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Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said on Wednesday he had collected the signatures of 13 ministers on a document calling for the ouster of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. In an interview with the Haredi Kikar Hashabbat website, Karhi presented the document and said he is "actively working on it" and got the process moving himself. The minister said that as soon as he obtains 17 signatures, which would be more than half of the ministers, the government will be obligated to discuss the dismissal procedure, which he says will begin with contacting the search committee. "I think the attorney general is a political adviser who is not worthy of her position and is constantly trying to hem in the government's moves," Karhi said, accusing Baharav-Miara of putting up legal roadblocks. "Every week, she comes up with something new in order to thwart the government's policy." He asserted that Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg also criticized Baharav-Miara when he said to her at the hearing on the appointment of an acting chairman of the Second Broadcasting Authority, "Not only is Minister Karhi's interpretation correct and yours is not, it is also not proper at all that you did not give him representation in court." Karhi was asked if the reason why the attorney general has not been fired yet is because the High Court of Justice would be expected to overturn the decision, and then Baharav-Miara would instruct that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be declared unable to serve due to conflicts of interest because of his being charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The minister replied that if the process of firing the attorney general was completed, the High Court may overturn the decision on the grounds of "an improper process and acting in conflict of interest." "In this case, too," he said, "incapacity is out of the question." "I'm not fazed by the word 'incapacity,'" Karhi said. "But even if the High Court says otherwise, we'll ignore it. With all due respect, it has no authority on any law." About the possibility that a constitutional crisis could be created over the issue of prime ministerial incapacity, Karhi said, "It's not a constitutional crisis, but a crisis that the High Court would manufacture – and then end up drowning in its own crisis." Karhi argued that the regime in Israel is not a " full democracy ," citing as proof that in a full democracy the court does not have the authority to nullify Basic Laws. He went on to say, "We haven't yet reached a situation of a judicial coup by invoking incapacity. It won't happen, the High Court doesn't have the authority." Last week, top coalition figures said that despite the calls from some ministers to fire the attorney general, the prime minister's position on the issue hasn't changed. The desire to fire Baharav-Miara , who was appointed by the Bennett government, has been evident since the first day of Netanyahu's return as prime minister. But Netanyahu is refraining from pursuing her ouster for several reasons, particularly due to the conflict of interest that would apply because of his trial, and the likelihood the High Court would block the move.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico has been taking a bashing lately for allegedly serving as a conduit for Chinese parts and products into North America, and officials here are afraid a re-elected Donald Trump or politically struggling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could try to leave their country out of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. Mexico’s ruling Morena party is so afraid of losing the trade deal that President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday the government has gone on a campaign to get companies to replace Chinese parts with locally made ones. “We have a plan with the aim of substituting these imports that come from China, and producing the majority of them in Mexico, either with Mexican companies or primarily North American companies,” Sheinbaum said. While Sheinbaum claimed Mexico had been working on that effort since t he 2021 global supply chain crisis — when factories around the world were stalled by a lack of parts and particularly computer chips from Asia — it appears to be an uphill battle. Even the United States has faced big challenges in moving chip production back home despite billions in subsidies and incentives. Mexico gained tens of thousands of jobs when U.S. and foreign automakers moved their plants to Mexico under the free trade pact to take advantage of much lower wages. But the idea that Chinese parts — or even whole cars — could be piggybacking on that arrangement to further hollow out the U.S. auto industry has enraged some people north of the border. So Mexico is scrambling with private companies to get them to move parts production here. “Next year, God willing, we are going to start making microchips in Mexico,” Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said on Thursday. “Of course they're not yet the most advanced chips, but we are going to start producing them here.” Mexico's nationalistic ruling party, which is normally very resistant to being seen as bending to U.S. demands , is scrambling in other ways, too. The ruling party is in the process of eliminating a half-dozen independent regulatory and oversight agencies that were established by former presidents. That includes the anti-monopoly, transparency and energy regulatory bodies. Together with reforms that will make all judges stand for election in Mexico, that has sparked concern in the U.S. and Canada. Countries are required under the agreement to have some independent agencies, in part to protect foreign investors. For example, they could prevent a government from approving a monopoly for a state-owned company that could force competitors out of the market. So ruling-party legislators are actually re-writing the proposed laws to exactly mimic the minimum accepted requirements under the trade accord. “What is being done is to create a reform so that its almost exactly equal to what exists in the United States, so we can clear that up,” Ebrard said. It's all part of a very legalistic defense of the trade accord, signed in 2018 and approved in 2019. Mexico hopes the rules of the agreement would prevent the U.S. or Canada from simply walking away when the trade pact comes up for review in 2026. Experts agree, saying that totally abandoning the accord is unlikely. Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis of the financial group Banco Base notes that if a country is dissatisfied with the trade agreement during the periodic reviews, like in 2026, there is a clause in the pact that says they can ask for a review each year to work out a solution, and keep doing that for a decade while the agreement remains in force. “That is, they wouldn't be able to get out until 2036,” Siller said. “I think they will play hardball with Mexico in the 2026 review.” Like any marriage, when the pact no longer works for one party, it may still drag on for years but it’s death by a thousand cuts. C.J. Mahoney. who served as deputy U.S. trade representative in Trump's first administration, said in a talk for the Texas-based Baker Institute in September that the United States probably wouldn't end the trade agreement. But with growingly vocal critics of the pact it could hold up renewing it for years. “The costs of not renewing immediately are actually quite relatively low,” Mahoney said. “I think the inclination to just kick the can down the road will be pretty strong.” Because many companies won't make big investments in production facilities without certainty, that could be a serious if not fatal blow to the pact. How much does Mexico actually buy from China? Mexican officials say they have fewer imports of Chinese parts and products than the United States does. But given the enormous size difference between the two countries' economies, it is a true but weak argument. In July, the U.S. imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum shipped from Mexico that were made elsewhere, in an attempt to stop China from avoiding import taxes by routing goods through Mexico. It includes a 25% tariff on steel not melted or poured in Mexico and a 10% tariff on aluminum. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, has called for stopping Mexican steel imports, saying “the alarming rise in Chinese steel and aluminum coming into the country through Mexico ... is unsustainable and a threat to American jobs, as well as our economy and national security." In the end, Mexico may be forced to crack down on Chinese imports, but it won't be easy. “Reducing the dependence on Chinese imports is not going to be achieved in the short or medium term," said José María Ramos, a professor of public administration at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks climbed Thursday after market superstar Nvidia and another round of companies said they’re making even fatter profits than expected. The S&P 500 pulled 0.5% higher after flipping between gains and losses several times during the day. Banks, smaller companies and other areas of the stock market that tend to do best when the economy is strong helped lead the way, while bitcoin briefly broke above $99,000. Crude oil, meanwhile, continued to rise. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 461 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1%. Nvidia rose just 0.5% after beating analysts’ estimates for profit and revenue yet again, but it was still the strongest force pulling the S&P 500 upward. It also gave a forecast for revenue in the current quarter that topped most analysts’ expectations due to voracious demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology. Its stock initially sank in afterhours trading Wednesday following the release of the results. Some investors said the market might have been looking for Nvidia’s revenue forecast to surpass expectations by even more. But its stock recovered in premarket trading Thursday, and Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said it was another “flawless” profit report provided by Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang, whom Ives calls “the Godfather of AI.” The stock meandered through Thursday as well, dragging the S&P 500 and other indexes back and forth. How Nvidia’s stock performs has more impact than any other because it’s grown into Wall Street’s most valuable company at roughly $3.6 trillion. The frenzy around AI is sweeping up other stocks, and Snowflake jumped 32.7% after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, whose platform helps customers get a better view of all their silos of data and use AI, also reported stronger revenue growth than expected. BJ’S Wholesale Club rose 8.3% after likewise delivering a bigger profit than expected. That may help calm worries about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain, given high prices across the economy and still-high interest rates. A day earlier, Target tumbled after reporting sluggish sales in the latest quarter and giving a dour forecast for the holiday shopping season. It followed Walmart , which gave a much more encouraging outlook. Nearly 90% of the stocks in the S&P 500 ended up rising Thursday, and the gains were even bigger among smaller companies. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks jumped a market-leading 1.7%. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, helped keep indexes in check. It fell 4.7% after U.S. regulators asked a judge to break up the tech giant by forcing it to sell its industry-leading Chrome web browser. In a 23-page document filed late Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice called for sweeping punishments that would include restrictions preventing Android from favoring its own search engine. Regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android but left the door open to it if the company’s oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct. All told, the S&P 500 rose 31.60 points to 5,948.71. The Dow jumped 461.88 to 43,870.35, and the Nasdaq composite added 6.28 to 18,972.42. In the crypto market, bitcoin eclipsed $99,000 for the first time before pulling back toward $98,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s more than doubled so far this year, and its climb has accelerated since Election Day. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to make the country “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. Bitcoin got a further boost after Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Thursday he would step down in January . Gensler has pushed for more protections for crypto investors. Bitcoin and related investment have a notorious history of big price swings in both directions. MicroStrategy, a company that’s been raising cash expressly to buy bitcoin, saw an early Thursday gain of 14.6% for its stock quickly disappear. It finished the day with a loss of 16.2%. In the oil market, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 2% to bring its gain for the week to 4.8%. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.8%. Oil has been rising amid escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war. In stock markets abroad, shares of India’s Adani Enterprises plunged 22.6% Thursday after the U.S. charged founder Gautam Adani in a federal indictment with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The businessman and one of the world’s richest people is accused of concealing that his company’s huge solar energy project on the subcontinent was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme. Stock indexes elsewhere in Asia and Europe were mixed. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.43% from 4.41% late Wednesday following some mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest signal that the job market remains solid. Another report, though, said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly shrank. Sales of previously occupied homes, meanwhile, strengthened last month by more than expected. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Yuri Kageyama contributed.COWAN: Canadiens' Nick Suzuki growing more comfortable as captainBYD brings sustainable mobility to BruneiIs Nissan Going Out Of Business? Here's What We Know
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Kewaunee Scientific to Report Results for Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025New York: At the fruit stand where he works on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Shah Alam sells dozens of bananas a day at 35 cents apiece, or four for $US1. He does a brisk business in cheap fruit outside Sotheby’s auction house; inside, art can sell for millions. But last Wednesday, Alam sold a banana that a short time later would be auctioned as part of a work of absurdist art, won by a cryptocurrency entrepreneur for $US5.2 million plus more than $US1 million in auction house fees ($9.5 million in total). A fruit stand in front of Sotheby’s in Manhattan, where a banana that became part of a $US5.2 million piece of art was sold. Credit: Amir Hamja/The New York Times A few days after the sale, as Alam stood in the rain on York Avenue and East 72nd Street, snapping bananas free of their bunches, he learned from a reporter what had become of the fruit: It had been duct-taped to a wall as part of a work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, and sold to Justin Sun, the Chinese founder of a cryptocurrency platform. And when he was told the sale price, he began to cry. “I am a poor man,” Alam, 74, said, his voice breaking. “I have never had this kind of money; I have never seen this kind of money.” The infamous ‘Comedian’ by Maurizio Cattelan will be displayed at the 2023 Triennial. Credit: Eddie Jim The banana’s journey from fruit stand to artwork began in 2019, when Cattelan first exhibited the work at Art Basel Miami Beach, an international art fair. The conceptual piece of three editions, titled Comedian , is an implicit send-up of the absurdity of the art world, in keeping with Cattelan’s puckish oeuvre. It came with a detailed owner’s manual on just how to affix the banana with the tape, and permission to refresh it when it rots. (Cattelan bought the original bananas at a Miami grocery store, he has said in interviews.) Each edition sold in Miami for $US120,000 to $US150,000 and spurred unruly crowds: A performance artist at the exhibition ripped one off the wall, peeled the banana and ate it. Cattelan was delighted by the ensuing debate over what exactly constitutes art, and how it is valued. By last Wednesday, those questions of five years ago seemed quaint: Bidding for Lot No. 10 — Alam’s banana affixed to a wall with a slash of silver tape — started at $US800,000. Within five minutes, seven bidders drove its price above $US5 million. The artist was not compensated for the Sotheby’s sale, which was on behalf of a collector who has not been named, but he said in an email that he was nonetheless thrilled by the price it commanded. “Honestly, I feel fantastic,” Cattelan wrote. “The auction has turned what began as a statement in Basel into an even more absurd global spectacle.” He added: “In that way, the work becomes self-reflexive: The higher the price, the more it reinforces its original concept.” On social platform X, Sun crowed about his new art acquisition, and announced he now plans to eat it Friday. He was honoured, he wrote, to be the banana’s “proud owner”: “I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.” Nowhere in that history is Alam. (Karina Sokolovsky, a spokesperson for Sotheby’s, confirmed that the banana was purchased from the cart where Alam works the day of the sale. The vendor himself has no specific recollection of selling an extra-special fruit.) A widower from Dhaka, Bangladesh, Alam was a civil servant before he moved to the United States in 2007 to be closer to one of his two children, a married daughter who lives on Long Island. He said his home is a basement apartment with five other men in Parkchester, in the Bronx. For his room he pays $US500 a month in rent, he said, speaking in Bengali. His fruit stand shifts are 12 hours long, four days a week; for each hour on his feet, in all weather, the owner pays him $US12. His English is limited mostly to the prices and names of his wares — apples, three for $US2; small pears, $US1 each. He has never stepped inside the auction house. He wouldn’t be able to see the art clearly anyway: His vision is deeply impaired, he said, because he needs cataract surgery, which he has scheduled for January. To Alam, the joke of Comedian feels at his expense. As a blur of people rushed by his corner a few days after the sale, shock and distress washed over him as he considered who profited — and who did not. “Those who bought it, what kind of people are they?” he asked. “Do they not know what a banana is?” In his email, Cattelan said he was affected by Alam’s reaction to his artwork, but stopped short of joining in his criticism. “The reaction of the banana vendor moves me deeply, underscoring how art can resonate in unexpected and profound ways,” he wrote. “However, art, by its nature, does not solve problems — if it did, it would be politics.” For Alam, not much has changed since his banana sold. At the fruit stand, it’s still four bananas for $US1, or 24.8 million bananas for $US6.2 million. This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
WASHINGTON , Nov. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, Future Caucus held its seventh annual awards at the Arlo Washington DC, in recognition of lawmakers and activists who embody the organization's mission to transcend toxic polarization. The award honors Gen Z and millennial leaders actively advancing bipartisan policies that address critical issues facing Americans. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
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