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The decision, announced after financial markets closed, gives Biden a pair of trusted Washington insiders to steer economic policy as the risk of recession fades but inflation lingers. Big fights also loom with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives over raising the debt ceiling. The shakeup comes as the White House tries to tackle what officials view as a frustrating disconnect between relatively strong economic data and weak public sentiment. The White House has refused to discuss spending cuts without a debt ceiling vote first. Bernstein last week conceded that the White House's early description of inflation as "transitory" had missed the mark.

The country buys about 17 million tonnes of mostly GM yellow corn from the United States each year, mostly for animal feed. Mexico will still prohibit use of GM corn for human consumption, such as flour, dough, or tortilla made from the grain. About 20% of Mexican corn imports from the United States is white corn for food products. It will still move forward with its plan to ban imports of the herbicide glyphosate, with a transition period in effect until March 31, 2024. The United States had given the Mexican government until Tuesday to explain the science behind its proposed bans.

REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesPARIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Airbnb (ABNB.O) is offering a night for two in the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris this summer, transforming a box in the theatre into a plush bedroom with sweeping views of the famous auditorium. Before the pandemic, Airbnb had created other unusual overnight stays in the French capital, one of its key markets. The Palais Garnier stay includes a music recital, dinner in an ornate rehearsal room backstage and a behind-the-scenes tour of the elaborate 19th century building, including its underground pool, the inspiration for the phantom's lair in the book and musical. The Palais Garnier stay will be listed on March 1 for 37 euros, also the number on the box, one of the theatre's most prestigious, which will be decked out with antique furniture specially for the night. I think it will be a bit unreal," said Veronique Dubrulle Leroux, the great-granddaughter of Phantom of the Opera author Leroux, who will host the visitors.

☆ AMC Theatres shouldn't be charging more for the best seats — it should be getting rid of the empty ones
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AMC Theatres announced this week that it would charge more for the best seats in its auditoriums. Here's what it looks like on the AMC Theatres website for a screening at a New York City location:What the new seat pricing looks like on the AMC Theatres website. "This new initiative by AMC Theatres would essentially penalize people for lower income and reward for higher income." AMC's seat-pricing plan isn't going to help the theatrical business. Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, told Insider in September.

☆ Disney needs to show investors it has a plan to make streaming profitable — and stop hemorrhaging money
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Disney's direct-to-consumer unit, which includes streaming platforms Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, has yet to reach profitability — losing nearly $1.5 billion last quarter. Those loses spurred Disney's board to push out then-CEO Bob Chapek and bring Iger back to the top job. In 2021 Disney spent $25 billion to produce original content, and the following year expanded its budget to $33 billion. Similarly, Macquarie's Nollen said Disney's advertising-based subscription tier for Disney+ is "a lever Disney can pull to raise revenue." "Lots of angry people ask me why I support Nelson Peltz for the Disney board, and I give a simple answer: What has this board done for its shareholders other than wipe out more shareholder money?"

☆ AMC Theatres is changing the way it prices movie tickets—here's how it will work
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

AMC Theatres, the nation's largest movie theater chain, has announced plans to change the way that it prices tickets. The company on Monday revealed a new initiative called "Sightline at AMC," which will eliminate the one-price-fits-all approach to selling tickets. Under the new model, AMC will divide up an auditorium's seats into "Standard Sightline," "Value Sightline" and "Preferred Sightline" tiers. The "standard" seats, which AMC identifies as "the most common in auditoriums" will be available for the normal price of a ticket. "Value" seats, meanwhile, are identified as those in the front row, and will be sold "at a lower price" than the normal ticket cost.

☆ AMC to price movie tickets based on seating
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 6 (Reuters) - AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC.N) will start selling tickets at different prices based on the location of the seat in a auditorium, the theater chain operator said on Monday. It would have three tiers of seating - value, standard and preferred. Value seats are available for free only to members of AMC Stubs, the chain's rewards club. Standard seats will be available at the usual cost of a ticket, while preferred sightline seats, which include select seats in the middle of the auditorium, will be priced higher. In December, AMC said it would raise $110 million in new equity capital through the sale of its preferred stock and proposed a reverse stock split.

☆ You'll have to pay more to see a movie at an AMC Theatre if you want prime seating
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

It's the latest evolution in variable pricing at movie theaters. AMC Theatres, the largest theater chain in the world, announced new pricing variations for seating on Monday in an imitative called Sightline at AMC. The variable pricing is for any showtime after 4 pm, and doesn't apply to "Discount Tuesdays," AMC said. Here's the catch: Value Sightline is only available for members of AMC's subscription program, AMC Stubs A-List. But it's also the latest evolution of variable pricing at movie theaters — which has until now been more focused on charging different prices based on the movie or format, and not necessarily on seat location.

☆ More than half of all 'Avatar: The Way of Water' tickets have been for 3D showings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

For comparison, all other movies released in 2022 — not including "The Way of Water" — saw less than 14% of ticket sales from premium showings, averaging $15.76 a ticket. Bolstering box office numbers for the film is the push from Disney and Cameron for 3D showings. Since its release, the "Avatar" sequel has seen more than 56% of its tickets sold for 3D showings. The original 2009 "Avatar," which is the top grossing film of all time, also did well with 3D and premium tickets. To be sure, "The Way of Water" has not reached its historic box office just because of surcharges for 3D and premium format screenings.

☆ Biden hails January jobs report, waves off inflation question
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the economy and the January jobs report, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 3, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueWASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Friday hailed a jobs report for January that showed 517,000 jobs were created, saying it was a sign that the U.S. economy is strong. In remarks at the White House, Biden said inflation continues to come down and real wages are going up. He dismissed a question as to whether he was responsible for the high rate of inflation, saying it was high when he took office two years ago. Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Steve HollandOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ DeSantis' plans for Florida this year include tax cuts for gas stoves and more elections police. The proposals are widely viewed as targeting GOP voters nationally.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Banning vaccine and mask mandatesDeSantis wants the Florida legislature to permanently ban COVID vaccine and mask mandates. It's not clear how much of a difference a new, permanent Florida law would make. DeSantis will ask the Florida legislature to permanently lift the state's 6% sales tax on baby necessities including on cribs, strollers, clothing, shoes, wipes, and diapers. But some analysts, such as Howard Gleckman at the Tax Policy Center, have warned that tax breaks could actually worsen inflation because people will spend and consume more at a time when supplies are limited. Currently, state law requires a vote be unanimous.

REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueWASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden is still weighing candidates for new top economic advisers, officials familiar with the process said, and no final decisions are expected before next week's State of the Union speech. Biden is focused on Tuesday's address to Congress and had not made a decision on the top jobs at the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), officials said. Other candidates for the NEC job include Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Reuters reported last week. Only the CEA job requires Senate confirmation. Brainard was widely floated as the frontrunner for Treasury secretary when Biden came to office, only for him to pick Yellen instead.

☆ Intel executives take pay cuts after disastrous earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Intel executives will take significant, staggered base-pay cuts just days after the chipmaker reported abysmal fourth-quarter earnings, the company said Wednesday. The cuts will impact executives ranging from CEO Pat Gelsinger to mid-level managers. Gelsinger's pay cut would be a little over $312,000. Intel's pay cuts will also impact executives further down the line. Lower-level employees would not be affected by pay cuts, the company told The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Biden administration plans to end Covid public health emergency on May 11
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration plans to end the Covid public health emergency this spring, which will mark a major turning point in the U.S. response to pandemic. The White House, in a statement Monday, said it would terminate on May 11 both the public health emergency and the national emergency declared by the Trump administration in 2020. Enrollment in Medicaid has also surged during the public health emergency because Congress basically barred states from disenrolling people from the program. The Trump administration first declared a public health emergency in response to Covid in January 2020 and then declared a national emergency the following March. The public health emergency has been extended every 90 days across both the Trump and Biden administrations.

☆ Intel's horrible quarter revealed an inventory glut and underused factories
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Intel guided for about $11 billion in sales in the March quarter, which would be a 40% year-over-year decline. Gross margin will be 34.1%, a huge decrease from the 55.2% in the same quarter in 2021, Gelsinger's first at the helm. Dropoff in gross marginUnderpinning all of this is that Intel's gross margin continues to decline, hurting the company's profitability. Intel said that its gross margin would be hit by 400 basis points, or 4 percentage points, because of factories running under load because of soft demand. "We have a number of initiatives under way to improve gross margins and we're well under way.

Haley also tapped Betsy Ankney, a former political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to run the PAC, according to Axios. Longtime Haley advisor Jon Lerner, will likely have leadership roles within a Haley presidential campaign, two of the people said. Haley has publicly hinted in two recent interviews with Fox News that she could be ready to run for president. Kevin Lemarque | ReutersTrump, who lost his reelection bid to Biden in 2020, is the only candidate so far to jump into the 2024 presidential race. She even said in 2021 that she wouldn't run for president in 2024 if Trump was on the ballot.

☆ DeSantis' 'Freedom Blueprint' for Florida is taking shape, and it's widely viewed as paving the way for a 2024 presidential run
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's widely viewed as a blueprint for theHe has already made some of his intentions clear, on areas from Disney to anti-China policy. DeSantis will ask the Florida legislature to permanently lift the state's 6% sales tax on baby necessities including on cribs, strollers, clothing, shoes, wipes, and diapers. He also wants the state to nix the sales tax on medical equipment and on medicines for pets. Other tax cuts would be temporary, including lifting the sales tax for a year on children's books, athletic equipment, and toys, as well as a proposal to suspend the sales tax on pet food and on household items that cost $25 or less. Loosening gun restrictionsDeSantis wants lawmakers to pass legislation that would change Florida law so that gun owners could carry a gun in public without a concealed weapons permit.

☆ Biden to deliver State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 7
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

President Joe Biden has accepted an invitation from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to deliver his State of the Union address to Congress on Feb. 7, the White House said. "We have received Speaker McCarthy's kind invitation and the president has accepted it and looks forward to delivering the State of the Union address," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday. McCarthy earlier Friday tweeted out his invitation to Biden, writing it was his "solemn obligation" to do so. "Your remarks will inform our efforts to address the priorities of the American people," McCarthy wrote. The speech will be Biden's first State of the Union since Republicans won back control of the House, ending two years of unified Democratic government in Washington.

The White House on Monday disclosed that classified documents from his vice presidential days were discovered in November at a think tank in Washington. Garland said Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney in Maryland, would serve as special counsel. Garland in November named a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee Justice Department investigations related to Donald Trump including the Republican former president's handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. "As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents, classified material seriously. Biden in September called his predecessor's handling of classified documents "totally irresponsible."

☆ Explainer: Biden vs. Trump: What is the difference between the two classified records cases?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Neither Trump nor Biden should have had any classified material in their possession. It is unlawful to knowingly or willfully remove or retain classified material. Failure to properly store and secure classified material poses risks to national security if it should fall into the wrong hands. The matter was referred to the Justice Department, which issued a grand jury subpoena last May seeking the return of all classified records. It is a crime only if the retention and removal of classified records is intentional.

☆ The Biden administration just made it easier for Trump to keep a key promise on prescription drugs if he wins in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The Biden administration presented a plan on Wednesday to let the government negotiate drug prices. Trump, who once accused Big Pharma of "getting away with murder," could be president when drug prices fall. Gutting the prescription drug provision would come at a cost to the federal government. President Trump signed a series of four executive orders aimed at lowering prices that for prescription drugs in the United States. "There has been no bigger champion of lowering prescription costs and putting Americans first than President Trump," Steven Cheung, Trump's 2024 campaign spokesman, told Insider.

"The enemy literally step over the corpses of their own soldiers, using massed artillery, MLRS systems and mortars," Malyar said. Prigozhin has been trying to capture Bakhmut and Soledar for months at the cost of many lives on both sides. "Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we have won for Ukraine additional time and additional strength," Zelenskiy said. [1/8] General view of railway lines, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Siversk, Ukraine, January 9, 2023. Moscow has not commented on the reports from the village, which Ukraine recaptured from Russian forces in September.

A Culture in theCross Hairs Russia’s invasion has systematically destroyed Ukrainian cultural sites. It has also dealt a grievous blow to Ukrainian culture: to its museums and monuments, its grand universities and rural libraries, its historic churches and contemporary mosaics. This is how empires always work.” The war in Ukraine is a culture war, and the extent of the destruction is becoming clearer. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion. Kyiv Sviatohirsk UKRAINE Damaged or destroyed religious sites Areas controlled by Russia at any time since invasion.

☆ U.S. begins buying back oil for strategic petroleum reserve
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Energy Department said on Friday it will begin buying back oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, the first purchase since this year's record 180 million barrel release from the stockpile. The department will buy up to 3 million barrels for delivery in February, a senior official told reporters. The sale shrunk levels in the SPR to about 380 million barrels, their lowest since 1984, raising concerns about energy security. "We'll be releasing a solicitation to purchase 3 million barrels of oil for delivery in February of next year, 2023," the official said. "We are able to do that at the same time we're doing the 3 million barrel buy-back," the official said.

☆ Millennials bought an abandoned high school for $100,000 and turned it into a 31-unit apartment building—take a look inside
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

When an abandoned high school was listed for sale in Munhall, Pennsylvania, three real estate partners saw an opportunity to completely transform the space. When an abandoned high school in Munhall, Pennsylvania, was listed for sale in 2019, Jesse Wig saw an opportunity. Dan Spanovich (left), Jesse Wig (middle), and Adam Colucci (right) bought the abandoned high school in 2019. The former high school classrooms became new, modern apartments and the auditorium turned into a shared space. The plan is for the second high school to have 33 residential units, consisting primarily of one-bedrooms and some studios.

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