OMAHA, Neb. >> An employee at one of Berkshire Hathaway’s latest big acquisitions won $100,000 by correctly picking the winners of the first 29 games of the NCAA basketball tournament’s opening rounds.
Warren Buffett’s company said Monday that a welder for Precision Castparts, Dwayne Johnson, won the contest, which was open to Berkshire’s more than 350,000 employees. The 36-year-old winner, who lives in West Virginia, came just short of qualifying for a $1 million prize if he had picked all 3 2 games of the opening weekend correctly. There were 96,108 entrants in the contest this year.
Wells Fargo checking account openings sink
SAN FRANCISCO >> Wells Fargo’s new checking accounts plummeted 43 percent during February from the year-earlier month, an indication that a scandal over bogus accounts lingers over the company, the embattled bank reported Monday.
Applications for credit cards plunged 55 percent in February compared with the similar period in 2016.
Kuwaiti censors pull ‘Beauty and the Beast’
KUWAIT CITY >> “Beauty and the Beast” was pulled from cinemas in Kuwait on Monday after censors raised concerns over the content of the new film, which includes what has been called the first “gay moment” for a Disney character.
The film, which has grossed more than $180 million overseas, had been showing in the predominantly Muslim country of Kuwait since Thursday. But those who’d purchased tickets to see the movie Monday received text messages from Kuwait’s National Cinema Co. informing them that screenings were canceled due to “unforeseen difficulties.”
Duaij Al-Khalifa Al-Sabah, a board member at the National Cinema Co., which operates 11 of Kuwait’s 13 movie theaters, said an edited version of the movie may be in theaters later this week.
YouTube reverses gay-themed restriction
NEW YORK >> The YouTube video shows two women, dressed in suits and ties. They smile; they sniffle back tears; they gaze into each other’s eyes. They are reading their wedding vows to one another.
The four-minute video titled “Her Vows” contains no nudity, violence or swearing. There’s no revealing clothing. No one is engaging in activities that have a “high risk of injury or death.” And yet, YouTube had deemed the video unsuitable for people under 18.
YouTube acknowledged Monday that it might have made a mistake, and lifted the restriction Monday afternoon. The “restricted” designation lets parents, schools and libraries filter out content that isn’t appropriate for users under 18.
