Business

Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms are back online after a massive global outage plunged the services and the businesses and people who rely on them into chaos for hours.

While accusing the giant social network of pursuing profits over safety, a former Facebook data scientist told Congress Tuesday she believes stricter government oversight could alleviate the dangers the company poses, from harming children to inciting political violence to fueling misinformation.

The severity of California’s housing crisis is difficult to exaggerate. Families in which spouses both have solid middle-income jobs struggle to afford mortgages for condos, not just single-family homes. Families in which spouses both have lower-income jobs often share apartments with others. Many single employed people — and some families — have no choice but to live in their cars. The nation’s richest state is also, perversely, its most impoverished.

CIT Group Inc. announced on September 16th, that its Real Estate Finance business served as sole lead arranger on a $41.6 million loan for the acquisition and renovation of The Devonshire Apartments in Hemet, California.

The six-hour outage at Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp was a headache for many casual users but far more serious for the millions of people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to run their businesses or communicate with relatives, fellow parents, teachers or neighbors.