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☆ Fact Check-Aerofarms leafy greens do not contain a COVID vaccine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Vertical farms operator Aerofarms grew protein-producing plants for research on COVID-19 therapies in 2021 in a research facility separate from its retail vegetables. Posts online, however, have misrepresented the company’s work to falsely claim its commercial leafy greens sold at Whole Foods and other businesses contain a COVID-19 vaccine. In the clip, Rosenberg referred to research involving Aerofarms plants creating ACE-2 proteins, Oshima said. Commercial greens produced by Aerofarms do not contain COVID-19 vaccines, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters. A clip circulating misrepresents separate research related to an experimental COVID-19 therapeutic, not an edible vaccine.

☆ War Court Proceedings Stream to Guantánamo From a Secret Chamber in Virginia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — For hearings in the destroyer Cole bombing case this month, the Guantánamo war court was mostly empty. Skeletal teams for the prosecution and the defense sat in the cavernous chamber, silently watching an 80-inch screen over the witness stand. On it lawyers argued and witnesses testified from a secret courtroom 1,300 miles to the north outside Washington. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the George W. Bush administration created a war crimes court at Guantánamo to be out of reach of the U.S. courts. But now, increasingly, lawyers are examining witnesses and making arguments in the remote annex — four miles from the Supreme Court and 10 miles from C.I.A.

☆ These indicators tell us the housing market is hitting the brakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Before we rush into the weekend, let's check in with the slowing pace of the housing market, and what that means for the rest of the year's outlook. Another sign pointing to a softer housing market is lumber. But that's going to reverse in the decade ahead as Boomers age out of the housing market and post-Millennial generations shrink. What are you seeing in the housing market in your part of the country? In other news:A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 9, 2020.

☆ Trump Lawyer Challenges E. Jean Carroll’s Rape Account
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( James Fanelli | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

E. Jean Carroll testifies in federal court at the civil trial in which she has accused Donald Trump of assaulting her. Photo: JANE ROSENBERG/REUTERSA lawyer for Donald Trump sparred with E. Jean Carroll at a civil trial Thursday, questioning the writer over what he said were inconsistencies in her allegations that the former president raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s. Ms. Carroll testified for a second day in a New York federal court, where a jury is considering a lawsuit the longtime columnist filed last year against Mr. Trump that seeks damages for battery and defamation. She alleged in a 2019 book that Mr. Trump raped her in a dressing room in an unattended lingerie section of Bergdorf Goodman. Mr. Trump has denied the allegations.

☆ Brace for a recession by September, a 20% plunge in the S&P 500, and a painful credit crunch, top economist David Rosenberg says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

David Rosenberg sees a near-term recession, a 20% hit to stocks, and a damaging credit crunch. The economist panned the Fed for hiking interest rates and said they could hit zero again. (Rosenberg suggested S&P 500 earnings could drop by one-fifth in a recession, to about 3,200 points.) Now we have not just the cost of credit being a problem for the economy, but the availability of credit is going to compound that. Read more: We put 7 burning questions to top economist David Rosenberg.

None of the agencies disputed the allegation, and each paid penalties of $5,050, the maximum state levy for a child labor violation. The U.S. and Alabama investigations began after a Reuters report last July first exposed the use of child labor at Hyundai parts makers in the state. The U.S. Department of Labor said in February the number of child labor violations in 2022 had soared by nearly 70% compared with the tally recorded in 2018. They said false documentation, even shoddy credentials like those filed by the boy's employers, makes child labor laws difficult to enforce. An Alabama labor department spokesperson told Reuters the agency is still working to determine who exactly hired the child to work at Hyundai Glovis.

☆ E. Jean Carroll attacks Trump lawyer for questioning why she didn't scream during alleged rape
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Donald Trump's lawyer grilled E. Jean Carroll about why she didn't scream as Trump allegedly raped her. "Some women scream. Joe Tacopina, one of Trump's attorneys in the case, asked Carroll why she didn't scream. Tacopina repeatedly asked about different reasons why she didn't scream to draw attention during the struggle. "I'm not beating up on you, Ms. Carroll," Tacopina responded.

"I'm here because Trump raped me," Carroll testified. Trump's posts mentioned two issues that Judge Lewis Kaplan had warned parties in the trial not to mention to jurors. Carroll alleges Trump assaulted her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in or around 1996. In his first Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump wrote, "The E. Jean Carroll case, Ms. Bergdorf Goodman, is a made up SCAM. "Just look at her CNN interview before & after the commercial break - Like a different person," Trump wrote, referring to an interview Carroll gave CNN about the lawsuit.

She told jurors they would also hear testimony from two other women who say Trump sexually assaulted them, which Trump denies. Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina countered in his opening statement that the evidence will show the former U.S. president did not assault Carroll. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts on April 4 at a New York state courthouse, a three-minute walk from Tuesday's trial. Trump did not attend the trial and is not required to, and according to lawyers from both sides is unlikely to testify. Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation after he first denied her rape claim in June 2019, when he was still president.

☆ No, there aren't more cash buyers in real estate these days
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Buyers who need a mortgage are waiting for rates to fall, causing the share of cash buyers to rise. "It disproportionately enlarges the share of cash buyers making it look like more cash buyers are coming into the market." Mortgage rates have been edging lower over the past month and a half, but experienced a small uptick this past week. Researchers at Fannie Mae predicted that 30-year fixed mortgage rates will trend down throughout 2023 and 2024. "There were fewer cash buyers to leave the market than purchase mortgage buyers."

☆ U.S. shares with European banks ways Russia is evading sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Sunday said it shared information with European bankers, government officials and business leaders to clamp down on Russia's tactics to try to skirt Western sanctions. Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, held briefings last week in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy to promote more effective policing of sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury said in a statement. Nelson shared details on some of the most critical military goods that Russia is trying to acquire, including optical devices, electronics and manufacturing equipment, the Treasury said. Other warnings signs include frequent or last-minute changes of end-users or payees, or redirection of goods to third countries that have limited or no restrictions on re-exports to Russia, the department said. Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Red Cross Expresses Alarm Over Detainee Health at Guantánamo Bay
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — A senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a rare statement of alarm on Friday about deteriorating health conditions and inadequate preparations for aging prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. The U.S. military must do a better job of providing care for prisoners who are “experiencing the symptoms of accelerated aging, worsened by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention,” Patrick Hamilton, the head of the Red Cross delegation for the United States and Canada, said in the statement. In March, Mr. Hamilton and other delegates made a routine quarterly visit to the detention facility, the organization’s 146th since the wartime prison opened in January 2002. He said the detainees’ “physical and mental health needs are growing and becoming increasingly challenging.”“Consideration must be given to adapting the infrastructure for the detainees’ evolving needs and disabilities, as well as the rules that govern their daily lives,” said Mr. Hamilton, who had last visited the prison in 2003, when 660 men and boys were held there. Today, 30 detainees remain.

☆ Guo Wengui Denied Bail While Awaiting Trial in New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A courtroom sketch shows Guo Wengui at a courthouse in New York. Photo: JANE ROSENBERG/REUTERSA New York federal judge on Thursday ordered wealthy Chinese businessman Guo Wengui jailed while he awaits trial on fraud and money-laundering charges, calling him a flight risk and saying the Justice Department’s evidence against him was strong. Mr. Guo, who garnered attention by accusing Beijing of corruption from his Manhattan penthouse, was arrested and charged last month with a $1 billion fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office alleged he took advantage of the hundreds of thousands of followers he amassed online by soliciting investments in a cryptocurrency he developed, a media company and other ventures. He spent some of the proceeds on lavish purchases, including a $26 million home in New Jersey, a yacht and a Ferrari, prosecutors allege.

☆ Pentagon’s Repatriation of Algerian Leaves 30 Prisoners at Guantánamo
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Carol Rosenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The U.S. military repatriated a prisoner to Algeria on Thursday who had been held at Guantánamo without charge for more than two decades, as the Biden administration continues its efforts to reduce the detainee population at the Navy base. The prisoner, Said bin Brahim bin Umran Bakush, 52, was among about 20 suspected low-level fighters who were swept up by Pakistani security services in a 2002 raid in Faisalabad on dwellings believed to be Al Qaeda safe houses. The suspected fighters were ultimately taken to Guantánamo Bay. His release leaves only one prisoner captured in the raid still at the Pentagon prison in Cuba. Lawyers who have tried to speak with Mr. Bakush described him as reclusive.

☆ Shooting attack in Jerusalem, clashes in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Israeli security force members search and patrol the area following a shooting incident in East Jerusalem, April 18, 2023. On Monday, Israel's domestic security service said it had uncovered an attempt by Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force to recruit Palestinian operatives in the West Bank. U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem collapsed almost a decade ago and show no sign of revival. Israel annexed East Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East War when it also captured Gaza and the West Bank, in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their own future capital.

☆ Israeli leaders rebuff Moody's outlook cut, protests persist
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] An aerial view shows people during a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 15, 2023. Moody's report issued on Friday marks the latest warning about a potential economic backlash to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legislative push. Moody's affirmed Israel's sovereign credit rating at "A1", while revising its outlook to stable from positive. They said the concerns raised by Moody's are "natural for those unfamiliar with the strength of Israeli society". At the same time tens of thousands of Israelis again gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities in intensifying weekly protests, waving flags, banging drums and blaring horns.

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Senior officials from the United States, Europe and Britain met on Thursday with financial institutions to brief them on efforts by Russia to evade Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. Treasury official told reporters. The firms - from the United States, Britain and Europe - assured the officials that they were working hard to avert Russian efforts to evade sanctions and export controls, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Washington on Wednesday imposed sanctions on over 120 targets, including entities linked to Russian state-held energy company Rosatom and firms based in partner nations like Turkey in a sign of stepped-up enforcement. Treasury's top sanctions official, Undersecretary Brian Nelson, will visit Switzerland next week to discuss further moves to crack down on sanctions evasion, with additional stops in Italy, Austria and Germany, Reuters reported last week. Elizabeth Rosenberg, Treasury's assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crime, will travel separately to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

☆ Irrespective of what the Fed does inflation will plummet: Rosenberg Research's David Rosenberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIrrespective of what the Fed does inflation will plummet: Rosenberg Research's David RosenbergDavid Rosenberg, Rosenberg Research founder and president, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss why it would be a mistake for the Federal Reserve to hike rates again, why he believes inflation will be falling, and more.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Rosenberg Research's David Rosenberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Rosenberg Research's David RosenbergDavid Rosenberg, Rosenberg Research founder and president, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss why it would be a mistake for the Federal Reserve to hike rates again, why he believes inflation is falling, and more.

☆ Israeli sisters killed in shooting attack laid to rest
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KFAR ETZION, West Bank, April 9 (Reuters) - The family of two Israeli sisters who were killed in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank shared tearful eulogies on Sunday with a room full of weeping mourners, while their mother who was wounded remained in a coma. Hours after the sisters were killed, an Italian tourist was killed in a ramming attack in Tel Aviv. The attacks added to heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions following Israeli police raids in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque last week. Since the beginning of the year, at least 18 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in attacks in Israel, around Jerusalem and in the West Bank. In the same period, Israeli forces have killed more than 80 Palestinians, most of them fighters in militant groups but some of them civilians.

☆ Thousands join Israeli judicial protests in shadow of attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Rami Amichay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] People wearing red, stand in a line during a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government's judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ilan RosenbergTEL AVIV, April 8 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court, despite heightened security worries after two deadly attacks a day earlier. In central Tel Aviv, crowds waving the blue and white Israeli flags that have become a hallmark of the protests over the past three months gathered in a show of defiance against plans they see as an existential threat to Israeli democracy. "We're still going to come here and say loud and clear that we will not let this reform pass." Before the protests, police had urged people to leave roads clear to allow emergency services to move freely following Friday's car-ramming on a popular shoreline promenade in Tel Aviv.

☆ China has not provided extensive assistance to Russia as part of its war against Ukraine even as the two countries forge closer ties, senior Treasury officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Sam Fossum | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

One senior Treasury official said that China is, as of now, unwilling to provide material support to Russia at scale and in a significant way, pointing instead to Russian efforts to source material from North Korea and Iran. The US and its allies have also taken more direct action, sanctioning a Chinese satellite company providing intelligence to Russian forces in January and putting some Chinese companies on the US export control list. But in recent months officials have also begun to see some results from their public and private efforts. Turkish officials told the US last month that their government has been taking further action to block the transit of sanctioned goods directly to Russia, according to a source familiar with the discussion. In a speech earlier this year on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo publicly warned Russian intelligence services that the US is monitoring their efforts and is cracking down.

☆ 5 must-see charts that show why the economy is barreling toward disaster — putting stocks at risk for massive declines
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Reducing inflation is likely to require a period of below-trend growth and some softening in labor market conditions," Powell said. "Restoring price stability is essential to set the stage for achieving maximum employment and stable prices over the longer run." A large enough pullback in lending will send the economy into a downward spiral, he said. "If you get a credit crunch, you could have an immediate downturn in the economy, a very quick downturn," he said. Credit spreads are the gap between high-risk bond yields and yields on risk-free bonds.

☆ The US housing market is tanking - and the banking fiasco could make things worse, RH CEO Gary Friedman says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US housing market has slowed dramatically over the past year, RH CEO Gary Friedman said. Soaring interest rates have hit housing demand, and the banking fiasco is a fresh blow, he said. Friedman said the outlook is less clear now than in 2008, and he urged the Fed not to tank the economy. "The fact is, we've been in a massive housing recession for the past year," Friedman continued, adding that "accelerating weakness" in the sector could weigh on his company's revenue and profits for several quarters. Several experts have sounded the alarm on the housing market and economy.

The bill, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, follows a similar Democrat-led effort proposed this month in the Senate. The Department of Labor has also taken steps to increase enforcement of child labor violations and called on Congress to boost penalties. The Labor Department has seen a nearly 70% increase in child labor violations since 2018, including in hazardous occupations, with 835 companies found to have violated child labor laws in the last fiscal year. Under current federal law, the maximum civil monetary penalty for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. In February, 33 Democratic lawmakers led by Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee signed a letter to the Labor Secretary urging immediate action to rid Hyundai's supply chain of child labor.

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