Tag Archives: pauses

US

U.S. Chief Justice Roberts pauses fight over Trump tax returns

Leave a comment

WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (Reuters) – U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily blocked a U.S. House of Representatives committee from gaining access to former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, effectively pausing the fight over a request from lawmakers that he claims is politically motivated.

The order from the chief justice maintains the status quo while the Supreme Court assesses Trump’s emergency request, filed on Monday, to block a lower court ruling that upheld the House panel’s request for the tax materials as a justified part of its legislative work, while his attorneys prepare an appeal.

Roberts ordered the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee to respond to Trump’s bid by Nov. 10. That is two days after the U.S. midterm elections in which Trump’s fellow Republicans are seeking to regain control of Congress.

The legal fight has lingered since 2019 when the committee sued Trump to force disclosure of the tax returns. Trump was the first president in four decades years not to release his tax returns as he aimed to keep secret the details of his wealth and the activities of his company, the Trump Organization.

Allowing the lower court decision to stand would “undermine the separation of powers and render the office of the Presidency vulnerable to invasive information demands from political opponents in the legislative branch,” Trump’s lawyers wrote, referring to the division of authority among the three branches of the U.S. government.

The committee’s purpose is “exposing President Trump’s tax information to the public for the sake of exposure,” the lawyers added.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts attends the State of the Union address by U.S. President Joe Biden at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S, March 1, 2022. Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

The committee in its request invoked a federal law that empowers its chairman to request any person’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.

House Democrats have said they need Trump’s tax returns to see if the IRS is properly auditing presidential returns and to assess whether new legislation is needed. Trump’s lawyers have called that explanation “pretextual” and “disingenuous,” saying the real aim is to unearth politically damaging information about Trump, who is considering another run for the presidency in 2024.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, sided with Congress in December 2021 and threw out the case, finding that the committee holds broad authority over a former president’s tax returns.

Trump is “wrong on the law,” McFadden wrote in his ruling.

“A long line of Supreme Court cases requires great deference to facially valid congressional inquiries. Even the special solicitude accorded former presidents does not alter the outcome,” McFadden added.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in August also ruled against Trump, concluding that “every president takes office knowing that he will be subject to the same laws as all other citizens upon leaving office.” The D.C. Circuit on Oct. 27 refused a rehearing.

Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read original article here

World

Russia pauses grain deal after Ukraine strikes warships in Sevastopol

Leave a comment

Comment

Russia suspended its participation in the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain and other agricultural products from Black Sea ports after claiming that Kyiv used the corridor to attack Kremlin ships, reigniting concerns about global food insecurity.

The Russian military accused Ukrainian forces of using drones to attack “military and civilian” ships near Sevastopol in Crimea in the early hours of Saturday, claiming that the strikes were carried out “with the participation of British experts.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry said separately that because of the attack it would “no longer guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea Grain Initiative and will suspend its implementation from today for an indefinite period.”

Britain responded to the drone attacks accusation by saying that Russia was making “false claims of an epic scale.” Ukraine did not officially claim responsibility for the attacks.

A video that emerged on Ukrainian Telegram channels on Saturday showed a naval drone targeting what appeared to be the Russian Admiral Makarov frigate. The Makarov had reportedly replaced the flagship of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet, Moskva, which sank in April after Ukrainian forces hit it with Neptune anti-ship missiles. The Washington Post was not able to independently verify the authenticity of this video.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the drone attacks were largely repelled, and only one minesweeper sustained minor damage.

Moscow and Kyiv signed the grain deal in July, opening up Ukrainian Black Sea ports for exports, which had been halted after Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24.

Turkey played a key role in brokering the deal, as it has close ties with Russia and Ukraine and has sought to raise its diplomatic profile to mediate the talks between warring sides.

As part of the deal, Ukrainian pilots guided ships through the port, which Ukraine mined earlier in the war to prevent Russia from capturing key ports like Odessa. The United States and Ukraine also accused the Russian navy of laying of mines near Ukrainian coast.

Then the ships were given safe passage by the Russian military to sail to Turkey, which organized teams with experts from all involved parties to inspect the vessels before they set off to their destinations. Ships going into Ukraine were also inspected for weapons, a condition Moscow set to ensure the grain corridor is not used to supply Western arms to Ukraine.

More than 8 million tons of grain were exported from Ukraine as part of the deal that saw global food prices go down, according to the United Nations.

“It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people around the world,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, said in a statement.

Negotiations over an extension of the deal were strained even before the ship attacks, as Moscow has indicated it may back out of the deal after repeated complaints about its implementation.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin floated the idea of limiting the deal, saying that the goods went to the European Union rather than to poor countries experiencing dire food shortages.

Erdogan echoed Putin’s complaints, adding that he wants to see Russian grain exported too.

“The fact that grain shipments are going to the countries that implement these sanctions [against Moscow] disturbs Mr. Putin. We also want grain shipments to start from Russia,” Erdogan said at a news conference. “The grain that comes as part of this grain deal unfortunately goes to rich countries, not to poor countries.”

After the explosion on the strategic bridge linking Crimea with mainland Russia in early October, Putin speculated that the grain corridor might have been used by Ukrainian special services to attack the highly symbolic gateway. If proven, he suggested, it would jeopardize the agreement.

Putin blames Kyiv for attack on strategic Crimea bridge

Later in October, Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said that ships under the Russian flag weren’t accepted in European ports due to sanctions and lamented difficulties in obtaining insurance and financing for Russian grain and fertilizer shipments.

Ukraine, in turn, accused Moscow of not fully implementing the deal. In one of his nightly addresses last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia was “deliberately delaying the passage of ships,” creating an artificial backlog of more than 150 vessels.

Zelensky said the situation with Ukraine’s food exports was becoming “more and more tense” and that Moscow was “doing everything to slow down” the process.

“I believe that with these actions, Russia is deliberately inciting the food crisis so that it becomes as acute as it was in the first half of this year,” Zelensky said.

Last week, Ukraine also accused Russia of blocking the full implementation of the deal, saying that the Ukrainian ports have recently been working at 25-30 percent of their capacity.

“Russia is deliberately blocking the full realization of the Grain Initiative,” the country’s infrastructure ministry said at the time.

In a Saturday tweet, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Moscow was using a “false pretext” to stop Ukraine from exporting its grain and other agricultural products.

“We have warned of Russia’s plans to ruin the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” Kuleba wrote. He also called on the world community to “demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations.”

The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, said that Moscow was engaged in “blackmail” using food products, energy, and nuclear materials, which he described as “primitive.”

David Stern contributed to this report.

Read original article here

US

Appeals court temporarily pauses student loan forgiveness plan

Leave a comment

A federal appeals court Friday is blocking President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay in response to an emergency motion brought by attorneys for several Republican-led states after a lower court ruled that their September lawsuit to stop the debt forgiveness program lacked standing.

In their appeal, the plaintiffs — which include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina and Arkansas — said the forgiveness program will irreparably harm their states’ student loan programs.

“Missouri is harmed from the financial losses that the cancellation inflicts,” the motion read.  

They stay is not based on the merits, but allows for further briefings on the issue next week.

This also comes after the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday declined an emergency appeal by a group of Wisconsin taxpayers who had also challenged the plan in a separate lawsuit.

President Biden announced in August that his administration is canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans. Nearly 20 million people will be eligible to have their debt fully canceled under the new plan.


Biden touts student loan forgiveness program ahead of midterm election

04:12

Borrowers who received Pell Grants, which are for low- and middle-income families, can get as much as $20,000 in debt forgiven, while other borrowers can get relief of up to $10,000.

Only individuals who earned less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021 and married couples with total annual income below $250,000 are eligible for loan relief under the program.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Education formally launched its debt relief application website. It’s unclear how Friday’s ruling will affect the site or the application process. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday evening that the “temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief.”

“It also does not prevent us from reviewing these applications and preparing them for transmission to loan servicers,” Jean-Pierre  said. “It is also important to note that the order does not reverse the trial court’s dismissal of the case, or suggest that the case has merit. It merely prevents debt from being discharged until the court makes a decision.”

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona reiterated that sentiment in his own statement, saying: “today’s temporary decision does not stop the Biden Administration’s efforts to provide borrowers the opportunity to apply for debt relief, nor does it prevent us from reviewing the millions of applications we have received.”

— Robert Legare contributed reporting. 

Read original article here

US

Appeals court temporarily pauses student loan forgiveness plan

Leave a comment

A federal appeals court Friday is blocking President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay in response to an emergency motion brought by attorneys for several Republican-led states after a lower court ruled that their September lawsuit to stop the debt forgiveness program lacked standing.

In their appeal, the plaintiffs — which include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina and Arkansas — said the forgiveness program will irreparably harm their states’ student loan programs.

“Missouri is harmed from the financial losses that the cancellation inflicts,” the motion read.  

They stay is not based on the merits, but allows for further briefings on the issue next week.

This also comes after the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday declined an emergency appeal by a group of Wisconsin taxpayers who had also challenged the plan in a separate lawsuit.

President Biden announced in August that his administration is canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans. Nearly 20 million people will be eligible to have their debt fully canceled under the new plan.


Biden touts student loan forgiveness program ahead of midterm election

04:12

Borrowers who received Pell Grants, which are for low- and middle-income families, can get as much as $20,000 in debt forgiven, while other borrowers can get relief of up to $10,000.

Only individuals who earned less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021 and married couples with total annual income below $250,000 are eligible for loan relief under the program.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Education formally launched its debt relief application website. It’s unclear how Friday’s ruling will affect the site or the application process. However, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday evening that the “temporary order does not prevent borrowers from applying for student debt relief.”

“It also does not prevent us from reviewing these applications and preparing them for transmission to loan servicers,” Jean-Pierre  said. “It is also important to note that the order does not reverse the trial court’s dismissal of the case, or suggest that the case has merit. It merely prevents debt from being discharged until the court makes a decision.”

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona reiterated that sentiment in his own statement, saying: “today’s temporary decision does not stop the Biden Administration’s efforts to provide borrowers the opportunity to apply for debt relief, nor does it prevent us from reviewing the millions of applications we have received.”

— Robert Legare contributed reporting. 

Read original article here

Business

S&P 500 Pauses At Resistance; Elon Musk Scores Own LOL With Manchester United Tweets| Investor’s Business Daily

Leave a comment

Dow Jones futures were steady early Wednesday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday night that he was going to buy the Manchester United soccer club, later clarifying that he was joking.




X



The stock market rally had a mixed Tuesday, with the major indexes backing off afternoon highs as the S&P 500 came within one point of its 200-day moving average.

Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) earnings lifted the Dow and many retailers, with Costco Wholesale (COST), AutoNation (AN) and Penske Automotive (PAG) clearing buy points.

Antero Resources (AN) and EQT Corp. (EQT) topped buy points as natural gas prices soared.

Tesla (TSLA) briefly cleared an aggressive entry Tuesday morning, but TSLA stock reversed slightly lower with the Nasdaq.

BBBY Stock Leads Meme Mania

Meanwhile, Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) continues to skyrocket amid revived interest in this meme stock. BBBY stock shot up 29% to 20.65 in record volume, though that’s after vaulting to 28.60 intraday. Bed Bath & Beyond, which in the real world is a money-losing housewares retailer with fast-falling sales, is up 355% from a July 27 low of 4.54.

BBBY stock rose 9% overnight.

Ryan Cohen, chairman of original meme stock GameStop (GME), disclosed Tuesday that he still owns Bed Bath & Beyond shares and hefty call options for BBBY stock betting on prices from 60-80.

GME stock popped 6.3% Tuesday.

Key Earnings Wednesday

Early Wednesday, Target (TGT), Lowe’s (LOW) and TJX Cos. (TJX) continue the retail earnings run. Chipmaker Analog Devices (ADI) and oceangoing container shipper Zim Integrated Shipping (ZIM) also report.

Target, Lowe’s and TJX stock advanced Tuesday with other retailers, but their charts need work. ADI stock is moving up the right side of a base. ZIM stock is finding support at key moving averages.

The Commerce Department releases July retail sales data at 8:30 a.m. ET. At 1 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve will release minutes from its late July Fed meeting.

Costco stock was added to IBD Leaderboard and SwingTrader.

The video embedded in this article discussed the market action and analyzed AR stock, Costco and Insulet (PODD).

Dow Jones Futures Today

Dow Jones futures rose 0.1% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures climbed. Nasdaq 100 futures were flat.

Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.

Join IBD experts as they analyze actionable stocks in the stock market rally on IBD Live

Stock Market Rally Tuesday

The stock market rally was mixed for much of the morning and turned broadly higher in the afternoon before fading again.

Dow Jones giants Walmart and Home Depot beat second-quarter views early Tuesday. In a huge relief for markets, Walmart did not slash guidance for the rest of the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% in Tuesday’s stock market trading, with WMT stock up 5.1% and Home Depot rising 4.1%. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 closed just below break-even.

U.S. crude oil prices reversed lower, sinking 3.2% to $86.53 a barrel, the lowest close since late January. U.S. natural gas futures jumped 6.9% to the highest close in 14 years. Energy prices continued to spike in Europe, spurring more demand for LNG exports.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose 3 basis points to 2.82%.

ETFs

Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) fell 1.3%, while the Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF (BOUT) edged up 0.4%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) slipped 0.6%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) retreated 1.1%.

SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) climbed 0.9% and the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE) advanced 0.6%. U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) ascended 0.9. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) climbed 1%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) dipped 0.2% and the Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) rose 0.7%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) dipped 0.3%.

Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) fell 2.8% and ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) 3.9%. Tesla stock is still a major holding across Ark Invest’s ETFs.

Five Best Chinese Stocks To Watch Now

Tesla Stock

TSLA stock dipped 0.9% to 919.69 on Tuesday. Intraday, shares hit 944, just topping a 940.92 aggressive entry from a way-too-low handle. Tesla stock soon reversed lower with the Nasdaq and highly valued growth, but held support at the 200-day line.

Musk Scores An Own LOL

Tuesday night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome.” The world-famous Manchester United (MANU) soccer team is publicly traded on the NYSE. The general consensus was that Musk was probably joking, but you never know with the world’s wealthiest troll.

As it turns out, Musk clarified that it was a “long-running joke,” stating that he’s not buying an sports teams.

Joking about buying a publicly traded company might upset the SEC, but it all happened outside of even extended trading.

The Manchester U tweets came as Musk is trying to get out of a deal to buy Twitter (TWTR) for $44 billion, or $54.20 a share.

Tesla’s Biggest Rival Is Now Its Partner

Stocks In Buy Zones

Costco stock rose 1.3% to 553.02, just clearing a 552.81 cup-with-handle buy point. COST stock rallied on strong Walmart earnings and reaffirmed second-half guidance. But, earnings from Target on Wednesday and smaller rival BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) on Thursday could swing COST stock.

AutoNation stock vaulted 7.3% to 132.49, blasting above resistance from the past few months in above-average volume. Intraday, shares topped the official buy point of 133.58 from a nine-month consolidation. The relative strength line hit a new high, reflecting AutoNation’s outperformance vs. the S&P 500 index. AN stock seems right at the edge of being extended from the more-actionable 125-126 area and especially moving averages.

Penske Automotive stock leapt 5.6% to 124.16, breaking out past a cup-with-handle buy point of 121.55. Volume was above average for PAG stock.

EQT stock popped 4.3% to close at 47.19, clearing a 46.81 cup-with-handle buy point, according to MarketSmith analysis. Shares edged up after hours.

Antero Resources stock rose 4.2% to 40.55, but closed in the lower half of Tuesday’s range. AR stock hit 42.16 intraday, briefly topping a 41.05 buy point from a handle that’s slightly too low to be valid.

Market Rally Analysis

The stock market rally shrugged off some mixed early weakness to close higher. The Dow Jones, which just crossed its 200-day line on Monday, led the way with a fifth straight gain. The Russell 2000, which ticked past that long-term average on Friday, tested and held it Tuesday.

The S&P 500 nearly reached the 200-day line before slipping back. But it was not an emphatic rejection for sure.

The Nasdaq has a little distance to reach the 200-day.

Growth stocks arguably are due for a breather.

There also may be some rotation into “real economy” sectors such as energy and commodities, retail and even some transportation names.

But growth gave up ground grudgingly. The Nasdaq, down more than 1% in the morning, rebounded to modestly positive before slipping to finish slightly in the red. ARKK and speculative growth names retreated somewhat.

Meanwhile, BBBY stock shows that speculative meme mania is bubbling up again.

Time The Market With IBD’s ETF Market Strategy

What To Do Now

The stock market rally is hovering around a key resistance area, with some rotation, at least in the short run, toward natgas, retail and other real economy names.

Investors should continue to be cautious about adding exposure. If you add, say, EQT stock or Costco, that’s fine, but don’t pack your portfolio with natgas and retailers.

Perhaps this week’s winners will continue to run and lead for some time. Or the Nasdaq could quickly take charge again. Or the market rally could see a noticeable pullback to the 21-day line.

Build up your watchlists and make sure you have a diverse list of quality names setting up.

Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.

Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Best Growth Stocks To Buy And Watch

See Stocks On The List Of Market Leaders With IBD Leaderboard

IBD Digital: Unlock IBD’s Premium Stock Lists, Tools And Analysis Today



Read original article here

Technology

Rockstar Pauses Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV Remasters

Leave a comment

Screenshot: Rockstar Games

Following recent rumors, Kotaku can confirm via its sources that Rockstar Games is currently focused on developing Grand Theft Auto 6, and has shelved all remakes following the poor reception of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.

Yesterday, a tweet from Tez, an often reliable and trusted GTA insider, caught the attention of many Rockstar fans. According to the tweet, Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV remasters were no longer “on the table,” possibly due to the horrible mess that was last year’s GTA Trilogy remakes. While some questioned if this was true, I can confirm that Tez’s tweet is accurate and lines up with what I’ve been told.

According to sources with knowledge of Rockstar’s plans and future projects, the publisher is hoping that folks will forget all about the critically panned and botched classic GTA remasters released last year while it focuses most of its resources and energy on its next big game, Grand Theft Auto 6, which Rockstar earlier this year confirmed was in development.

However, while the current plan is to get Grand Theft Auto 6 finished and out the door, I’m told a Red Dead Redemption and GTA IV remaster aren’t entirely “out of scope” and could still happen in the future, after GTA 6 ships.

G/O Media may get a commission

UNDER $1

99¢ Prime Video Channels

Prime content
Add Showtime, Starz, Paramount+, Discovery, and more to your Prime Video account for less than $1 each for the first two months of your subscription.

Kotaku has contacted Rockstar Games for comment.

Last year, in our report confirming the existence of the then-rumored GTA Trilogy remasters, we also explained that at the time Rockstar had plans to remaster Red Dead Redemption. At the time of the report, the idea of remastering RDR had been on the table for the publisher for a few years already, but now, in the wake of last year’s remasters flopping and demand for GTA 6 growing, the publisher has shifted plans again and is moving forward to the next big thing and not looking back, at least for the time being.

At the time of that report, I was told by sources that the reception and sales of the remasters would play a big factor in future remastering projects.

For those who don’t remember, 2021’s GTA Trilogy was released in a broken state, filled with graphical bugs and other problems that made the games hard to enjoy on any platform you played. While updates fixed many of these issues, the remastered art and menus still left many players unhappy. It also didn’t help that, in the lead-up to announcing the remastered trilogy, Rockstar and Take-Two went after old fan mods and projects, angering a community who could have stepped in to help fix the botched release.

As for when to expect Grand Theft Auto 6, none of my sources could share any specific details, but it seems that for now, at least, it seems that the plan is to move forward and hope people forget about the past.

 



Read original article here

Science

NASA Pauses Psyche, a Mission to a Metal-Rich Asteroid

Leave a comment

Computer software delays pushed back the launch of a NASA spacecraft to explore what appears to be a metal asteroid that may be the core of a protoplanet that was blown apart in the early days of the solar system by a giant collision.

Now the mission will not get off the ground at all this year, NASA announced on Friday.

The completed spacecraft, named Psyche after the asteroid it is to visit in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, is sitting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and had been scheduled to launch from there on Aug. 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. However, the key navigation software for guiding and controlling the spacecraft’s movements in space was several months late.

In addition, the testing setup, which sends signals to the spacecraft computer making it think it is already in space, did not work properly when engineers tried to merge components from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which is managing the mission, and Maxar, the company that built the Psyche spacecraft.

The testing setup is working now, mission officials said, and they know of no problems with the software. But the debugging process will require weeks to months more to finish.

“We just ran out of time on this one,” Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University, the principal investigator for the mission, said Friday during a news conference.

Last month, NASA announced that the launch attempt would be pushed back to no earlier than Sept. 20, rather than Aug. 1. In order to successfully meet up with the asteroid when conditions would be best for studying it, the mission would have had to launch by Oct. 11.

“We have looked at many, many options,” said Laurie Leshin, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “and even with a very aggressive adjustment, we did not feel confident enough that we would reach this, that we would successfully reach this window with a mission that we were confident to fly.”

NASA is forming an independent review panel to investigate what went wrong and suggest what should be done next. NASA officials said it was too early to know how much the delay would add to the $985 million price tag, which includes the Falcon Heavy launch. The review panel could even recommend canceling the mission.

From radar observations, Psyche the asteroid appears ellipsoid in shape, about as wide as Massachusetts. It is also much denser than most asteroids.

Psyche is also very bright, adding to suspicions that it is made of metal.

The mission was originally scheduled to launch in 2023, but development went smoothly enough to move the launch date up by a year. The revised trajectory would have arrived earlier, in 2026 instead of 2030.

Now, the Psyche mission team is back to considering launches in 2023 and 2024, and the spacecraft would not reach the asteroid until 2029 or 2030.

The setback does not just delay Psyche, but also the Janus mission, two small identical spacecraft that are to tag along for launch before heading off to explore two pairs of binary asteroids. The delay from August to September had already scrambled the plans to reach the original targets. Now that mission will have to look for other asteroids to visit.

Another NASA mission at the Kennedy Space Center announced better news on Friday. In preparation of the maiden launch of the Space Launch System, the huge rocket that is to take astronauts back to the moon, NASA engineers have been conducting practice countdowns of the rocket at the launchpad including the loading of liquid propellants.

The fourth attempt at the dress rehearsal, which ended on Monday, counted down to 29 seconds. NASA had hoped that practice would count down to about 9 seconds, just before the engines would ignite for a real launch. But a persistent fuel line connector leak prevented that.

Still, NASA officials decided they now have enough data to get the rocket ready for its launch, a mission that will send a capsule, without astronauts aboard, on a trip around the moon. That could still occur in late August, the officials said, but it was too early to set a more precise launch date.

Read original article here

Business

Crypto lending platform Celsius pauses withdrawals amid ‘extreme market conditions’

Leave a comment

Crypto lending platform Celsius Networks LLC said Sunday it is pausing all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts, “due to extreme market conditions.”

“We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor, over time, its withdrawal obligations,” the New Jersey-based company said in a statement.

Celsius is one of the largest crypto lending companies in the world, at one point claiming more than $20 billion in assets. But it has also run afoul of regulators, and some users have recently blamed Celsius for steep financial losses for encouraging them to hold its CEL digital tokens as collateral for loans — CEL plunged 48% late Sunday and has lost more than 75% of its value over the past month, and 97% over the past year, according to CoinGecko data.

From May: Celsius faces a revolt as a high-yield crypto plummets

The wider cryptocurrency space has been slammed this year, with the total crypto market down more than 40% over the past two months. Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-5.39%,
for example, slid to an 18-month low Sunday and has lost 45% of its value year to date; it’s off more than 60% since its all-time high-water mark last November.

“We understand that this news is difficult,” Celsius said Sunday. “We are working with a singular focus: to protect and preserve assets to meet our obligations to customers.”

Celsius said its operations were continuing, but that there was “a lot of work ahead  as we consider various options.”

Read original article here

World

Biden news today: President jokes about ‘good old days’ with Obama as he pauses student loan debt sixth time

Leave a comment

Obama jokingly calls Biden ‘vice president’ on return to White House

Barack Obama visited the White House on Tuesday for his first public event at the executive mansion since he left office. He participated in a celebration of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, as Joe Biden announced changes to the healthcare programme that could see as many as 200,000 uninsured Americans become eligible for new coverage.

The visit has many Democrats hoping that Mr Biden can benefit from his former boss’s still-high approval rating among the Democratic base. Mr Biden has lately struggled to raise his poor standing in the polls and there are serious worries that apathy and disappointment among Democratic voters could give an opening to Republicans in this year’s midterm elections. Mr Obama says that to win in the midterms, Democrats have a story to tell, they “just got to tell it.”

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday voted 11-11 on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The result will not stop Ms Jackson’s nomination from proceeding to the Senate floor; she appears to already have the support of 53 senators, with Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney all breaking ranks to back her.

1649239220

ICYMI: Obama on midterms

Barack Obama was in ebullient spirits during his White House visit yesterday, including when asked about the Democrats’ prospects in what could be a punishing midterm election year. In a characteristically avuncular Obama-esque reply, he told a journalist the following:

Andrew Naughtie6 April 2022 11:00

1649237540

Biden nominates first woman head of US military branch

Joe Biden has nominated a new head of the US Coast Guard: Admiral Linda Fagan, who if confirmed would become the first woman to head a branch of the US military.

Maria Cantwell, head of the committee that will hold her confirmation hearings, remarked that “Admiral Fagan’s nomination will inspire generations of American women to strive to serve at the highest level in the Armed Forces”.

Gustaf Kilander has the story:

Andrew Naughtie6 April 2022 10:32

1649235665

Will Obama and Biden’s bromance do anything for the Democrats?

The Independent’s Holly Baxter takes a look at yesterday’s White House appearance by Barack Obama, writing that it at least provided some welcome emotional warmth at a deeply negative moment…

there is something genuinely touching about the friendship. When Obama surprised Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2017 and Biden became overwhelmed with emotion, it would’ve taken a heart of stone not to be moved. Biden is the kind of man for whom America and its pageantry really does mean everything, a man who spent most of his life shuttling between Scranton, Delaware and DC. Obama gave him the best gift he could ever have received — until the country did one better and voted him president, of course.

Yet Obama was mostly silent during Biden’s presidential run, endorsing him late and staying out of the conversation when he was busy debating fellow Democrats. The world was hungry for more from the old bromance, back when politics felt a little simpler. And this week, Uncle Joe and Barack did some fan service.

At the same time, though, she ponders whether the visit can really offer much to Democrats as the president struggles around the 40 per cent approval mark and his agenda faces ongoing obstruction in Congress.

Andrew Naughtie6 April 2022 10:01

1649233520

Analysis: the worst of the KBJ hearings

As the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson draws near, Andrew Feinberg has this look back on the depths that were plumbed at her hearings by the Judiciary Committee’s Republican contingent and their colleagues on the Senate floor.

“Republican senators,” he writes, “spent the majority of their speaking time in both settings airing grievances regarding Democrats’ treatment of prior nominees going back to the Senate’s rejection of Judge Robert Bork more than three decades ago. They also subjected Jackson, a Harvard Law School graduate who has thrice been confirmed by the upper chamber (twice to court seats and once to a seat on the US Sentencing Commission), to some of the most bizarre inquiries ever directed at a nominee for the highest court in the land.”

Read his full rundown below.

(None of the stories he tells are in the same category as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s declaration that the three GOP senators voting to confirm Ms Brown Jackson are “pro-paedophile”.)

Andrew Naughtie6 April 2022 09:25

1649231243

Obama and Biden’s obvious affection on display

After years of a perpetually acrimonious atmosphere in the White House, the sight of Barack Obama joking with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris yesterday was a flashback to what feels like a different age.

Here’s how the former president introduced his onetime deputy.

Andrew Naughtie6 April 2022 08:47

1649228078

Republicans ridicule Biden and claim Obama ‘ignored’ him

Republicans tried to ridicule Joe Biden after some video clips surfaced claiming Barack Obama ignored the president.

Conservative lawmakers and commentators alleged that Mr Obama stole the show during his visit to the White House on Tuesday.

In widely-shared video clips – that many have said are out-of-context — the president can be seen raising his hands in exasperation as a group of people showered Mr Obama with attention.

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 07:54

1649225813

Kinzinger criticises GOP members for unwillingness to speak on Ukraine

Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger criticised members of his party on Tuesday for what he sees as their unwillingness to speak out against the crisis in Ukraine.

“We are being governed by a bunch of children,” Mr Kinzinger said. “By a bunch of people that are not serious about running the United States of America and truly don’t understand the threat that’s out there from Vladimir Putin, from China and from some of these actors in the world that want to destroy our place here.”

“The world order is being challenged for the first time since World War II and they’re sitting around thinking today about how we can win our next election, what the newest outrage is, what’s the next thing we can do to get people angry and upset and get their money from them for our reelection,” he added.

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 07:16

1649224306

Obama jokes with ‘vice-president Biden’

Former US president Barack Obama joked with Joe Biden during his return to the White House on Tuesday and referred to the president as “vice-president.”

Mr Obama joined Mr Biden on Tuesday as he signed an executive order to strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 06:51

1649221881

Fox News skips covering Barack Obama at the White House

Even as major networks covered former president Barack Obama’s visit to the White House, Fox News refrained from covering the event live.

The network decided to cover a story about a mom in New York City who was allegedly fired after confronting the mayor about mask mandates.

Read the full story here:

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 06:11

1649221044

Biden granddaughter to wed this fall

Naomi Biden, the daughter of president Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, is planning to celebrate her wedding at the White House later this year.

Read the full story here:

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 05:57

Read original article here

World

Biden news today: President jokes about ‘good old days’ with Obama as he pauses student loan debt sixth time

Leave a comment

Obama jokingly calls Biden ‘vice president’ on return to White House

Barack Obama visited the White House on Tuesday for his first public event at the executive mansion since he left office. He participated in a celebration of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, as Joe Biden announced changes to the healthcare programme that could see as many as 200,000 uninsured Americans become eligible for new coverage.

The visit has many Democrats hoping that Mr Biden can benefit from his former boss’s still-high approval rating among the Democratic base. Mr Biden has lately struggled to raise his poor standing in the polls and there are serious worries that apathy and disappointment among Democratic voters could give an opening to Republicans in this year’s midterm elections. Mr Obama says that to win in the midterms, Democrats have a story to tell, they “just got to tell it.”

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday voted 11-11 on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The result will not stop Ms Jackson’s nomination from proceeding to the Senate floor; she appears to already have the support of 53 senators, with Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney all breaking ranks to back her.

1649224306

Obama jokes with ‘vice-president Biden’

Former US president Barack Obama joked with Joe Biden during his return to the White House on Tuesday and referred to the president as “vice-president.”

Mr Obama joined Mr Biden on Tuesday as he signed an executive order to strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 06:51

1649221881

Fox News skips covering Barack Obama at the White House

Even as major networks covered former president Barack Obama’s visit to the White House, Fox News refrained from covering the event live.

The network decided to cover a story about a mom in New York City who was allegedly fired after confronting the mayor about mask mandates.

Read the full story here:

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 06:11

1649221044

Biden granddaughter to wed this fall

Naomi Biden, the daughter of president Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, is planning to celebrate her wedding at the White House later this year.

Read the full story here:

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 05:57

1649219400

Obama tells Democrats how to win midterms

Former president Barack Obama had a simple message for Democrats who worry about losing their majority in the 2022 midterm elections.

“We got a story to tell, just got to tell it,” he said in response to NBC News’ Peter Alexander.

The former president received a standing ovation as he returned to the White House for the first time since leaving the Oval Office in 2017 to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the passage of his signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which received the moniker Obamacare in the press.

Eric Garcia has the latest from Washington, DC.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 05:30

1649217670

Homeland security secretary takes a meeting with Republican caucus over border restrictions

Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday had a meeting with House GOP members of the “border security caucus” but the Republicans were “not satisfied with the answers.”

The Border Security Caucus — after last week’s announcement that the White House would lift all Trump-era Covid restrictions at the border — was fully charged during the meeting.

“It was a rough crowd, and you got to give him a lot of credit for picking the roughest crowd, going in, and listening to them,” Darrell Issa, a California Republican who attended the meeting said.

“Nothing was really resolved, other than he made a promise to give a number of follow-up pieces of information,” he said.

Representative Brian Babin of Texas, the co-chairman of the caucus said of the meeting: “We appreciated his courage to come in, knowing that we were opposed to him 100 per cent. But we were not satisfied with the answers he gave us.”

Maroosha Muzaffar6 April 2022 05:01

1649216730

Biden to extend Covid student loan freeze until 31 August

The US is once again extending its pandemic-era pause on federal student loan repayments, pushing back the restart date until at least 31 August, the Associated Press reports.

This marks the sixth time the deadline to resume payments has been extended, as Joe Biden faces pressure from Congress and inflation worries.

Prior to the extension, the moratorium was set to expire on 1 May, and more than 43 million Americans with a collective $1.6 trillion in government loans were going to be on the hook again for their debt.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 04:45

1649214030

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin hits back at Matt Gaetz

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin appeared so incensed by outlandish lines of questioning from Republican congressman Matt Gaetz that he ended up in a shouting match with the Florida representative by the end of Mr Gaetz’s five minute round.

Mr Austin was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to testify at a House Armed Services Committee hearing regarding the Defence Department’s fiscal year 2023 budget request, but Mr Gaetz had apparently decided to use his time to berate the former US Central Command boss about what he described as US defence failures caused by the Pentagon’s embrace of “wokeness”.

Specifically, Mr Gaetz enquired about a lecture delivered at the US National Defence University by French economist and author Thomas Picketty entitled “Responding to China: The Case For Global Justice and Democratic Socialism”.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 04:00

1649211330

Kinzinger rails against GOP ‘children’ in Congress

Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois called his colleagues in Congress “children” for focusing more on Disney and culture war issues than the “genocide“ happening in Ukraine at the hands of Russia.

Mr Kinzinger said that the “world order” was being challenged for the first time since World War II, but that his fellow Republicans were acting like “a bunch of children.”

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 03:15

1649208630

Oklahoma state House votes to make abortion illegal

The Oklahoma state House voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill making it a felony to perform an abortion in the state punishable by up to 10 years in jail, in what is possibly the most restrictive anti-abortion bills passed since the US Supreme Court first signaled its willingness to curtail reproductive rights last year.

The legislation, which would punish any Oklahoman who performs an abortion with a lengthy jail sentence and a fine of up to $100,000, passed the state Senate last year before sailing through the state House by a margin of 70-14 on Tuesday.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 02:30

1649205930

Biden nominating first woman to lead a branch of the US military

She would become the first woman to lead a branch of the US military if she’s confirmed. Admiral Fagan has served as the vice commandant since June of last year, becoming the first woman to reach the rank of four-star admiral in the Coast Guard.

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.

Oliver O’Connell6 April 2022 01:45

Read original article here

The Ultimate News Site