sales in the U.S. market rose and the retailing giant kept a lid on costs. Shares of Wal-Mart closed up more than 9 percent Thursday. The company posted first-quarter earnings per share of 98 cents, versus $1.03 a share in the year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter came in at $115.9 billion, against the comparable year-earlier figure of $114.83 billion. Analysts polled by Reuters expected the retail giant to report earnings per share of 88 cents on revenue of $113.22 billion.

Forget peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now, we’re supposed to believe there may be a racial component to Amazon’s new same-day shipping service for Prime members in certain areas of the country. The Christian Science Monitor reported: For many black consumers and especially those who have experienced discrimination in retail shops, Amazon presents a good option for shopping without being followed around or singled out. Here’s the kicker: But a Bloomberg analysis of the same-day shipping services reveals a racial bias: Amazon’s same-day shipping service often excludes predominantly black neighborhoods in six major cities. Say what? Some companies have made...

If you’re a regular shopper on Amazon and want the shopping benefits of Prime, it makes more sense to go with the full-year plan instead of the month-to-month option. Yes, you’ve got to pay $99 all at once for that membership, but that ends up significantly less expensive than the $131.88 you’d spend over the course of the year. Depending on what you buy, and how quickly you need it, you may want to consider ditching Prime altogether. Amazon recently made it more difficult for non-Prime members to qualify for free shipping, raising the minimum order to qualify for free...

Amazon.com Inc. really wants its customers to sign up for a Prime membership. In case there was any doubt, the Seattle retailer has raised the minimum order size for free shipping for its regular customers by 40% to $49. In October 2013, Amazon boosted the threshold to $35 after holding the line at $25 for at least a decade.

Here we are at the start of 2016, when Prime membership costs $99 a year, and a new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimates that there are currently roughly 54 million Amazon Prime members in the U.S. Overall, 47% of the people who shop at Amazon are Prime members, the study says. For Amazon, the astonishing growth of Prime is a tremendous win-win. Amazon benefits doubly with Prime because 1) it collects annual subscription fees from tens of millions of consumers; and 2) subscribers tend to spend a disproportionately high amount of money with Amazon compared to non-members....

Amazon upgrades customers to Amazon Prime and charges more than $100 for it without their permission or knowledge, a class claims in court. Gregory Harris filed the suit Wednesday against Amazon.com, alleging unfair competition and violations of consumer law and the federal Electronic Transfer Act. The complaint in superior court is the Top Download for Courthouse News on Friday. Harris claims Amazon charged him $107.91 for Prime without his permission. The flat annual fee for Amazon Prime includes free two-day shipping, video and music streaming, unlimited photo storage, and access to a Kindle lending library. Harris says Amazon upgraded him...

A thorough, documented, criminal indictment of George Herbert Walker Bush, establishing beyond a reasonable doubt his guilt as a supervisor in the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy. You must see it to believe that former president George Herbert Walker Bush was connected to the assassination of JFK. Once you see this documentary though there should be no doubt in your mind that it's true. The evidence is overwhelming and as the author of this documentary, John Hankey says, "If we could present this evidence to a jury in Texas, he would pay with his life". Did you know that...

US online retail giant Amazon said Sunday it plans to produce 16 feature films a year, throwing down the gauntlet to Netflix, whose African war drama "Beasts of No Nation" may be headed for Oscar glory in February. "We want to win an Oscar," Amazon boss Jeff Bezos told Sunday's edition of the German daily Die Welt. With its Prime subscription service, Amazon has invested heavily in boosting its video content, and like Netflix has gone into original production, both in TV series and now in cinema. Amazon won five Emmys for the TV comedy series "Transparent" this year. The...

Motoring presenter Jeremy Clarkson is working on a new show for Amazon Prime, eagerly awaited by his many fans. He's also being sued by the BBC producer he punched earlier this year.The blow Clarkson struck in March led the BBC not to renew his Top Gear contract. Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans will take over the BBC show, while Clarkson works for his new online employer.So what do we know so far about Clarkson's new TV show?The presenters will be the same Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond will provide their signature banter as a trio for the new show...

Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has given fans a tantalising first look at Amazon Prime's new motoring show after overseas filming began. He and co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May left the BBC earlier this year and signed a "very, very, very expensive" deal to make a car-themed programme with the online streaming service. The 55-year-old outspoken broadcaster had previously insisted "much is already sorted" for the show - after May suggested the stars had got "nowhere", with decisions about content or a name yet to be made. But Clarkson gave little away as he shared a picture with...