German farmers protest against government tax breaks for diesel

( ) -q-19- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “so has discontent..”

German farmers have gathered in Berlin to protest against planned cuts to tax breaks for diesel used in agriculture.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: The cuts are part of a deal reached by the government to plug a hole in the country’s budget. Leaders of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition last week agreed on measures to fill an 18.5 billion dollar hole in next year’s budget. As more details have emerged of what the deal entails, so has discontent, notably over a plan to cut tax breaks for agricultural diesel and scrap an exemption from car tax for farming vehicles.

BP halts Red Sea shipments over fears of Houthi attacks

( ) -q-23- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “trade passes through.”

Oil and natural gas giant BP has joined the growing list of companies that have halted their shipments through the Red Sea because of the risk of attack from Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Oil prices rose partly over market nerves about attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis.

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VERBATIM: London-based BP says it has “decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea” including shipments of oil, liquid natural gas and other energy supplies. They have targeted container ships and oil tankers passing through a narrow waterway that connects to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. That’s where an estimated 10% of the world’s trade passes through.

Nippon Steel to aquire storied US Steel for more than $14 billion

( ) -q-27- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Asia Pacific region.”

U.S. Steel, is being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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The transaction involving the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation’s industrialization, is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt. Nippon, which will pay $55 per share for U.S. Steel, says the deal will bolster its manufacturing and technology capabilities. It will also expand Nippon’s production in the U.S. and add to its positions in Japan, India and the Asia Pacific region.

US announces new sanctions on Russia’s weapons suppliers as Zelenskyy visits Washington

( ) -q-19- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “to Russia’s economy.”

The Biden administration is hitting hundreds of people and firms around the globe with new economic and diplomatic sanctions.

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Out-cue: to Russia’s economy]

TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The latest round of sanctions landed as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington to make an appeal for more financial support as his nation defends against the Russian invasion that will enter its third year in February.

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VERBATIM: The sanctions come as the U.S. targets third-country contributors that are equipping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions stretch from Russia to China to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The financial penalties have rendered Russia the most sanctioned country in the world, but have yet to deliver a knockout punch to Russia’s economy.

Tesla recalls nearly all vehicles sold in US to fix system that monitors drivers using Autopilot

( ) -q-19- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Some were deadly.”

Tesla is recalling more than 2 million vehicles across its model lineup to fix a defective system that’s supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says its investigation found Autopilot’s method of ensuring that drivers are paying attention can be inadequate and “can lead to foreseeable misuse of the system.”

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VERBATIM: U.S. safety regulators say the company will send out a software update to fix the problems. The recall comes after a two-year investigation by U.S. auto safety regulators into a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use. Some were deadly.

Argentina sharply devalues its currency and cuts subsidies as part of shock economic measures

( ) -q-28- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “of tough measures.”

Argentina has announced a sharp devaluation of its currency and cuts to energy and transportation subsidies.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: The actions are part of shock adjustments new President Javier Milei says are needed to deal with an economic emergency. Economy Minister Luis Caputo says the Argentine peso will be devalued by 50% from 400 to the U.S. dollar to 800 pesos to the dollar. Milei, a libertarian, was sworn in recently as president of the second largest economy in South America and immediately warned of tough measures.

Occidental buying CrownRock in cash-and-stock deal valued at about $12 billion

( ) -q-17- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “and New Mexico.”

Occidental is buying oil and gas company CrownRock in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $12 billion.

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Out-cue: and New Mexico]

TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: The acquisition comes at a time when there’s increasing consolidation in the energy sector. Some companies are spending heavily to increase their positions in various oil-rich areas. This includes the Permian (PER mee uhn) Basin, a massive oilfield that straddles the border between Texas and New Mexico.

China’s homegrown C919 aircraft arrives in Hong Kong in maiden flight outside the mainland

( ) -q-27- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Airbus and Boeing.”

A Chinese C919 commercial passenger jet has arrived in Hong Kong in the Chinese-made aircraft’s first foray outside of mainland China.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. COMAC designed many of the C919’s parts, but some of its key components are still sourced from the West, including its engine.

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VERBATIM: A C919 plane and another Chinese-made aircraft, an ARJ21 will be on display at Hong Kong’s international airport until Sunday. The C919 is due to perform a fly-past over the city’s scenic Victoria Harbor on Saturday. The manufacturer of the C919, the Commercial Aircraft Company of China, or COMAC, is aiming to market the single-aisle jet in a direct challenge to Airbus and Boeing.

Choice Hotels launches hostile takeover bid for rival Wyndham after being repeatedly rebuffed

( ) -q-17- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “eight-billion dollars.”

Choice Hotels is launching a hostile takeover offer for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts after attempts to reach a deal with the hotel chain were rebuffed.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: Choice Hotels says its exchange offer remains the same as its last bid. The exchange offer gives Wyndham shareholders the chance to choose to receive all cash, all shares or a combination of the two. The offer puts the value of the deal at about $8 billion.

AAA: More People Will Travel For Holidays This Year

Airports and highways are expected to be busier this Christmas season than they were a year ago.  Auto club AAA predicted Monday that 115 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home over the 10 days starting right before Christmas. That’s about 2% more than last year, but not quite as many as 2019, the last holiday season before the pandemic. Most of those people will travel by car, and they’ll enjoy slightly lower gasoline prices that a year ago. Airfares are also down a bit from high levels a year ago, according to government figures.

Bitcoin is once again having a moment

Bitcoin is once again having a moment

VERBATIM:

The world’s largest cryptocurrency recently soared past $41,000 for the first time in over a year and a half — and marking a 150% increase so far this year. The recent rally for volatile bitcoin coincides with the prospect of exchange-traded funds being launched based on spot bitcoin. Industry advocates say that could make entering the cryptoverse easier, while lowering some of the well-documented risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies.

Republicans are still favored over Democrats on issue of taxes…

Republicans are still favored over Democrats on issue of taxes…

…but the margin has narrowed by two percentage points compared with last July’s poll.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 45 percent of Likely U.S. voters have more trust in Republicans to handle taxes, compared with 40 percent for Democrats. 15% are not sure. In July, the GOP was more trusted than Democrats by 48 to 41 percent.
The issue carries weight: Eighty-one percent (81%) of those likely voters believe the issue of taxes will be important in the upcoming presidential election, including 41% who think the tax issue will be Very Important. SOC

The U.S. Border Patrol says it’s overwhelmed by a change in human smuggling routes

The U.S. Border Patrol says it’s overwhelmed by a change in human smuggling routes

VERBATIM:

Officials say human smugglers are dropping off hundreds of migrants in a remote desert area in Arizona.

That area around the town of Lukeville is hours away by car to U.S. hospitals and migrant shelters.

Border officials say these migrants come from faraway countries like Senegal, Bangladesh and China.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has indefinitely closed the crossing between Lukeville and Sonoyta, Mexico.

UAW says over 1,000 workers at VW plant in Tennessee have signed cards seeking union representation

( ) -q-27- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “UAW-represented auto plants.”

More than 1,000 workers at Volkswagen’s Tennessee factory have signed cards authorizing a vote to be represented by the United Auto Workers union.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The factory in Chattanooga employs about 3,800 people who make the VW ID.4 electric vehicle and the Atlas family of gas-powered SUVs.

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VERBATIM: It’s the first plant in the nation to reach that milestone in the UAW’s quest to organize more than a dozen nonunion factories. The union says the workers signed on in less than a week. In November, VW gave workers an 11% pay raise at the plant after UAW members ratified new contracts with Detroit automakers. But the union says VW’s pay lags behind what workers make at UAW-represented auto plants.

Retail group pulls back on claim organized retail crime accounts for nearly half of inventory loss

( ) -v-36- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “std.”

The National Retail Federation has revised a report released in April that pulls back the claim that organized retail crime accounts for nearly half of overall industry shrink, which measures overall loss in inventory. Correspondent Jeremy House has the details.

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VERBATIM: The revision of the group’s organized retail crime report follows an analysis from online news site Retail Dive that found mistakes in the data. NRF said it recognizes the challenges that the retail industry and law enforcement face in tracking theft. A shoplifting report by a nonpartisan group released last month examined 24 major U.S. cities and showed that shoplifting incidents were 16% higher compared with the first half of 2019. Excluding New York City however, reported incidents actually fell 7% over the same time period…JH reporting.

Investment banks to put $10 billion into projects aimed at interconnecting South America

( ) -q-25- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Guyana and Suriname.”

Four investment banks have announced they will put $10 billion for infrastructure works aiming to better connect South America.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: Potential projects that could receive funds include ports, airports, roads, electricity transmission lines, railways, and others. The “Routes for South American Integration” initiative was launched in Rio de Janeiro with host Brazil introducing a plan with more 120 projects that could better connect the region. They include many in the country’s north bordering Venezuela, Guyana, French Guyana and Suriname.

US employers added a solid 199,000 jobs in November in sign of a still-sturdy labor market

( ) -q-18- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “a steep recession.”

The nation’s employers added 199,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell.

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Out-cue: a steep recession]

TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The November gain was a reminder that many employers continue to hire, though last month’s increase was inflated by the return of about 40,000 formerly striking auto workers and actors, who were not at work in October but returned in November.

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VERBATIM: The Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7% in November. The figures are fresh signs that the economy could achieve an elusive “soft landing.” Should that occur, inflation would return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target without causing a steep recession.

Supreme Court signals it will uphold a tax on foreign income and leave a wealth tax for another day

( ) -q-28- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “of Redmond, Washington.”

The Supreme Court seems inclined to uphold a tax on foreign income while leaving broader questions about a never-enacted tax on wealth for another day.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: Conservative and liberal justices have voiced concerns that ruling for a Washington couple challenging a provision of the 2017 tax bill would threaten other provisions of the tax code. There seems to be a consensus on the court to craft a narrow ruling that would avoid what Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar (pree LOH gur) said would be “several trillion dollars in lost revenues.” The case argued this week was brought by Charles and Kathleen Moore of Redmond, Washington.

China raises stakes in cyberscam crackdown in Myanmar, though loopholes remain

( ) -q-26- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “revenue a year.”

China has intensified a crackdown on online scams operated in border areas of Myanmar.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Experts say the crackdown, concentrated on two special zones close to China’s border with military-ruled Myanmar, will hinder but probably not stop the scammers’ operations.

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VERBATIM: The drive has been showcased by confession videos and national TV broadcasts of arrests of high-profile suspects. But the drive is confined to a limited area and appears unlikely to root out the criminal syndicates operating the human trafficking and other illicit activities of those running the scams that cheat people of their savings via phone calls and online schemes. Such schemes are thought to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue a year.

US job openings fall to lowest level since March 2021 as labor market cools

( ) -q-17- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “month this year.”

U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The job market has shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022 to fight high inflation.

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VERBATIM: It’s a sign that hiring is cooling in the face of higher interest rates. Openings were down significantly from 9.4 million in September. Hiring is slowing from the breakneck pace of the past two years. Still, employers have added 239,000 jobs a month this year.

2023’s most-viewed articles on Wikipedia

( ) -q-22- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “seemingly everywhere today.”

Remember what you searched for in 2023?

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The second most-read article on Wikipedia in 2023 was the annual list of deaths, which sees high traffic year after year. Meanwhile, the 2023 Cricket World Cup took third place.

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VERBATIM: Turns out…Wikipedia has the receipts. English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year. That’s according to numbers collected by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT…the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today.

Danish union to take action against Tesla in solidarity with Swedes

(   ) -v-35- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “std.”

The conflict against Tesla in Sweden is spreading to neighboring Denmark. Correspondent Jeremy House has more on the story.

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VERBATIM: Transport workers in Denmark say they will take industrial action in solidarity with workers in Sweden against the Texas-based automaker. Tesla is non-unionized globally, but the Swedish workers are demanding that the carmaker sign a collective bargaining agreement. Tesla has no manufacturing plant in Sweden but has several service centers. The United Federation of Workers in Denmark which has some 262,000 members, says there had been speculation that Tesla would deliver its cars to Danish ports and transport them on trucks to Sweden after Swedish dock workers blocked the reception of Tesla cars there…JH reporting.

US unveils global strategy to commercialize fusion as source of clean energy

( ) -q-22- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “fusion companies worldwide.”

The United States will work with other governments to speed up efforts to make nuclear fusion a new source of carbon-free energy.

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Out-cue: fashion companies worldwide]

TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: That announcement from U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry, who’s in Dubai for U.N. climate talks. Nuclear fusion melds two hydrogen atoms together to produce a helium atom and a lot of energy. Some say it is at best years away. But if achieved, it could be a major solution to climate change. Globally, there are more than 40 fusion companies worldwide.

Europe’s world-leading AI rules face do-or-die moment

( ) -q 29– UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Google’s Bard chatbot.”

Hailed as a world first, European Union artificial intelligence rules are facing a make-or-break moment.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Big tech companies are lobbying against what they see as overregulation that stifles innovation. European lawmakers, meanwhile, want added safeguards for the cutting-edge AI systems those companies are developing.

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VERBATIM: Negotiators will meet to hammer out the draft’s final details this week. However, the talks have been complicated by the sudden rise of generative AI. First suggested in 2019, the AI Act was expected to be the world’s first such comprehensive regulations. But the process has been bogged down by a last-minute battle over how to govern systems that underpin general purpose AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard chatbot.