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Tag: Government policy

  • More Americans think foreign policy should be a top US priority for 2024, an AP-NORC poll finds

    More Americans think foreign policy should be a top US priority for 2024, an AP-NORC poll finds

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    WASHINGTON — In this time of war overseas, more Americans think foreign policy should be a top focus for the U.S. government in 2024, with a new poll showing international concerns and immigration rising in importance with the public.

    About 4 in 10 U.S. adults named foreign policy topics in an open-ended question that asked people to share up to five issues for the government to work on in the next year, according to a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

    That’s about twice as many who mentioned the topic in the AP-NORC poll conducted last year.

    Long-standing economic worries still overshadow other issues. But the new poll’s findings point to increased concern about U.S. involvement overseas — 20% voiced that sentiment in the poll, versus 5% a year ago.

    It also shows that the Israeli-Hamas war is feeding public anxiety. The conflict was mentioned by 5%, while almost no one cited it a year ago. The issue has dominated geopolitics since Israel declared war on Hamas in Gaza after that group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soil.

    Four percent of U.S. adults mentioned the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as something for their government to focus on this year. That’s similar to the 6% who mentioned it at the end of 2022.

    Foreign policy has gained importance among respondents from both parties. Some 46% of Republicans named it, up from 23% last year. And 34% of Democrats list foreign policy as a focal point, compared with 16% a year ago.

    Warren E. Capito, a Republican from Gordonsville, Virginia, worries China could soon invade Taiwan, creating a third major potential source of global conflict for the U.S. “They would love to have us split three ways,” he said of China, and “we’re already spread so thin.”

    Immigration is also a rising bipartisan concern.

    Overall, the poll found that concerns about immigration climbed to 35% from 27% last year. Most Republicans, 55%, say the government needs to focus on immigration in 2024, while 22% of Democrats listed immigration as a priority. That’s up from 45% and 14%, respectively, compared with December 2022.

    Janet Brewer has lived all her life in San Diego, across from Tijuana, Mexico, and said the situation on the border has deteriorated in recent years.

    “It’s a disaster,” said Brewer, 69, who works part time after running a secretarial and legal and medical transcription small business. “It’s crazy.”

    The politics of foreign military aid and immigration policy are entangled, with President Joe Biden ‘s administration promoting a $110 billion package that includes aid for Ukraine and Israel that remains stalled in Congress while Republicans push for a deal allowing major changes in immigration policy and stricter enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Brewer said she wouldn’t vote for Biden or a Republican for president in 2024, and may opt for independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But she also questions whether a change in the White House would necessarily improve immigration policy.

    As for foreign aid, she said: “I know that we need to help. But come on. We’ve done enough.”

    Even as immigration and foreign policy rose as concerns, those issues were no match for worries about the economy. Inflation has fallen, unemployment is low and the U.S. has repeatedly defied predictions of a recession — yet this poll adds to a string of them showing a gloomy outlook on the economy.

    Some 76% of U.S. adults said this time that they want the government to work on issues related to the economy in 2024, nearly the same as the 75% who said so at this point in 2022.

    About 85% of Republicans and 65% of Democrats name the economy as a top issue. But Republicans are more likely than Democrats to want the government to address some specific economic issues: on inflation 41% vs. 22% and on government spending or debt, 22% vs. 7%.

    Meanwhile, 3 in 10 U.S. adults listed inflation as an issue that the government should focus on, unchanged from 2022.

    The economy is a top issue mentioned by 18- to 29-year-olds (84%), followed by inflation specifically (39%), personal finances issues (38%) and foreign policy (34%). In the same age bracket, 32% mentioned education or school loans as something for the government to address in 2024. That’s despite the Biden administration trying new, more modest efforts to cancel debts after the Supreme Court struck down its larger original push.

    Among those 30 and older, only 19% mention student loans. But Travis Brown, a 32-year-old forklift operator in Las Vegas, noted that he’s back to getting calls seeking payment of his student loans.

    “Right now, with the economy, wages are not matching,” Brown said. “Blue collar’s going away and I don’t see how that’s going to boost an economy. An economy thrives off the working class. Not off the rich.”

    Brown also suggested that the U.S. is too focused on shipping aid to its overseas allies.

    “I care about others, I do,” he said. “But when you sit here and say, ‘I just sent $50 million over to Israel’ and then I go outside and I see half a neighborhood rundown … you’ve got to take care of home.”

    One possible sign that larger sentiments on the economy could be improving slightly is that overall mentions of personal financial issues declined some, with 30% mentioning them now compared with 37% last year. Drops occurred for Democrats, 27% vs. 33%, and among Republicans, falling to 30% compared with 37% in 2022.

    One-quarter of U.S. adults say 2024 will be a better year than 2023 for them personally, and 24% expect it will be a worse year. Some 37% of Republicans expect it’ll be a worse year for them, compared with 20% of independents and 13% of Democrats.

    Just 5% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” confident that the federal government can make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2024, with 7% of Democrats and 11% of independents being optimistic, compared with 1% of Republicans.

    Brown is a Democrat but said he was disillusioned enough to perhaps sit out the presidential election — especially if it proves to be a 2020 rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, who has built a commanding early lead in the 2024 Republican primary.

    “I don’t think I will participate and maybe that’s bad,” Brown said. “But, it’s like, you’re losing faith.”

    ___

    The poll of 1,074 adults was conducted Nov. 30–Dec. 4, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

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  • Civil rights leader removed from movie theater for using his own chair

    Civil rights leader removed from movie theater for using his own chair

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    A civil rights leader was escorted by police out of a North Carolina movie theater after he insisted on using his own chair for medical reasons, prompting an apology from the nation’s largest movie theater chain.

    The incident occurred Tuesday in Greenville during a showing of “The Color Purple.” The Rev. William Barber II said he needs the chair because he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a disabling bone disease.

    Barber, 60, leads a nonprofit called Repairers of the Breach, which focuses on issues including voter suppression and poverty. He also co-chairs the national Poor People’s Campaign, which is modeled after an initiative launched in 1968 by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

    During an hourlong news conference on Friday, Barber spoke in support of people with disabilities and the need for businesses to provide the accommodations required under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

    “I know that if I cannot sit in my chair in a theater in Greenville, North Carolina …. that there are thousands of other people who will be excluded from public spaces in this nation,” Barber said.

    Barber said managers at the AMC theater asked an armed security guard and local police officers to remove him after he stood firm on using the chair. Barber said he agreed to be escorted out after officers said they’d have to close down the theater and arrest him.

    Barber said he left his 90-year-old mother behind with an assistant to watch the film. Video of the incident shows Barber talking to an officer before walking out of the theater.

    “This is not about me personally,” he said. “Though it happened to me personally, this is about what systemic changes, policy changes (and) training needs to be done to ensure this happens to no one.”

    Greenville police said in a statement that a caller from the theater said a customer was arguing with employees and the theater wanted him removed. After a brief conversation with a responding police officer, “Barber agreed to leave the theater voluntarily,” police said. No charges were filed.

    AMC apologized in a written statement, saying it welcomes and works hard to accommodate guests with disabilities, WRAL reported.

    “We are also reviewing our policies with our theater teams to help ensure situations like this do not occur again,” the statement said.

    Barber said he’ll meet next week with the chairman of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Adam Aron, after Aron reached out to him. Barber said he is “hopeful it will lead to just and good things for those with disabilities.”

    Barber previously served as president of the North Carolina NAACP, leading protests over voter access at the Statehouse that got him and more than 1,000 people arrested for civil disobedience. He stepped down from that role in 2017.

    Barber is now a professor at Yale Divinity School. He said Friday that he tells his students they must care about people.

    “There’s no way to follow Jesus without learning to pay attention to whoever is broken and vulnerable in society,” Barber said. “Because that’s where God shows up.”

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  • When Colorado removed Trump from the ballot, a Supreme Court showdown looked likely. Maine removed all doubt.

    When Colorado removed Trump from the ballot, a Supreme Court showdown looked likely. Maine removed all doubt.

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    DENVER (AP) — First, Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump wasn’t eligible to run for his old job in that state. Then, Maine’s secretary of state ruled the same for her state.

    Both decisions are historic. The Colorado court was the first court to apply to a presidential candidate a rarely used constitutional ban against those who “engaged in insurrection.” Maine’s secretary of state was the first top election official to unilaterally strike a presidential candidate from the ballot under that provision.

    What’s next? Can Trump be put back on the ballot?

    Both decisions are on hold while the legal process plays out. That means that Trump remains on the ballot in Colorado and Maine and that his political fate is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The Maine ruling will likely never take effect on its own. Its central impact is increasing pressure on the nation’s highest court to state clearly whether Trump remains eligible to run for president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    What’s the legal issue that could keep Trump off the ballot?

    After the Civil War, the U.S. ratified the 14th Amendment to guarantee rights to former slaves and more. It also included a two-sentence clause called Section 3, designed to keep former Confederates from regaining government power after the war.

    “Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution doesn’t require a criminal conviction to take effect.”

    The measure reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

    Congress did remove that disability from most Confederates in 1872, and the provision fell into disuse. But it was rediscovered after Jan. 6.

    See: Nikki Haley was asked by N.H. voter to name Civil War cause. Slavery was absent from her answer.

    How does this apply to former president Trump exactly?

    Trump is already being prosecuted for the attempt to overturn his 2020 loss that culminated with Jan. 6, but Section 3 doesn’t require a criminal conviction to take effect. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed to disqualify Trump, claiming he engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6 and is no longer qualified to run for office.

    All the suits failed until the Colorado ruling. And dozens of secretaries of state have been asked to remove him from the ballot. All said they didn’t have the authority to do so without a court order — until Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’s decision.

    See: As Colorado court bars Trump from ballot, poll finds 62% of GOP voters would want him as nominee even with more legal woes

    Also: Police investigating ‘incidents’ against Colorado justices after Trump removed from state’s ballot

    The Supreme Court has never ruled on Section 3. It’s likely to do so in considering appeals of the Colorado decision — the state Republican Party has already appealed, and Trump is expected to file his own shortly.

    Bellows’s ruling cannot be appealed straight to the U.S. Supreme Court — it has to be appealed up the judicial chain first, starting with a trial court in Maine.

    The Maine decision does force the high court’s hand, though. It was already highly likely the justices would hear the Colorado case, but Maine removes any doubt.

    Trump lost Colorado in 2020, and he doesn’t need to win it again to garner an Electoral College majority next year. But he won one of Maine’s four Electoral College votes in 2020 by winning the state’s 2nd Congressional District, so Bellows’s decision would have a direct impact on his odds next November.

    Until the high court rules, any state could adopt its own standard on whether Trump, or anyone else, can be on the ballot. That’s the sort of legal chaos the court is supposed to prevent.

    What is Trump’s argument?

    Trump’s lawyers have several arguments against the push to disqualify him. First, it’s not clear Section 3 applies to the president — an early draft mentioned the office, but it was taken out, and the language “an officer of the United States” elsewhere in the Constitution doesn’t mean the president, they contend.

    Second, even if it does apply to the presidency, they say, this is a “political” question best decided by voters, not unelected judges. Third, if judges do want to get involved, the lawyers assert, they’re violating Trump’s rights to a fair legal procedure by flatly ruling he’s ineligible without some sort of fact-finding process like a lengthy criminal trial. Fourth, they argue, Jan. 6 wasn’t an insurrection under the meaning of Section 3 — it was more like a riot. Finally, even if it was an insurrection, they say, Trump wasn’t involved in it — he was merely using his free speech rights.

    Of course, the lawyers who want to disqualify Trump have arguments, too.

    The main one is that the case is actually very simple: Jan. 6 was an insurrection, Trump incited it, and he’s disqualified.

    Why has this process taken so long?

    The attack of Jan. 6, 2021, occurred nearly three years ago, but the challenges weren’t “ripe,” to use the legal term, until Trump petitioned to get onto state ballots this fall.

    But the length of time also gets at another issue — no one has really wanted to rule on the merits of the case. Most judges have dismissed the lawsuits because of technical issues, including that courts don’t have the authority to tell parties whom to put on their primary ballots. Secretaries of state have dodged, too, usually telling those who ask them to ban Trump that they don’t have the authority to do so unless ordered by a court.

    No one can dodge anymore. Legal experts have cautioned that, if the Supreme Court doesn’t clearly resolve the issue, it could lead to chaos in November — or in January 2025, if Trump wins the election. Imagine, they say, if the high court ducks the issue or says it’s not a decision for the courts to make, and Democrats win a narrow majority in Congress. Would they seat Trump or declare he’s ineligible under Section 3?

    Why was this action taken in Maine?

    Maine has an unusual process in which a secretary of state is required to hold a public hearing on challenges to politicians’ spots on the ballot and then issue a ruling. Multiple groups of Maine voters, including a bipartisan clutch of former state lawmakers, filed such a challenge, triggering Bellows’s decision.

    Bellows is a Democrat and the former head of the Maine chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Trump’s attorneys asked her to recuse herself from the case, citing social-media posts calling Jan. 6 an “insurrection” and bemoaning Trump’s acquittal in his impeachment trial over the attack.

    She refused, saying she wasn’t ruling based on personal opinions. But the precedent she sets is notable, critics say. In theory, election officials in every state could decide a candidate is ineligible based on a novel legal theory about Section 3 and end their candidacies.

    Conservatives argue that Section 3 could apply to Vice President Kamala Harris, for example — it was used to block from office even those who donated small sums to individual Confederates. Couldn’t it be used against Harris, they say, because she raised money for those arrested in the unrest after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020?

    Is this a partisan issue?

    Bellows is a Democrat, and all the justices on the Colorado Supreme Court were appointed by Democrats. Six of the 9 U.S. Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republicans, three by Trump himself.

    But courts don’t always split on predictable partisan lines. The Colorado ruling was 4-3 — so three Democratic appointees disagreed with barring Trump. Several prominent legal conservatives have championed the use of Section 3 against the former president.

    Now we’ll see how the high court handles it.

    Read on:

    Trump’s name can appear on ballot in Michigan, says state’s top court

    Georgia election workers sue Rudy Giuliani again, seek to bar him from repeating lies about them

    Trump’s Republican rivals rally to his defense after Colorado ballot ruling

    Supreme Court to hear case that could undermine obstruction charges against hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants

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  • Apple can sell its latest smartwatches again after court pauses FTC import ban

    Apple can sell its latest smartwatches again after court pauses FTC import ban

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    The latest Apple Watches are available again after the company scored a legal victory Wednesday.

    “We are thrilled to return the full Apple Watch lineup to customers in time for the new year,” Apple
    AAPL,
    +0.05%
    said in a statement to MarketWatch. “Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, including the blood-oxygen feature, will become available for purchase again in the United States at Apple Stores starting today and from apple.com tomorrow by 3 p.m. ET.”

    A U.S. appeals court earlier Wednesday temporarily blocked a government commission’s import ban on popular Apple Watch models following a patent dispute with medical-technology firm Masimo Corp.
    MASI,
    -4.57%    .

    The court’s order allows Apple to temporarily resume selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. Both watches were pulled from Apple’s website last week and off store shelves this week when the ban went into effect. The appeals court is weighing a longer halt on the import and sales ban.

    Masimo declined to comment.

    On Tuesday, the tech giant filed an emergency request for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to halt the ban at least until U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides whether redesigned versions of its watches infringe Masimo’s patents.

    The appeals court’s decision will allow the U.S. Customs department to consider Apple’s redesign of the offending Apple Watch models. A fix is expected by Jan. 12. Apple said in the motion Tuesday it could “suffer irreparable harm” if the ban is kept in place while the appeal is ongoing.

    Shares of Apple were flat in trading Wednesday.

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  • North Korea's Kim boasts of achievements as he opens key year-end political meeting

    North Korea's Kim boasts of achievements as he opens key year-end political meeting

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised what he called achievements and victories that strengthened national power and boosted the country’s prestige this year, as he opened a key political meeting to set new policy goals for 2024, state media reported Wednesday.

    Experts said that during this week’s year-end plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, North Korea would likely hype its progress in arms development because the country lacks economic achievements amid persistent international sanctions and pandemic-related economic hardships.

    In his opening-day speech at the meeting that began Tuesday, Kim defined 2023 “as a year of great turn and great change both in name and reality, in which (North Korea) left a great trace in the glorious course of development in the efforts to improve the national power and enhance the prestige of the country,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

    KCNA said North Korea achieved a rapid advancement in its defense capabilities this year in the wake of the launch of its first military spy satellite in November and the introduction of other sophisticated weapons.

    KCNA said North Korea also reported a rare good harvest this year as the country finished building new irrigation systems ahead of schedule and met major agricultural state objectives. It said that modern streets, new houses and other buildings were built in Pyongyang and elsewhere across the country.

    According to a recent assessment by South Korea’s state-run Rural Development Administration, North Korea’s grain production this year was estimated at 4.8 million tons, a 6.9% increase from last year’s 4.5 million tons, thanks to favorable weather conditions. But the 4.8 million tons are still short by about 0.7 million tons of sufficient annual levels, as experts say North Korea needs about 5.5 million tons of grain to feed its 25 million people each year.

    The Workers’ Party meeting, expected to last several days, will review state projects from this year and establish new objectives for next year. In recent years, North Korea has published the results of its meeting, including Kim’s closing speech, in state media on Jan. 1, allowing him to skip his New Year’s Day address.

    The meeting comes after North Korea launched its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile, the solid-fueled Hwasong-18, which is designed to strike the mainland U.S., into the sea last week. North Korea said the Hwasong-18 launch, the third of its kind this year, was meant to warn the U.S. and South Korea over their confrontational moves against North Korea.

    On Nov. 21, North Korea put its first military spy satellite into orbit, though outside experts question whether it can send militarily useful high-resolution imagery.

    The launches of the Hwasong-18 missile and the spy satellite were part of an ongoing run of weapons tests by North Korea since last year. Kim has maintained he was forced to expand his nuclear arsenal to cope with increasing hostilities from the U.S. and its allies toward the North, but foreign experts say he eventually hopes to use an enlarged arsenal to win greater outside concessions when diplomacy resumes.

    Last Thursday, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik told lawmakers that North Korea appeared to be speeding up its weapons testing activities to highlight its achievements in defense sectors because it lacked major progress in the economy and public livelihoods.

    In recent years, North Korea’s fragile economy was severely battered by pandemic-related curbs, U.S.-led sanctions and the North’s own mismanagement. But monitoring groups say there are no signs of a humanitarian crisis or social chaos that could threaten Kim’s absolute rule at home.

    In August, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that North Korea’s economy shrank each year from 2020 to 2022 and that its gross domestic product last year was 12% less than in 2016.

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  • Why this Treasury market trade continues to draw scrutiny

    Why this Treasury market trade continues to draw scrutiny

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    Inside the $26 trillion Treasury market, perhaps the deepest and most liquid place for government debt in the world, a particular trade continues to draw scrutiny ahead of year-end. It’s the “basis trade,” a way of profiting on the differences in prices between Treasurys and Treasury futures. While such differences can be relatively tiny, one’s potential profit or loss can be exponentially magnified when leverage is involved.In a nutshell, the basis trade takes an arbitrage approach: It involves borrowing from the repo market for leverage and financing, and then taking a short Treasury futures position and a long Treasury…

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  • Bluebird Bio Stock Is in Free Fall

    Bluebird Bio Stock Is in Free Fall

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    Two weeks ago, bluebird bio secured Food and Drug Administration approval for its gene therapy for sickle cell disease, a significant milestone for the roughly 100,000 people in the U.S. who suffer from the condition.

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  • Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed as Bank of Japan keeps its monetary policy unchanged

    Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed as Bank of Japan keeps its monetary policy unchanged

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    BANGKOK — Asian shares were mixed Tuesday after a seven-week winning streak on Wall Street cooled.

    U.S. futures were flat and oil prices were little changed.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.4% to 33,219.39 after the Bank of Japan kept its ultra-lax monetary policy unchanged, as expected. The dollar rose against the yen, climbing to 143.75 yen from 142.79.

    The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney added 0.8% to 7,489.10, while South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.1% higher to 2,568.55.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1% to 16,469.32 and the Shanghai Composite index gained less than 0.1% to 2,932.39.

    Bangkok’s SET slipped 0.2%, while Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.4%.

    On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 4,740.56 and the Nasdaq composite picked up 0.6% to 14,904.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished essentially flat after most of a 0.2% gain faded by late afternoon, closing at 37,306.02.

    Retailers and big technology companies were among the big gainers. Amazon.com rose 2.7% and Etsy climbed 4.7% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks.

    Chipmaker Nvidia rose 2.4%, while Meta added 2.9% and Netflix closed 3% higher.

    Energy companies also rallied as the price of crude oil jumped more than $1 amid growing concerns about attacks from Iranian-backed Houthis on shipping in the Red Sea. Oil and natural gas giant BP has joined the growing list of companies that have halted shipments in the major trade route.

    U.S. Steel soared 26.1% after agreeing to be acquired by Japan’s Nippon Steel. The Pittsburgh steel maker played a key role in the nation’s industrialization. The all-cash deal is valued at about $14.1 billion, or $14.9 billion with debt. That’s nearly double what was offered just four months ago by rival Cleveland Cliffs.

    Investors had several other corporate buyout updates to review. Photoshop maker Adobe rose 2.5% following an announcement that it is terminating its planned $20 billion buyout of Figma.

    The broader market surged last week and added to solid December gains after the Federal Reserve signaled that inflation may have cooled enough for the central bank to shift to cutting interest rates in 2024. The Dow closed out last week with a record, while the S&P 500 ended the week with its longest weekly winning streak in six years, while edging closer to its all-time high.

    The benchmark S&P 500 is now up more than 23% this year, while the Nasdaq is up more than 42%.

    Lower interest rates typically take pressure off of financial markets. The Fed’s goal since 2022 has been to slow the economy and grind down prices for investments enough through high interest rates to get inflation under control. Economic growth has slowed, but has not dipped into recession, while inflation continues easing.

    Wall Street is betting that those conditions mean the Fed is done raising interest rates and could start cutting them in early 2024. Investors will get their last big inflation update of the year on Friday when the government releases its report on personal consumption expenditures. It’s the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and has been easing since the middle of 2022.

    Analysts polled by FactSet expect the measure of inflation to soften to 2.8% in November from 3% in October.

    Investors will also have a few big earnings reports to review this week, which could give them a better sense of how companies and consumers are faring amid high interest rates and lingering inflation. Package delivery service FedEx will report its latest financial results on Tuesday and Cheerios maker General Mills will report its results on Wednesday. Athletic footwear giant Nike will report its latest results on Thursday.

    Early Tuesday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.91% from 3.95% late Monday.

    U.S. benchmark crude oil was down 12 cents at $72.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 3 cents at $77.98 per barrel.

    The euro rose to $1.0941 from $1.0925 late Monday.

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  • Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower as Bank of Japan meets, China property shares fall

    Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower as Bank of Japan meets, China property shares fall

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    BANGKOK — Asian shares were mostly lower on Monday as the Bank of Japan began a 2-day meeting that investors are watching for hints of a change to the central bank’s longstanding near-zero interest rate policy.

    U.S. futures and oil prices gained.

    Investors have been speculating for months that rising prices would push Japan’s central bank to finally shift away from its lavishly lax monetary policy. But the meeting that ends Tuesday is not expected to result in a major change.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.6% to 32,758.98, while the U.S. dollar edged higher against the Japanese yen, rising to 142.17 from 142.11.

    The BOJ has kept its benchmark rate at minus 0.1% for a decade, hoping to goose investments and borrowing to help drive sustained strong growth. One aim is to get inflation to a target of 2% after many years of falling prices. But while inflation has risen, wages have failed to keep up, and central bank Gov. Kazuo Ueda has remained cautious about major moves at a time of deep uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy.

    Renewed selling of property shares pulled Chinese stocks lower.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.1% to 16,613.42 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.5% to 2,929.60.

    Debt-laden developer Country Garden lost 2.4%, while China Evergrande declined 1.3%. Sino-Ocean Group Holding shed 2.2%.

    Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.2% to 7,426.40. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1% to 2,566.86 and Bangkok’s SET was down 0.3%.

    On Friday, the S&P 500 finished down less than 0.1% at 4,719.19. But it’s still hanging within 1.6% of its all-time high set early last year, and it closed out a seventh straight winning week for its longest such streak in six years.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks a smaller slice of the U.S. stock market, rose 0.2% to 37,305.16 and set a record for a third straight day. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4% to 14,813.92.

    “As the S&P approaches record levels, market participants appear undaunted. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that there is no compelling reason to fade this rally until concrete evidence surfaces indicating significant economic or inflation headwinds,” Stephen Innes of API Asset Management said in a commentary.

    Stocks overall bolted higher last week after the Federal Reserve seemed to give a nod toward hopes that it has finished with raising interest rates and will begin cutting them in the new year. Lower rates not only give a boost to prices for all kinds of investments, they also relax the pressure on the economy and the financial system.

    The Fed’s goal has been to slow the economy and grind down prices for investments enough through high interest rates to get inflation under control. It then has to loosen the brakes at the exact right time. If it waits too long, the economy could fall into a painful recession. If it moves too early, inflation could reaccelerate and add misery for everyone.

    Inflation peaked in June 2022 at 9.1%, the most painful inflation Americans had experienced since 1981.

    A preliminary report on Friday indicated growth for U.S. business activity may be ticking higher. It cited “looser financial conditions,” which is another way of describing market movements that could encourage businesses and people to spend more.

    The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth slows. Unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.

    In other trading early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 72 cents to $72.15 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 15 cents to $71.43 on Friday.

    Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 77 cents to $77.32 per barrel.

    The euro rose to $1.0921 from $1.0897.

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  • Latino Democrats in the Senate decry Biden's concessions in border and Ukraine talks

    Latino Democrats in the Senate decry Biden's concessions in border and Ukraine talks

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    WASHINGTON — Prominent Latinos in Congress looked on quietly, at first, privately raising concerns with the Biden administration over the direction of border security talks.

    Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was on the phone constantly with administration officials questioning why the Senate negotiations did not include any meaningful consideration of providing pathways to citizenship for longtime undocumented immigrants.

    New Mexico Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Luján made similar arguments as he tried to get meetings with top-level White House officials.

    But when the talks didn’t seem to make enough difference, the influential lawmakers started leading the open opposition.

    “A return to Trump-era policies is not the fix,” Padilla said. “In fact, it will make the problem worse.”

    Padilla even pulled President Joe Biden aside at a fundraiser last weekend in California to warn him “to be careful” of being dragged into “harmful policy.”

    The Latino senators have found themselves on shifting ground in the debate over immigration, as the Democratic president, who is reaching for a border deal as part of his $110 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs, has tried to tamp down the historic number of people arriving at the border with Mexico.

    The negotiations, which are expected to continue this weekend at the Capitol, come as the Biden administration has increasingly endured criticism over its handling of border and immigration issues — not just from Republicans, but from members of the president’s own party as well. Democratic cities and states across the country have been vocal about the financial toll that they say migrants have been taking on their resources.

    But left off the table in the talks are pro-immigration reforms, such as granting permanent legal status to thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, often referred to as “Dreamers,” based on the DREAM Act that would have provided similar protections for young immigrants but was never approved.

    A few days after his conversation with the president, Padilla, Luján and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., aired their concerns prominently at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus press conference in front of the Capitol.

    They battered Senate Republicans for demanding the border policy changes in exchange for Ukraine aid, and they criticized Biden for making concessions that they say ultimately undermine the United States’ standing as a country that welcomes immigrants.

    Padilla said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised him and several other senators to allow them to see proposals before there is a final agreement, but Latino lawmakers have largely been left outside the core negotiating group, even as they consistently proposed progressive fixes to the U.S. immigration system.

    Biden is facing pressure from all sides. He has increasingly faced criticism over the historic numbers of migrants and he is also trying to address the political weakness ahead of a potential campaign rematch with Donald Trump, the former Republican president, who has promised to enact far-right immigration measures.

    And for Biden, the issue is now tied to a top foreign policy goal: providing robust support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

    The White House and Senate leaders are pushing for a framework of the border deal by Sunday, according to one person granted anonymity to discuss the situation. But others cautioned it may take longer.

    Recently during the negotiations, the White House has pushed to include provisions that would legalize young immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children, according to two people with knowledge of the closed-door talks.

    Republicans have demanded several asylum restrictions that Democrats have so far resisted, but the protections for so-called “Dreamers” would be one way for Democrats to secure one of their longstanding immigration priorities.

    “There’s still disagreements and we continue to work at them,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters after a round of talks Friday.

    The bipartisan group negotiating the package has acknowledged that it expects to lose votes from both the left and right wings of either party.

    “Regardless of people’s political persuasions, this is a crisis,” said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who is part of the core negotiating group. “There is nothing that is humane about having thousands of individuals sitting in the desert without access to restrooms or food or water, no shade, just waiting for days to interact with a Border Patrol agent. That’s what’s happening in southern Arizona.”

    But immigration advocates have been rallying opposition to the proposed changes — often comparing them to Trump-era measures.

    Using words like “draconian” and “betrayal,” advocates argued during a Friday call with reporters that the proposals would undermine U.S. commitments to accepting people fleeing persecution and do little to stop people from making the long, dangerous journey to the border.

    One of the policies under consideration would allow border officials to easily send migrants back to Mexico without letting them seek asylum in America, but advocates argue it could just place them into the hands of dangerous cartels who prey on migrants in northern Mexico.

    They also say that when the Trump and Biden administrations previously used the expulsion authority on public health grounds during the pandemic, migrants sent back to Mexico didn’t return home. Instead they tried over and over again to enter the U.S. because there were no repercussions.

    Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said it would just make the border region “more chaotic, more dangerous.”

    The policies under consideration would also be difficult to implement. Detaining migrants or families would lead to hundreds of thousands of people in custody — at a huge cost — and could force the Department of Homeland Security to divert staff from other duties to the border.

    “These are all things that are extremely, extremely worrying,” said Jason Houser, the former chief of staff at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    If the legislation comes to a vote, Padilla and other prominent House Democrats, such as Reps. Nanette Barragán, the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, and Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus, will likely lead opposition from the left.

    Immigration advocates were also heartened to see support from prominent House members like Rep. Veronica Escobar, who is a co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign, and Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, at the Hispanic Caucus news conference in front of the Capitol this week.

    Padilla warned that Biden’s concessions on border restrictions could have lasting impact on his support from Latino voters.

    “To think that concessions are going to be made without benefiting a single Dreamer, a single farm worker, a single undocumented essential worker is unconscionable,” he said.

    __

    Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

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  • Activision Blizzard to pay $55 million to settle California civil-rights lawsuit

    Activision Blizzard to pay $55 million to settle California civil-rights lawsuit

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    Videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay nearly $55 million to settle a California civil-rights lawsuit brought over complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and pay disparities by women employees that helped trigger the company’s acquisition by Microsoft.

    The settlement, announced by the California Civil Rights Department on Friday evening, resolves the lawsuit filed against the “Call of Duty” videogame studio by the agency in 2021 over claims that it “discriminated against women at the company, including by denying promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing substantially similar work,” CRD said.

    The agreement, subject to court approval, will see Activision pay nearly $46 million into a settlement fund dedicated to compensating women employees and contract workers at the company, plus more than $9 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. Additionally, Activision will take steps “to help ensure fair pay and promotion practices at the company,” including retaining an independent consultant to evaluate its compensation and promotion policies.

    Yet the settlement also sees CRD withdraw its initial claims alleging a culture of widespread, systemic workplace sexual harassment at Activision, according to a copy of the agreement provided to MarketWatch. The document notes that the department is filing an amended complaint that removes the sexual-harassment allegations against the company and focuses on the gender-based pay and promotion claims.

    CRD made no note of its prior sexual-harassment claims against Activision in its announcement Friday. A spokesperson for the department said the statement “largely speaks for itself with respect to the historic nature of this more than $50 million settlement agreement, which will bring direct relief and compensation to women who were harmed by the company’s discriminatory practices.

    Representatives for Activision declined to comment.

    The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the settlement Friday.

    The California agency’s complaint was one of several high-profile investigations by both state and federal regulators in recent years into alleged workplace misconduct at Activision and failures by its leadership to respond appropriately. 

    While Activision repeatedly denied the allegations, they ramped up pressure on the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company and its CEO, Bobby Kotick, and eventually led to a $68.7 billion takeover bid by Microsoft
    MSFT,
    +1.31%
    in January 2022. The acquisition closed this October after receiving approval by U.K. and E.U. antitrust regulators, though the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continues to challenge the deal in court. Kotick is expected to leave the company, which he led for more than three decades, at the end of this year.

    The settlement would be the second-largest ever for the California Civil Rights Department, according to the Journal, after its $100 million agreement with another Los Angeles-area videogame developer, Riot Games, to resolve gender-discrimination allegations in 2021. The agency had initially sought a much-larger settlement with Activision, the publication reported, citing how the state had estimated the company’s liability at nearly $1 billion to some 2,500 employees with potential claims.

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  • Text of the policy statement the Federal Reserve released Wednesday

    Text of the policy statement the Federal Reserve released Wednesday

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    WASHINGTON — Below is the statement the Fed released Wednesday after its policy meeting ended:

    Recent indicators suggest that growth of economic activity has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter. Job gains have moderated since earlier in the year but remain strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated.

    The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient. Tighter financial and credit conditions for households and businesses are likely to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects remains uncertain. The Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.

    The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 to 5-1/2 percent. The Committee will continue to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy.

    In determining the extent of any additional policy firming that may be appropriate to return inflation to 2 percent over time, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, as described in its previously announced plans. The Committee is strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.

    In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook. The Committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee’s goals. The Committee’s assessments will take into account a wide range of information, including readings on labor market conditions, inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments.

    Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michael S. Barr; Michelle W. Bowman; Lisa D. Cook; Austan D. Goolsbee; Patrick Harker; Philip N. Jefferson; Neel Kashkari; Adriana D. Kugler; Lorie K. Logan; and Christopher J. Waller.

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  • Apple braces for EU antitrust order over App Store: report

    Apple braces for EU antitrust order over App Store: report

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    The European Union is about to hit Apple Inc. 
    AAPL,
    +0.75%
    with a ban on App Store rules that govern music-streaming rivals like Spotify Technology
    SPOT,
    -0.93%
    and a potential hefty fine in the regulatory body’s latest bid to thwart the power and reach of Big Tech. A Bloomberg report Wednesday said the EU’s imminent antitrust order would prohibit Apple’s practice of blocking music services from pushing their users away from the App Store to alternative subscription options. Regulators are also mulling a fine of up to 10% of Apple’s annual sales. Apple was not immediately available to comment on the report.

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  • Post-summit news conferences highlight the divide between China and the EU

    Post-summit news conferences highlight the divide between China and the EU

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    BEIJING — From trade to human rights, the leaders of China and the European Union differed on a wide range of issues at a summit this week in the Chinese capital.

    China, which sees Europe as an important export market, raised concerns about trade protectionism and “de-risking,” the EU initiative to reduce its reliance on any one country — such as China — for vital raw materials and products.

    The EU, which sees imports from China as a potential threat to companies and jobs, pressured China on its large trade surplus with Europe and its de facto support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.

    Separate post-summit news conferences on Thursday evening highlighted the divergent positions. Wang Lutong, the director general for European affairs, spoke to journalists at China’s Foreign Ministry.

    Then EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel held a joint news conference at the European Union office in Beijing.

    VON DER LEYEN: “If you just look at the last two years, the trade deficit has doubled. This is a matter of great concern for a lot of Europeans. Such imbalances are just unsustainable. The root causes are well known, and we discussed them. They range from a lack of market access for European companies to the Chinese market to preferential treatment of domestic Chinese companies and overcapacities in the Chinese production.”

    WANG: “Sometimes the EU relates the imbalance of trade between us to overcapacity and subsidies. But we don’t think there is overcapacity in such areas like green energy and clean energy. … China could be very useful to the green transition not only of the EU but also the whole world. So if you want us to support the EU in green transition, do not be protectionist. You make the choice between being protectionist and encouraging China to participate in your goal in order to achieve that green transition.”

    WANG: “The Chinese side has expressed concerns to the EU side on its ‘de-risking’ and restrictive economic and trade policies, including the anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric vehicles as well as its 5G policies. The Chinese side has urged the EU to ensure openness of its trade and investment market, provide an equitable and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises and be prudent in using trade remedies.”

    VON DER LEYEN: “Politically, European leaders will not be able to tolerate that our industrial base is undermined by unfair competition. We like competition. It makes us better; it lowers prices; it is good for the consumers. But competition needs to be fair. … Europe does not want to decouple from China. … What we want is de-risking. De-risking is about managing the risks we see, addressing excessive dependencies through diversification of our supply chains … and thus increasing our resilience. And this is not exclusive to China.”

    VON DER LEYEN: “Russia’s war of aggression is a blatant violation of international law and the U.N. Charter, and it is a serious threat to European security. And this is why we recalled the need for China to use all its influence on Russia to stop this war of aggression and to engage in Ukraine’s peace formula. We also reiterated (to China) to refrain from supplying lethal equipment to Russia and to prevent any attempts by Russia to undermine the impact of sanctions.”

    WANG: “Sometimes European politicians said to us that China needs to speak to Russia, you need to speak to President Putin about withdrawing their soldiers. This is a very independent sovereign nation. President Putin is making his decision based on his own national interest and security. So that’s why we are also urging Europeans to speak to Russians about it. We think … it’s important that Europeans and Russians talk about the possible security architecture in Europe and it’s also important that Russians and Americans talk about the possible strategic stability.”

    MICHEL: “For the European Union, human rights and fundamental freedoms are universal. We will never turn a blind eye to human rights cases. Today we welcome China’s resumption of the human rights dialogue, as we agreed during my visit (in December 2022 ). It’s a step in the right direction and today we continued this conversation at the highest level. We also highlighted cases of specific concern, such as the human rights violations in Xinjiang or Tibet.”

    WANG: “Earlier this year, China and the EU resumed our dialogue on human rights. It was very productive, and we will do it again. … We also raised our concerns to Brussels, our concerns about human rights violations in European countries. And that dialogue should be designed to promote understanding and cooperation. (The) human rights issue should not be used as a stick to beat China, and I think the progress we have made in human rights was very much appreciated and acknowledged.”

    WANG: “The Chinese side has elaborated its principled position on the Taiwan issue … and emphasized that the EU needs to show its commitment to the ‘one-China’ principle and the principle of non-interference in other countries’ domestic affairs, a basic form of governing international relations, with real actions. This is to uphold the political foundation of China-EU relations.”

    MICHEL: “We are concerned about the growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea. We are opposed to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion, and the EU maintains its ‘one-China’ policy. I trust that China is fully aware of the serious consequences of any escalation in this region.”

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  • Biden to sign executive order on federal funding for Native Americans

    Biden to sign executive order on federal funding for Native Americans

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday during a tribal nations summit that aims to make it easier for Native Americans to access federal funding and have greater autonomy over how to invest those funds and will throw his support behind a request to allow a confederacy to compete under its own flag in the 2028 Olympics.

    “Tribal nations still face unacceptable barriers to fully exercising their inherent sovereignty, and really too often that occurs because of the way we are administering federal funding programs,” said Neera Tanden, White House domestic policy adviser.

    Historically, Tanden said, federal policies attacked Native people’s rights to self-governance and caused lasting economic damage. The Biden administration is working to undo that damage, she said.

    The order in part creates a clearinghouse for Native American tribes to find and access federal funding, and it requests that federal agencies ensure that funding is accessible and equitable.

    The order will be unveiled on the first day of an annual summit, when Biden is expected to address Native American leaders gathered in Washington. The Democratic administration is also expected to announce more than 190 agreements that allow tribes to manage federal lands, waters and natural resources and a new study to help better interpret and tell the history of Native Americans, particularly during periods of federal reform.

    “Yes, there are parts of our history that are painful, but there are also those that we celebrate and that show our resilience, strength and our contributions,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna.

    Biden is also expected to announce his support for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to compete under its own flag in lacrosse during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, in part because the group invented the sport.

    That would require the International Olympic Committee to make an exception to a rule permitting only teams playing as part of an official national Olympic committee to compete in the Games. The Haudenosaunee have competed as their own team at a number of international events since 1990.

    Lacrosse will be included in the 2028 summer games for the first time in more than a century. According to the White House, Biden recognizes the Confederacy’s “unique role” in the sport, “their sustained global leadership within the sport since its invention and their nation-to-nation request for support.”

    The leadership met with White House officials starting in July to discuss the idea. The Haudenosaunee Nationals Lacrosse Organization, established in 1983, is among the best in the world. The confederacy is made up of six different nations, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas and Tuscarora Nation. It spans the border between the U.S. and Canada.

    The Department of the Interior is also working on final revisions to a rule overhauling how human remains, funerary objects and sacred objects are repatriated. The new rules streamline the requirements for museums and federal agencies to identify possible items for repatriation.

    Biden hosted the summit in person last year and virtually the year before.

    This year, White House officials said, the goal is to provide an opportunity for tribal leaders to have more meaningful conversations directly with members of Biden’s Cabinet.

    While the federal government has an obligation to consult with tribal governments, some Native American and Alaska Native leaders have complained that federal agencies often treat the process as a check-the-box practice despite efforts by Haaland to make changes.

    From Nevada to Alaska, permitting decisions over mining projects, oil and gas development and the preservation of sacred areas, for example, have highlighted what some leaders say are shortcomings in the process.

    Officials also announced that the White House Council on Native American Affairs, which is co-chaired by Haaland and Tanden, has published a guide outlining best practices and procedures for the management, treatment and protection of sacred sites. The document was recently finalized after taking into account feedback from tribal leaders.

    ___ Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.

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  • Tuberville is ending blockade of most military nominees, clearing way for hundreds to be approved

    Tuberville is ending blockade of most military nominees, clearing way for hundreds to be approved

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    Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama says he is ending his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, clearing the way for hundreds to be approved

    ByKEVIN FREKING Associated Press

    December 5, 2023, 1:35 PM

    FILE – Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, talks to reporters as he and other senators arrive at the chamber for votes, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

    The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced on Tuesday that he’s ending his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, following heavy criticism from many of his colleagues in the Senate and clearing the way for hundreds to be approved.

    Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions was over a dispute about a Pentagon abortion policy. The Alabama Republican said Tuesday he’s “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer.”

    Almost 400 military nominations have been in limbo due to Tuberville’s blanket hold on confirmations and promotions for senior military officers. It’s a stance that has left key national security positions unfilled and military families with an uncertain path forward.

    Tuberville was blocking the nominations in opposition to new Pentagon rules that allow reimbursement for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. President Joe Biden’s administration instituted the new rules after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, and some states have limited or banned the procedure.

    Critics said that Tuberville’s ire was misplaced and that he was blocking the promotions of people who had nothing to do with the policy he opposed.

    “Why are we punishing American heroes who have nothing to with the dispute?” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. “Remember we are against the Biden abortion travel policy, but why are we punishing people who have nothing to do with the dispute and if they get confirmed can’t fix it? No one has had an answer for that question because there is no answer.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  • Why Sam Altman is a no-brainer for Time’s ‘Person of the Year’

    Why Sam Altman is a no-brainer for Time’s ‘Person of the Year’

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    Nothing has changed our lives more this year than the advances made in artificial intelligence — and they have the potential to alter our lives in even more dramatic ways down the road.

    So it’s a no-brainer that Sam Altman, co-founder and recently returned chief executive of the once-little-known OpenAI, should be named “Person of the Year” by Time Magazine when the selection is announced Wednesday.

    Altman has already cracked Time’s shortlist, joining candidates from varied backgrounds, including world leaders like Xi Jinping and entertainment phenomenon Taylor Swift. The selection ultimately comes down to an “individual or group who most shaped the previous 12 months, for better or for worse.”

    But Time has often given “agents of change” its yearly honor — just look at 2021 winner Elon Musk — and Altman certainly fits that bill.

    No other innovation in the past year has had an impact in such disparate realms. OpenAI publicly launched its ChatGPT chatbot late last year, and as the technology grew viral in 2023, it upended the stock market, Silicon Valley and companies that wouldn’t normally be classified as technology businesses. The ensuing product development and surge in generative AI investment revitalized a tech industry that had sunk into the doldrums amid a pandemic hangover.

    Admittedly, it will take time for companies to realize the true financial benefits of AI: Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -2.68%
    is among the few to generate serious money from the frenzy so far. But market researcher IDC predicted that global spending on AI, including software, hardware and services for AI-centric systems will reach $154 billion this year, up 27% from a year ago. That total could zoom above $300 billion by 2026.

    Also read: One year after its launch, ChatGPT has succeeded in igniting a new era in tech

    And AI isn’t only impacting the corporate world. The technology is already affecting our daily lives, and it will have even deeper effects going forward. Chatbots are getting smarter on websites, facilitating better customer service. They’re starting to alter the workplace as well, spitting out mostly coherent marketing copy, research and even, gasp, news articles — albeit with plenty of errors.

    At first, ChatGPT seemed like a fun way to kill time or get homework help, but the chatbot and its ilk will seriously alter the working world, helping to eliminate perhaps millions of jobs. Morgan Stanley recently predicted that more than 40% of occupations will be affected by generative AI in the next three years.

    Altman himself has been the face of OpenAI in the past year. He’s talked up the technology, but he also appeared at congressional hearings in May to discuss potential regulation of AI, testifying that “if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.” His recent firing and quick rehiring by OpenAI and its small, nonprofit board late last month fueled a veritable media storm before the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

    Time chooses its persons of the year for their impact, not because they’re saints. And Altman’s own story is not without controversy. The recent brouhaha over his leadership of OpenAI is believed to have been caused by a deep schism over the ethics of AI development. The board seemingly wanted more guardrails and precautions, and feared that rushed development could irrevocably doom mankind.

    Read in the Wall Street Journal: How effective altruism split Silicon Valley and fueled the blowup at OpenAI

    Altman, who also wooed Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    -1.43%
    to become an investor in OpenAI, emerged the victor in the upheaval with his own company’s altruistic board. Had Altman truly been fired from OpenAI, Microsoft was planning to hire him, and nearly every employee at OpenAI was ready to quit and follow him there. While OpenAI faces plenty of competition, including from Alphabet Inc.’s
    GOOG,
    -2.02%

    GOOGL,
    -1.96%
    Google, Altman should continue to be the face of AI development, for good and for bad, even as he has advocated industry regulation.

    The debut and influence of ChatGPT and follow-on AI products are having the biggest impact on tech development since the invention of the iPhone. Altman is at the center of it and leading the charge. Whether he can keep the lid on Pandora’s Box or not depends on many factors, but he and the company he leads are clearly driving a new tech movement that affects us all, whether we like it or not.

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  • Somalia president hails lifting of arms embargo as government vows to wipe out al-Shabab militants

    Somalia president hails lifting of arms embargo as government vows to wipe out al-Shabab militants

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    Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has welcomed the U.N. Security Council vote to lift an arms embargo imposed on the Horn of Africa nation more than 30 years ago

    ByOMAR FARUK Associated Press

    December 2, 2023, 2:51 AM

    FILE – Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud welcomed Saturday, Dec. 2, the U.N. Security Council vote to lift an arms embargo imposed on the Horn of Africa nation more than 30 years ago.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

    The Associated Press

    MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud welcomed Saturday the U.N. Security Council vote to lift an arms embargo imposed on the Horn of Africa nation more than 30 years ago.

    The 15-member council unanimously voted Friday night in favor of the British-drafted resolution to lift the weapons ban. However, France was the only member to abstain when voting on another resolution to reimpose an arms embargo on al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants, saying the resolution lacked references to the territorial disputes between Djibouti and Eritrea.

    In a statement sent to the Associated Press, Information Minister Daud Aweys said the embargo lift will help modernize the country’s armed forces. “Somalia has been grappling with significant security challenges, including the presence of extremist groups such as al-Shabab. The Somali government needs access to modern arms and equipment to effectively combat these threats and maintain security within its borders,” the statement read.

    The Somali president, in a televised statement soon after the adoption of the resolution, said the embargo lift “means that we are now free to purchase any weapons needed,” adding that “friendly nations and allies” can now “provide us with the necessary weapons without any limitations or restrictions.”

    Somalia was placed under the embargo in 1992 to stop the sale of weapons to warlords who toppled former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The ouster led to decades of civil war and instability in the country as the warlords fought against each other.

    Last month, Mohamud pledged to wipe out the Islamist group, al-Shabaab, by Dec. 2024. The militant group has lost swaths of territory since the government backed by local militias, African Union troops and Western powers, launched an extensive offensive against it in May.

    Somalia has been plagued by years of conflict and has for decades heavily depended on the support of African Union forces, as well as Western powers such as the United States and Turkey, to maintain security and counter the threat posed by Islamic militant groups operating within the country.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Question: Can former House lawmakers lobby their old colleagues?

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

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

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