ReportWire

Tag: Domestic Politics

  • Republican debate: Chris Christie says Trump's China tariffs helped drive inflation

    Republican debate: Chris Christie says Trump's China tariffs helped drive inflation

    [ad_1]

    “‘ ‘You want to know what has contributed to inflation in this country? Yes, it’s more government spending. Yes, it’s the fact that we’re printing too much money. Absolutely. But it is also the increase in prices that were driven by Donald Trump’s tariffs.’”


    — Former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie

    That was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie swinging hard against GOP frontrunner Donald Trump during Wednesday’s Republican debate at the University of Alabama.

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy joined Christie onstage in the fourth Republican presidential primary debate, which aired on NewsNation and the CW. 

    Former President Donald Trump skipped this debate, as he has done with the first three. But his presence was still felt, especially on the heels of his Fox News interview with Sean Hannity the night before, where he refused to rule out abusing power or seeking retribution if he gets re-elected. 

    While discussing foreign policy and inflation, Christie placed much of the blame for higher prices at the former president’s feet, while also blasting his trade relations with China.

    “The proof that he wasn’t good on trade with China is that all he did was imposed tariffs, which raise the prices for every American,” Christie said.

    “You can’t say he was good on trade, because he didn’t trade. He didn’t change one Chinese policy in the process. He failed on it.”

    Related: Opinion: 5 questions about China that Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate needs to answer

    That wasn’t the only swing that Christie took at Trump. The moderators opened Wednesday night’s debate by pressing the candidates on whether they are really electable, when most polls show the majority of Republican voters supporting Trump. And Christie responded by warning that Trump is “unfit” to serve as the commander-in-chief for a second term — even comparing him to “Harry Potter” villain Voldemort, who was a facist, evil wizard.

    “We’ve had these three [candidates on stage] acting as if the race is between the four of us. The fifth guy [Trump] doesn’t have the guts to show up and stand here,” Christie said. “And yet, I’ve got these three guys who want to seemingly compete with Voldemort — he-who-should-not-be-named. They don’t want to talk about it.”

    Christie also blamed Trump’s high poll numbers on many of his Republican rivals, whom he accused of condoning Trump’s more controversial actions and comments, including those that have landed him in legal trouble.

    “‘You want to know why those [Trump] poll numbers are where they are? Because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable.’”


    — Former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie

    “This is an angry, bitter man who wants to be back as president because he wants to exact retribution to anyone who disagreed with him, anyone who has tried to hold him to accountable for his own conduct,” Christie said, noting that the other colleagues on stage had raised their hands during the first GOP debate in August to show they would still support Trump, even if he was convicted of federal crimes.

    “You want to know why those poll numbers are where they are? Because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable,” Christie said. “Let me make it clear. His conduct is unacceptable. He’s unfit.”

    Read more: Nikki Haley says her big corporate supporters won’t affect her policies — and GOP rivals are ‘just jealous’ about them

    He continued: “My three colleagues are afraid to offend. If you’re afraid to offend Donald Trump, then what are you gonna do when you sit across from President Xi, you sit across from the Ayatollah, you sit across from President Putin?”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Nikki Haley says GOP rivals are 'just jealous' about her corporate supporters

    Nikki Haley says GOP rivals are 'just jealous' about her corporate supporters

    [ad_1]

    Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley pushed back when pressed at Wednesday’s primary debate on whether she’s too tight with billionaires and corporate interests, saying those supporters won’t affect her stances on key issues.

    “When it comes to these corporate people that want to suddenly support us, we’ll take it, but I don’t ask them what their policies are. They ask me what my policies are, and I tell them,” said Haley, a former ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina governor.

    “Sometimes they agree with me, sometimes they don’t,” she added. “Some don’t like how tough I am on China. Some don’t like the fact that I’ve signed pro-life bills. Some don’t like the fact that I may oppose corporate bailouts.”

    Also see: Republican debate: Chris Christie says Trump’s China tariffs helped drive inflation

    GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy attacked Haley over her time on Boeing’s
    BA,
    +1.17%
    board of directors and the money she’s received from Silicon Valley billionaire Reid Hoffman.

    “Nikki, you were bankrupt when you left the U.N.,” the entrepreneur said. “Now you’re a multimillionaire. That math does not add up. It adds up to the fact that you are corrupt.”

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized her as well, saying: “These Wall Street liberal donors, they make money in China. They are not going to let her be tough on China, and she will cave to the donors.”

    Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy holds up a sign that accuses rival Nikki Haley of being corrupt as he speaks during the fourth Republican presidential primary debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.


    AFP via Getty Images

    Haley, meanwhile, said she wasn’t bankrupt after her stint as ambassador, but rather she and her husband had been in public service. She also spoke highly of Boeing, but noted she left the airplane maker’s board because she didn’t support its efforts to get a bailout during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “In terms of these donors that are supporting me, they’re just jealous,” Haley added, referring to DeSantis and Ramaswamy. “They wish that they were supporting them.”

    The comments came Wednesday night at the 2024 Republican presidential primary’s fourth debate, held at the University of Alabama. Besides DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also took part in the clash.

    The primary’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, skipped the debate, just as he steered clear of the previous three.

    Related: Nikki Haley has ‘all of the momentum’ as the latest Republican debate hits but faces uphill battle to topple Trump

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • New York Gov. Hochul picks February date for special election to Santos seat in House

    New York Gov. Hochul picks February date for special election to Santos seat in House

    [ad_1]

    ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A special election to pick a successor to George Santos, the New York Republican who was expelled from the U.S. House last week, will be held on Feb. 13, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.

    The race for a seat representing some Long Island suburbs and a small part of the New York City borough of Queens is expected to be a high-profile contest that will mark the start of a year of consequential congressional elections in the state.

    For Democrats, the election will be a test of the party’s ability to flip districts around New York City that are seen as vital to their plans to retake control of the House. Republicans enter the contest with heavy momentum on Long Island and will fight to hold on to the district as they look to maintain their narrow House majority.

    From the archives (December 2022): Yes, top House Republicans knew of George Santos’s lies before his election in November

    Candidates in the special election will be picked by party leaders, not voters.

    Former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi has emerged as the potential frontrunner nominee for Democrats. Suozzi, 61, represented the district for six years before launching an unsuccessful campaign for governor last year, and previously held political posts as a county executive and mayor on Long Island.

    The centrist Democrat’s deep ties in Long Island politics may provide name recognition and the ability to quickly stand up a campaign — vital attributes in an narrowly focused election where voters will have a limited amount of time to pick their representative.

    From the archives (January 2023): George Santos has ‘disgraced’ U.S. House and should resign, say fellow Long Island Republicans

    Suozzi had announced his campaign for the seat before Santos was expelled, and has been promoting a series of endorsements from local politicians and labor groups after the district became vacant.

    Also vying for the Democratic nomination is former state senator Anna Kaplan, who has in recent days taken potshots at Suozzi’s record and sought to center the special election on passing federal legislation guaranteeing abortion rights.

    On the Republican side, potential names include retired police detective Mike Sapraicone, Air Force veteran Kellen Curry and Nassau County legislator Mazi Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Jewish woman who served in the Israeli military.

    Sapraicone, who is also the founder of a private security company, said he has been interviewed by county Republicans who will select the nominee, with the panel quizzing him on his political stances, his ability to fundraise and quickly launch a campaign.

    Like Suozzi, Sapraicone launched his campaign before Santos was expelled and has already begun to fundraise, with his campaign coffers including $300,000 of his own money, he said.

    “For us to maintain the House and retain the majority is so important,” Sapraicone said. “It’s so important that New York sets the tone here in February.”

    Democrats want to flip at least five House seats in New York next year, with the Santos seat being a potential early indicator of their chances in November.

    The party has dedicated significant financial and organizational resources to the state, after a series of losses last year in the New York City suburbs helped Republicans take control of the House and brought down heavy criticism on state Democrats.

    President Joe Biden won the district in 2020, but Republicans have notched electoral gains on Long Island in recent years as moderate suburban voters there, in contrast to urban areas in much of the country, have shown signs of gravitating toward the GOP.

    In the latest sign of Republican strength on Long Island, the GOP won several local elections last month, including races in the now-vacant district.

    Santos was expelled from the House last week following a scandal-plagued tenure in Congress and a looming criminal trial. He is only the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues.

    He had survived an expulsion vote just a month earlier.

    Read on:

    Will George Santos still qualify for a pension and strolling around the House floor?

    There’s a George Santos bobblehead with a Pinocchio-style nose — and that’s no lie

    John Fetterman buys a George Santos Cameo for ‘ethically challenged colleague’ Bob Menendez

    House Republicans scuttle Democrats’ effort to expel George Santos

    Why Republicans are opposing a Senate bid to tighten up Supreme Court ethics amid Clarence Thomas questions

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden: ‘If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running’

    Biden: ‘If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running’

    [ad_1]

    President Joe Biden said Tuesday he’s not sure he’d be running again for the White House if former President Donald Trump weren’t also in the race, telling donors that Democrats “cannot let him win.”

    “If Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running,” the president said in remarks in Boston. “But we cannot let him win.”

    Biden’s comments come as Trump maintains a commanding lead in polls for the Republican presidential nomination, and four other GOP primary contenders are set to debate on Wednesday night.

    Biden has been attacking Trump as a threat to democracy and has sounded the alarm about the former president’s desires to gut the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

    Polls show a matchup between Biden and Trump as essentially tied, and the current president has lately been sharpening his attacks against his predecessor.

    Last month, a Biden campaign adviser dismissed polls that showed Trump beating Biden in five key battleground states, amid concerns about Biden’s age and rising support for Trump among Black voters.

    “We’ll win in 2024 by putting our heads down and doing the work, not by fretting about a poll,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said.

     

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • China’s debt outlook cut to negative by Moody’s

    China’s debt outlook cut to negative by Moody’s

    [ad_1]

    Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday cut the outlook on China’s debt to negative from stable citing expectations that the national government will have to step in to rescue regional and local governments.

    Moody’s kept China’s long-term rating at A1.

    “The change to a negative outlook reflects rising evidence that financial support will be provided by the government and wider public sector to financially-stressed regional and local governments and state-owned enterprises, posing broad downside risks to China’s fiscal, economic and institutional strength,” said the note from the rating agency, which last month cut the outlook on the U.S.

    China’s property troubles mean that regional and local governments face a loss of land sale revenue, which accounted for 37% of their revenue in 2022 outside of central government transfers. Moody’s says regions that relied most heavily on land sales won’t be able to offset that revenue loss from other sources.

    Moody’s estimates one-third of state-owned enterprises debt — some 40% of GDP — has an interest coverage below 1, which indicates weak debt sustainability. “While not all [state-owned enterprises] are likely to need direct government support, even a moderate proportion doing so over the medium term would represent a significant crystallization of contingent liabilities for the sovereign, increasing the costs of financial support and diminishing fiscal strength,” said Moody’s.

    In a rough day for Chinese stocks, the Hang Seng
    HK:HSI
    fell 1.9%, and the Shanghai Composite
    CN:SHCOMP
    dropped 1.7%.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • China’s Colossal Hidden-Debt Problem Is Coming to a Head

    China’s Colossal Hidden-Debt Problem Is Coming to a Head

    [ad_1]

    China’s Colossal Hidden-Debt Problem Is Coming to a Head

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Will George Santos still qualify for a pension and strolling around the House floor?

    Will George Santos still qualify for a pension and strolling around the House floor?

    [ad_1]

    Rep. George Santos was expelled from Congress in an historic vote Friday, following a House panel’s findings of substantial evidence of lawbreaking by the New York Republican.

    But could Santos, 35, still enjoy some of the benefits that come with having served as his Long Island district’s congressman?

    The answer is yes for some perks, but not all. Read on for details.

    Question: Can an expelled member of Congress still collect a pension?

    Answer: No, not if the lawmaker has served for less than five years. Santos was sworn into office just 11 months ago, after Republicans picked up enough seats in November 2022’s midterm elections to gain a small majority in the House.

    U.S. lawmakers are eligible for a pension at age 62 only if they have completed at least five years of service, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

    What’s more, lawmakers can lose their pension if they’re convicted of fraud-related offenses, and Santos is facing such charges. But that provision came relatively recently, with 2007’s Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, and some watchdogs say that law has loopholes that need to be closed up.

    Question: Does an expelled member of Congress still get free healthcare?

    Answer: It’s a myth that House lawmakers and U.S. senators get totally free healthcare, according to the office of Rep. Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

    Current members of Congress are authorized to receive free outpatient medical care and emergency dental care at military facilities in the Washington, D.C., area, but they’re billed for inpatient services and former members aren’t eligible, according to a separate CRS report.

    Overall, just as tens of millions of Americans make use of employer-sponsored health insurance, members of Congress and designated congressional staff receive employer-sponsored insurance through the District of Columbia’s Obamacare exchange, known as DC Health Link, the report said, though some lawmakers have opted to pay for other health plans.

    Question: Does an expelled member of Congress still get access to the House floor?

    Answer: Yes. Former members of the House are entitled to admission to that chamber’s floor while it’s in session, as long as they aren’t lobbyists, according to another CRS report.

    It’s among the courtesies and privileges for ex-lawmakers that come from U.S. law, chamber rules or as a matter of custom, the report said. Others include access to parking, athletic and dining facilities.

    However, Santos on Friday sounded like he wouldn’t make use of his floor privileges or other such perks. “Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place,” he told reporters after his expulsion, according to a CNN report.

    Question: Can former House lawmakers lobby their old colleagues?

    Answer: Yes, once they go through a one-year “cooling off” period.

    Turning to lobbying is a common move. For example, at least 15 members of the 115th Congress had taken up work at lobbying firms by March 2019, just two months after the 116th Congress had been sworn in.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • George Santos expelled from Congress in House vote. Here's what comes next.

    George Santos expelled from Congress in House vote. Here's what comes next.

    [ad_1]

    Rep. George Santos on Friday was expelled from Congress in an historic vote, following a congressional panel’s findings of substantial evidence of lawbreaking by the New York Republican.

    Santos becomes just the sixth lawmaker in U.S. history to be expelled, a move that takes two-thirds of the House of Representatives. The vote was 311-114, with 105 Republicans joining 206 Democrats to remove him.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, will have 10 days to schedule a special election for the seat, according to state law.

    That contest could result in Democrats picking up another seat in the narrowly divided House, which Republicans now control with 222 members to Democrats’ 213. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat “Lean Democrat.”

    Read: Congress returns to face big to-do list: Israel and Ukraine aid, possible border or tax deals, and more

    A simple majority, or 218 members when no seats are vacant, is required to pass most House legislation.

    Santos earlier this month said he would not run for re-election in the wake of a House Ethics panel report. That report said the congressman caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission, and used campaign funds for personal purposes including Botox treatments and luxury goods.

    Now see: George Santos won’t run for re-election after ethics panel finds ‘substantial evidence’ of lawbreaking

    The expulsion vote came amid a busy post-Thanksgiving period for Congress, with lawmakers debating President Joe Biden’s $106 billion funding request that includes wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine. Biden is trying to sweeten his pitch for aid for Ukraine by mixing in $14 billion for securing the U.S. southern border in the hope that it will bring more Republicans on board.

    See: Congress returns to face big to-do list: Israel and Ukraine aid, possible border or tax deals, and more

    Santos on Thursday remained defiant in the face of the looming vote, criticizing his House colleagues and saying he’s watched them “waste the American people’s time over and over again.”

    “This will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from Congress when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts,” he said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

    It will be up to local party leaders to select special-election candidates. On the Democratic side, former Rep. Tom Suozzi and former state senator Anna Kaplan have announced bids; while Republicans Mazi Melesa Pilip, a Nassau County legislator, and former J.P. Morgan executive Kellen Curry are potential picks for their party, according to Semafor.

    Santos is separately facing charges he stole the identities of donors to his campaign and then used their credit cards to ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges.

    Read: Rep. George Santos faces new charges alleging he stole donor IDs, made unauthorized credit-card charges

    Expulsion is the sternest form of punishment and has occurred just five times in the history of the House — three times during the Civil War for disloyalty to the Union and twice after convictions on federal charges, most recently in 2002.

    Two Democrats — Bobby Scott of Virginia and Nikema Williams of Georgia — voted against expelling Santos, while two other Democrats — Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Al Green of Texas — voted present.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Santos should not be expelled before a criminal case against him is resolved. Johnson and the three other top House GOP leaders voted for Santos to remain in Congress.      

    Victor Reklaitis and the Associated Press contributed

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Henry Kissinger, the polarizing former secretary of state, dies at 100

    Henry Kissinger, the polarizing former secretary of state, dies at 100

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravelly voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.

    With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.

    Kissinger’s power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon.

    “No doubt my vanity was piqued,” Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence. “But the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe.”

    A Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, Kissinger in his later years cultivated the reputation of respected statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike and managing a global consulting business. He turned up in President Donald Trump’s White House on multiple occasions. But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations — many in Kissinger’s own words — that sometimes cast him in a harsh light.

    Never without his detractors, Kissinger after he left government was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.

    For eight restless years — first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time in the middle holding both titles — Kissinger ranged across the breadth of major foreign policy issues. He conducted the first “shuttle diplomacy” in the quest for Middle East peace. He used secret channels to pursue ties between the United States and China, ending decades of isolation and mutual hostility.

    He initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means — a “decent interval,” he called it — to get the United States out of a costly war in Vietnam. Two years later, Saigon fell to the communists.

    And he pursued a policy of detente with the Soviet Union that led to arms control agreements and raised the possibility that the tensions of the Cold War and its nuclear threat did not have to last forever.

    At age 99, he was still out on tour for his book on leadership. Asked in July 2022 interview with ABC whether he wished he could take back any of his decisions, Kissinger demurred, saying: “I’ve been thinking about these problems all my life. It’s my hobby as well as my occupation. And so the recommendations I made were the best of which I was then capable.”

    Even then, he had mixed thoughts on Nixon’s record, saying “his foreign policy has held up and he was quite effective in domestic policy” while allowing that the disgraced president had “permitted himself to be involved in a number of steps that were inappropriate for a president.”

    As Kissinger turned 100 in May 2023, his son David wrote in The Washington Post that his father’s centenary “might have an air of inevitability for anyone familiar with his force of character and love of historical symbolism. Not only has he outlived most of his peers, eminent detractors and students, but he has also remained indefatigably active throughout his 90s.”

    Asked during a CBS interview in the leadup to his 100th birthday about those who view his conduct of foreign policy over the years as a kind of “criminality,” Kissinger was nothing but dismissive.

    “That’s a reflection of their ignorance,” Kissinger said. “It wasn’t conceived that way. It wasn’t conducted that way.”

    Tributes for Kissinger from prominent U.S. officials poured immediately upon word of his death. Former President George W. Bush said the U.S. “lost one of the most dependable and distinctive voices on foreign affairs” and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Kissinger was “endlessly generous with the wisdom gained over the course of an extraordinary life.”

    Kissinger’s consulting firm said he died at his home in Connecticut.

    Kissinger was a practitioner of realpolitik — using diplomacy to achieve practical objectives rather than advance lofty ideals. Supporters said his pragmatic bent served U.S. interests; critics saw a Machiavellian approach that ran counter to democratic ideals.

    He was castigated for authorizing telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks in Nixon’s White House. He was denounced on college campuses for the bombing and allied invasion of Cambodia in April 1970, intended to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines to communist forces in South Vietnam.

    That “incursion,” as Nixon and Kissinger called it, was blamed by some for contributing to Cambodia’s fall into the hands of Khmer Rouge insurgents who later slaughtered some 2 million Cambodians.

    Kissinger, for his part, made it his mission to debunk what he referred to in 2007 as a “prevalent myth” — that he and Nixon had settled in 1972 for peace terms that had been available in 1969 and thus had needlessly prolonged the Vietnam War at the cost of tens of thousands of American lives.

    He insisted that the only way to speed up the withdrawal would have been to agree to Hanoi’s demands that the U.S. overthrow the South Vietnamese government and replace it with communist-dominated leadership.

    Pudgy and messy, Kissinger incongruously acquired a reputation as a ladies’ man in the staid Nixon administration. Kissinger, who had divorced his first wife in 1964, called women “a diversion, a hobby.” Jill St. John was a frequent companion. But it turned out his real love interest was Nancy Maginnes, a researcher for Nelson Rockefeller whom he married in 1974.

    In a 1972 poll of Playboy Club Bunnies, the man dubbed “Super-K” by Newsweek finished first as “the man I would most like to go out on a date with.”

    Kissinger’s explanation: “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”

    Yet Kissinger was reviled by many Americans for his conduct of wartime diplomacy. He was still a lightning rod decades later: In 2015, an appearance by the 91-year-old Kissinger before the Senate Armed Services Committee was disrupted by protesters demanding his arrest for war crimes and calling out his actions in Southeast Asia, Chile and beyond.

    Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in the Bavarian city of Fuerth on May 27, 1923, the son of a schoolteacher. His family left Nazi Germany in 1938 and settled in Manhattan, where Heinz changed his name to Henry.

    Kissinger had two children, Elizabeth and David, from his first marriage.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Congress returns to face big to-do list: Israel and Ukraine aid, possible border or tax deals, and more

    Congress returns to face big to-do list: Israel and Ukraine aid, possible border or tax deals, and more

    [ad_1]

    Both the House and Senate are due to get back to work this week after their Thanksgiving break, and lawmakers have a lot on their plates.

    A divided Washington put off the threat of a partial government shutdown until mid-January by enacting a short-term spending bill in mid-November, but the measure didn’t address President Joe Biden’s $106 billion funding request that includes wartime aid for Israel and Ukraine.

    So…

    Master your money.

    Subscribe to MarketWatch.

    Get this article and all of MarketWatch.

    Access from any device. Anywhere. Anytime.


    Subscribe Now

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How the Hamas hostage-release deal evolved — and nearly fell apart — in final days

    How the Hamas hostage-release deal evolved — and nearly fell apart — in final days

    [ad_1]

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The negotiations hardly ran smoothly. But, in the end, persistence paid off.

    Six weeks ago, not long after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took scores of others hostage in a surprise assault, the government of Qatar quietly reached out to the United States to discuss how to secure the release of those who were taken captive by the militant group.

    But…

    Master your money.

    Subscribe to MarketWatch.

    Get this article and all of MarketWatch.

    Access from any device. Anywhere. Anytime.


    Subscribe Now

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Argentina stocks and bonds surge after Milei’s victory. Can the party continue?

    Argentina stocks and bonds surge after Milei’s victory. Can the party continue?

    [ad_1]

    Argentina stocks surged and bonds rallied following news that radical libertarian economist Javier Milei will become Argentina’s next president after an unexpected electoral win.  

    But investors have their doubts that the initial market moves can be sustained.

    In his campaign, Milei, who is known for brandishing a chainsaw at rallies, outlined…

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How a second set of Trump tax cuts could jack up the national debt

    How a second set of Trump tax cuts could jack up the national debt

    [ad_1]

    If Donald Trump were to be elected president in 2024, what would it mean for U.S. tax policy and the national debt?

    There are growing expectations that he could deliver another round of big tax cuts, with the reductions coming right as those enacted in 2017’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act are due to expire in 2025.

    “If Republicans hold their House…

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown

    Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown

    [ad_1]

    The Democratic-run Senate has approved a short-term funding measure that prevents a partial government shutdown from hitting this weekend, with the vote coming after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives gave its OK on Tuesday to the continuing resolution.

    The measure passed late Wednesday night, by a vote of 87-11.

    “This Friday night there will be no government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech before the vote Wednesday night.

    The White House has said President Joe Biden plans to sign the two-tiered measure into law, noting it “maintains current funding levels and has no harmful policy riders.”

    The measure from House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, sets up a divided Washington for more funding fights in early 2024, as it extends government funding for some agencies and programs only until Jan. 19, and for others until Feb. 2.

    The government had been funded just through Friday, so a partial shutdown would have begun early Saturday if U.S. lawmakers hadn’t been able to find agreement on a spending package.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • How the Biden-Xi meeting in San Francisco could help prevent a world war

    How the Biden-Xi meeting in San Francisco could help prevent a world war

    [ad_1]

    President Joe Biden will meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping near San Francisco Wednesday, and hanging over the summit is the threat of war over the island of Taiwan, a conflict that would likely cripple the world economy and plunge the U.S. and its allies into a devastating global conflict.

    Experts are divided on how Biden can best avoid such an outcome, but there is a consensus that a war with China would be extremely costly in economic, political and human terms. China has long seen self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province.

    Also read: Biden says his goal for Xi meeting is to get U.S.-China communications back to normal

    “The U.S. Air Force and Navy would have to operate in an environment unlike anything they’ve seen since World War II,” said Mark Cancian, a former Marine Corps colonel, Defense Department official and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Earlier this year, Cancian led a wargame simulation of what would happen if China attempted an amphibious invasion of Taiwan and found that if the U.S. intervened to defend the island, it would likely lead to the loss of dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft and 15,000 U.S. casualties in just the first month of the war.

    Other experts argue that this is too optimistic a scenario. Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Engagement program at the think tank Defense Priorities, criticized the war game in a recent panel discussion as too optimistic in its estimate of the forces China would bring to bear in a Taiwan invasion, arguing that the Chinese would use their coast guard and merchant marine as well as military vessels to invade the island.

    “The idea that we would have anywhere near the munitions to sink tens of thousands of ships that would be involved is a major fallacy,” he said, adding that a war with China would make the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza “look like small brushfires.”

    Biden and Xi last met about a year ago in Indonesia, and the U.S. leader at the time told his Chinese counterpart that he objected to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan. Speaking with reporters on Nov. 9, a senior Biden administration official said the U.S. is concerned about “a ramping up of military activities around Taiwan in ways that are unprecedented, that are dangerous, that are provocative.”

    Now see: Taiwan says more than 100 Chinese warplanes flew toward the island in past day

    Economic fallout

    The CSIS report underscores the damage that U.S. armed forces and those of its allies would suffer in a war with China, but the economic fallout would also have a profound affect on Americans at home.

    “It’s almost hard to calculate the just how bad a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be economically,” said Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former National Security Council official under President George W. Bush.

    Barron’s: China’s clout undimmed as U.S. companies line up to meet Xi Jinping. Why it’s a two-way street.

    He noted that because of Taiwan’s central importance in the supply chain for advanced semiconductors
    SMH,
    it could grind to a halt markets for advanced electronic devices as well as consumer goods like automobiles that increasingly rely on computer chips.

    “I think we’d be looking at a global financial crash that’s more in line with what we’ve seen in World War I and World War II than anything we’ve seen recently,” he said.

    Market observers have latched onto the idea that China’s recent economic woes make it less likely that it will behave aggressively on the global stage.

    “If Chinese consumers have been spooked by COVID lockdowns and a cascading property collapse, imagine how an escalating confrontation might shatter their outlook,” wrote Christopher Smart, managing partner at Arbroath Group, in a recent note.

    But some U.S. policymakers disagree, including Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, chairman of the House select committee on competition with China, who said at a recent event that it’s “plausible that as China confronts serious economic and demographic issues, Xi Jinping could get more risk accepting, and could get less predictable and do something very stupid.”

    Biden’s task

    The foreign policy community in Washington is divided over what the best strategy for deterring a Chinese invasion, with some emphasizing restraint and others the need to show strength in the face of a progressively belligerent Xi Jinping.

    “Taiwan is increasingly discussed as being a critical strategic location for the United States that it must defend and can’t allow to fall to China because it will have a domino effect across the region,” said Michael Swaine, a China expert and senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

    He added that this is a departure from the stance the U.S. adopted in 1979 when it established official relations with the People’s Republic of China, which was that it does not seek Taiwanese independence and would not stand in the way of a peaceful reunification.

    Biden has underscored this drift with several statements in recent years that the U.S. would defend Taiwan if China were to try to take it by force, a change from the so-called strategic ambiguity that has guided U.S. policy in the past.

    Swain argues that the Biden administration must do more to foster communication with China on a broad set of issues and take seriously Chinese concerns that the U.S. alliance system in Asia is seeking to contain Chinese growth with military means.

    Others argue that Xi Jinping is a rational actor and U.S. efforts to foster alliances in the region are necessary to show China that a Taiwanese invasion would be costly and potentially threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s rule.

    “There’s a big difference between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin,” AEI’s Cooper said. “Most experts don’t see Xi as a risk taker, and we need to be doing everything we can to have the deterrence capability to convince him not to start a conflict.”

    The summit

    It’s unlikely that the public will will see evidence from Wednesday’s meeting of thawing tensions over the Taiwan issue, as the two sides have already said there will be no joint statement issued, Swaine of the Quincy Institute said.

    “They will repeat their talking points on Taiwan and move on,” he said. “But it’s possible we could see them state very clearly their commitment to resuming a crisis communication dialogue” between each country’s militaries, which was cut off following former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last year.

    Cooper of AEI said that the reason for the meeting isn’t concrete deliverables, but mutual understanding that can result from a leader-to-leader dialogue.

    “The real value of the Xi meeting is the administration’s ability to interact with him directly and try to understand better how he’s thinking, what information he’s getting,” he said. “It’s not something you’ll see in a statement, it will be done behind closed doors and judging the aftermath will be difficult.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Sen. Tim Scott drops out of the 2024 Republican presidential race

    Sen. Tim Scott drops out of the 2024 Republican presidential race

    [ad_1]

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott announced late Sunday that he was dropping out of the 2024 race, about two months before the start of voting in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses.

    The South Carolina senator, who entered the race in May with high hopes, made the surprise announcement on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Night in America” with Trey Gowdy. The news was so abrupt that one campaign worker told The Associated Press that campaign staff found out Scott was dropping out by watching the show. The worker was not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    “I love America more today than I did on May 22,” Scott said Sunday. “But when I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign. I think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they’re telling me, ‘Not now, Tim.’”

    Scott’s impending departure comes as he and the rest of the GOP field have struggled in a race that has been dominated by former President Donald Trump. Despite four criminal indictments and a slew of other legal challenges, Trump continues to poll far ahead of his rivals, leading many in the party to conclude the race is effectively over, barring some stunning change of fortune.

    Scott, in particular, has had trouble gaining traction in the polls, despite millions spent on his behalf by high-profile donors. In his efforts to run a positive campaign, he was often overshadowed by other candidates — particularly on the debate stage, where he seemed to disappear as others sparred. It was unclear whether Scott would qualify for the fourth debate, which will require higher polling numbers and more unique donors.

    He was the second high-profile Republican to depart from the race in the last couple of weeks, coming after former Vice President Mike Pence, who was still dealing with fallout from his decision to reject a scheme by Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden, and avoid a constitutional crisis.

    Scott said he wouldn’t be making an endorsement of his remaining Republican rivals.

    “The voters are really smart,” Scott said. “The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in on who they should endorse.”

    He also appeared to rule out serving as vice president, saying the No. 2 slot “has never been on my to-do list for this campaign, and it’s certainly not there now.”

    Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to news of Scott’s exit. But Trump has been careful not to criticize the senator, leading some in his orbit to consider Scott a potential vice presidential pick.

    The former president and his team had welcomed a large field of rivals, believing they would splinter the anti-Trump vote and prevent a clear challenger from emerging.

    Scott, a deeply religious former insurance broker, made his grandfather’s work in the cotton fields of the Deep South a bedrock of his political identity and of his presidential campaign. But he also refused to frame his own life story around the country’s racial inequities, insisting that those who disagree with his views on the issue are trying to “weaponize race to divide us,” and that “the truth of my life disproves their lies.”

    He sought to focus on hopeful themes and avoid divisive language to distinguish himself from the grievance-based politics favored by rivals including Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

    DeSantis responded to Scott’s announced departure by commending him as a “strong conservative with bold ideas about how to get our country back on track.

    “I respect his courage to run this campaign and thank him for his service to America and the U.S. Senate,” he wrote on social media.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Haley, Christie open to raising Social Security retirement age

    Haley, Christie open to raising Social Security retirement age

    [ad_1]

    Social Security’s pending insolvency grabbed attention at the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, with some candidates saying they would be willing to raise the full retirement age for young people just starting out.

    “We have to raise the retirement age,” said former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “I have a son who’s in the audience tonight, who’s 30 years old. If he can’t adjust to a few years increase in Social Security retirement age over the next 40 years, I got bigger problems with him than his Social Security payments.”

    Also see: ‘Rich people should not be collecting Social Security,’ Chris Christie says at GOP debate

    Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said promises to current older adults must be kept, but young people just starting out should see higher retirement ages.

    “What we need to do is keep our promises, those that have been promised should keep it,” Haley said. “But for like, my kids in their 20s, you go and you say ‘We’re going to change the rules.’ You change the retirement age for them.”

    Currently, the full retirement age is 67 for those born in 1960 or later.

    Read: Social Security is now projected to be unable to pay full benefits a year earlier than expected

    Haley declined to cite a specific age that retirement should be raised to, but said it should reflect longer life expectancy.

    Sen. Tim Scott, however, said he would protect Social Security for older adults and not raise the retirement age.

    “Let me just say to my mama and every other mama or grandfather receiving Social Security: As president of the United States, I will protect your Social Security.”

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he’d protect Social Security for seniors.

    “I know a few people on Social Security and … my grandmother lived until 91 and Social Security was her sole source of income. And that’s true for a lot of seniors throughout this country,” DeSantis said. “So I’d say to seniors in America: Promise made, promise kept.”

    When pressed whether he would raise the retirement age, he said: “So it’s one thing to peg it on life expectancy, but we have had a significant decline in life expectancy in this country, and that is the fact.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • AI could spark the next financial crisis, SEC Chair Gary Gensler says

    AI could spark the next financial crisis, SEC Chair Gary Gensler says

    [ad_1]

    Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has plenty to worry about as he seeks to bring order and fairness to America’s $100 trillion capital markets, and there are few issues that cause him more concern than the spread of artificial-intelligence technology. 

    In an exclusive interview with MarketWatch, the regulator argued that generative AI technologies in the vein of ChatGPT have the potential to revolutionize the way we invest by leveraging large data sets to “predict things that were unimaginable even 10 years ago,” but that these new powers will come with great risks. 

    “A growing issue is that [AI] could lead to a risk in the whole system,” Gensler said. “As many financial actors rely on one or just two or three models in the middle … you create a monoculture, you create herding.” 

    Gary Gensler: AI could pose ‘a risk in the whole system.’

    This herding effect can be dangerous if there is a flaw in the model that might reverberate through markets during a time of stress, causing abrupt and unpredictable price changes in markets. Gensler pointed to the examples of cloud computing and search engines as markets for tech products that have quickly become dominated by one or two major players, and he said he worries about similar concentration in the market for AI technology.

    The regulator said this issue is especially difficult because of the fragmented nature of the U.S. regulatory apparatus, which relies on the SEC to oversee securities markets while other agencies have responsibility for banks or commodity markets. 

    “This is more of a cross-entity issue,” Gensler said. “That’s the challenge for these new technologies.”

    As SEC chair, Gensler has escalated his regulatory agency’s crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry in 2023 by launching lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, the two largest digital asset exchanges in the world by trading volume. The SEC alleges the two companies are operating unregistered securities exchanges in the U.S., but the companies say they are not running afoul of securities laws.

    Gensler is simultaneously pushing forward the most fundamental market-structure reform measures in a generation. Gensler lands on The MarketWatch 50 list of the most influential people in markets. 

    But AI is another issue that Gensler is starting to ring alarm bells over. There’s a little bit of irony because the promise of AI has largely been responsible for the S&P 500’s
    SPX
    gains in 2023. The SEC chair said that his agency is already contemplating new rules to regulate artificial intelligence. For example, the SEC proposed a rule this summer to address conflicts of interest associated with stock brokers and investment advisors that leverage algorithms to predict and guide investor decisions through their smartphone applications or web interfaces.

    The industry is pushing back on the proposal, arguing that existing rules are sufficient to prevent harm to investors and that a new rule would prevent brokers from using technology to create a better experience for clients. 

    Gensler said that the SEC benefits from such feedback, but still believes that regulators must be vigilant about the impact of these so-called predictive analytical tools. “If they do that to suggest a certain movie on a streaming app, okay,” he said. “But if they’re doing that about your financial help … we should address those conflicts.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Former Vice President Mike Pence ends campaign for the White House after struggling to gain traction

    Former Vice President Mike Pence ends campaign for the White House after struggling to gain traction

    [ad_1]

    Former Vice President Mike Pence is dropping his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, ending his campaign for the White House after struggling to raise money and gain traction in the polls.

    “After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” Pence said at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas. “We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” he said.

    Pence becomes the first major candidate to leave a race that has been dominated by his former boss-turned-rival, Donald Trump.

    The decision, more than two months before the Iowa caucuses that he had staked his campaign on, saves Pence from the embarrassment of failing to qualify for the third Republican primary debate, Nov. 8 in Miami.

    But the withdrawal is a huge blow for a politician who spent years biding his time as Trump’s most loyal lieutenant, only to be scapegoated during their final days in office when Trump became convinced that Pence somehow had the power to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep both men in office — not something a vice president could do.

    While Pence averted a constitutional crisis by rejecting the scheme, he drew Trump’s fury, as well as the wrath of many of Trump’s supporters who believed his lies and still see Pence as a traitor.

    Among Trump critics, meanwhile, Pence was seen as an enabler who defended the former president at every turn and refused to criticize even Trump’s most indefensible actions time and again.

    As a result, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research from August found that the majority of U.S. adults, 57%, viewed Pence negatively, with only 28% having a positive view.

    Throughout his campaign, the former Indiana governor and congressman had insisted that while he was well-known by voters, he was not “known well” and set out to change that with an aggressive schedule that included numerous stops at diners and Pizza Ranch restaurants.

    Pence had been betting on Iowa, a state with a large white Evangelical population that has a long history of elevating religious and socially conservative candidates such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Rick Santorum.

    Pence often campaigned with his wife, Karen, a Christian school teacher, and emphasized his hard-line views on issues such as abortion, which he opposes even in cases when a pregnancy is unviable.

    He repeatedly called on his fellow candidates to support a minimum 15-week national ban and he pushed to ban drugs used as alternatives to surgical procedures.

    He tried to confront head-on his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 , explaining to voters over and over that he had done his constitutional duty that day, knowing full well the political consequences. It was a strategy that aides believed would help defuse the issue and earn Pence the respect of a majority of Republicans, whom they were were convinced did not agree with Trump’s actions.

    But even in Iowa, Pence struggled to gain traction.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Biden will face a primary bid from Rep. Dean Phillips, who says Democrats need to focus on future

    Biden will face a primary bid from Rep. Dean Phillips, who says Democrats need to focus on future

    [ad_1]

    CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — For months, Dean Phillips has been calling for a Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden. He’s drawn no public interest from governors, lawmakers, and other would-be alternatives.

    The Minnesota congressman is finally entering the race himself.

    The 54-year-old Phillips has scheduled a campaign announcement Friday at the New Hampshire statehouse in Concord. Asked during an interview by CBS if he was running for president, Phillips responded: “I am. I have to.”

    “I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country,” he said. “But it’s not about the past. This is an election about the future.”

    While Phillips is highly unlikely to beat Biden, a run would offer a symbolic challenge to national Democrats trying to project the idea that there is no reason to doubt the president’s electability — even as many Americans question whether the 80-year-old Biden should serve another term.

    Phillips may also benefit from New Hampshire Democrats angry at Biden for diluting their state’s influence on the 2024 Democratic primary calendar, a change that state party chairman Ray Buckley has warned could create a “potential embarrassment” by “an insurgent candidate, serious or not.”

    Biden’s reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee have declined to address Phillips’ possible run. But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted Phillips’ voting record and said, “We appreciate the congressman’s almost 100% support of this president.”

    Buckley was far more upbeat about Biden this week, saying the president would easily clinch his state’s primary even though he won’t officially run in it, requiring a write-in campaign. And Biden is planning to head next week to Phillips’ home state for an official event and fundraiser.

    The president has long cast himself as uniquely qualified to beat Donald Trump again after his 2020 win, and top Democrats have lined up behind him while also positioning themselves for a future primary run.

    Phillips has already missed the deadline to enter Nevada’s primary and is little known nationally. But he argues Biden may not be able to beat Trump again, telling CBS News that polling suggests “we’re going to be facing an emergency next November.”

    “I think it’s time for a new generation,” he told the network. “I think it’s time to pass the torch.”

    New Hampshire primary challenges have a history of wounding incumbent presidents.

    In 1968, another Minnesotan, Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy, built his campaign around opposing the Vietnam War and finished second in New Hampshire’s primary, helping push President Lyndon Johnson into forgoing a second term. Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy’s challenge of President Jimmy Carter and Pat Buchanan’s run against President George H.W. Bush both failed, but Carter and Bush ultimately lost their reelection bids.

    The state’s influence on Democrats was curtailed this year by changes engineered by the DNC at Biden’s behest.

    A new Democratic calendar has South Carolina leading off presidential primary voting on Feb. 3 and Nevada going three days later. New Hampshire has refused to comply, citing state laws saying its primary must go first, and plans a primary before South Carolina’s. The DNC could, in turn, strip the state of its nominating delegates.

    Steve Shurtleff, a former speaker of the New Hampshire House who has distanced himself from Biden, said he has spoken twice with Phillips and believed the congressman might appeal to some Democrats and independents who can choose to vote in the primary.

    “I like Biden and have a lot of respect for him. But I’m disappointed that he and the DNC have tried to take away our primary,” Shurtleff said. “It’s not that I want to see Joe lose. It’s that I want to see our primary win.”

    But Terry Shumaker, a former DNC member from New Hampshire and longtime Biden supporter, said he expects the president to easily clinch the state as a write-in option. Shumaker recalled going door to door for McCarthy in 1968, but doesn’t see Phillips gaining similar traction.

    “I’m not aware of what his message is,” he said. “To do well in the New Hampshire primary, you have to have a message.”

    There are no primary debates scheduled, according to the DNC. The only other Democrat running in the 2024 primary is self-help author Marianne Williamson. Anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr. announced this month that he’s running as an independent.

    Phillips is one of the wealthiest members of Congress and heir to his stepfather’s Phillips Distilling Company empire, which holds major vodka and schnapps brands. He once served as that company’s president but also ran the gelato maker Talenti. His grandmother was the late Pauline Phillips, better known as the advice columnist “Dear Abby.”

    Driving a gelato truck was a centerpiece of his first House campaign in 2018, when Phillips unseated five-term Republican Erik Paulsen. While his district in mostly affluent greater Minneapolis has become more Democratic-leaning, Phillips has stressed that he is a moderate focused on his suburban constituents. He is a member of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress.

    Phillips has been suggesting since the summer that top Democrats challenge Biden for their party’s nomination but has been ignored by governors and other top elected officials. He told CBS in the interview on Friday that he hoped his announcing would encourage other primary challengers saying of competition “we need it.”

    Challenging his party’s leadership isn’t new for Phillips. When he first got to Congress, he spoke of the need for a “new generation” of Democrats to replace then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and was frustrated when no one emerged. He later praised Pelosi as “one of the most successful speakers of all time.”

    Still, he’s not the only one voicing concerns now. An AP-NORC poll released in August found that the top words associated with Biden were “old” and “confused.” Nearly 70% of Democrats and 77% of U.S. adults said they thought Biden was too old to be effective for four more years. The same poll found that respondents most frequently described Trump as “corrupt” and “dishonest.”

    Leslie Blanding, a retired teacher and Democrat from Bow, New Hampshire, said she did not know Phillips but was “thoroughly conflicted” over whether Biden should face a primary challenger.

    “I think Biden is too old. I think from the outset, he should’ve been looking to groom someone to succeed him, and he didn’t do that,” said Blanding, 75. “But I think he seems to be the only one positioned to have a strong chance of defeating Trump or whomever.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link