ReportWire

Tag: G.

  • Iowa school district agrees to deal with racial harassment

    Iowa school district agrees to deal with racial harassment

    OTTUMWA, Iowa — A southeast Iowa school district failed to protect a Black student from pervasive racial harassment and now must take steps to help the student and ensure it responds appropriately to any future racist actions, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

    The department announced Monday it had resolved a complaint filed against the Ottumwa school district after investigating allegations of harassment in the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school year against a middle school student. The investigation found the harassment amounted to a “racial hostile environment” that violated the student’s federal civil rights, the department said.

    The student endured repeated racial slurs, was targeted by students making monkey noises and was told racially derogatory jokes. District officials were told of the harassment but didn’t take effective actions and didn’t follow up to ensure the harassment had stopped, the department’s investigation found.

    “Federal civil rights law has for decades promised that no student should experience the racially hostile environment that the young person in this investigation endured,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon said in a statement.

    In a statement posted on the district’s website, Superintendent Michael McGrory didn’t apologize for how officials responded to the harassment but said the district had worked collaboratively with the Office of Civil Rights and “finalized a joint agreement to move forward with systemic improvements to our policies and procedures to ensure equity for all of our students.”

    Under the agreement, the district promised actions including reimbursing the student’s parents for expenses related to past and future therapeutic services resulting from the harassment as well as publishing an anti-harassment statement. The district also must review its policies related to harassment based on race, color or national origin, provide training to staff and offer age-appropriate information to students.

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  • UN envoy: Military escalation in Syria is `dangerous’

    UN envoy: Military escalation in Syria is `dangerous’

    UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. special envoy for Syria warned Tuesday that the current military escalation in Syria is dangerous for civilians and regional stability, and he urged Turkey and Kurdish-led forces in the north to de-escalate immediately and restore the relative calm that has prevailed for the last three years.

    Geir Pedersen told the Security Council that the U.N.’s call for maximum restraint and de-escalation also applies to other areas in Syria. He pointed to the upsurge in truce violations in the last rebel-held stronghold in northwest Idlib, airstrikes attributed to Israel in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Latakia, as well as reported airstrikes on the Syria-Iraq border and security incidents and fresh military clashes in the south.

    In northwest Idlib, he said, government airstrikes have killed and injured civilians who fled fighting during the nearly 12-year war and now live in camps. He said the attacks destroyed their tents and displaced hundreds of families.

    The al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, the most powerful militant group in Idlib, reportedly attacked government forces and government-controlled areas with civilian casualties, he added.

    But Pedersen said his major concern now is the slow increase in mutual strikes between the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force in Syria, and Turkey and armed opposition groups across northern Syria, with violence spilling into Turkish territory.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to order a land invasion of northern Syria targeting Kurdish groups following a Nov. 3, explosion in Istanbul that killed six people and wounded dozens, and the government has launched a barrage of airstrikes on suspected militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in retaliation.

    The Kurdish groups have denied involvement in the bombing and say Turkish strikes have killed civilians and threatened the fight against the Islamic State group. But Pedersen cited reports of Syrian Democratic Forces attacks on Turkish forces including inside Turkish territory.

    The U.N. envoy said he came to New York to warn the Security Council of “the dangers of military escalation” taking place and of his fear of what a major military operation would mean for Syrian civilian and for wider regional security.

    “And I equally fear a scenario where the situation escalates in part because there is today no serious effort to resolve the conflict politically,” Pedersen said.

    He expressed concern that the committee comprising government, opposition and civil society representatives that is supposed to revise Syria’s constitution has not met for six months and reiterated his call for a meeting in Geneva in January.

    Russia had raised issues over Geneva as the venue, which Pedersen said were “comprehensively addressed” by Swiss authorities, but Moscow has now raised another issue — which he refused to disclose.

    “It is now the question of political will from Russia to move on or not to move on,” the U.N. envoy told reporters later. “And as I said to the council, the longer it takes before we meet again, the more problematic it will be. So, I really hope I will get some positive news on this.”

    Pedersen said there is a way forward in the weeks ahead: stop the military escalation, renew cross-border aid deliveries to northwest Idlib which expire in January, resume constitutional committee meetings, prioritize work on Syrians detained and missing, and identify and implement step-for-step confidence-building measures.

    Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia hinted at Moscow’s concerns, saying decisions on further inter-Syrian dialogue in the constitutional committee “should be made by the Syrians themselves without external interference.”

    To that end, he said, Russia welcomes Pedersen’s contacts with Damascus and the opposition, but not his “step-by-step initiative,” saying this is not part of the special envoy’s mandate.

    Nebenzia called the overall situation in Syria tense, with terrorist threats persisting, and the north, northeast and south “exposed to illegal foreign military presence while the humanitarian and socioeconomic situation keeps deteriorating.” He blamed U.S. and European sanctions for making the situation worse.

    U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told the council in a video briefing that the gap between the needs of Syrians and available funding keeps growing.

    “The trend is clear: more people need our support each year to survive,” he said. “We expect to see a surge in the number of people needing humanitarian assistance from 14.6 million this year to over 15 million in 2023.”

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  • El Salvador to repurchase more of its debt

    El Salvador to repurchase more of its debt

    SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador’s government announced Tuesday that it will make a second buyback of its sovereign debt bonds maturing in 2023 and 2025 as it tries to calm market concerns that it could default on its debt.

    The government set the maximum for the repurchase at $74 million. The 2023 and 2025 bond offerings were $800 million each.

    In September, the government bought back $565 million of those bonds.

    President Nayib Bukele said via Twitter that the September repurchase “was so successful that we have decided to launch ANOTHER OFFER for the remainder of the 2023 and 2025 bonds.”

    The debt was issued by previous administrations in 1999 and 2004.

    El Salvador last year became the first country to make the cryptocurrency bitcoin legal tender, drawing criticism from international lenders. The International Monetary Fund asked the government to reverse that decision, but Bukele dismissed the request and said the country would issue bonds denominated in bitcoin, something that has still not happened a year later.

    Bukele’s government has also invested heavily in bitcoin, which has since plummeted in value.

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  • Poland upsets some by rebuffing German air defense system

    Poland upsets some by rebuffing German air defense system

    WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s government says an anti-missile system which Germany offered to send to Poland should instead go to Ukraine, a proposal that is a likely non-starter for Berlin because it would significantly ratchet up NATO involvement in Ukraine.

    Poland’s surprising response to Berlin’s offer was welcomed by Ukraine, which is desperate to protect its airspace as barrage upon barrage of Russian missiles have knocked out power across the country.

    But Germany’s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht stressed that use of NATO defense systems outside its territory needs to be agreed by all member states.

    “It is important to us that Poland can rely on allies to stand by each other, even in difficult times, and especially Poland in its exposed position,” Lambrecht told reporters in Berlin.

    “That’s why we have offered to support air policing and Patriots, but these Patriots are part of an integrated air defense of NATO, that is, they are intended for NATO territory,” the minister said. “If they are used outside the NATO area, then it has to be agreed with NATO and with the allies beforehand.”

    In Poland, critics of the populist ruling party accused it of sacrificing the country’s security with a war next door in Ukraine for the sake of a domestic political struggle which exploits anti-German sentiment for short-term gain.

    The Rzeczpospolita daily called the new proposal by Poland’s leaders “shocking,” arguing that it would require sending German soldiers operating the system to Ukraine, and “that, in turn, would involve NATO in a direct clash with Russia, something the alliance has been trying to avoid from the beginning.”

    “This proposal affects Poland’s credibility and, worst of all, its security. The Germans get a clear signal that we do not want their help, so the defense potential of the Polish sky will be lower,” deputy editor Michal Szuldrzynski wrote. “In the worst war in Europe since 1945, this is an unforgivable mistake.”

    Poland’s populist ruling party, facing elections next fall with its popularity dented by 18% inflation, has been ratcheting up its anti-German messaging, long a staple of the party’s campaign rhetoric. Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has also been trying to link his domestic opponents, particularly Donald Tusk, a former European Union leader, to Germany, saying Sunday that if Tusk’s party wins next year, Poland would find itself “under the German boot.”

    When Germany recently offered Warsaw Eurofighter planes and Patriot air defense missile batteries, Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak initially said it was an offer he would accept with “satisfaction.” The offer came after two men were killed when an apparently stray Ukrainian defense projectile fell in Poland near the border with Ukraine on Nov. 15.

    But Poland’s tune changed after Kaczynski gave an interview to the state news agency PAP on Wednesday, saying that the offer is “interesting,” but that “it would be best for Poland’s security if Germany handed the equipment to the Ukrainians.”

    Since then, both Blaszczak and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have repeated the position of Kaczynski, the country’s most powerful leader.

    After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, NATO beefed up its defenses along its eastern flank, including Poland, while Warsaw has worked to strengthen the nation’s own military with massive armaments purchases.

    NATO deployed U.S. Patriot batteries to Poland, and German Patriot batteries to Slovakia, as well as a French equivalent system to Romania.

    NATO’s policy is to not get directly involved in the war and to deploy the batteries only to protect member countries.

    Tapping into anti-German feelings has long been a political strategy to win votes in Poland. Older Poles still carry the trauma of the atrocities inflicted on Poland by Germany during World War II. With the election campaigning underway, Poland has been demanding $1.3 trillion in wartime reparations from Germany — a bill Berlin says it won’t pay.

    Kaczynski also blames Germany for supporting EU efforts to defend the rule of law in Poland and reverse changes to the judiciary, by withholding funding.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created new strains. Poland was long a critic of Germany’s gas deals with Russia and has also been critical of Berlin’s initial hesitancy to arm Ukraine.

    In Poland, some critics pointed out that the government was not only refusing higher military protection but also turning its back on critical EU funding, billions of euros that have been held up by the government’s refusal to follow EU guidelines on safeguarding the independence of judges.

    Marcin Kierwinski of the opposition Civic Platform party said Kaczynski “has gone mad” for “rejecting” the Patriot missiles and EU funding “during war and crisis.”

    ————

    Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

    —————

    Follow all AP stories about the impact of the war in Ukraine at

    https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

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  • UN rights body to hold urgent session on Iran amid crackdown

    UN rights body to hold urgent session on Iran amid crackdown

    The U.N.’s top human rights body will hold a special session on Iran in the wake of the government’s violent and deadly crackdowns on protesters, threats against journalists and other alleged human rights violations in the Islamic republic

    GENEVA — The U.N.’s top human rights body is poised to hold a special session on Iran in the wake of the government’s deadly crackdowns on protesters, threats against journalists and other alleged human rights violations in the Islamic republic.

    The Human Rights Council will hold the session in the week of Nov. 21 “if possible on Nov. 24,” following a diplomatic request by Germany and Iceland.

    Germany sent a letter to the council offices Friday announcing the call for a special session “to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially with respect to women and children.”

    At least one-third of the council’s 47 member states need to support such a request and the move by Germany suggests it has lined up enough backing.

    The protests in Iran, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country’s morality police, have grown into one of the largest sustained challenges to the nation’s theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Security forces have sought to quash dissent.

    After the protests erupted, the United States and European Union imposed additional sanctions on Iran for its brutal treatment of demonstrators and its decision to send hundreds of drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine. EU foreign ministers are expected to agree on additional sanctions Monday.

    At least 328 people have been killed in the Iran protests and 14,825 others arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a monitoring group.

    Iran’s government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures.

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  • Asian stocks surge after lower US inflation eases rate fears

    Asian stocks surge after lower US inflation eases rate fears

    BEIJING — Asian stock markets surged Friday after U.S. inflation eased by more than expected, spurring hopes the Federal Reserve might scale down plans for more interest rate hikes.

    Hong Kong’s market benchmark jumped 5.7% and Seoul rose 3.3%. Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney advanced. Oil prices edged higher.

    Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index soared 5.5% on Thursday for its biggest one-day gain in 2 1/2 years after the government reported consumer prices rose 7.7% over a year ago in October. That was lower than the 8% expected by economists and the fourth month of decline.

    The announcement “drove a ‘more dovish’ calibration of interest rate expectations,” said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report.

    The Fed and central banks in Europe and Asia are raising rates to cool inflation that is at multi-decade highs. Investors worry that might tip the global economy into recession. They hope lower inflation might prompt the Fed to ease off plans for more increases.

    Forecasters warned Thursday it was too early to be certain prices are under control. Fed officials have said rates might have to stay elevated for some time.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index soared to 16,994.66 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 2.9% to 28,229.68.

    The Shanghai Composite Index added 1.4% to 3,078.42 after the ruling Communist Party promised to alter quarantine and other anti-virus tactics to reduce the cost of China’s severe “zero-COVID” strategy that has disrupted the economy.

    The Kospi in Seoul rose to 2,481.50 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 was up 2.7% at 7,154.20.

    India’s Sensex opened up 1.6% to 61,579.12. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets advanced.

    On Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained to 3,956.37, propelled by big gains for tech heavyweights. Amazon soared 12.2%, Apple rose 8.9% and Microsoft climbed 8.2%.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.7%, or more than 1,200 points, to 33,715.37.

    The Nasdaq composite, dominated by tech stocks, shot up 7.4% to 11,114.15 for its best day since March 2020, when Wall Street was rebounding from a crash at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Investors were reassured that U.S. inflation was declining from its June peak of 9.1%, though forecasters said the Fed’s campaign to cool price rises was far from over.

    Traders expect the Fed to raise its benchmark lending rate in December but by a smaller margin of half a percent following four increases of 0.75 percentage points, triple its usual margin. That benchmark stands at a range of 3.75% to 4%, up from close to zero in March.

    The Fed is trying to slow economic activity to reduce pressure for prices to rise.

    The latest figures are a sign the Fed is “on the right path,” but it will face “a lot of variables” over the next few quarters, said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report. He said the benchmark rate could be raised to 5% and “if inflation proves to be sticker, it could be as high as 5.50%.”

    Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is more closely watched by the Fed, was 6.3% over a year earlier, down from September’s 6.6% and below the consensus forecast of 6.5%. Core prices rose 0.3% month on month, half of September’s 0.6% gain.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other loans, fell to 3.82% from 4.15%. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for Fed action, fell to 4.32% from 4.62% and was on pace for its sharpest fall since 2008.

    In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude gained 20 cents to $86.67 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 64 cents to $86.47 on Thursday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, advanced 20 cents to $93.87 per barrel in London. It rose $1.02 to $93.67 the previous session.

    The dollar declined to 141.52 yen from Thursday’s 141.83 yen. The euro edged up to $1.0206 from $1.0180.

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  • Nine arrested after bridge collapses in India, killing 134

    Nine arrested after bridge collapses in India, killing 134

    MORBI, India — Police in western India arrested nine people on Monday as they investigated the collapse of a newly repaired 143-year-old suspension bridge in one of the country’s worst accidents in years, officials said. The collapse Sunday evening in Gujarat state plunged hundreds of people into a river, killing at least 134.

    As families mourned the dead, attention turned to why the pedestrian bridge, built during British colonialism in the late 1800s and touted by the state’s tourism website as an “artistic and technological marvel,” collapsed and who might be responsible. The bridge had reopened just four days earlier.

    Inspector-General Ashok Yadav said police have formed a special investigative team, and that those arrested include managers of the bridge’s operator, Oreva Group, and its staff.

    “We won’t let the guilty get away, we won’t spare anyone,” Yadav said.

    Gujarat authorities opened a case against Oreva for suspected culpable homicide, attempted culpable homicide and other violations.

    In March, the local Morbi town government awarded a 15-year contract to maintain and manage the bridge to Oreva, a group of companies known mainly for making clocks, mosquito zappers and electric bikes. The same month, Oreva closed the bridge, which spans a wide section of the Machchu river, for repairs.

    The bridge has been repaired several times in the past and many of its original parts have been replaced over the years.

    It was reopened nearly seven months later, on Oct. 26, the first day of the Gujarati New Year, which coincides with the Hindu festival season, and the attraction drew hundreds of sightseers.

    Sandeepsinh Zala, a Morbi official, told the Indian Express newspaper the company reopened the bridge without first obtaining a “fitness certificate.” That could not be independently verified, but officials said they were investigating.

    Authorities said the structure collapsed under the weight of hundreds of people. A security video of the disaster showed it shaking violently and people trying to hold on to its cables and metal fencing before the aluminum walkway gave way and crashed into the river.

    The bridge split in the middle with its walkway hanging down, its cables snapped.

    Police said at least 134 people were confirmed dead and many others were admitted to hospitals in critical condition. Emergency responders and rescuers worked overnight and throughout Monday to search for survivors. State minister Harsh Sanghvi said most of the victims were teenagers, women and older people.

    At least 177 survivors were pulled from the river, said Jigar Khunt, an information department official in Gujarat. It was unclear how many people were on the bridge when it collapsed and how many remained missing, but survivors said it was so densely packed that people were unable to quickly escape when its cables began to snap.

    “There were just too many people on the bridge. We could barely move,” Sidik Bai, 27, said while recovering from injuries in a hospital in Morbi.

    Sidik said he jumped into the water when the bridge began to crack and saw his friend being crushed by its metal walkway. He survived by clinging to the bridge’s cables.

    “Everyone was crying for help, but one by one they all began disappearing in the water,” Sidik said.

    Local news channels ran pictures of the missing shared by concerned relatives, and family members raced to overcrowded hospitals searching for their loved ones.

    Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was visiting the state at the time of the accident. He said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy” and his office announced compensation for families of the dead and called for speedy rescue efforts.

    “Rarely in my life, would I have experienced such pain,” Modi said during a public event in the state on Monday.

    Modi was the top elected official of Gujarat for 12 years before becoming India’s prime minister in 2014. A Gujarat state government election is expected in coming months and opposition parties have demanded a thorough investigation of the accident.

    The bridge collapse was Asia’s third major disaster involving large crowds in a month.

    On Saturday, a Halloween crowd surge killed more than 150 people attending festivities in Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. On Oct. 1, police in Indonesia fired tear gas at a soccer match, causing a crush that killed 132 people as spectators tried to flee.

    India’s infrastructure has long been marred by safety problems, and Morbi has suffered other major disasters. In 1979, an upstream dam on the Machchu river burst, sending walls of water into the city and killing hundreds of people in one of India’s biggest dam failures.

    In 2001, thousands of people died in an earthquake in Gujarat. Morbi, 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the quake’s epicenter in Bhuj, suffered widespread damage. According to a report in the Times of India newspaper, the bridge that collapsed Sunday also was severely damaged.

    ———

    Hussain, Saaliq and Pathi reported from New Delhi.

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  • Why did Elon Musk just spend billions to take over Twitter?

    Why did Elon Musk just spend billions to take over Twitter?

    Elon Musk has taken over Twitter and fired its CEO and other top executives. Trading in company shares was suspended Friday on the New York Stock Exchange and the stock will be officially delisted early next month, according to a filing with securities regulators. So now what?

    WHY DID MUSK BUY TWITTER?

    One reason why Musk bought Twitter this week is because he had little choice. The world’s richest man spent months trying to back out of the $44 billion purchase agreement he originally signed in April. But the uncertainty was so disruptive to Twitter’s business that it sued him in the Delaware Court of Chancery to force the deal’s completion, and a judge gave a Friday deadline to complete the deal or face a November trial that Musk was likely to lose.

    As for why Musk wanted to own Twitter in the first place, the reasons are more complicated. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising,” he said in an open letter Thursday to companies that sell ads on Twitter, which is how the company makes money. “Most of it has been wrong.”

    HOW DID MUSK BUY TWITTER?

    It’s not yet clear how Musk secured all of the financing to close his $44 billion agreement to buy the company and take it private. But many of the commitments to the Tesla CEO were pledged back in the spring.

    A group of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, signed on earlier this year to loan $12.5 billion that Musk needed to buy Twitter and take it private. Solid contracts with Musk bound the banks to the financing, although changes in the economy and debt markets since April have likely made the terms less attractive.

    Investors who would get ownership stakes in Twitter were also expected to chip in billions. Musk’s original slate of equity partners included an array of parties ranging from the billionaire’s tech world friends with like-minded ideas about Twitter’s future, such as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, to funds controlled by Middle Eastern royalty.

    Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said Friday that he and his Kingdom Holding Company rolled over a combined $1.89 billion in existing Twitter shares, making them the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. Another equity investor, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, confirmed Friday that it put in $500 million.

    The more equity investors kicked in for the deal, the less Musk would have had to pay on his own. Most of Musk’s wealth is tied up in shares of his electric car company. Since April, he has sold more than $15 billion worth of Tesla stock, presumably to pay his share.

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  • Why did Elon Musk just spend billions to take over Twitter?

    Why did Elon Musk just spend billions to take over Twitter?

    Elon Musk has taken over Twitter and fired its CEO and other top executives. Trading in company shares was suspended Friday on the New York Stock Exchange and the stock will be officially delisted early next month, according to a filing with securities regulators. So now what?

    WHY DID MUSK BUY TWITTER?

    One reason why Musk bought Twitter this week is because he had little choice. The world’s richest man spent months trying to back out of the $44 billion purchase agreement he originally signed in April. But the uncertainty was so disruptive to Twitter’s business that it sued him in the Delaware Court of Chancery to force the deal’s completion, and a judge gave a Friday deadline to complete the deal or face a November trial that Musk was likely to lose.

    As for why Musk wanted to own Twitter in the first place, the reasons are more complicated. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising,” he said in an open letter Thursday to companies that sell ads on Twitter, which is how the company makes money. “Most of it has been wrong.”

    HOW DID MUSK BUY TWITTER?

    It’s not yet clear how Musk secured all of the financing to close his $44 billion agreement to buy the company and take it private. But many of the commitments to the Tesla CEO were pledged back in the spring.

    A group of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, signed on earlier this year to loan $12.5 billion that Musk needed to buy Twitter and take it private. Solid contracts with Musk bound the banks to the financing, although changes in the economy and debt markets since April have likely made the terms less attractive.

    Investors who would get ownership stakes in Twitter were also expected to chip in billions. Musk’s original slate of equity partners included an array of parties ranging from the billionaire’s tech world friends with like-minded ideas about Twitter’s future, such as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, to funds controlled by Middle Eastern royalty.

    Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said Friday that he and his Kingdom Holding Company rolled over a combined $1.89 billion in existing Twitter shares, making them the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. Another equity investor, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, confirmed Friday that it put in $500 million.

    The more equity investors kicked in for the deal, the less Musk would have had to pay on his own. Most of Musk’s wealth is tied up in shares of his electric car company. Since April, he has sold more than $15 billion worth of Tesla stock, presumably to pay his share.

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  • Commerce tightens export controls on high end chips to China

    Commerce tightens export controls on high end chips to China

    The Commerce Department is tightening export controls to limit China’s ability to get advanced computing chips, develop and maintain supercomputers, and make advanced semiconductors

    The Commerce Department is tightening export controls to limit China‘s ability to get advanced computing chips, develop and maintain supercomputers, and make advanced semiconductors.

    The department said Friday that its updated export controls are focusing on these areas because China can use the chips, supercomputers and semiconductors to create advanced military systems including weapons of mass destruction; commit human rights abuses and improve the speed and accuracy of its military decision making, planning, and logistics.

    Commerce said the updates are part of ongoing efforts to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.

    “The threat environment is always changing, and we are updating our policies today to make sure we’re addressing the challenges posed by (China) while we continue our outreach and coordination with allies and partners,” Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez said in a statement.

    Commerce said it consulted with close allies and partners on its control efforts.

    Thursday, at an event in upstate New York, President Biden predicted a $20 billion investment by IBM in New York’s Hudson River Valley will help give the United States a technological edge against China. The investment is spurred by this summer’s passage of a $280 billion measure intended to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research. That legislation was needed for national and economic security, Biden said in Poughkeepsie, adding that “the Chinese Communist Party actively lobbied against” it.

    Tensions have been rising between the U.S. and China over technology and security. Last month the Chinese government called on Washington to repeal its technology export curbs after California-based chip designer Nvidia said a new product might be delayed and some work might be moved out of China.

    Washington has tightened controls and lobbied allies to limit Chinese access to the most advanced chips and tools to develop its own. China is spending heavily to develop its fledgling producers but so far cannot make high-end chips used in the most advanced smartphones and other devices.

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  • Today in History: October 3, MLB’s first Black manager

    Today in History: October 3, MLB’s first Black manager

    Today in History

    Today is Monday, Oct. 3, the 276th day of 2022. There are 89 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Oct. 3, 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles found the former star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was later found liable for damages in a civil trial).

    On this date:

    In 1941, Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been “broken” and would “never rise again.”

    In 1944, during World War II, U.S. Army troops cracked the Siegfried Line north of Aachen, Germany.

    In 1951, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant by a score of 5-4 as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the “shot heard ‘round the world.”

    In 1961, “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” also starring Mary Tyler Moore, made its debut on CBS.

    In 1970, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was established under the Department of Commerce.

    In 1974, Frank Robinson was named major league baseball’s first Black manager as he was placed in charge of the Cleveland Indians.

    In 1981, Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended seven months of hunger strikes that had claimed 10 lives.

    In 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a reunified country.

    In 2001, the Senate approved an agreement normalizing trade between the United States and Vietnam.

    In 2003, a tiger attacked magician Roy Horn of duo “Siegfried & Roy” during a performance in Las Vegas, leaving the superstar illusionist in critical condition on his 59th birthday.

    In 2008, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison; he was granted parole in July 2017 and released from prison in October of that year.)

    In 2011, an Italian appeals court freed Amanda Knox of Seattle after four years in prison, tossing murder convictions against Knox and an ex-boyfriend in the stabbing of their British roommate, Meredith Kercher.

    Ten years ago: An aggressive Mitt Romney sparred with President Barack Obama on the economy and domestic issues in their first campaign debate. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised a full and transparent probe of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

    Five years ago: President Donald Trump, visiting Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, congratulated the U.S. island territory for escaping the higher death toll of what he called “a real catastrophe like Katrina”; at a church used to distribute supplies, Trump handed out flashlights and tossed rolls of paper towels into the friendly crowd. The United States expelled 15 of Cuba’s diplomats to protest Cuba’s failure to protect Americans from unexplained attacks in Havana. Yahoo announced that the largest data breach in history had affected all 3 billion accounts on its service, not the 1 billion it had revealed earlier.

    One year ago: A report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found that hundreds of world leaders, politicians, billionaires, religious leaders and drug dealers had been hiding investments in mansions, beachfront property, yachts and other assets for decades, using shell companies and offshore accounts to keep trillions of dollars out of government treasuries; those identified as beneficiaries of the secret accounts included Jordan’s King Abdullah II and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. An EgyptAir jet landed in Tel Aviv, making the first official direct flight by the Egyptian national carrier since the two countries signed a 1979 peace treaty. Tom Brady rallied the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 19-17 victory over the Patriots on a rainy Sunday night in his return to New England.

    Today’s Birthdays: Composer Steve Reich is 86. Rock and roll star Chubby Checker is 81. Actor Alan Rachins is 80. Former Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is 79. Singer Lindsey Buckingham is 73. Jazz musician Ronnie Laws is 72. Blues singer Keb’ Mo’ is 71. Former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan is 71. Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is 71. Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is 68. Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is 68. Actor Hart Bochner is 66. Actor Peter Frechette is 66. World Golf Hall of Famer Fred Couples is 63. Actor-comedian Greg Proops is 63. Actor Jack Wagner is 63. Actor/musician Marcus Giamatti is 61. Rock musician Tommy Lee is 60. Actor Clive Owen is 58. Actor Janel Moloney is 53. Singer Gwen Stefani (No Doubt) is 53. Pop singer Kevin Richardson is 51. Rock singer G. Love is 50. Actor Keiko Agena is 49. Actor Neve Campbell is 49. Actor Lena Headey is 49. Singer India.Arie is 47. Rapper Talib Kweli is 47. Actor Alanna Ubach is 47. Actor Seann (cq) William Scott is 46. Actor Shannyn Sossamon is 44. Rock musician Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 43. Actor Seth Gabel is 41. Rock musician Mark King (Hinder) is 40. Actor Erik Von Detten is 40. Actor Tessa Thompson is 39. Country singer Drake White is 39. Actor Meagan Holder is 38. Actor Christopher Marquette is 38. Actor-singer Ashlee Simpson is 38. Rapper A$AP Rocky is 34. Actor Alicia Vikander is 34. Actor Noah Schnapp (TV: “Stranger Things”) is 18.

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