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Investigators from the Department of Justice reviewed numerous email exchanges between Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Trump lawyer John Eastman and two DOJ officials who were pushing the then-president's plan to overturn the 2020 election results, newly unsealed court filings show. Earlier this year, federal investigators seized phones belonging to Perry and Eastman and also searched Clark's home. The Justice Department had asked Howell to unseal a pair of decisions from June and September, but some parts are still redacted. “He wanted Mr. Clark — Mr. Jeff Clark to take over the Department of Justice,” Hutchinson said. It's unclear why the Justice Department asked the judge to unseal the rulings now.

☆ India's e-bus ambition hits financing speed bump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Sarita Chaganti Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Mahesh Babu, chief executive of e-bus maker Switch Mobility, said that "most of the contracts related to STUs are seen by banks as high risk" and called for payment security for bus makers. Financing diesel buses is safer because in the case of any default, banks can repossess the asset and easily redeploy it. A Tata Motors spokesperson said there was a need for "adequate safeguards with appropriate payment security mechanisms" to make such ventures bankable. A federal government official, on the condition of anonymity, said they would consider the demands of the industry. The Ministry of Heavy Industries, which is promoting the use of e-buses, did not immediately respond to a email seeking comment.

☆ Polls open in Tunisian vote boycotted by opposition
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during parliamentary election in Tunis, Tunisia December 17, 2022. Saied shut the previous parliament down last year, surrounding the legislature with tanks and assuming near total authority. The vote appears to have stirred little interest among a population jaded by political dysfunction and struggling with economic hardship. With the main parties absent, a total of 1,058 candidates - only 120 of them women - are running for 161 seats. For 10 of those - seven in Tunisia and three decided by expatriate voters - there is just one candidate.

☆ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene moves to settle divorce with estranged husband Perry Greene, court records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

MTG and her estranged husband, Perry Greene, moved to settle their divorce, per court documents. Perry Greene filed the initial petition for divorce in Floyd County, Ga., in September 2022. Perry Greene and the Republican congresswoman "mutually" requested that the court grant a divorce as the marriage is "irretrievably broken," per court documents, which were filed on December 16 in Floyd County, Georgia Superior Court. Perry Greene filed the petition for divorce this past September after 27 years of marriage. In the earlier petition, Perry Greene indicated that the couple had "acquired certain marital debt which should be equitably divided" and asked that the court "make a fair and equitable distribution of said assets and liabilities."

☆ Shanghai asks schools to hold classes online from Dec. 19
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SHANGHAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Shanghai's education bureau has asked most grades in primary, middle and high school to hold classes online from Monday as worsening COVID-19 infections hit major cities across China. The bureau on Saturday also asked kindergartens and childcare centres in the financial hub to shut all in-person classes from Monday, according to an online statement. China last week jettisoned some of the world's toughest anti-COVID curbs and is now experiencing a spike in infections, with fears COVID could sweep across its 1.4 billion population during next month's Lunar New Year holiday. Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Michael PerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Egypt's new IMF agreement aims to reduce government debt - cabinet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

CAIRO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The new International Monetary Fund (IMF) $3 billion financial support package for Egypt aims to reduce government debt to less than 80% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the medium term, a cabinet report released on Saturday said. The fund didn't require the Egyptian government to cut spending on subsidies, the report said, adding the new programme aims to strengthen the social protection network for citizens. The IMF executive board has approved a 46-month $3 billion financial support package for Egypt, saying it will catalyse additional funding of about $14 billion. read moreReporting by Moamen Saied Attalah; writing by Mahmoud Mourad; editing by Michael PerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Edelweiss acquires L&T-CPPIB infrastructure project for $725 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Canadian pension fund CPP Investments Board and construction firm Larsen and Toubro (LART.NS) said they have sold the entire stake in their joint venture to Indian investment firm Edelweiss for 60 billion Indian rupees ($725.46 million)The joint venture called L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited owned eight roads and one power transmission asset in India. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and other conditions but will give Edelweiss' platform 26 assets with a mix of power transmission, substations and highway assets across India"These assets have a proven track record of operations, are geographically dispersed and have long residual life, which is consistent with our investment strategy," said Sreekumar Chatra, Managing Director at Edelweiss' Infrastructure Yield Strategy. CPP Investments first invested in the joint venture in 2014, in what was the first direct private investment by a Canadian pension fund in an Indian infrastructure company, and later acquired a majority stake of 51% in 2019($1 = 82.7060 Indian rupees)Reporting by M. Sriram; Editing by Michael PerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TuSimple plans to layoff half its workforce next week - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] TuSimple truck-trailers are parked at their facility at AllianceTexas, a 27,000 acre business complex boasting some of the country’s largest freight operations, in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. May 18, 2022. REUTERS/Cooper NeillDec 16 (Reuters) - Self driving trucking company TuSimple Holdings Inc (TSP.O) plans to potentially cut half of its workforce next week, WSJ reported. The job cut would likely affect at least 700 employees, the report said citing people familiar with the matter. During November, TuSimple reinstated its former CEO Cheng Lu and removed four independent directors and appointed co-founder and major shareholder Mo Chen as executive chairman of the board. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael PerryOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India antitrust agency raids some steel firms for alleged price collusion-sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Aditya Kalra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - India's antitrust watchdog is raiding offices of small-scale steel companies for alleged price collusion of steel products used in construction, two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters. Among those raided were Rungta Steel and Shyam Steel, the sources said, as officials from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) conducted searches in states of West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday. In all around eight to nine offices of steel companies were searched, though names of other firms raided were not immediately clear. The CCI does not disclose any details publicly of its raid operations or cases related to alleged price collusion. Shyam Steel is a 30 billion Indian rupees ($362.73 million) group which manufactures several steel products.

☆ Kyiv mayor says metro service, water supply back after Russian strikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] People use mobile internet next to a metro station after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile attacks, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoKYIV, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The mayor of Ukraine's capital said early Saturday the city's metro system was back in service and that all residents had been reconnected to water supply a day after the latest wave of Russian air strikes on critical infrastructure. Ukrainian officials said Russia fired more than 70 missiles on Friday in one of its biggest attacks since the Kremlin's Feb. 24 invasion, forcing emergency blackouts nationwide. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also said heating had been restored to half the city and electricity had been returned to two-thirds. Klitschko had warned of an "apocalypse" scenario for the Ukrainian capital earlier this month if Russian air strikes on infrastructure continued but also said there was no need yet for people to evacuate.

The Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, named for the son of a federal judge who was fatally shot in 2020, was attached to the annual must-pass defense policy bill that the Senate endorsed 83-11. The defense bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week and now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature. The judicial security measure, which the federal judiciary backed, had long languished in Congress before its supporters were able to tack it on to the National Defense Authorization Act. The measure remained in the 4,000-plus page defense bill despite criticism from public interest groups who say it could chill free speech and undermine efforts to scrutinize judges' conflicts of interest. Sponsors of the bill, including Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, say it is narrowly tailored to protect judges.

☆ Elon Musk's team seeks new funding for Twitter - investor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Hyunjoo Jin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Elon Musk’s team has reached out to investors to raise new funds for his struggling social media platform Twitter, one of the investors said. Jared Birchall, the managing director of Elon Musk's family office reached out to potential investors this week, news platform Semafor reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the fundraising effort. Twitter and Musk did not respond to Reuters requests for comments. Musk sold another $3.6 billion worth of shares in Tesla earlier this week, making it nearly $40 billion worth of shares in the electric-vehicle company sold this year. Tesla shares on Friday posted their worst weekly loss since March 2020, with investors increasingly concerned about Musk being distracted by Twitter and the slowing global economy.

☆ Trump lashes out at polls showing Ron DeSantis with a big lead in the 2024 GOP primary
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Jonathan Allen | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis beating him in a head-to-head matchup for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. DeSantis led Trump 52 percent to 38 percent in the Wall Street Journal survey, which was released Wednesday. Fox News reported on the Wall Street Journal poll and a USA Today/Suffolk University poll that showed DeSantis up 56 percent to 33 percent over Trump in a one-on-one test. The hypothetical head-to-head matchups assume that Trump and DeSantis are the only candidates who receive support from GOP primary voters. One GOP strategist who worked on Trump's 2020 campaign likened DeSantis' early lead to the fast-disappearing edge that then-Texas Gov.

Perry was chatting with his mother at 10:06 p.m. EST Nov. 13 as they approached campus, his parents, Happy and Sean Perry said. Minutes after hanging up, social media lit up with word of an active shooter on the Charlottesville campus, his parents said. “He said they were on the way back almost to campus and his phone was going dead," his mother told NBC News. Former Virginia football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. has been arrested and charged in the deadly shooting. "If we don't do something about it, it will continue," Sean Perry said.

☆ What we learned from the final part of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The last three episodes of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix documentary series were released Thursday. Harry said Meghan’s popularity in particular caused problems at the palace, recalling similarities with his mother Diana, who married into the royal family and was beloved by the public. The couple recalled how media coverage started to turn negative, with Meghan increasingly associated with racist tropes such as drugs, criminality or terrorism. More controversy around Archie’s birthThe couple recalled how their desire to keep some privacy around the birth of their first child caused a significant backlash. “The amount of abuse we got … for not wanting to serve our child up on a silver platter was incredible,” said Harry.

☆ Brock Purdy: From 'Mr. Irrelevant' to beating the NFL's GOAT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

And this bull is now a steer, so he’s irrelevant. Justin Casterline/Getty ImagesWhen Purdy was selected by the 49ers – and that famous red and white jersey was brought out with “Mr. Irrelevant” celebrations began in 1976, when former 49ers receiver Paul Salata founded “Irrelevant Week” in Newport Beach, California. Purdy celebrates at midfield after the Iowa State Cyclones defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys 24-21 at Jack Trice Stadium on October 23, 2021 in Ames, Iowa. “I’ve tried to keep myself from being surprised about Brock Purdy years ago because nothing surprises me anymore with him.”

☆ Australia's parliament approves gas price cap, $1 bln energy relief
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Sonali Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MELBOURNE, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Australia's parliament on Thursday passed legislation setting a price cap on natural gas for one year and providing A$1.5 billion ($1.03 billion) in relief for households and small businesses hit by soaring energy costs due to Russia's war in Ukraine. The price cap will apply to new wholesale gas sales by east coast producers. The law also clears the way for the government to regulate gas sales when producers and buyers fail to agree on a contract price. The price cap met with fierce opposition from the gas industry but was supported by manufacturers and the Australian Workers' Union. Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's private firm Squadron Energy, building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, urged the government to require Queensland gas producers to make LNG available for the domestic market at "reasonable prices".

☆ The ‘90s Blowout Is Back. Here’s How to Do the Big ’Do Right.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Fiorella Valdesolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Topanga from “Boy Meets World.” Cher from “Clueless.” These are among the retro references name-checked in the blowout hair tutorials blowing up all over TikTok. (At last count, videos tagged #90sblowout had more than 84 million views on the app.) “[Social media] is really driving the trend,” explained Fekkai founder and CEO, Frédéric Fekkai, referencing Matilda Djerf (TikTok follower count: 1.3 million), an influencer whose signature fluffy blowout has become a frequent subject of viral posts. Jessica Gillin, a stylist at New York’s Jenna Perry Hair, sees her clients’ zeal for fluffy manes as just the latest expression of ’90s and Y2K nostalgia. “Big hair is femininity...it’s also power.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged seven social media influencers with securities fraud, saying Wednesday that they were part of a $100 million scheme to use social media platforms Twitter and Discord, as well as podcasts, to manipulate the price of certain stocks. Discord is a private chatroom and messaging platform that is popular with gaming influencers and, more recently, financial influencers. According to the SEC, seven of the defendants promoted stocks to their hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers and in stock trading rooms on Discord since at least January 2020. They would then promote the stock to their followers and inflate the share price, announcing price targets and teasing upcoming news about the company. Those stocks are often ripe for manipulation because they receive less attention and have lower trading volumes.

☆ DOJ and SEC charge social media influencers in alleged $100 million stock pump and dump scheme
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., May 12, 2021. The influencers allegedly gained a profit by pumping the stock prices and then selling once they rose, earning about $100 million in total, the SEC claims. The seven charged with securities fraud used the social media platforms to manipulate exchange-traded stocks in a scheme going back to at least January 2020, the SEC alleged. The SEC alleged Knight also traded with the other defendants and saw profits from the scheme. Some of the defendants' Twitter bios include disclaimers at least as of Wednesday that appear to try to mitigate their legal risks.

☆ Fiji national election a tight race in early provisional counting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Voters queue at a polling station to vote during the Fijian general election in Suva, Fiji, December 14, 2022. Bainimarama is in a tight race against another former coup leader and one-time prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, whose People's Alliance Party has formed a coalition with Fiji's oldest political party, the National Federation Party. The election office said result updates were put "temporarily on hold" shortly before 11 p.m., and later said its election results app, used by the public, had errors. Bainimarama's Fiji First supporters campaigned on stability and progress, while the opposition said national debt was too high and questioned the state of democracy, he said. A multinational observer group led by Australia, India and Indonesia includes 90 election observers who are also monitoring the national vote counting centre.

[1/2] The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. "Securities fraud victimizes innocent investors and undermines the integrity of our public markets,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. His attorney did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Rybarczyk and Deel did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Reporting by Chris Prentice and Nate Raymond; Editing by Mark Porter and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CNN —The House Republican Conference is still entrenched in an internal war over whether to reinstate an arcane rule that would empower any member to bring up a vote to oust a speaker at any time. The bitter divide is only heating up and has emerged center stage in House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s quest for 218 votes to win the position. “There’s a reason [the motion to vacate] already got debated. It’s a healthy process.”For now, leadership is keeping their options open on the motion to vacate with Republican Whip Steve Scalise telling reporters Tuesday, “There are continuing negotiations going on. Video Ad Feedback GOP lawmaker explains why he won't vote for McCarthy to become House Speaker 03:08 - Source: CNNThe House is scheduled to hold another rules meeting on Wednesday where they will debate the issue.

☆ Justice Department has tried to access GOP Rep. Scott Perry’s text messages
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Katelyn Polantz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

That led the Pennsylvania lawmaker to be in touch with powerful Trump backers, including Meadows, Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and others who pushed false claims of election fraud. Perry previously said that the Justice Department told his attorneys he was not a target of the investigation. Perry sued the Justice Department days after the search, then quickly asked the court to put the public-facing lawsuit on hold. The Justice Department approached Perry’s phone seizure and other phone seizures from Trump allies in two parts, according to sources familiar with the investigation and public filings. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

CNN —House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy took to Fox News primetime last week and dinged his counterpart across the Capitol: Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. In the new Congress, McConnell will lead a 49-seat Senate minority while McCarthy will have 222 Republican seats in the House. That’s because McCarthy, like many other House Republicans, doesn’t want to deal with the threat of a government shutdown immediately upon entering their new majority. One Republican lawmaker pointed out that McConnell and McCarthy are dealing with different conferences and political dynamics, which explains their sometimes conflicting approaches. “Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are gonna be just fine.”

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