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  • How to choose the best student loan repayment plan | CNN Politics

    How to choose the best student loan repayment plan | CNN Politics


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Millions of borrowers are required to make their monthly student loan payment for the first time in three-plus years in October, but there are several repayment plans available that could make the transition easier.

    Borrowers will be on the same payment plan they were before the pandemic pause started in March 2020, but they may want to consider switching to a different plan if their financial situation has changed.

    Plus, there’s also a new repayment plan, known as SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education), that launched this summer and could potentially lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers.

    Borrowers can use Federal Student Aid’s online “Loan Simulator” to compare their estimated payments under different repayment plans. They can switch plans at any time, for free, by contacting their student loan servicer or by submitting an application to Federal Student Aid.

    Here are some things to consider when exploring your payment options:

    Standard 10-year plan: When entering repayment for the first time, borrowers are automatically enrolled in the Standard Repayment Plan. These payments are based on how much debt a borrower has and sets a fixed monthly amount to ensure it’s all paid off, with interest, in 10 years.

    Income-driven plans: If a borrower is struggling to afford monthly payments, an income-driven plan – of which there are four types, including the new SAVE plan – may be a good option. These plans calculate monthly payments based on a borrower’s income and family size and are meant to keep payments affordable for low-income borrowers. Monthly bills could be as low as $0.

    Other non-income-related plans: The extended and graduated repayment plans could also lower a borrower’s monthly payment without calculating the amount based on income. They could be a good option for people who will eventually earn high salaries. The extended plan will spread payments over as many as 25 years. The graduated plan usually has a 10-year term, but payments start small and grow over time.

    Income-driven repayment plans could be good options for borrowers who feel as though their monthly payment is too high on the 10-year standard plan or on the extended and graduated plans. The four plans are called SAVE, Pay As You Earn, Income-Based Repayment and Income-Contingent Repayment.

    Under these income-driven plans, a borrower is required to pay a certain portion of their discretionary income, or what income is left after paying for family necessities such as rent, food and clothes.

    Generally, monthly payments under an income-driven plan go up when a borrower’s income goes up – or payments go down when a borrower has less discretionary income. Borrowers are required to recertify every year, which means payments will adjust if their income or family size has changed.

    The newest income-driven plan, SAVE, offers the most generous terms when it comes to lowering a borrower’s monthly bill. Once fully phased in next year, it will require some borrowers with undergraduate loans to pay just 5% of their discretionary income, down from the 10% required by most income-driven plans. SAVE also includes an interest subsidy so that debts don’t grow while a borrower makes payments.

    Borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans may also see their remaining student loan debt forgiven after making enough qualifying payments. The time to forgiveness varies by borrower and plan but won’t be longer than 25 years’ worth of payments.

    Eligibility for the income-driven repayment plans depends on what kind of federal student loans a borrower has, their income and when the loans were taken out. Most federal student loan borrowers are eligible for SAVE.

    Borrowers enrolled in the Standard Repayment Plan will usually pay the least amount over time. That’s because they will be finished paying in 10 years, leaving less time for interest to accrue.

    Borrowers may pay even less over time if they “prepay.” They are allowed to pay an extra amount, in addition to what’s required, at any time. Because of interest, this could also lower the total amount they end up paying under the Standard Repayment Plan.

    Parents who borrow to help finance their child’s education may have federal Parent PLUS loans, which are not eligible for all of the repayment plans.

    Like with other loans, borrowers with Parent PLUS loans are enrolled in the Standard Repayment Plan by default and are eligible to switch into the graduated and extended plans.

    Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for income-driven plans – but there is a workaround. If borrowers first consolidate their Parent PLUS loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan, they are then allowed to enroll in one type of income-driven plan – the Income-Contingent Repayment Plan – according to the Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that offers free student loan assistance.

    Parent PLUS borrowers will not be able to enroll in the newest income-driven plan, SAVE, even if they consolidate.

    It’s worth noting that the Income-Contingent Repayment Plan will close next year to new borrowers, except to those with consolidation loans that repaid a Parent PLUS loan, according to Department of Education rules.

    Marriage could result in a significant increase for borrowers enrolled in an income-driven plan because a spouse’s income will be included in the payment calculation.

    But some married borrowers who file taxes separately can shield their spouse’s income to get a lower monthly student loan payment. This is true under the SAVE, Income-Based Repayment and Income-Contingent Repayment plans.

    Borrowers enrolled in the 10-year standard plan won’t see a change after getting married.

    The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program could be a great option for borrowers with a lot of student loan debt who work for a nonprofit organization or the government.

    Qualifying borrowers will see their remaining student debt canceled after making 120 monthly payments. But they must be enrolled in the SAVE, Pay as You Earn, Income-Based or Income-Contingent plans.

    Borrowers with older, federally owned Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) are not normally eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. But under a one-time waiver, those borrowers could get credit for past payments if they consolidate their FFEL loans by the end of 2023.

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  • Britain’s PM seeks to rally his party ahead of an election they are tipped to lose | CNN

    Britain’s PM seeks to rally his party ahead of an election they are tipped to lose | CNN


    London
    CNN
     — 

    Rishi Sunak will gather with members of his governing Conservative Party on Sunday for what is likely to be their final party conference before the UK’s next general election, which Sunak is currently projected to lose. 

    The Conservatives come together for their annual meeting with little good news to celebrate. The party is trailing the opposition Labour Party in the polls by a significant distance. 

    Sunak has been criticized by moderates in the party for tacking to the right on key issues like immigration and commitments to reducing carbon emissions. He is also being attacked from the party’s right for what they perceive to be an anti-conservative approach to taxation and public debt. 

    As if Sunak’s job uniting his party this week wasn’t hard enough, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the leading economic research institute in the UK, published a report projecting that taxes will account for around 37% of national income by the next election – the highest level since World War II. 

    Party conference season is an important date fixture in the annual British political calendar. Taking place in the early fall, these jamborees are the principal forums for each party to outline its priorities for the next 12 months. 

    For the governing party, conference is typically a time when members rally around the leadership and unite against the opposition, insulated from whatever is happening in the wider world of politics. 

    This should be especially true as an election approaches. However, Sunak, who wasn’t even the Conservatives’ leader this time last year, has inherited a broken party that has been in power for so long it seems out of ideas and already preparing for the post-mortem and blame game that follows any election loss. 

    And factions on both the left and right of the party are already publicly criticising Sunak on a range of issues. 

    Examples coming into this year’s conference: 

    Former cabinet minister Priti Patel told British channel GB News on Friday that the tax burden was “unsustainable” before unfavourably comparing Sunak to tax-cutting former PM, Margaret Thatcher. 

    The Conservative-supporting Daily Mail newspaper ran a column titled: “Didn’t the Tories used to be party of tax CUTS?”

    Sunak can also expect vocal criticism from the environmental wing of his party after a significant U-turn last week on climate policy. Sunak delayed a planned moratorium on the sale new gasoline and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035 and pushed back on plans to phase out gas boilers in homes. 

    Some Conservatives who support action on the climate crisis, not least former PM Boris Johnson, criticised Sunak, saying the UK “cannot afford to falter now” or “lose our ambition.” 

    Such a direct criticism of a sitting PM by a former PM is highly unusual. What makes it particularly painful for Sunak is that Johnson is at the heart of perhaps the most crucial internal battle within the Conservative Party. 

    Greenpeace activists targeted British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's private mansion this year.

    Johnson was forced to resign from office because of a range of scandals last summer. However, Johnson’s most loyal acolytes believe that Sunak’s decision to quit as Johnson’s finance minister was the straw that broke the camel’s back and made Johnson’s position untenable. They believe he was motivated by the opportunity to take a run at the top job himself, something Sunak denies. 

    This battle between Sunak and Johnson has created a very strange dynamic within the party. 

    Johnson, darling of the Conservative right since the Brexit referendum, is in many ways politically to the left of Sunak. However, his pragmatism over Brexit and cautious economics has led to his allies painting Sunak as a Conservative sellout.

    They also believe that Sunak’s betrayal of Johnson and apparent wish-washy centrism is what will ultimately cost the Conservative Party the next general election – ignoring the damage that Johnson did to the party and its standing in the polls through his scandal-ridden premiership. 

    Sunak has made attempts to counter these attacks by throwing red meat at Conservative MPs and voters. The U-turn on climate policies is just the most recent example. He’s made a crackdown on immigration – particularly the route across the English Channel from France in so-called small boats – a key plank of his agenda since taking office. 

    He’s been accused of sowing division over over the complex issue of trans rights in attempts to win over his own MPs and has leant into the Johnsonite position of attacking “lefty lawyers” over opposition to his plans, including those on immigration.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking in June on his plan to

    His hard-line shift doesn’t necessarily resonate with the public, most polls show. Which is why experts believe that Sunak is doubling down on his Conservative base, which might be his only real path to retaining power at the next election. 

    “Sunak’s strategy of taking on issues like net zero and small boats is very much a ‘core vote’ strategy, aimed at securing the Conservative base,” says Will Jennings, professor of politics at the University of Southampton. 

    “This is not without risk – firstly because it’s not clear how large that core vote is without Boris Johnson, Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn (the controversial, hard-left former Labour leader) and also because voters have other concerns right now – most notably the economy,” he adds. 

    If you talk to senior Conservatives right now, there is a quiet acceptance that a loss is the most likely result of the next election. Most agree that not only does this look like a government in its death throes, but also that everyone is already thinking about who will replace Sunak after his defeat. Factions on the right and left of the party are already forming and people on both sides are already talking about how to win the battle for the soul of their party. 

    While the next election may not be a foregone conclusion, the next few months will be critical if Sunak is to start turning the polls around and make the comeback of all comebacks. All of that starts this week in Manchester: a good conference could lift the mood and rally the troops; a bad conference could be the kiss of death to any hope his party had left. 

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  • With China’s help, Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first bullet train | CNN

    With China’s help, Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first bullet train | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Indonesia is launching Southeast Asia’s first-ever bullet train on Sunday, a high-speed rail service line that will connect two of the country’s largest cities.

    Part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative and largely funded by Chinese state-owned firms, the $7.3 billion project opened to the public on Sunday, following a series of delays and setbacks.

    The train will travel between the capital Jakarta and Bandung in West Java, Indonesia’s second-largest city and a major arts and culture hub.

    The 86-mile (138-kilometer) high-speed rail line, officially named WHOOSH – which stands for “time saving, optimal operation, reliable system” in Indonesian – runs on electricity with no direct carbon emissions and travels at a speed of roughly 217 miles per hour – cutting travel time between Jakarta and Bandung from three hours to under less than an hour, officials say.

    Overseen by the joint state venture PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (PT KCIC), the train travels between the Halim railway station in East Jakarta and Padalarang railway station in West Bandung, and is well connected to local public transport systems.

    The trains, modified for Indonesia’s tropical climate, are equipped with a safety system that can respond to earthquakes, floods and other emergency conditions, officials added.

    There are talks to extend the high-speed line to Surabaya – a major port and capital of East Java Province, PT KCIC director Dwiyana Slamet Riyadi told Chinese state media outlets at a ceremony earlier in September.

    Stops at other major cities like Semarang and Yogyakarta, the gateway to Borobudur – the largest Buddhist temple in the world – are also being planned, Dwiyana said.

    According to information released by PT KCIC, the railway features eight cars – all equipped with Wi-Fi and USB charging points – and seats 601 passengers.

    There will be three classes of seats – first, second and VIP.

    Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest country and Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has been actively and openly courting investment from China, its largest trade and investment partner.

    A high-profile meeting in July between Indonesian and Chinese leaders Joko Widodo and Xi Jinping unveiled a series of projects, including plans to build a multi-billion dollar Chinese glass factory on the island of Rempang in Indonesia’s Riau Islands Archipelago as part of a new ‘Eco-City,’ sparking weeks of fierce protests from indigenous islanders opposed to their villages being torn down.

    Indonesia's outgoing President Joko Widodo rides the high-speed railway during a test ride in Jakarta.

    Widodo and Chinese Premier Li Qiang were photographed taking test rides on the new high-speed railway throughout September.

    The train deal was first signed in 2015 as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and construction began later that year.

    It was initially expected to be completed in 2019 but has faced multiple operational delays as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as land procurement and ballooning costs.

    PT KCIC’s director Dwiyana hailed the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway as an “outstanding example of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and China.” It will not only improve Indonesian infrastructure but “promote the development of Indonesia’s railroad and manufacturing industries,” he said.

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  • Government on brink of shutdown ahead of midnight deadline as McCarthy slates last-minute vote | CNN Politics

    Government on brink of shutdown ahead of midnight deadline as McCarthy slates last-minute vote | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    Federal agencies are making final preparations with the government on the brink of a shutdown and congressional lawmakers racing against Saturday’s critical midnight deadline – as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy mounts a last-minute push to avert the lapse in funding.

    McCarthy announced that the House will vote on a 45-day short-term spending bill Saturday, and it will include the natural disaster aid that the White House requested.

    The bill does not include $6 billion in funding to aid Ukraine, a key concession that many House Republicans demanded and a blow to allies of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who lobbied Congress earlier this month for additional assistance.

    Asked if he is concerned that a member, including Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, could move to oust him over this bill, McCarthy replied, “If I have to risk my job for standing up for the American public, I will do that.”

    Infighting among House Republicans has played a central role in bringing Congress to a standoff over spending – and it is not yet clear how the issue will be resolved, raising concerns on Capitol Hill that a shutdown, if triggered, may not be easy to end.

    Democrats in the House have been trying to slow down passage of the GOP-led continuing resolution throughout the day Saturday, objecting to being forced to vote on a bill just introduced and wanting to keep Ukraine aid. It’s unclear how long Democrats will stall the House from voting.

    House Republicans met throughout Saturday morning, seesawing between options for how to proceed. Republicans including veteran appropriators and those in swing districts pushed to bring a short-term resolution to keep the government funded for 45 days to the House floor for a vote Saturday.

    McCarthy has faced threats to keeping his job throughout the month if he works with Democrats as he endures a consistent resistance from the hardline conservatives in his own party.

    A shutdown is expected to have consequential impacts across the country, from air travel to clean drinking water, and many government operations would grind to a halt – though services deemed essential for public safety would continue.

    Both chambers are scheduled to be in session Saturday, just hours before the deadline. The Senate was expected to take procedural steps to advance their own plan to keep the government funded – GOP Sen. Rand Paul had vowed all week to slow that process beyond the midnight deadline over objections to the bill’s funding for the war in Ukraine. The Senate is now waiting to see how the House developments shake out before proceeding.

    But Paul told CNN on Saturday afternoon that he won’t slow down the Senate’s consideration of the House GOP’s 45-day spending bill, if it passes the House and the Senate takes it up, allowing the Senate the ability to move the bill quickly – though any one other senator could slow that down beyond the midnight deadline.

    House Republicans have so far thrown cold water on a bipartisan Senate proposal to keep the government funded through November 17, but they have failed to coalesce around a plan of their own to avert a shutdown amid resistance from a bloc of hardline conservatives to any kind of short-term funding extension.

    “After meeting with House Republicans this evening, it’s clear the misguided Senate bill has no path forward and is dead on arrival,” McCarthy wrote on X. “The House will continue to work around the clock to keep government open and prioritize the needs of the American people.”

    His late Friday night message came after a two-hour conference meeting in the Capitol, where McCarthy floated several different options – including putting the Senate bill on the floor or passing a short-term bill that excludes Ukraine money. But there is still no consensus on what – if anything – they will put on the House floor Saturday to avoid a government shutdown.

    McCarthy suffered another high-profile defeat on Friday when the House failed to advance a last-ditch stopgap bill.

    In the aftermath of Friday’s failed vote, McCarthy told reporters he had proposed putting up a “clean” stopgap bill, and said he was “working through maybe to be able to do that.”

    “We’re continuing to work through – trying to find the way out of this,” McCarthy said.

    The Senate’s bipartisan bill would provide additional funds for Ukraine aid, creating a point of contention with the House where many Republicans are opposed to further support to the war-torn country.

    McCarthy argued on Friday that aid to Ukraine should be dropped from the Senate bill. “I think if we had a clean one without Ukraine on it, we could probably be able to move that through. I think if the Senate puts Ukraine on there and focuses on Ukraine over America, I think that could cause real problems,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju.

    The Senate, meanwhile, is working to advance its own bipartisan stopgap bill. The chamber is on track to take a procedural vote Saturday afternoon to move forward with the bill, particularly if the last-minute House bill falters. But it’s not yet clear when senators could take a final vote to pass the bill and it may not happen until Monday, after the government has already shut down.

    Border security has also become a complicating factor for the Senate bill as many Republicans now want to see the bill amended to address the issue.

    Senate Republicans said Friday that they were still discussing what kind of border amendment they would want to add to the bill, and were unsure if the chamber could even advance the bill in Saturday’s procedural vote without the addition of a border amendment.

    “Nothing’s really coming together, too many moving parts at this stage,” said Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican. “I think what I understand is we’re going to have a vote tomorrow … and other than that, there’s nothing that’s really crystallized in anything that probably would be palatable with the House.”

    This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

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  • As he turns 99, Jimmy Carter’s hometown honors the former president as a global humanitarian — and a good friend | CNN Politics

    As he turns 99, Jimmy Carter’s hometown honors the former president as a global humanitarian — and a good friend | CNN Politics


    Plains, Georgia
    CNN
     — 

    More than 14,000 people have written to Jimmy Carter for his 99th birthday.

    The wishes, posted in a digital mosaic created by The Carter Center, come from around the world: an Ohio family thanks the 39th US president for being an example of “how to live”; a Georgia resident recalls shaking his hand during his run for governor; a man sends best wishes from Switzerland.

    There are notes from Ecuador and Costa Rica, Europe and Australia and from every corner of the United States. Many thank Carter for his humanitarian service. Others – a few famous, most not – share admiration or memories of brief encounters. Some say they love him.

    The messages’ renowned recipient – with a brief exception last Saturday, during a peanut festival – has largely stayed out of the public eye since opting seven months ago to start receiving home hospice care following a series of hospital stays. Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, has dementia, the non-profit they founded announced in May.

    The couple, married for 77 years, has been spending slow days – likely among his last, their closest relatives acknowledge – together at their home in the southwest Georgia city of Plains, population: 700-ish.

    Here, the former president – who years after his White House term won a Nobel Peace Prize and launched a global charge to eradicate a painful disease – is known simply as “Mr. Jimmy.”

    And here, the small, middle-of-nowhere town Carter helped put on the map is also perhaps the center of his legacy, where hundreds of annual visitors exchange stories with residents who know him not as the former commander in chief but as the man who sat by a friend’s bedside during a difficult illness, who sent an encouraging note when a new restaurant owner’s business slowed and who regularly spoke about his faith on Sundays in his longtime church.

    “He was only president for four years. He was governor for four years. But he was a resident of Plains, Georgia, for 99,” his grandson, Jason Carter, told CNN. “And that is, fundamentally, who he is.”

    On Wednesday morning, four days before Carter’s birthday, the single-block downtown of Plains was – as it usually is – quiet. A rainstorm was slowly clearing. Tractor engines drove back and forth over the railroad tracks that separate a skinny highway from Main Street.

    A peanut wagon is pulled across Main Street in February in Plains, Georgia.

    Doris Day’s “Sentimental Journey” played over public speakers.

    Along a row of colorful brick façades, every downtown store was open for business. Among them: Plain Peanuts, where owner Bobby Salter spent more than a year in the early 2000s perfecting his peanut butter ice cream recipe.

    It’s Carter’s favorite, he says.

    Two doors down, Philip Kurland sits by the register inside the Plains Trading Post. He runs the business – with hundreds of political campaign buttons dating back to Millard Fillmore – with his wife. The pair was driving through Plains more than 30 years ago when they spotted an empty building for sale and decided to call this place home.

    Kurland had had his doubts about whether the Carters really lived in Plains, he admitted – until the former president and his wife showed up at the store to welcome them.

    Philip Kurland of the Plains Trading Post poses in February 20 in Plains.

    In the past few years, the Kurlands had reduced the store’s hours to just two days a week. But when Carter announced in February he would begin hospice care, Kurland began opening the store all seven days, he said, as a way of giving back. “I talk to people every day of the week and listen to their stories about Jimmy Carter and how they interacted,” he said. “People want to tell their stories and reminisce. And I want to be there to listen.”

    Some say they campaigned with Carter; others met him at a book signing. Still others say he helped them through hardship. Kurland, who never shies away from talking politics with customers, once asked a visitor how they thought Carter as president handled the Iranian hostage crisis.

    “The guy looked up and smiled,” Kurland recalled.

    “And he said: ‘I’m still alive.’”

    Kurland also has stories of his own, including how Carter spent an hour with him when he was laid up with a bad respiratory virus. “I remember he got my life story. I remember I was a little bit surprised because he already knew some of it. And I remember … I was happy about being sick, that I got the opportunity to really get to know the president.”

    Campaign buttons for former President Jimmy Carter and others are seen in February in Plains.

    Plains City Councilperson Eugene Edge Sr. recalled getting to know Carter when the then-future president came back to Plains from years of service in the US Navy to run his father’s peanut business.

    “I don’t know a better person,” Edge said. “He didn’t look at you differently because you were a different color, and I liked that.”

    It was that attitude, Kurland said, that helped create the culture here: “In Plains, everyone might not like each other each day, but everyone respects each other, and if you have a problem, everyone’s going to help you,” he said. “And I think a lot of that is because President Carter has set the tone.”

    Jan Williams stopped into Kurland’s store that Wednesday morning to say hello. They briefly talked about her upcoming birthday, just two days before the former president’s. Williams once taught Carter’s daughter, Amy, in school, and she traveled with them during the 1977 inauguration.

    Jan Williams, who attends church with former President Jimmy Carter and taught his daughter fourth grade, poses in front of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains with a collection plate Carter made.

    She named her own daughter after Amy Carter in honor of the family. And when Carter came back to Plains, she would listen to him teach on Sundays at church.

    “One of the things he said at church all the time was if everybody could love the person in front of them, wouldn’t we have a happier world – instead of thinking about who they are, where are they from, what kind of life do they live?” she said. “And just show some love. And he was so good at that.”

    “We may be a small town,” she added. “But we’ve produced, in my opinion, one of the greatest Americans.”

    Keeping up with the news – and baseball

    The town, and Carter’s nearest kin, know these are likely the former president’s final days.

    But they don’t guess at how long this chapter will last: After all, the nonagenarian has already defied the odds many times, from his journey from the Plains peanut business to the White House to beating cancer in 2015 to spending so long in end-of-life care.

    “He always surprises us, so we’re not terribly surprised it’s been seven months,” The Carter Center CEO Paige Alexander told “CNN This Morning” on Friday. “But he’s surrounded by love, and that’s what counts.”

    The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum has planned birthday events this weekend, including a movie screening and a naturalization ceremony for 99 new US citizens.

    Jimmy Carter's grandson Jason Carter, center, looks Thursday at a digital mosaic of his grandfather at The Carter Center.

    Carter, meanwhile, is physically limited but stays up on the current news, including on how his favorite team – the Atlanta Braves – is doing, his grandson said. And he’s very much aware of and heartened by the tributes that have poured in over months since his hospice announcement.

    “I was not ready to deal with just sort of the everyday grief part,” Jason Carter said. “In that way, going through this publicly has been wonderful because of the support and it’s really also because we’ve had this extended time, given us the time to, on a personal level, process what’s happening, process our relationships with him and with my grandmother and really spend some really, really important time as a family together.”

    The family will gather privately to celebrate Carter’s birthday Sunday, his grandson said.

    For now, his grandparents “are at home, in love and they know who they are,” he said, “and you don’t get more from a life than they’ve gotten and they know that, and they are at peace.”

    Even after he’s gone, Jimmy Carter will “always be alive in Plains,” Kurland said. And as his next birthday approaches, neighbors here know even though they don’t see Carter out and about anymore, his life’s message still spreads.

    “He’s passing the torch, that we all need to be kinder and be more giving and caring and considerate and loving,” the shopkeeper said. “So, I don’t look at it as, one point he’ll be passing on; he’ll be passing the torch for us to be better people and do better.”

    Down the street, Bonita Hightower thinks about the former president a lot, too.

    Bonita Hightower poses in February at Bonita's Carry-Out in Plains.

    “If he came from here and he became the 39th president, I wonder what I can do. That’s how I look at it,” she said.

    While the 68-year-old has never met Carter, he’s played a big role in her life. Hightower opened a restaurant in Plains some two months before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world. When customer traffic slowed, she questioned her decision to open a business in the small town.

    Then, she got a call.

    It was from Carter’s staff, who shared that the couple had recently ordered a take-out meal from her restaurant – and were fans of her food. “It was like that message from President Carter was to encourage my heart,” Hightower said.

    The next year, his staff asked her to make a meal for his birthday’s party, she said.

    “That gentleman, he was our president for a moment, but then he became – I heard this, and I think I’m going to adopt it – then he became the world’s president,” she said.

    “I think he came back home so maybe somebody would get ignited.”

    Carter's hometown of Plains is seen in February from the sky.

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  • Record rain in New York City generates ‘life-threatening’ flooding, overwhelming streets and subways | CNN

    Record rain in New York City generates ‘life-threatening’ flooding, overwhelming streets and subways | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Record-setting rain overwhelmed New York City’s sewer system Friday, sending a surge of floodwater coursing through streets and into basements, schools, subways and vehicles throughout the nation’s most populous city.

    The water rose fast and furious, catching some commuters off guard as they slogged through Friday morning’s rush hour. First responders jumped into action where needed, plucking people from stranded cars and basements filling like bathtubs.

    More rain fell in a single day at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport – nearly 8 inches – than any other since 1948. A month’s worth of rain fell in Brooklyn in just three hours as it was socked by some of the storm’s most intense rainfall rates Friday morning.

    Track travel delays: NYC airports hammered with heavy rain and flooding

    The prolific totals are a symptom of climate change, scientists say, with a warmer atmosphere acting like a massive sponge, able to sop up more water vapor and then wring it out in intense spurts which can easily overwhelm outdated flood protections.

    “Overall, as we know, this changing weather pattern is the result of climate change,” Rohit Aggarwala, New York City’s Chief Climate Officer said in a Friday morning news conference. “And the sad reality is our climate is changing faster than our infrastructure can respond.”

    A widespread 3 to 6 inches of rain had fallen across the New York City by late Friday afternoon. More rain was set to fall through the evening and then gradually taper off.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley Friday morning as the worst of the flooding hit. In an interview with New York’s WNBC-TV, she urged residents to stay home because of widespread dangerous travel conditions.

    “This is a very challenging weather event,” Hochul said. “This a life-threatening event. And I need all New Yorkers to heed that warning so we can keep them safe.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also declared a state of emergency for his state Friday afternoon.

    Firefighters performed rescues at six basements in New York City flooded by torrents of water, according to the New York City Fire Department.

    The water also found its way into 150 of New York City’s 1,400 schools, which remained open on Friday, New York City school chancellor David Banks said at a news briefing.

    One school in Brooklyn evacuated when floodwater caused the school’s boiler to smoke, he said.

    “Our kids are safe and we continue to monitor the situation,” Banks said.

    Floodwater spilled into subways and onto railways and caused “major disruptions,” including suspensions of service on 10 train lines in Brooklyn and all three Metro-North train lines. Gov. Hochul said the city was deploying additional buses to help fill the gap caused by the train outages.

    Limited service resumed by Friday evening on the Metro-North lines. And the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fully restored service on seven subway lines by Friday evening, according to Demetrius Crichlow, senior vice president of the New York City Transit Department of Subways.

    “Today was just not an easy day for us but like New Yorkers, we are resilient, we continue to press on,” Crichlow said.

    MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said Friday evening one of three Metro-North Railroad lines was back up and running – the Hudson line – and noted the Long Island Railroad also has good service. The MTA also said it is working to restore limited service to the remaining two lines on Friday night.

    Air travel didn’t fair any better. Flight delays hit all three New York City area airports Friday. Flooding inside the historic Marine Air Terminal in New York’s LaGuardia Airport forced it to close temporarily. The terminal, which is the airport’s smallest and serves Spirit and Frontier airlines, was open again Friday night.

    By late Friday, flood watches had expired for the region except in Suffolk County on Long Island in New York and parts of northwestern and southern Connecticut, where watches were set to be in effect until Saturday morning.

    A police officer from the NYPD Highway Patrol oversees a flooded street on Friday.
    A person carries sandbags on a flooded sidewalk in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Friday.

    The extreme rainfall rates produced prolific totals:

    • In Brooklyn: A month’s worth of rain, up to 4.5 inches, fell in only 3 hours on Friday morning, according to National Weather Service data. This three-hour rainfall total is only expected about once every 100 years in Brooklyn, according to NOAA estimates.

    • In Manhattan: Nearly 2 inches of rain fell in one hour in Central Park, the second-wettest hour there in 80 years. More than 5 inches of rain have fallen there so far.

    • In Queens: It’s the wettest day on record at John F. Kennedy International Airport, preliminary data from the National Weather Service shows. At least 7.88 inches of rain has fallen there since midnight.

    Correction: A previous version of this story misstated when the NYC travel advisory went into effect. It was 2 a.m. ET.

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  • Exclusive: Philippine defense secretary vows to stand up to ‘bully’ China | CNN

    Exclusive: Philippine defense secretary vows to stand up to ‘bully’ China | CNN


    Manila, Philippines
    CNN
     — 

    China is behaving like a schoolyard bully toward smaller countries, the Philippine defense secretary told CNN Friday during an exclusive interview in which he warned his nation, and the wider world, had to stand up to Beijing’s territorial expansion in the South China Sea.

    “I cannot think of any clearer case of bullying than this,” said Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr. “It’s not the question of stealing your lunch money, but it’s really a question of stealing your lunch bag, your chair and even enrollment in school.”

    His comments follow increasingly assertive moves by the Philippines to protect its claim to shoals in the South China Sea during more than a month of high-stakes maritime drama.

    While tensions between China and the Philippines over the highly-contested and strategic waterway have festered for years, confrontations have spiked this summer, renewing regional fears that a mistake or miscalculation at sea could trigger a wider conflict, including with the United States.

    The region is widely seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflagration and the recent confrontations have raised concerns among Western observers of potentially developing into an international incident if China, a global power, decides to act more forcefully against the Philippines, a US treaty ally.

    Recent incidents have involved stand offs between China’s coast guard, what Manila says are shadowy Chinese “maritime militia” boats and tiny wooden Philippine fishing vessels, Chinese water cannons blocking the resupply of a shipwrecked Philippine military outpost, and a lone Filipino diver cutting through a floating Chinese barrier.

    Teodoro characterized the Philippines’ refusal to back down in the waters within its 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone as a fight for the very existence of the Philippines.

    “We’re fighting for our fisherfolk, we’re fighting for our resources. We’re fighting for our integrity as an archipelagic state… Our existence as the Republic of the Philippines is vital to this fight,” Teodoro said in a sit down interview at the Department of National Defense in Manila. “It’s not for us, it’s for the future generations too.”

    Video purportedly shows Chinese ship firing water cannon at Filipino vessel in disputed waters

    “And if we don’t stop, China is going to creep and creep into what is within our sovereign jurisdiction, our sovereign rights and within our territory,” he said, adding that Beijing wont stop until it controls “the whole South China Sea.”

    Beijing says it is safeguarding its sovereignty and maritime interests in the South China Sea and warned the Philippines this week “not to make provocations or seek troubles.” It accused Philippine fishing and coast guard vessels of illegal entry into the area.

    China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles from mainland China. Along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan also hold competing claims.

    Over the past two decades China has occupied a number of reefs and atolls across the South China Sea, building up military installations, including runways and ports, which the Philippines says challenges its sovereignty and fishing rights as well as endangering marine biodiversity in the resource-rich waterway.

    In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

    But Beijing has ignored the decision and continues to expand its presence in the waterway.

    Philippine Coast Guard removes Chinese floating barrier in disputed area of the South China Sea.

    Video released of diver cutting China’s floating sea barrier

    In his first sit-down TV interview with an international news outlet since he took the position in June, Teodoro was keen to stress whatever happens in the South China Sea impacts the globe.

    Crucially, the waterway is vital to international trade with trillions of dollars in global shipping passing through it each year. It’s also home to vast fertile fishing grounds upon which many lives and livelihoods depend, and beneath the waves lie huge reserves of natural gas and oil that competing claimants are vying for.

    With nations already suffering from inflation brought about by Russia’s war in Ukraine, there are concerns that any slow-down in travel and transporting of goods in the South China Sea would result in significant impact to the global economy.

    “It will choke one of the most vital supply chain waterways in the whole world, it will choke international trade, and it will subject the world economy, particularly in supply chains to their whim,” Teodoro said, adding that if this were to happen, “the whole world will react.”

    The defense secretary warned that smaller nations, including regional partners, rely on international law for their survival.

    “Though they need China, they need Russia, they see that they too may become a victim of bullying. If they (China) close off the South China Sea, perhaps the next target may be the Straits of Malacca and then the Indian Ocean,” Teodoro said.

    This photo taken on February 14, 2020 shows a Filipino fisherman sailing off at sunset from the coast of Bacnotan, La Union province, in northwestern Philippines facing the South China Sea. (Photo by Romeo GACAD / AFP) (Photo by ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images)

    Why it matters who owns the seas (April 2021)

    Only a few years ago the Philippines was treading a much more cautious path with its huge neighbor China.

    But since taking office last year, Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr has taken a stronger stance over the South China Sea than his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte.

    Marcos has also strengthened US relations that had frayed under Duterte, with the two allies touting increased cooperation and joint patrols in the South China Sea in the future.

    In April, the Philippines identified the locations of four new military bases the US will gain access to, as part of an expanded defense agreement analysts say is aimed at combating China.

    Washington has condemned Beijing’s recent actions in the contested sea and threatened to intervene under its mutual defense treaty obligations if Philippine vessels came under armed attack there.

    US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Lindsey Ford reiterated Washington’s commitment to the mutual defense treaty in testimony before a US House subcommittee on Tuesday.

    She said the treaty covers not only the Philippine armed forces, but also its coast guard and civilian vessels and aircraft.

    “We have said repeatedly and continue to say that we stand by those commitments absolutely,” Ford said.

    A Philippine supply boat, center, maneuvers around Chinese coast guard ships as they tried to block its way near Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, at the disputed South China Sea on August 22.

    Defense secretary Teodoro has concerns about a possible escalation “because of the dangerous and reckless maneuvering of Chinese vessels” but he was clear that any incident – accidental or otherwise – the blame would lie with China “squarely on their shoulders.”

    And he called global powers to help pressure Beijing over its moves in the South China Sea.

    “Peace and stability in that one place in the world will generate some relief and comfort to everyone,” he said.

    As part of the Marcos administration’s commitment to boost the Philippines defense and monitoring capabilities in the South China Sea, Teodoro said further “air and naval assets” have been ordered.

    “There will be more patrol craft coming in, more rotary aircraft and we are studying the possibility to acquiring multi-role fighters,” he said, adding that would “make a difference in our air defense capabilities.”

    Preferring cooler heads to prevail, Teodoro said that diplomacy would provide a way forward providing Chinese leader Xi Jinping complies with international law.

    “Filipinos I believe are always willing to talk, just as long that talk does not mean whispers in a back room, or shouting at each other, meaning to say there must be substantial talks, open, transparent and on a rules-based basis,” he said, while also adding that talks cannot be used as a delaying tactic by Beijing.

    The Philippines, he said, has “no choice” but to stand up to China because otherwise “we lose our identity and integrity as a nation.”

    But conflict, he added, was not the answer or desired outcome.

    “Standing up doesn’t mean really going to war with China, heavens no. We don’t want that. But we have to stand our ground when our ground is intruded into.”

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  • Detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich’s parents describe what it was like seeing him in Russia | CNN Business

    Detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich’s parents describe what it was like seeing him in Russia | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich remains “defiant” six months after he was detained in Russia on spying charges, which he and the Journal strenuously deny, his mother told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Thursday night.

    “He’s smiling. He understands what’s going on,” Ella Milman said. “And I have to say, under all the circumstances, he’s doing really well.”

    Gershkovich’s parents have been able to go to Russia twice. They saw him in June and were able to talk to him, though Cooper noted he was essentially in a glass box.

    “Being there, it was like having him back,” his father, Mikhail Gershkovich, said. “Just the physical presence and his voice made you very happy.”

    Gershkovich was arrested in March during a reporting trip. The FSB, Russia’s main security service, accused him of trying to obtain state secrets — a charge Gershkovich and his employer have extensively denied.

    If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

    Gershkovich’s parents left the Soviet Union to come to the United States. Evan’s initial reporting trips in the country didn’t worry the two of them.

    “He came to Russia in 2017. Things were a lot different at the time,” Milman said.

    The family keeps in touch with Gershkovich through letters, which are up to 10 pages long and include printed pictures. His sister, Danielle Gershkovich, says they can hear his voice through his writing — fitting, Cooper noted, as he’s a print journalist.

    “It’s like sitting on the couch,” Milman said. “The only thing is that the answer comes the following week.”

    Those who want to help need to keep the focus on Evan, Danielle said, whether it’s people posting on social media or reading his reporting.

    From a young age, Gershkovich was curious and easily connected with people, Milman said.

    “He always would come home after his fancy trips and wanted to have a hamburger and buffalo wings and watch baseball and watch American football,” Milman said. “He’s an American boy who has roots in Russian culture.”

    The journalist’s detention is a source of tension between Washington and Moscow.

    “The US position remains unwavering. The charges against Evan are baseless. The Russian government locked Evan up for simply doing his job. Journalism is not a crime,” US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy said to reporters earlier this month.

    In September, a Moscow court refused to hear an appeal against his pre-trial detention, leaving Gershkovich behind bars. His pre-trial detention has been extended twice since his arrest, once in May and again in August. An appeal against his first pre-trial detention was also denied.

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  • US mortgage rates climb to 7.31%, hitting their highest level in nearly 23 years | CNN Business

    US mortgage rates climb to 7.31%, hitting their highest level in nearly 23 years | CNN Business


    Washington, DC
    CNN
     — 

    US mortgage rates surged to their highest level in nearly 23 years this week as inflation pressures persisted.

    The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.31% in the week ending September 28, up from 7.19% the week before, according to data from Freddie Mac released Thursday. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate was 6.70%.

    “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has hit the highest level since the year 2000,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, in a statement. “However, unlike the turn of the millennium, house prices today are rising alongside mortgage rates, primarily due to low inventory. These headwinds are causing both buyers and sellers to hold out for better circumstances.”

    The average mortgage rate is based on mortgage applications that Freddie Mac receives from thousands of lenders across the country. The survey includes only borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit.

    Mortgage rates have spiked during the Federal Reserve’s historic inflation-curbing campaign — and while a good deal of progress has been made since June 2022, when inflation hit 9.1%, Fed officials say there is still a ways to go.

    The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures index, is currently 4.2%, which is more than double the Fed’s target of 2%. Economists expect it to drop to 3.9% when the latest reading is released on Friday.

    This week’s mortgage rate surge followed last week’s small move higher, as investors settled in for “higher-for-longer” interest rates after last week’s Fed policy meeting, said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com.

    Hale said the takeaway from the meeting was that the upward adjustments from the Fed haven’t ended.

    “Revised economic projections show that another rate hike this year is definitely on the table, and the expected policy rate in 2024 and 2025 was also higher than previously forecast,” she said. “Market participants are still playing catchup.”

    While the Fed does not set the interest rates that borrowers pay on mortgages directly, its actions influence them.

    Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on 10-year US Treasuries, which move based on a combination of anticipation about the Fed’s actions, what the Fed actually does and investors’ reactions. When Treasury yields go up, so do mortgage rates; when they go down, mortgage rates tend to follow.

    The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose from 4.3% on September 20 to 4.6% as of September 27.

    Mortgage applications continued to drop last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, as mortgage rates went higher.

    “Rates over 7% and low for-sale inventory continue to create affordability challenges for prospective buyers,” said Bob Broeksmit, MBA president and CEO. “Until rates start to come back down, we anticipate housing market activity will remain slow.”

    Markets are experiencing an extraordinarily low number of homes for sale as homeowners stay put with ultra-low mortgage rates that are several percentage points lower than the current rate.

    There has been a small uptick in newly listed homes coming to market over the past few weeks, according to Realtor.com, which is seasonally atypical, said Hale.

    The first week in October tends to be an ideal week to buy a home, she said, since home prices tend to fall relative to summer highs, and fewer buyers contend for homes. Yet housing inventory remains higher than a typical week, Hale said.

    But, she added, mortgage rates will continue to be a wild card, which could make it impossible for some buyers to get in the market now.

    Even as demand is dropping, with so few homeowners selling, the market is pushing up prices as those few buyers who remain tussle over the handful of available houses, Hale said.

    This combination of higher prices and higher mortgage rates contrasts with easing rents over the past few months. This may cause would-be first-time buyers to wait for home prices and mortgage rates to stabilize and rent instead.

    “Buying a starter home is more expensive than renting in all but three major US markets [Realtor.com] studied,” said Hale, “which explains why buyer demand is likely to remain relatively low.”

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  • Fran Drescher ‘looking forward’ to talks resuming between actors’ union and Hollywood studios next week | CNN

    Fran Drescher ‘looking forward’ to talks resuming between actors’ union and Hollywood studios next week | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher is gearing up to resume negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers next week.

    Talks will resume between the actors’ union and studio representatives on Monday, two and a half months after the more than 160,000 members of the guild went on strike and one week after the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP reached a tentative contract agreement.

    “We’re happy WGA came to an agreement but one size doesn’t fit all,” Drescher told CNN on Thursday. “We look forward to resuming talks with the AMPTP.”

    SAG-AFTRA negotiators will meet with several executives from AMPTP member companies to work out new television and theatrical contracts, according to the union.

    SAG-AFTRA and the WGA have both sought contract changes related to streaming residuals and artificial intelligence. Actors are also asking for better relocation expenses for actors working out of state or country and limited long breaks between television seasons in order to give actors more stability while under contract.

    The WGA has voted to authorize its members to return to work following the tentative agreement reached this week.

    SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14.

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  • 5 takeaways from America’s landmark lawsuit against Amazon | CNN Business

    5 takeaways from America’s landmark lawsuit against Amazon | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    An antitrust lawsuit from 17 states and the Federal Trade Commission this week against Amazon represents the US government’s biggest regulatory challenge yet against the e-commerce juggernaut.

    The landmark case targets Amazon’s retail platform, alleging that it’s harmed shoppers and sellers alike on a massive scale.

    Through an alleged “self-reinforcing cycle of dominance and harm,” the plaintiffs claim, Amazon has run an illegal monopoly in ways that are “paying off for Amazon, but at great cost to tens of millions of American households and hundreds of thousands of sellers.”

    In response, Amazon has argued the case is “wrong on the facts and the law” and warned that a victory for the FTC would lead to slower shipping times or higher prices, including perhaps for Amazon’s Prime subscription service.

    Here are five of the biggest highlights and takeaways from the plaintiffs’ 172-page lawsuit.

    The plaintiffs’ central claim is that Amazon has used a variety of tactics to lure shoppers and sellers onto its platform and then to trap them there, preventing other online retailers like Walmart, Target or eBay from attracting those same consumers and vendors to their own sites.

    Walmart, Target and eBay are not parties to the suit.

    Not only has that lock-in effect hurt competition between the likes of Amazon and Walmart, the lawsuit claims, but it has also given Amazon confidence it can exploit its sellers and shoppers with impunity — allowing the company to extract ever more value from them without fear those people will leave for a rival platform.

    The complaint portrays Amazon as offering a kind of Faustian bargain — first enticing sellers with the ability to access tens of millions of potential customers and drawing in shoppers with low prices and numerous Prime benefits, such as Amazon Music and Prime Video, that other e-commerce platforms can’t hope to match.

    Then, in the plaintiffs’ narrative, Amazon takes advantage of sellers’ and shoppers’ dependence by increasing platform fees; bloating its search results with advertising that sellers are forced to buy if they want any hope of reaching shoppers; requiring sellers to use Amazon’s in-house fulfillment services if they want the best seller benefits, including the coveted “Prime” badge; and punishing sellers who try to sell their goods elsewhere online at a lower price than on Amazon.

    The overall result, the plaintiffs claim, is a worse experience for Amazon users and artificially high prices for everyone, including on non-Amazon platforms.

    “There are internet-wide effects here,” FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters on a conference call Tuesday.

    Amazon has responded that the lawsuit “reveals the Commission’s fundamental misunderstanding of retail.” Amazon’s general counsel, David Zapolsky, wrote in a blog post that the company’s pricing programs for sellers are meant to “help them offer competitive prices,” that consumers “love Prime because it’s such a great experience,” and that the claim “that we somehow force sellers to use our optional services is simply not true.”

    A big, swirling question is whether Amazon could be broken up as a result of this suit.

    Officially, the FTC is saying that talk of a breakup is premature.

    “At this stage, the complaint is really focused on the issue of liability,” Khan said at an event hosted by Bloomberg News on Tuesday, hours after the lawsuit was filed.

    If the courts find that Amazon did violate the law, then there could be a separate remedies phase to consider potential penalties.

    A breakup is not off the table. The plaintiffs’ complaint, filed in Seattle federal court, suggests that any court order to address the issue could include “structural relief,” a legal term referring to a potential breakup of Amazon.

    Khan also left open the possibility that Amazon executives could be held personally liable and added to the case if there is sufficient evidence of their responsibility for Amazon’s alleged misconduct.

    “We want to make sure that we are bringing cases against the right defendants,” Khan said in response to a question from CNN about whether the FTC considered naming specific executives in Tuesday’s case. “If we think that there is a basis for doing so, we won’t hesitate to do that.”

    Those remarks echo what Khan has said elsewhere about her willingness to name individuals in FTC enforcement actions. Just this month, the FTC added three Amazon officials to a separate consumer protection case dealing with Amazon Prime.

    An entire section of the complaint is devoted to a mysterious algorithm Amazon has developed named Project Nessie. Virtually every detail surrounding Project Nessie is heavily redacted from the complaint, but what little is revealed about the program suggests it is an “algorithmic tool” and “pricing system” that has allegedly helped Amazon “extract” an undisclosed amount of “excess profit” from Amazon shoppers.

    Amazon did not respond to CNN’s questions about Project Nessie. And Project Nessie isn’t the only matter subject to redactions in the lawsuit; black bars obscuring key business numbers, executive testimony and other evidence are strewn throughout the complaint.

    In response to public questioning about the redactions, FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar said in a statement: “We share the frustration that much of the data and quotes by Amazon executives … is redacted,” and that “we do not believe that there are compelling reasons to keep much of this information secret from the public.”

    Farrar added that Amazon has a limited procedural window in which to file arguments for why many of the redacted details should remain sealed.

    Whether the FTC can prove in court that Amazon’s actions are illegal will hinge, to a large degree, on showing that Amazon has monopolized certain specific markets.

    The exercise is not as simple as pointing to Amazon’s sales figures or the percentage of online shopping that happens on Amazon’s platform. Instead, the plaintiffs have to show that Amazon is part of a well-defined geographic and economic market that it dominates.

    The complaint tries to define two such markets in the United States: a market the plaintiffs label as “online superstores” — essentially describing large retail websites that offer many different types of goods, with convenient search, checkout and shipping features for consumers — and a seller-focused “online marketplace services” market that grants third-party vendors access to customers, provides them with sales tools like data analytics and listing services, and a review or product ratings system, among other things.

    Expect Amazon to try to challenge how the plaintiffs draw their market boundaries. Zapolsky’s blog post argues that the plaintiffs have attempted to “gerrymander” their proposed markets to make it look like Amazon is more dominant than it is.

    Whether that argument succeeds will be up to the court, but it is clear the plaintiffs have carefully crafted their market definitions. For example, they claim that in this case, Amazon can’t be said to compete with online grocery delivery services such as FreshDirect or Instacart because of the unique and often hyper-local constraints of shipping perishable goods. The FTC also wants to exclude medium-sized or interest-specific retail sites that don’t offer a wide variety of products. Presumably this might exclude websites belonging to companies like the pet care retailer Chewy, or the electronics seller Best Buy.

    FreshDirect, Instacart, Chewy and Best Buy are not parties to the suit.

    Excluding those types of companies allows the plaintiffs to make claims such as that “Amazon’s share of the overall value of goods sold by online superstores is well above 60% — and rising.”

    Even as the lawsuit takes on some of the most important parts of Amazon’s retail business, there is much that the suit doesn’t cover.

    In recent years, critics of Amazon have lobbed a kitchen sink of antitrust allegations at the company, including that it snoops on seller data to figure out what products it should sell under its own brand; that the fact Amazon sells its own products alongside third-party sellers creates an anticompetitive conflict of interest; that Amazon has used predatory pricing to weaken rivals and to ultimately acquire them; and that Amazon wields enormous power in labor markets. Many of these observations were included as part of a 450-page congressional report that Khan helped author while working as a House Judiciary Committee staffer prior to being appointed to the FTC.

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has acknowledged in congressional testimony the possibility that employees may have inappropriately accessed seller data in violation of company policy, but Amazon has broadly disputed most of the other allegations.

    Virtually none of those claims, however, are reflected in this week’s lawsuit. The complaint does allege that Amazon biases its search results to rank its own products higher than those sold by third parties, but largely as a byproduct of Amazon’s main moves to protect its dominance.

    The complaint doesn’t articulate how regulators came to select some allegations and not others.

    When a reporter asked Khan to reflect on her past criticism of how narrowly courts have focused on the issue of consumer prices, in contrast to Tuesday’s Amazon suit that mentions the word “price” some 223 times, not including any redacted parts, Khan said her job was to present the case that stood the best chance of winning.

    “As enforcers, we want to both follow the facts where they take us and also look at how the law applies to the facts,” Khan said. “You want to bring the strongest case that you can.”

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  • Travis Kelce talked Taylor Swift on his podcast | CNN

    Travis Kelce talked Taylor Swift on his podcast | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Travis Kelce was already famous, but now he is learning what it means to be Taylor Swift-adjacent-famous.

    The new episode of his podcast, “New Heights,” which he hosts with his brother, fellow NFL football player Jason Kelce, dropped Wednesday.

    Jason Kelce introduced the TSwift of it all in the midst of some football talk by saying, “We’re here.”

    “We’ve been avoiding this subject out of respect for your personal life,” Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles said. “But now we gotta talk about it.”

    “My personal life that’s not so personal,” Travis Kelce quipped. “I did this to myself Jason. I know this.”

    Jason Kelce then brought up Swift’s recent attendance at his brother’s game to watch his Kansas City Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears in Arrowhead Stadium. The superstar singer sat in a suite alongside the matriarch of the Kelce family and it pretty much broke the internet.

    After Jason Kelce asked his brother what his life is now like, Travis Kelce said he’s on the “roller coaster of life.”

    “I noticed a few things,” Travis Kelce said. “Paparazzi at my house. S**t like that.”

    The paps are there with cameras and screaming his name he said. His brother naturally asked about his special guest at the game.

    “Shout out to Taylor for pulling up,” Travis Kelce said. “That was pretty ballsy.”

    He hailed Swift who “looked amazing” and he said his friends and family had nothing but amazing things to say about her. Not to mention that his Chiefs won the game.

    “We script it all ladies and gentleman,” he (maybe) joked. “It was impressive.”

    Kelce said he found all the attention and excitement “hysterical.”

    “It’s definitely a game I’ll remember,” he said. “That’s for damn sure.”

    The brothers covered some more ground, including the sales of Travis Kelce’s jersey exploding post the Swift appearance, how everyone including football coaches have been talking about the possible couple and even how they drove off in his convertible after the game.

    As to whether they are a couple or not we still don’t really know because Kelce chose to pass and left it as, “What’s real is that it is my personal life. I want to respect both of our lives.”

    Moving forward he will stick to talking about sports he said.

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  • PlayStation head Jim Ryan is stepping down | CNN Business

    PlayStation head Jim Ryan is stepping down | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    PlayStation boss Jim Ryan is stepping down from the company, Sony announced Wednesday.

    The Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO will be retiring in March 2024 after 30 years in the PlayStation business.

    Sony Group Corporation president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki will assume the role of SIE chairman next month to “support” the transition, and will take over as interim CEO once Ryan retires.

    Ryan joined SIE in 1994 and was appointed CEO in 2019. He had previously held senior positions at the company including president of SIE Europe, head of global sales and marketing at SIE and deputy president of SIE.

    Ryan led the launch of the PlayStation 5, which the company said is PlayStation’s most successful platform.

    “I’ve found it increasingly difficult to reconcile living in Europe and working in North America,” Ryan said in a statement. “I will leave having been privileged to work on products that have touched millions of lives across the world.”

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  • Dow tumbles by more than 400 points, on pace for biggest one-day decline since March | CNN Business

    Dow tumbles by more than 400 points, on pace for biggest one-day decline since March | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Stocks tumbled Tuesday after a slew of economic data stoked fears about the US economy’s cloudy outlook and further interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

    The benchmark S&P 500 index slid 1.2%, on track for its lowest close since June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 416 points, or 1.2%, on pace for its biggest one-day drop since March; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.5%.

    The S&P 500 is hovering around the threshold that it passed to enter bull market territory earlier this summer, which represents a climb of more than 20% off its most recent low last October.

    Housing data released Tuesday morning showed that new home sales fell 8.7% in August from July, as mortgage rates edged above 7% to the highest levels in decades.

    At the same time, US home prices climbed to a record high in July, marking the sixth straight month of increases as a tight supply of homes continues to drive up prices, according to the latest Case-Shiller home prices index.

    “The Fed will see the reacceleration of house prices as a reason to keep interest rates higher for longer,” said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank. “The Fed cannot afford to look past house prices’ influence on the cost of living.”

    Investors have been on edge since the Fed last week indicated it could hike interest rates once more this year and delay rate cuts for longer than expected. That sent yields soaring to their highest level in decades, as investors recalibrate their expectations for how long rates will stay higher.

    Oil prices gained on Tuesday after paring back their recent gains earlier. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US benchmark, rose to roughly $90 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed to $94 a barrel.

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday in an interview with the Times of India that he is preparing the bank’s clients for a 7% interest rate scenario, further spooking investors.

    The possibility of a government shutdown also looms over Wall Street as the fiscal year’s end on September 30 fast approaches without any spending deal.

    Moody’s warned Monday that such an event could be negative for America’s credit rating, which already saw a downgrade from Fitch earlier this year after the federal government narrowly avoided breaching the debt ceiling.

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  • 3M agrees to pay almost $10 million to settle apparent Iran sanctions violations | CNN Business

    3M agrees to pay almost $10 million to settle apparent Iran sanctions violations | CNN Business



    CNN
     — 

    3M has agreed to pay almost $10 million to settle apparent violations of Iranian sanctions, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control said last week.

    The agency said 3M had 54 apparent violations of OFAC sanctions on Iran. It said between 2016 and 2018, a 3M subsidiary in Switzerland allegedly knowingly sold reflective license plate sheeting through a German reseller to Bonyad Taavon Naja, an entity which is under Iranian law enforcement control.

    It’s the latest of a stream of high-publicity and high-dollar settlements that 3M — which makes Post-It notes, Scotch Tape, N95 masks and other industrial products — has made this year.

    3M has not replied to a request for comment regarding last week’s settlement announcement.

    One US person employed by 3M Gulf, a subsidiary in Dubai, was “closely involved” in the sale, OFAC said.

    The alleged sales occurred after an outside due diligence report, which flagged connections to Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces.

    OFAC notes Iranian law enforcement stands accused of human rights violations both in Iran and Syria.

    The Switzerland subsidiary, known as 3M East, sent 43 shipments to the German reseller even though it knew the products would be resold to the Iranian entity, according to the OFAC.

    OFAC said senior managers at 3M Gulf “willfully violated” sanctions laws and that other employees were “reckless in their handling” of the sales.

    “These employees had reason to know that these sales would violate U.S. sanctions, but ignored ample evidence that would have alerted them to this fact,” OFAC wrote.

    3M voluntarily self-disclosed the apparent violations after discovering the sale hadn’t been authorized, according to OFAC. It said it fired or reprimanded “culpable” employees involved, hired new trade compliance counsel, revamped sanctions trainings and stopped doing business with the German reseller.

    In June, 3M agreed to pay up to $10.3 billion over 13 years to fund public water suppliers in the United States that have detected toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

    3M has faced thousands of lawsuits through the last two decades over its manufacturing of products containing polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which have been found in hundreds of household products.

    3M said that the multi-billion-dollar settlement over PFAS is not an admission of liability.

    A few months later, in August, the company agreed to pay $6 billion to resolve roughly 300,000 lawsuits alleging that the manufacturing company supplied faulty combat earplugs to the military that resulted in significant injuries, such as hearing loss.

    3M also said its earplug agreement was not an admission of liability.

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  • Rich, white communities most likely to oppose wind farms, study finds | CNN

    Rich, white communities most likely to oppose wind farms, study finds | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Wealthy and white communities in the US and Canada were much more likely to oppose wind energy projects, according to a new study from University of California Santa Barbara researchers.

    The study looked at more than 1,400 onshore wind projects across the US and Canada between 2000 and 2016, and analyzed the factors that made some communities more likely than others to oppose them.

    “One of the maybe more surprising findings, at least for me going into it, was that it was more likely to happen in overwhelmingly white communities,” said Leah Stokes, the study’s lead researcher and an associate professor of environmental politics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Stokes added the study also found that in Canada, wealthier communities in particular were more likely to oppose the projects.

    In the US, 17% of wind projects faced significant opposition, while 18% of Canadian projects faced opposition over the 16-year period, according to the study, with rates in both countries growing over time.

    “Anti-wind opposition has only grown in the last decade, and you can see that very clearly in the trend line of the paper,” Stokes told CNN.

    “In the early periods, it really wasn’t that common,” she said, noting the study found about one in 10 projects in both countries were opposed in the early 2000s. “By the end of this period, before the Trump era, the average rate is more like one in five.”

    In the US, opposition was especially concentrated in the Northeast, comprising New England states, plus New York and New Jersey. In Canada, opposition to wind was strongest in Ontario.

    Opposition to wind energy has only been sporadically tracked and documented across the US and Canada, Stokes said, and “we really wanted to get a sense of how common this was.”

    To do so, researchers combed through thousands of newspaper articles. They cross-referenced the places where wind opposition was popping up and used a social science technique called name classification to understand geographically and demographically where it was happening.

    “This is really the first time that’s ever been done at this scale,” Stokes said.

    Notably, the research found the politics of a state didn’t necessarily predetermine how receptive or opposed communities were to wind projects. Pockets of opposition in the US were stronger in liberal Northeast states, while there is greater acceptance and a bigger wind boom in some traditionally Republican states like Texas and Oklahoma.

    “Party ID doesn’t matter for opposition” in the US, Stokes said. “You’ve got places like Texas, for example, that are building a lot of wind, and then you have places like the Northeast that are opposing a lot of wind, [who] are Democrats.”

    Stokes added, however, that there is a noticeable partisan split around wind in Ontario, Canada, because the country’s Liberal Party proposed a lot of wind projects and is associated with them.

    John Rogers, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists who wasn’t involved in the study, said part of the reason opposition in the Northeast is so high could be the higher population density and comparatively less space for wind turbines.

    “If you think about the wind belt in the Midwest down to the lower Great Plains in Texas, it’s a lot of land and a lot fewer people,” Rogers said. “If you think about where wind would typically have to go in New England, it’s on ridgelines.”

    Stokes and Rogers said communities of color who are situated closer to power plants running on coal or gas can end up bearing the brunt of the choices of these white and wealthy communities who reject wind power.

    “We have coal plants, gas plants, that operate in these communities,” Stokes said. “If you stop building clean energy resources because you don’t want it, what you are doing is imposing pollution onto other people’s backyards.”

    Rogers said that while wind projects need to get buy-in from the communities they’re developing in, the study shows that white and richer communities have more power to approve or kill projects.

    “We need to be thinking about the way that energy privilege and whiteness and wealth come into decision-making,” Rogers said. “There are lots of people in lots of communities that see real value in wind power development, we shouldn’t allow whiteness or wealth to dictate how much of that gets to happen or doesn’t get to happen.”

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  • White House strategy on government funding meets serious test this week | CNN Politics

    White House strategy on government funding meets serious test this week | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden and his top aides at the White House plan to hammer away at a blunt message as the US government inches closer to a shutdown this week: A handful of extremist Republicans are entirely to blame for the havoc that would be unleashed across the country.

    For Biden, there’s a lot riding on that message getting through to Americans.

    Biden’s advisers have been assessing for weeks how involved to get in lawmakers’ deliberations to fund the government ahead of the end-of-month deadline, and ultimately decided to take a hands-off approach. The expectation: Should the Republican-led House struggle to reach consensus, they would ultimately shoulder the blame for any disruption.

    “Watch the GOP struggle and force them to govern or be blamed for shutdown,” a Biden administration official said, summing up the strategy.

    The White House is planning to dispatch a number of Cabinet officials this week to help lay out the broad range of ramifications if the government were to shutdown – everything from flight delays to childcare centers shutting down.

    Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will appear at Monday’s White House news briefing to discuss how a government shutdown could hit everything from food programs to loans for farmers, a White House official said.

    “This would stop us in our tracks,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on CNN on Sunday. “A shutdown that would mean service members wouldn’t get paid, coming back to transportation to air traffic controllers who would be working in the towers. They wouldn’t get paid.”

    Over the weekend, White House officials continued to monitor for any signs of movement on Capitol Hill to extend funding for the federal government ahead of the deadline. How to handle a possible shutdown was a key agenda item when White House chief of staff Jeff Zients huddled with senior advisers in the West Wing on Saturday, according to people familiar. But heading into a new work week, Republican members had not put anything realistic on the table, officials said, leaving the White House bracing for what is to come.

    In the days ahead, the president and his allies will repeatedly point to “who’s responsible” for the mess that could unfold, one senior administration official said simply.

    The White House took a similar approach this spring during the debt ceiling negotiations, but not without a seeming hit to Biden. In a CNN poll conducted mid-May, 59% of respondents said the president was not acting responsibly as talks stalled and the government careened toward default. The difference then: Republicans had coalesced around a specific position, passing a bill in the House that reflected their priorities and catching the White House off guard. Negotiations escalated in the weeks that followed, resulting in a deal that set broad guardrails around federal spending for the 2024 fiscal year.

    That deal was supposed to usher in months of in-depth appropriations work that would yield a full-year spending package and avert a government shutdown. Now, the White House says Republicans dropped the ball.

    Speaking over the weekend at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Awards Dinner, Biden said it was “small group of extreme Republicans” that was refusing to “live up to the deal” that he had struck months ago with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

    “The president did his job,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked whether the White House would do anything to stave off a shutdown. “This is not something we can fix. The best plan is for House Republicans to stop their partisan political play and not do this to hurt Americans across the country. That’s the plan.”

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  • What happens if you don’t pay your student loans? | CNN Politics

    What happens if you don’t pay your student loans? | CNN Politics


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Student loan payments are due in October for the first time in three-plus years – but for the next 12 months, borrowers will be able to skip payments without facing the harsh financial consequences of defaulting on their loans.

    The Biden administration is providing what it’s called an “on-ramp period” until September 30, 2024. During that time, a borrower won’t be reported as being in default to the national credit rating agencies, which can damage a person’s credit score.

    Think of it as a grace period for missed payments. But interest will still accrue, so borrowers aren’t off the hook entirely.

    Here’s what borrowers need to know:

    Any federal student loan borrower who was eligible for the pandemic-related payment pause, which took effect in March 2020, is eligible for the “on-ramp” period. That includes borrowers with federal Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans and Perkins Loans held by the Department of Education.

    Borrowers don’t need to apply for the benefit.

    Normally, a federal student loan becomes delinquent the first day after a payment is missed. Loan servicers will report the delinquency to the three national credit bureaus if a payment is not made within 90 days.

    A loan goes into default after a borrower fails to make a payment for at least 270 days, or about nine months, which can result in further financial consequences.

    A default can further damage your credit score, making it harder to buy a car or house. It could take years to establish good credit again. Borrowers could also see their federal tax refund or even a portion of their paycheck withheld.

    Once in default, the borrower can no longer receive deferment or forbearance and would lose eligibility for additional federal student aid. At that point, the loan holder can also take the borrower to court.

    Because the pandemic payment pause has ended, interest restarted accruing on September 1 after interest rates were effectively set to 0% for three-plus years.

    That means if a borrower misses a payment now, he or she could end up owing more debt over time due to interest.

    As interest builds up, a borrower’s loan servicer may also increase monthly payment amounts to ensure the debt is paid off on time. (This won’t happen to borrowers enrolled in income-driven plans, which calculate payments based on income and family size.)

    And unlike during the pause, a missed payment means that a borrower will miss out on a month’s worth of credit toward student loan forgiveness under certain repayment plans.

    For borrowers enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, for example, each month during the pause still counted toward the 120 monthly payments required to be eligible for debt forgiveness.

    Before missing a payment, it might be worth considering switching into an income-driven repayment plan that could lower monthly payments.

    A new income-driven repayment plan launched this summer, called SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education), offers the most generous terms and will likely offer the smallest monthly payment for lower-income borrowers.

    Under SAVE, a single borrower earning $32,800 or less or a borrower with a family of four earning $67,500 or less will see their payments set at $0.

    Borrowers can apply for a new repayment plan whenever they want, for free, but should allow at least four weeks for the change to take effect.

    Borrowers who fell into default before the pandemic pause started in March 2020 can apply for the Department of Education’s “Fresh Start” program.

    If borrowers use Fresh Start to get out of default, their loans will automatically be transferred from the Department of Education’s Default Resolution Group to a loan servicer and returned to an “in repayment” status, and the default will be removed from their credit report.

    To claim these benefits, log in to myeddebt.ed.gov or call 800-621-3115. The process should take about 10 minutes, according to the Department of Education.

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  • The Fed has a perfect interest rate in mind. Here’s what it is | CNN Business

    The Fed has a perfect interest rate in mind. Here’s what it is | CNN Business

    There’s a star the Federal Reserve is chasing.

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  • Mexico makes agreement with US to deport migrants from its border cities amid ongoing surge in illegal migration | CNN

    Mexico makes agreement with US to deport migrants from its border cities amid ongoing surge in illegal migration | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Mexico has made an agreement with the United States to deport migrants from its border cities to their home countries and take several actions to deter migrants as part of a new effort to combat the recent surge in border crossings.

    Mexican officials met with US Customs and Border Protection officials on Friday in Ciudad Juárez,, Mexico, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas, following the recent spike in illegal crossings into the US, which temporarily closed an international bridge and paused Mexico’s main cargo train system.

    As part of the agreement, Mexico agreed to “depressurize” its northern cities, which border the El Paso, San Diego and Eagle Pass, Texas, where the mayor has declared a state of emergency. They will also implement more than a dozen actions to prevent migrants from risking their lives by using the railway system to reach the US-Mexico border, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.

    The US Department of Defense is ramping up resources at the US-Mexico border, sending at least 800 new active-duty personnel to the border, where 2,500 National Guard members are already servicing, Department of Homeland Security officials announced Wednesday night in a call with reporters.

    The move comes as migrant crossings along the border are rising, surpassing 8,600 over a 24-hour period this week, according to a Department of Homeland Security official. It is up from around 3,500 daily border arrests after the expiration in May of Title 42 triggered new consequences for those who cross the border illegally. There were more than 8,000 apprehensions on Monday.

    The busiest sectors are Del Rio, El Paso, Lower Rio Grande Valley and Tucson; each facing more than 1,000 encounters over the last 24 hours, according to the official. Eagle Pass is in the Del Rio sector.

    Friday’s meeting was attended by Customs and Border Protection’s Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, the commissioner of Mexico’s National Migration Institute, the governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, members of Mexico’s national defense and national guard and representatives of Ferromex, a Mexican railroad operator, according to the institute.

    Mexican officials vowed to carry out a series of 15 actions as part of the agreement, some in coordination with Customs and Border Protection and Ferromex, which includes deporting migrants to their home countries by land and air.

    The country said it will carry out negotiations with the governments of Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia and Cuba to confirm receipt of their citizens deported from the US-Mexico border. It will also allow US border patrol agents to expel migrants through the Ciudad Juárez international bridge, which connects to El Paso.

    Other terms of the agreement include submitting a daily report of the number of migrants on the train system to Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso sector, establishing checkpoints along the Ferromex rail route and conducting interventions on railways and highways, according to Mexico’s National Migration Institute.

    The institute said Mexico had deported more than 788,000 migrants to their home countries from January 1 to September.

    The agreed-upon actions by Mexican officials raise questions about the country doing work typically designated for the US – from the south of the border – to manage the influx of migrants in recent weeks, which have has strained federal resources and overwhelmed already-crowded facilities, CNN previously reported.

    Many who leave their homes for the United States face long and dangerous treks in hopes of finding better, safer lives. Some may flee violence, while others may immigrate for economic opportunities or to reunite with family, experts say. Deteriorating conditions in Latin America exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic also have contributed to the influx of migrants into the US.

    It is likely the number of border crossings will continue to increase, as more Mexican nationals are making plans to come to the US, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, told CNN.

    US government data show more Mexican families coming to the border, likely to seek asylum, Ruiz said. In July 2022, for example, Customs and Border Protection figures indicate 4,000 Mexican family encounters at the border. A year later, the number had more than quadrupled, reaching nearly 22,000.

    “These are the three levers that are in play right now. … And regardless of what the Biden administration does today or tomorrow,” he says, “the people that are on the way already are going to continue, unless something else happens in the region.”

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