Tag: Executive Branch

Rishi Sunak the favorite as Boris Johnson drops out of the running for Britain’s prime minister

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LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Sunday he will not run to lead the Conservative Party, ending a short-lived, high-profile attempt to return to the prime minister’s job he was ousted from little more than three months ago.

His withdrawal leaves former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak the strong favorite to become Britain’s next prime minister — the third this year — at a time of political turmoil and severe economic challenges. He could win the contest as soon as Monday.

The British pound
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advanced Sunday on hopes Sunak would be more fiscally austere.

Read more: Who is Rishi Sunak, now the front-runner for U.K. prime minister?

Johnson, who was ousted in July amid ethics scandals, had been widely expected to run to replace Liz Truss, who quit last week after her tax-cutting economic package caused turmoil in financial markets, was rapidly abandoned and and obliterated her authority inside the governing party.

Johnson spent the weekend trying to gain support from fellow Conservative lawmakers after flying back from a Caribbean vacation and held talks with the two other contenders, Sunak and House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt.

Late Sunday he said he had amassed the backing of 102 colleagues, more than the threshold of 100 needed to make a ballot of lawmakers on Monday.

But he was far behind Sunak in support, and said he had concluded that “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament.”

The prospect of a return by Johnson had thrown the already divided Conservative Party into further turmoil. He led the party to a thumping election victory in 2019, but his premiership was clouded by scandals over money and ethics that eventually became too much for the party to bear.

In his Sunday statement, Johnson insisted he was “well placed to deliver a Conservative victory” in the next national election, due by 2024. And he said that he likely would have won a ballot of Conservative Party members against either of his rivals.

“But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do,” he said. “Therefore I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds.”

But he hinted he might be back, saying: “I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”

After Truss quit on Thursday, the Conservative Party hastily ordered a contest that aims to finalize nominations Monday and install a new prime minister — its third this year — within a week.

The clear favorite now is Sunak, who has support from more than 140 lawmakers, according to unofficial tallies. Mordaunt is backed by fewer than 30.

If both make the ballot, the 357 Conservative lawmakers will hold an indicative vote on Monday to show their preference before the choice goes to the 172,000 party members around the country. If Mordaunt does not reach 100 nominations, Sunak will win by acclamation.

Sunak, 42, was runner-up after Truss in this summer’s Tory leadership race to replace Johnson. On Sunday, he confirmed he was running again in the latest leadership contest.

“There will be integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level of the government I lead and I will work day in and day out to get the job done,” Sunak said in a statement.

Johnson’s exit came only hours after allies insisted he would run. Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC on Sunday that he spoke with Johnson and “clearly he’s going to stand” after flying back to London Saturday from a vacation in the Dominican Republic.

But Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, a former backer of Johnson and an influential politician within the Conservative Party, warned a Johnson comeback would be a “guaranteed disaster.” Baker noted that Johnson still faces an investigation into whether he lied to Parliament while in office about breaking his government’s own coronavirus restrictions during parties at Downing Street.

If found guilty, Johnson could be suspended as a lawmaker.

“This isn’t the time for Boris and his style,” Baker told Sky News on Sunday. “What we can’t do is have him as prime minister in circumstances where he’s bound to implode, taking down the whole government … and we just can’t do that again.”

Truss quit Thursday after a turbulent 45 days, conceding that she could not deliver on her botched tax-cutting economic package, which she was forced to abandon after it sparked fury within her party and weeks of turmoil in financial markets.

Sunak, who was Treasury chief from 2020 until this summer, steered Britain’s slumping economy through the coronavirus pandemic. He quit in July in protest at Johnson’s leadership.

In the summer contest to replace Johnson, Sunak called promises by Truss and other rivals to immediately slash taxes reckless “fairy tales” and argued that soaring inflation must be controlled first.

Tory voters backed Truss over Sunak, but he was proved right when Truss’ unfunded tax-cutting package triggered chaos in the markets in September. Now the task of stabilizing Britain’s wobbling economy is likely to fall to him.

MarketWatch contributed to this report.

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October 23, 2022
IRS releases new federal tax brackets and standard deductions. Here’s how they affect your family’s tax bill.

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America’s high inflation rate will produce a 7% increase in the size of the standard deduction when workers file their taxes on their 2023 income, according to new inflation adjustments from the Internal Revenue Service.

It’s also going to pump up tax brackets by 7% as well, according to the annual inflation adjustments the IRS announced this week.

Many tax code provisions — but not all — are indexed for inflation, so the announcements are a recurring event. But when inflation is persistently clinging to four-decade highs, these annual adjustments carry extra significance.

“When inflation is persistently clinging to four-decade highs, these annual adjustments of approximately 7% for the standard deduction carry extra significance.”

Start with the standard deduction, which is what most people use instead of itemizing deductions.

The standard deduction for individuals and married people filing separately will be $13,850 for the 2023 tax year. That’s a $900 increase from the $12,950 standard deduction for the upcoming tax season.

For married couples filing jointly, the payout climbs to $27,700 for the 2023 tax year. That’s a $1,800 increase from the $25,900 standard deduction set for the upcoming tax year.

The increases in the marginal tax rates reflect the same 7% rise. For example, the 22% tax bracket for this year is over $41,775 for single filers and over $83,550 for married couples filing jointly. Next year, the same 22% bracket applies to incomes over $44,725 and over $89,450 for married couples filing jointly.

MarketWatch/IRS

“The changes seem to be much larger than previous years because inflation is running much higher than it has in previous decades,” said Alex Durante, economist at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning tax think tank.

The IRS arrives at its inflation adjustments by averaging a slightly different inflation gauge, the so-called “chained Consumer Price Index” instead of the widely-watched Consumer Price Index, Durante noted. That’s an outcome of the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, he added.

“The reason they do this is because the regular CPI is thought to overstate inflation because it doesn’t take into account the substitution that shoppers can make as cost rise,” Durante said. Shoppers substitute when they swap a more expensive item for cheaper one, and research shows many Americans are using the tactic.

The IRS inflation adjustments come after September CPI data last week showed inflation of 8.2% year-over-year, slightly off from 8.3% in August. Also last week, the Social Security Administration said next year’s payments would include an 8.7% cost of living adjustment.

“The payout on the earned income tax credit — geared at low- and moderate-income working families who have been hit hard by red-hot inflation — is also increasing. ”

The payout on the earned income tax credit is also increasing. The maximum payout for a qualifying taxpayer with at least three qualifying children climbs to $7,430, up from $6,935 for this tax year. The longstanding credit is geared at low- and moderate-income working families who have been hit hard by red-hot inflation.

More than 60 provisions are slated for an increase inline with inflation, but many portions of the tax code are not indexed for inflation. Depending on the circumstances, the taxes or the tax breaks kick in sooner.

Capital gains tax rules one example. The IRS lets a taxpayer use capital losses to offset capital gains taxes. If losses exceed gains, the IRS allows a taxpayer to deduct up to $3,000 in excess loses. They can then carry the remainder of the capital loses to future tax years. It’s been more than four decades since lawmakers last set the limit, according to Durante.

“While more than 60 provisions are slated for an increase inline with inflation, many portions of the tax code are not indexed for inflation. They include capital gains tax. ”

Given the stock market’s rocky downward slide this year, many investors might welcome a fast-approaching tax break — even if it only enables a $3,000 deduction.

At the same time, a married couple selling their home can exclude the first $500,000 of the sale from capital gains taxation, and it’s $250,000 for a single filer. It’s been that way since the exclusion’s 1997 establishment.

The once white-hot housing market may be cooling, but many sellers may still be facing the point when taxes kick in. The median home listing was over $367,000 as of early October, according to Redfin
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+2.29%.

The child tax credit is another example. After the payout to parents last year jumped to $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 per child age 6 to 17, it’s back to a maximum $2,000. The credit’s refundable portion climbs from $1,500 to $1,600 during tax year 2023, the IRS notes.

Proponents of the boosted payouts and some Congressional Democrats want to revive the larger payments in negotiations tied to corporate taxes. The high costs of living are a strong reason to bring back the boosted credit, they say.

Related:

What smart strategies can lower your tax bill as year-end approaches? Read this before making any tax moves.

Three things the best 401(k)s offer that can help you save a lot more

Enhanced child tax credit helped reduce poverty for families before it ended last year. But there’s one way Republicans and Democrats could agree on reinstating it.

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October 22, 2022
IRS sets new 401(k) limits — investors can save a lot more money in 2023

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People can contribute up to $22,500 in 401(k) accounts and $6,500 in IRAs in 2023, the IRS said Friday.

For 401(k)s, that’s an almost 10% increase from 2022’s contribution limit of $20,500. For IRAs, it’s a more than 8% rise from 2022’s limit of $6,000.

As added context, the inflation-indexed bumps tax year 2023 income tax brackets and the standard deduction worked to approximately 7%.

When the IRS increased the 401(k) contribution limits last year, it came to a roughly 5% rise.

“Given the inflation we have been experiencing recently, the early announcement of this increase is encouraging,” Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement products at Fidelity Investments, said after the IRS released the 2023 contribution limits.

Seven in 10 people are “very concerned” how inflating costs will impact their readiness for retirement according to a Fidelity study, Assaf noted. “Every dollar counts, and this increase will provide Americans with the opportunity to set aside just a bit more to help fund their retirement objectives,” she said.

Older workers can save even more

The 2023 contribution limits that apply to 401(k)s — plus 403(b) plans, most 457 plans and the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan — are even larger for workers age 50 and over.

Catch-up contribution limits rise to $7,500 from $6,500, the IRS said. Combine the catch-up contributions with the regular contribution limits, and workers age 50 and over can sock away $30,000 for retirement in these accounts during 2023, the agency said.

Income phase-outs increase when it comes to possible deductions, credits and contributions

Tax rules can let people deduct contributions to traditional IRAs so long as they meet certain conditions, pegged to issues like coverage through a workplace retirement plan and yearly income. Above phase-out ranges, deductions don’t apply if a person or their spouse has a retirement plan through work, the IRS noted.

For 2023, a single taxpayer covered by a workplace retirement plan has a phase-out range between $73,000 and $83,000. That’s up from a range between $68,000 and $78,000 during 2022.

For a married couple filing jointly “if the spouse making the IRA contribution is covered by a workplace retirement plan, the phase-out range is increased to between $116,000 and $136,000,” the IRS said.

If an IRA saver doesn’t have a workplace plan but their spouse is covered, “the phase-out range is increased to between $218,000 and $228,000,” the agency noted.

There are also changes coming for the Roth IRA, which people fund with after-tax money and then can tap tax-free later.

Read also: Here’s when you should choose a Roth IRA over a traditional account

The Roth IRA contribution limits also climb to $6,500. Retirement savers putting money in their 401(k) can’t also put pre-tax money in a traditional IRA, but they can contribute to a Roth account.

Still, the eligibility to contribute to Roth IRA accounts is pegged to income, subject to phase-out ranges.

In 2023, the income phase-out range on Roth IRA contributions climbs to between $138,000 – $153,000 for individuals and people filing as head of household. (That’s up from a range between $129,000 and $144,000, the IRS noted.)

With a married couple filing jointly, next year’s phase-out range goes to $218,00 – $228,000. That’s a step up from this year’s $204,000 – $214,000 range.

The income limit surrounding the saver’s credit, which is geared toward low- and moderate-income households, is also getting a lift. The credit lets taxpayers claim 10%, 20% or one-half of contributions to eligible retirement plans, including a 401(k) or an IRA. The credit’s income limits are climbing, the IRS said.

The 2023 income limit will be $73,000 for married couples filing jointly, $54,750 for heads of household and $36,500 for individuals and married individuals filing separately, according to the IRS.

Don’t miss: Opinion: It’s harder for me to look at my 529 balance than my 401(k) because I have a high school junior. Here’s some advice for parents on a similar timeline.

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October 21, 2022
U.S. budget deficit halved in fiscal 2022 as receipts surge, COVID spending fades

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The numbers: The U.S. federal budget deficit fell to $1.37 trillion in the just-ended fiscal year, the Treasury Department said Friday, half the amount of last year’s shortfall.

Key details: The Treasury said the deficit fell by $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2022, the largest one-year decrease on record. Surging tax receipts totaling $4.9 trillion helped cut the deficit, as did falling outlays.

Spending was $6.3 trillion for the fiscal year, a drop of 8.1%. That partly reflects reductions in COVID-related spending.

The deficit would have been lower had student loan cancelation costs not been included. President Joe Biden in August announced $10,000 in federal debt cancelation for those with incomes less than $125,000 a year, or households making less than $250,000. Those who received federal Pell Grants are eligible for extra forgiveness.

The loan-cancelation costs contributed to a 562% increase in the monthly deficit for September. The government’s fiscal year runs October through September.

Big picture: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement that the report “provides further evidence of our historic economic recovery, driven by our vaccination effort and the American Rescue Plan.”

Meanwhile, a budget watchdog said the figure was no cause for celebration.

“We borrowed $1.4 trillion last year. That is not an accomplishment — it’s a reminder of how precarious our fiscal situation remains,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

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October 21, 2022
Federal judge dismisses effort by 6 states to halt student-debt forgiveness plan

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ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in St. Louis on Thursday dismissed an effort by six Republican-led states to block the Biden administration’s plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans.

U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey wrote that because the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina — failed to establish they had standing, “the Court lacks jurisdiction to hear this case.”

Suzanne Gage, spokeswoman for Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, said the states will appeal. She said in a statement that the states “continue to believe that they do in fact have standing to raise their important legal challenges.”

Democratic President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement immediately became a major political issue ahead of the November midterm elections.

The states’ lawsuit is among a few that have been filed. Earlier Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected an appeal from a Wisconsin taxpayers group seeking to stop the debt cancellation program.

Barrett, who oversees emergency appeals from Wisconsin and neighboring states, did not comment in turning away the appeal from the Brown County Taxpayers Association. The group wrote in its Supreme Court filing that it needed an emergency order because the administration could begin canceling outstanding student debt as soon as Sunday.

In the lawsuit brought by the states, lawyers for the administration said the Department of Education has “broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs.” A court filing stated that the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify terms of federal student loans in times of war or national emergency.

“COVID-19 is such an emergency,” the filing stated.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. James Campbell, an attorney for the Nebraska attorney general’s office, told Autrey at an Oct. 12 hearing that the administration is acting outside its authorities in a way that will cost states millions of dollars.

The plan would cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, will get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

Conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups have asserted that Biden overstepped his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress. They called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of taxpayers who didn’t pursue higher education.

Chris Nuelle, spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, said the plan “will unfairly burden working class families with even more economic woes.”

Many Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection contests have distanced themselves from the plan.

The HEROES Act was enacted after 9/11 to help members of the military. The Justice Department says the law allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law, in part because the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

Justice Department attorney Brian Netter told Autrey that fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still rippling. He said student loan defaults have skyrocketed over the past 2 1/2 years.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1.

The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.

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October 20, 2022
Ukraine: Rockets strike mayor’s office in separatist Donetsk

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KYIV, Ukraine — Pro-Kremlin officials on Sunday blamed Ukraine for a rocket attack that struck the mayor’s office in a key Ukrainian city controlled by the separatists as Russia’s war nears the eight-month mark.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russian rockets struck a city across from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, wounding six people.

The attacks on both sides came as Russia has lost ground in the nearly seven weeks since Ukraine’s armed forces opened their southern counteroffensive.

Last week, in retaliation, the Kremlin launched what is believed to be its largest coordinated air and missile raids on Ukraine’s key infrastructure since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The municipal mayor’s building in separatist-controlled Donetsk was seriously damaged by the rocket attack. Plumes of smoke swirled around the building, which had rows of blown-out windows and a partially collapsed ceiling. Cars nearby were burned out.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. Kyiv didn’t immediately claim responsibility or comment on the attack.

Kremlin-backed separatist authorities have previously accused Ukraine of numerous strikes on infrastructure and residential targets in the occupied regions, often employing the U.S.-supplied long-range HIMARS rockets, without providing corroborating information.

Separately, Ukrainian authorities on Sunday reported that at least six people were wounded as a result of Russian rocket attacks across from Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, where Russia has stationed its troops.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said two residents of Nikopol had been hospitalized following the strikes, which also damaged five power lines, gas pipelines, and a raft of civilian businesses and residential buildings.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of firing at and around the plant, which continues to be run by its pre-occupation Ukrainian staff under Russian oversight.

Ukrainian officials have also regularly reported attacks on civilian communities across the Dnieper river from the plant, including in Nikopol and nearby Marhanets.

The presidential office and regional authorities said Russian rockets destroyed two schools, a park and private houses in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, which has seen sustained Russian shelling since Moscow illegally annexed it along with three other Ukrainian provinces last month.

The annexation announcement came despite the fact that some 20% of Zaporizhzhia remains under Ukrainian military control, with some analysts painting the recent large-scale strikes as part of the Kremlin’s strategy to subdue the region.

The Ukraine presidential office also said that Moscow continued to shell civilian settlements along the front line in the eastern Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, where Kyiv has also been pressing a counteroffensive. It added that “active hostilities” continued in the southern Kherson region, another key focus of the ongoing Ukrainian advance, with repeated Russian strikes on a series of villages recently retaken by Kyiv.

Russian officials, meanwhile, said their air defenses in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine shot down “a minimum” of 16 Ukrainian missiles, Ria Novosti reported.

The regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on Telegram that three members of the same family were wounded as a result of shelling.

He later added that an older local resident was a fourth victim.

“The old man is in shell shock. All necessary medical assistance is being provided to him,” Gladkov said. He said two other men with shrapnel wounds had been hospitalized. He presented no evidence for his report.

Russian authorities in border regions have repeatedly accused Kyiv of firing at their territory, and claimed that civilians were being wounded in the attacks. Ukraine hasn’t claimed responsibility for or commented on the alleged attacks.

Russia has long used Belgorod as a staging ground for shelling and missile attacks on Ukrainian territory.

On Saturday, two men from a former Soviet republic who were training at a Russian military firing range in Belgorod fired at volunteer soldiers during target practice, killing 11 and wounding 15 before being slain themselves. The Russian Defense Ministry, which reported the killings, called the incident a terrorist attack.

This week’s wide-ranging retaliatory attacks by Russia, which included the use of self-destructing explosive drones from Iran, killed dozens of people.

On Sunday, the French government confirmed it’s pledging air defense missiles to protect Ukrainian cities against drone strikes and stepped-up training for Ukrainian soldiers as it seeks to puncture perceptions that France has lagged in supporting Ukraine.

Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, more specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment being supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published Sunday in Le Parisien.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow didn’t see a need for additional widespread strikes, but that his military would continue selective ones. He said that of 29 targets the Russian military planned to knock out in this week’s attacks, seven weren’t damaged and would be taken out gradually.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, interpreted Putin’s remarks as intended to counter criticism from pro-war Russian bloggers who “largely praised the resumption of strikes against Ukrainian cities, but warned that a short campaign would be ineffective.”

ISW, in an online update late Saturday, accused Moscow of conducting “massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians,” which it said likely amount to ethnic cleansing.

The update referenced statements made this week by Russian authorities, which claimed that “several thousand” children from a southern region occupied by Moscow had been placed in rest homes and children’s camps in Russia amid an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive. The original remarks by Russia’s deputy prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, were reported by RIA Novosti agency on Friday.

Russian authorities have previously openly admitted to placing children from Russian-held areas of Ukraine, who they said were orphans, for adoption with Russian families, in a potential breach of a key international treaty on genocide prevention.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military on Sunday morning accused pro-Kremlin fighters of evicting civilians in occupied territories in order to accommodate officers in their homes, an act it also described as a violation of international humanitarian law.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its regular Facebook update that the evictions were happening in the Russian-held city of Rubizhne, in the eastern Luhansk region where Kyiv has been pressing a counteroffensive. It didn’t provide corroborating evidence for its claim.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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October 16, 2022
Study finds Paxlovid can interact badly with some heart medications, and White House renews COVID emergency through Jan. 11

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A new study has found that the COVID antiviral Paxlovid can interact badly with certain heart medications, raising concerns for patients with cardiovascular risk who test positive.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and found the reaction involved such medications as blood thinners and statins. As patients who are hospitalized with COVID are at elevated risk of heart problems, they are likely to be described Paxlovid, which was developed by Pfizer
PFE,
-0.45%.

“Co-administration of NMVr (Paxlovid) with medications commonly used to manage cardiovascular conditions can potentially cause significant drug-drug interactions and may lead to severe adverse effects,” the authors wrote. “It is crucial to be aware of such interactions and take appropriate measures to avoid them.”

The news comes just days after the White House made a renewed push to encourage Americans above the age of 50 to take Paxlovid or use monoclonal antibodies if they test positive and are at risk of developing severe disease.

White House coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha told the New York Times that greater use of the medicine could reduce the average daily death count to about 50 a day from close to 400 currently.

“I think almost everybody benefits from Paxlovid,” Jha said. “For some people, the benefit is tiny. For others, the benefit is massive.”

Yet a smaller share of 80-year-olds with COVID in the U.S. is taking it than 45-year-olds, Jha said, citing data said he has seen.

On Thursday, the White House extended its COVID pubic health emergency through Jan. 11 as it prepares for an expected rise in cases in the colder months, the Associated Press reported.

The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has dramatically changed how health services are delivered.

The declaration enabled the emergency authorization of COVID vaccines, as well as free testing and treatments. It expanded Medicaid coverage to millions of people, many of whom will risk losing that coverage once the emergency ends. It temporarily opened up telehealth access for Medicare recipients, enabling doctors to collect the same rates for those visits and encouraging health networks to adopt telehealth technology.

Since the beginning of this year, Republicans have pressed the administration to end the public health emergency.

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has urged Congress to provide billions more in aid to pay for vaccines and testing. Amid Republican opposition to that request, the federal government ceased sending free COVID tests in the mail last month, saying it had run out of funds for that effort.

Separately, the head of the World Health Organization urged countries to continue to surveil, monitor and track COVID and to ensure poorer countries get access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments, reiterating that the pandemic is not yet over.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said most countries no longer have measures in place to limit the spread of the virus, even though cases are rising again in places including Europe.

“Most countries have reduced surveillance drastically, while testing and sequencing rates are also much lower,” Tedros said in opening remarks at the IHR Emergency Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic on Thursday.

“This,” said the WHO leader, “is blinding us to the evolution of the virus and the impact of current and future variants.”

U.S. known cases of COVID are continuing to ease and now stand at their lowest level since late April, although the true tally is likely higher given how many people overall are testing at home, where the data are not being collected.

The daily average for new cases stood at 38,530 on Thursday, according to a New York Times tracker, down 19% from two weeks ago. Cases are rising in six states, namely Nevada, New Mexico, Kansas, Maine, Wisconsin and Vermont, and are flat in Wyoming. They are falling everywhere else.

The daily average for hospitalizations was down 7% at 26,665, while the daily average for deaths is down 7% to 377.

The new bivalent vaccine might be the first step in developing annual Covid shots, which could follow a similar process to the one used to update flu vaccines every year. Here’s what that process looks like, and why applying it to Covid could be challenging. Illustration: Ryan Trefes

Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

• Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has urged German states to reintroduce face-mask requirements for indoor spaces due to high COVID cases numbers, the Local.de reported. Lauterbach was launching his ministry’s new COVID campaign on Friday. “The direction we are heading in is not a good one,” he said at a press conference in Berlin, adding it’s better to take smaller measures now than be forced into drastic ones later.

• Health officials in Washington and Oregon said Thursday that a fall and winter COVID surge is likely headed to the Pacific Northwest after months of relatively low case levels, the AP reported. King County (Wash.) Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin said during a news briefing that virus trends in Europe show a concerning picture of what the U.S. could soon see, the Seattle Times reported.

Two banners unfurled from a highway overpass in Beijing condemned Chinese President Xi Jinping and his strict Covid policies, in a rare display of defiance. The protest took place days before the expected extension of the leader’s tenure.

• Kevin Spacey’s trial on sexual-misconduct allegations will continue without a lawyer who tested positive for COVID on Thursday, Yahoo News reported. The “American Beauty” and “House of Cards” star is on trial in Manhattan federal court facing allegations in a $40 million civil lawsuit that he preyed upon actor Anthony Rapp in 1986 when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. Jennifer Keller’s diagnosis comes after she spent about five hours cross-examining Rapp on the witness stand over two days — a few feet away from the jury box without wearing a mask.

• A man who presents himself as an Orthodox Christian monk and an attorney with whom he lived fraudulently obtained $3.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds for nonprofit religious organizations and related businesses they controlled, and spent some of it to fund a “lavish lifestyle,” federal prosecutors said Thursday. Brian Andrew Bushell, 47, and Tracey M.A. Stockton, 64, are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and unlawful monetary transactions, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said in a statement, as reported by the AP.

Here’s what the numbers say:

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 623.9 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.56 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 96.9 million cases and 1,064,821 fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 226.2 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.1% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots. Just 110.8 million have had a booster, equal to 49% of the vaccinated population, and 25.6 million of those who are eligible for a second booster have had one, equal to 39% of those who received a first booster.

Some 14.8 million people have had a shot of the new bivalent booster that targets the new omicron subvariants.

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October 14, 2022
Why Kwasi Kwarteng could not survive the battle with the Bank of England

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Jeremy Hunt was appointed U.K. chancellor of the exchequer on Friday after Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked in response to the market’s rebellion over his tax-cutting budget.

Kwarteng lasted just 38 days, the second shortest tenure for the office in history. It was Prime Minister Liz Truss who wielded the knife. But, arguably, it was Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey who set up the hit.

Simply put, in the fight between monetary and fiscal policy, Threadneedle Street has taken out Downing Street. Once Bailey stood his ground, Kwarteng was toast.

To explain, a quick recap. Kwarteng’s recent budget containing £45 billion in tax cuts, mainly funded by more debt issuance, came at a time when government borrowing costs were already rising as the Bank of England raised interest rates to combat inflation at 40-year highs around 10%.

Indeed, Kwarteng’s proposals were seen juicing up spending just as the BoE was trying to damp demand in its efforts to push inflation back to the 2% target. The market recognized this dichotomy and rebelled, realizing that it faced more debt sales and even tighter monetary policy.

The resulting selling by over-leveraged pension funds caused a crash in gilt prices and surging yields to multi-decade highs, threatening to break the U.K pension system. Bailey stepped in to calm the markets by pledging a bond buying package of up to £65 billion — right around the time when he had planned to actually sell gilts as part of quantitative tightening.

It worked, mostly. But, keen to ensure the City of London would undertake the necessary deleveraging quickly, and it would not be infected with moral hazard, Bailey said the support would end on Friday October 14th.

And this week he stressed it would definitely end on Friday.

So, to the present. What Bailey’s insistence meant was that the BoE, via monetary policy, was done helping. If the bond market was still to be worried about the situation when it opened on Monday, then it would have to be the fiscal side that changed.

And for the fiscal side to shift it would mean the removal of the tax-cutting elements that so rattled investors. Some, like the axing of the top rate of personal tax, had already been reversed. But more needed to be done to try and recover a sense of fiscal prudence.

And that, inevitably, meant the removal of the author of the budget: Kwarteng.

Shortly after his departure, Truss announced that she was seeking to calm markets and had decided to cancel the corporation tax cut that had been a cornerstone of the budget. The proposal, delivered just 21 days ago, was now an ideological husk.

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October 14, 2022
Supreme Court refuses to get involved in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago case

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump’s plea to step into the legal fight over the FBI search of his Florida estate.

The justices did not otherwise comment in turning away Trump’s emergency appeal.

Trump had pressed the court on an issue relating to classified documents seized in the search authorized by a federal judge of Mar-a-Lago.

The Trump team was asking the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.

A three-judge panel from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit last month limited the special master’s review to the much larger tranche of non-classified documents. The judges, including two Trump appointees, sided with the Justice Department, which had argued there was no legal basis for the special master to conduct his own review of the classified records.

But Trump’s lawyers said in their application to the Supreme Court that it was essential for the special master to have access to the classified records to “determine whether documents bearing classification markings are in fact classified, and regardless of classification, whether those records are personal records or Presidential records.”

The Justice Department said in a Supreme Court filing that Trump’s request had no merit.

The FBI says it seized roughly 11,000 documents, including about 100 with classification markings, during its search. The Trump team asked a judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, to appoint a special master to do an independent review of the records.

Cannon subsequently assigned a veteran Brooklyn judge, Raymond Dearie, to review the records and segregate those that may be protected by claims of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege. The Justice Department objected to Dearie’s ability to review the classified records, prompting the 11th Circuit to side with the department.

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October 13, 2022
Israel says it’s reached maritime border deal with Lebanon

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister said Tuesday that the country has reached an “historic agreement” with neighboring Lebanon over their shared maritime border after months of U.S.-brokered negotiations.

At stake are rights over exploiting undersea natural gas reserves in areas of the eastern Mediterranean that the two countries — which do not have diplomatic relations — claim.

Premier Yair Lapid called the deal an “historic achievement that will strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border.”

The agreement is expected to enable additional natural gas production in the Mediterranean. Lebanon hopes gas exploration will help lift its country out of its spiraling economic crisis.

The final draft of the agreement will be brought before Israel’s caretaker government for approval, just weeks before the country goes to the polls for the fifth time in under four years.

Lebanon and Israel have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in 1948 and both countries claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea.

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October 11, 2022
Putin says military strikes against Ukraine were retaliation for bridge attack

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MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a series of strikes Monday across Ukraine came in retaliation against the Ukrainian attack on a bridge to Crimea and other attacks in Russia that he described as “terrorist” actions.

Putin said the Russian military launched precision weapons from the air, sea and ground to target key energy and military command facilities.

He warned that if Ukraine continues to mount “terrorist attacks” on Russia, Moscow’s response will be “tough and proportionate to the level of threats.”

The intense, hours-long attack marked a sudden military escalation by Moscow. It came a day after Putin called the explosion Saturday on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a “terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services.

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October 10, 2022
Russia says truck bomb damages key bridge to Crimea

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KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian authorities said that a truck bomb on Saturday caused a fire and the collapse of a section of a bridge linking Russia-annexed Crimea with Russia — a key supply artery for Moscow’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine.

The attack on the bridge comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70, dealing him a humiliating blow that could lead him to up the ante in his war on Ukraine.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that the truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in a “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” The committee didn’t immediately apportion blame.

The Crimean Peninsula holds symbolic value for Russia and is key to sustaining its military operations in the south. If the bridge is made inoperable, it would make it significantly more challenging to ferry supplies to the peninsula. While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them.

The bridge has train and automobile sections. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee specified that the explosion and fire led to the collapse of the two sections of one of the two links of the automobile bridge, while another link was intact.

Authorities have suspended commuter train traffic across the bridge until further notice. Putin was informed about the explosion and he ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.

The 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is the longest in Europe. It has provided an essential link to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge.

Russia opened the first part of the span to car traffic in May 2018. The parallel bridge for rail traffic opened the following year.

The $3.6 billion project is a tangible symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. It was Russia’s only land link to the peninsula until Russian forces seized more Ukrainian territory on the northern end of the Sea of Azov in heavy fighting, particularly around the city of Mariupol, earlier this year.

In August, Russia suffered a series of explosions at an airbase and munitions depot in Crimea, which underlined its vulnerability.

The truck bomb on the bridge occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that the early-morning explosions were the result of missile strikes in the center of the city. He said that the blasts sparked fires at one of the city’s medical institutions and a nonresidential building. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The blasts came hours after Russia concentrated attacks in its increasingly troubled invasion of Ukraine on areas it illegally annexed, while the death toll from earlier missile strikes on apartment buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia rose to 14.

On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organizations in his Russia and Ukraine, and to an activist jailed in Belarus, an ally of Moscow.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the committee’s chair, said the honor went to “three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence,” though it was widely seen as a rebuke to Putin and his conduct of Europe’s worst armed conflict since World War II.

Putin signed documents on Wednesday to illegally claim four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory, including the Zaporizhzhia region that is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, whose reactors were shut down last month.

That move was foreshadowed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, which was carried out after Moscow alleged residents of the peninsula had voted to join with Russia. That move was widely condemned, and prompted sanctions from the U.S. and the European Union.

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October 8, 2022
Governor’s office reports at least 4 N.C. storm fatalities

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RALEIGH, N.C. — The remnants of Hurricane Ian downed trees and power lines across North Carolina, and authorities reported at least four fatalities Saturday connected to the severe weather.

In Johnston County, outside of Raleigh, a woman found her husband dead early Saturday morning after he went to check on a generator running in their garage overnight, sheriff’s office Capt. Jeff Caldwell said.

Carbon monoxide levels also were high inside the home, and the woman was checked out at a hospital, according to Caldwell.

Also in Johnston County, two young adults died in traffic collisions during stormy and wet conditions Friday, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said in a news release. In eastern North Carolina’s Martin County, a 22-year-old man drowned when his truck left the roadway and submerged in a flooded swamp, the news release said.

“We mourn with the families of those who have died and urge everyone to be cautious while cleaning up to avoid more deaths or injuries,” Cooper said in a statement.

The highway patrol responded to over 1,400 calls for service and 784 collisions between midnight Friday and early Saturday morning, a spokesman said. Not all were necessarily weather-related.

There were no initial reports of major structural damage, though nearly 73,000 people across the state were without power Saturday evening, according to a state outage map. That was down from over 330,000 earlier in the day.

The National Weather Service warned that hazardous conditions remained along the coast, including the possibility of flooding and rip currents.

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October 1, 2022
Russia opens border draft offices as exodus continues in response to military call-ups

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Russian authorities are opening more military enlistment offices near Russia’s borders in an apparent effort to intercept some of the Russian men of fighting age who are trying to flee the country by land to avoid being called up to fight in Ukraine.

A new draft office opened at the Ozinki checkpoint in the Saratov region on Russia’s border with Kazakhstan, regional officials said Thursday. Another enlistment center was set to open at a crossing in the Astrakhan region, also on the border with Kazakhstan.

Earlier this week, makeshift Russian draft offices were set up near the Verkhny Lars border crossing into Georgia in southern Russia and near the Torfyanka checkpoint on Russia’s border with Finland. Russian officials said they would hand call-up notices to all eligible men who were trying to leave the country.

Over 194,000 Russian citizens have fled to neighboring Georgia, Kazakhstan and Finland — most often by car, bicycle or on foot — since Russian President Vladimir Putin last week announced a partial mobilization of reservists. In Russia, the vast majority of men under age 65 are registered as reservists.

The Kremlin has said it plans to call-up some 300,000 people, but Russian media reported that the number could be as high as 1.2 million, a claim that Russian officials have denied.

Background: Putin’s ‘all instruments’ remark perceived as nuclear threat as Russia mobilizes some 300,000 reservists

Russia’s Defense Ministry has promised to only draft those who have combat or service experience, but according to multiple media reports and human rights advocates, men who don’t fit the criteria are also being rounded up.

The official decree on mobilization, signed by Putin last week, is concise and vague, fueling fears of a broader draft.

In an apparent effort to calm the population, Putin told Russia’s Security Council on Thursday that mistakes had been made in the mobilization. He said that Russian men mistakenly called up for service should be sent back home, and that only reservists with proper training and specialties should be summoned to serve.

“It’s necessary to deal with each such case independently, but if there is a mistake, I repeat, it must be fixed. It’s necessary to bring back those who were drafted without proper reason,” Putin stressed.

The mass exodus of Russian men — alone or with their families or friends — began Sept. 21, shortly after Putin’s address to the nation, and continued all this week. Airline tickets to destinations abroad have sold out days in advance, even at unprecedentedly high prices.

Long lines of cars formed on roads leading to Russia’s borders. Russian authorities tried to stem the outflow by turning back some men at the borders, citing mobilization laws, or setting up draft offices at border checkpoints.

The bus stations in Samara and Tolyatti, two large Russian cities in the Samara region, on Thursday halted service to Uralsk, a border city in Kazakhstan.

See: Officials say 98,000 Russians enter Kazakhstan after military call-up

Finland announced that it would ban Russian citizens with tourist visas from entering the country starting Friday. With the exception of Norway, which has only one border crossing with Russia, Finland has provided the last easily accessible land route to Europe for Russian holders of European Schengen-zone visas. The Nordic country has taken in tens of thousands of people fleeing the military call-up in recent days.

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September 30, 2022