Mercurity Fintech Announces Unaudited Financial Results for First Half 2024Manhattan police have obtained a warrant for the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Nicholas Mangione , suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, while carrying a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush. Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Late Monday, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Here's the latest: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says “violence to combat any sort of corporate greed is unacceptable” and the White House will “continue to condemn any form of violence.” She declined to comment on the investigation into the Dec. 4 shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson or reports that writings belonging to the suspect, Luigi Mangione, said insurance companies care more about profits than their customers. “This is horrific,” Jean-Pierre said of the fatal shooting of Thompson as he walked in Manhattan. He didn’t appear to say anything as deputies led him to a waiting car outside. “I’m deeply grateful to the men and women of law enforcement whose efforts to solve the horrific murder of Brian Thompson led to the arrest of a suspect in Pennsylvania,” Gov. Hochul said in the statement. “I am coordinating with the District Attorney’s Office and will sign a request for a governor’s warrant to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable. Public safety is my top priority and I’ll do everything in my power to keep the streets of New York safe.” That’s according to a spokesperson for the governor who said Gov. Hochul will do it as soon as possible. Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of a healthcare executive in New York City, apparently was living a charmed life: the grandson of a wealthy real estate developer, valedictorian of his elite Baltimore prep school and with degrees from one of the nation’s top private universities. Friends at an exclusive co-living space at the edge of touristy Waikiki in Hawaii where the 26-year-old Mangione once lived widely considered him a “great guy,” and pictures on his social media accounts show a fit, smiling, handsome young man on beaches and at parties. Now, investigators in New York and Pennsylvania are working to piece together why Mangione may have diverged from this path to make the violent and radical decision to gun down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen attack on a Manhattan street. The killing sparked widespread discussions about corporate greed, unfairness in the medical insurance industry and even inspired folk-hero sentiment toward his killer. ▶ Read more about Luigi Mangione Peter Weeks, the Blair County district attorney, says he’ll work with New York officials to try to return suspect Luigi Mangione there to face charges. Weeks said the New York charges are “more serious” than in Blair County. “We believe their charges take precedent,” Weeks said, promising to do what’s needed to accommodate New York’s prosecution first. Weeks spoke to reporters after a brief hearing at which a defense lawyer said Mangione will fight extradition. The defense asked for a hearing on the issue. In the meantime, Mangione will be detained at a state prison in western Pennsylvania. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said Tuesday it will seek a Governor’s warrant to secure Mangione’s extradition to Manhattan. Under state law, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul can issue a warrant of arrest demanding Mangione’s return to the state. Such a warrant must recite the facts necessary to the validity of its issuance and be sealed with the state seal. It would then be presented to law enforcement in Pennsylvania to expedite Mangione’s return to New York. But Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks says it won’t be a substantial barrier to returning Mangione to New York. He noted that defendants contest extradition “all the time,” including in simple retail theft cases. Dickey, his defense lawyer, questioned whether the second-degree murder charge filed in New York might be eligible for bail under Pennsylvania law, but prosecutors raised concerns about both public safety and Mangione being a potential flight risk, and the judge denied it. Mangione will continue to be housed at a state prison in Huntingdon. He has 14 days to challenge the detention. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have a month to seek a governor’s warrant out of New York. Mangione, wearing an orange jumpsuit, mostly stared straight ahead at the hearing, occasionally consulting papers, rocking in his chair, or looking back at the gallery. At one point, he began to speak to respond to the court discussion, but was quieted by his lawyer. Luigi Mangione, 26, has also been denied bail at a brief court hearing in western Pennsylvania. He has 14 days to challenge the bail decision. That’s with some intervention from owner Elon Musk. The account, which hasn’t posted since June, was briefly suspended by X. But after a user inquired about it in a post Monday, Musk responded “This happened without my knowledge. Looking into it.” The account was later reinstated. Other social media companies such as Meta have removed his accounts. According to X rules, the platform removes “any accounts maintained by individual perpetrators of terrorist, violent extremist, or mass violent attacks, as well as any accounts glorifying the perpetrator(s), or dedicated to sharing manifestos and/or third party links where related content is hosted.” Mangione is not accused of perpetrating a terrorist or mass attack — he has been charged with murder — and his account doesn’t appear to share any writings about the case. He shouted something that was partly unintelligible, but referred to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.” He’s there for an arraignment on local charges stemming from his arrest Monday. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit as officers led him from a vehicle into the courthouse. Local defense lawyer Thomas Dickey is expected to represent the 26-year-old at a Tuesday afternoon hearing at the Blair County Courthouse. Dickey declined comment before the hearing. Mangione could have the Pennsylvania charges read aloud to him and may be asked to enter a plea. They include possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. In New York, he was charged late Monday with murder in the death of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione likely was motivated by his anger with what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain with corporate greed, said a a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press. He wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and that the profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, according to the bulletin, based on a review of the suspect’s hand-written notes and social media postings. He appeared to view the targeted killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown, asserting in his note that he is the “first to face it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin said. Mangione called “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and may have found inspiration from the man who carried out a series of bombings while railing against modern society and technology, the document said. A felony warrant filed in New York cites Altoona Officer Christy Wasser as saying she found the writings along with a semi-automatic pistol and an apparent silencer. The filing echoes earlier statements from NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny who said Mangione had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America.” Mangione is now charged in Pennsylvania with being a fugitive of justice. A customer at the McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested said one of his friends had commented beforehand that the man looked like the suspect wanted for the shooting in New York City. “It started out almost a little bit like a joke, my one friend thought he looked like the shooter,” said the customer, who declined to give his full name, on Tuesday. “It wasn’t really a joke, but we laughed about it,” he added. The warrant on murder and other charges is a step that could help expedite his extradition from Pennsylvania. In court papers made public Tuesday, a New York City police detective reiterated key findings in the investigation he said tied Mangione to the killing, including surveillance footage and a fake ID he used to check into a Manhattan hostel on Nov. 24. Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, found that ID when they arrested Mangione on Monday. Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania on charges of possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Late Monday, Manhattan prosecutors charged him with five counts, including murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Mangione doesn’t yet have a lawyer who can speak on his behalf, court officials said. Images of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police showed him pulling down his mask in the corner of the McDonald’s while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter jacket and ski cap. In another photo from a holding cell, he stood unsmiling with rumpled hair. Mangione’s cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione, announced Tuesday morning that he’s postponing a fundraiser planned later this week at the Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore, which was purchased by the Mangione family in 1986. “Because of the nature of this terrible situation involving my Cousin I do not believe it is appropriate to hold my fundraising event scheduled for this Thursday at Hayfields,” Nino Mangione said in a social media post. “I want to thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support. My family and I are heartbroken and ask that you remember the family of Mr. Thompson in your prayers. Thank you.” Officers used New York City’s muscular surveillance system . Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door to door looking for witnesses. When an arrest came five days later , those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian’s instincts. A customer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos New York police had publicized. He remains jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late Monday evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket. It’s unclear whether Luigi Nicholas Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday’s arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.”Will Kamala Harris run for California governor in 2026? The question is already swirling
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Saquon Barkley became the ninth running back in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season as the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the NFC East title with victory over the Dallas Cowboys . The 27-year-old achieved the feat with a 23-yard run during the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ crushing 41-7 success at Lincoln Financial Field. Barkley is 100 yards short of Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards, set in 1984 for the Los Angeles Rams, ahead of next week’s regular season finale against the New York Giants. However, he could be rested for that game in order to protect him from injury ahead of the play-offs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept alive their dreams of reaching the play-offs by overcoming the Carolina Panthers 48-14. Veteran quarterback Baker Mayfield produced a dominant performance at Raymond James Stadium, registering five passing touchdowns to equal a Buccaneers franchise record. The Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC conference number two seed for the post season with a 40-14 success over the New York Jets at Highmark Stadium. Josh Allen passed for 182 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for another. Buffalo finish the 2024 regular season undefeated at home, with eight wins from as many games. The Indianapolis Colts’ hopes of reaching the play-offs were ended by a 45-33 defeat to the Giants. Malik Nabers exploded for 171 yards and two touchdowns and Ihmir Smith-Marsette broke a 100-yard kick-off return to give the Giants their highest-scoring output under head coach Brian Daboll. Quarterback Drew Lock threw four touchdown passes and accounted for a fifth on the ground to seal the win. Elsewhere, Mac Jones threw two touchdowns to help the Jacksonville Jaguars defeat the Tennessee Titans 20-13, while the Las Vegas Raiders beat the New Orleans Saints 25-10.
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Nearly half of U.S. teens are online 'constantly,' Pew report findsArticle content FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Wednesday that he would resign at the end of President Joe Biden’s administration, which means President-elect Donald Trump will not have to fire him to nominate longtime ally Kash Patel to lead the bureau. Recommended Videos Trump announced in late November that he wanted to nominate Patel, who has echoed the president-elect’s pledges to make major changes at the bureau and use federal law enforcement agencies to go after Trump’s perceived enemies. The FBI director is subject to Senate confirmation and is eligible to serve a 10-year term. “Kash did an incredible job during my First Term,” Trump said on Truth Social, citing Patel’s various roles including at the Defense Department and the National Security Council. The president-elect said that Patel would “bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI.” Patel, who served as a senior official in the first Trump administration, is the author of a book that includes a list of “deep state” officials to target – which Trump called a “blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these Gangsters from all of Government,” according to promotional material. Here’s what to know about Patel. He supports Trump’s push for retribution Accounts of Patel’s rise from an obscure Hill staffer to one of the most powerful players in the intelligence community have centred on a key detail: his loyalty to Trump and willingness to go after Trump’s perceived opponents throughout the bureaucracy. Patel’s appointment could stoke growing concern about potential retribution among those whom Trump has described as his enemies, in the government and beyond. Some named on his “deep state” target list have begun taking precautions, The Washington Post has reported. In a 2023 interview on “War Room,” a podcast hosted Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s onetime chief strategist, Patel threatened to go after journalists if appointed to a role in a Trump administration. “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly – we’ll figure that out,” he said. The Associated Press described Patel this year as Trump’s “trusted aide and swaggering campaign surrogate who mythologizes the former president while promoting conspiracy theories and his own brand.” He served in the first Trump administration Patel held multiple roles: chief of staff to acting defence secretary Christopher Miller, deputy assistant to the president, senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council and deputy to the acting director of national intelligence. In his final job as the chief of staff at the Defense Department, The Washington Post’s David Ignatius wrote in 2021, Patel challenged the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, nearly becoming the acting director of the CIA. Of his stint under the DNI, Ignatius wrote that Patel effectively ran the place. In the last months of his presidency, Trump considered installing Patel as the FBI’s deputy director. That move was blocked by Attorney General William P. Barr. Barr reportedly told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that Patel would be deputy director “over my dead body.” Patel is a director on the board of Trump Media Technology Group, the company that owns Truth Social. He is active on the platform, frequently resharing Trump’s posts to his 1.35 million followers. He played a key role in the Nunes memo Patel served as an adviser to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-California) when Nunes chaired the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 and 2018. A memo written by Patel, claiming that the surveillance warrant targeting an adviser to the Trump campaign was flawed, quickly became the centre of a political firestorm. The Nunes memo, as it came to be known, said the application for a warrant to surveil Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser in 2016, was based in part on information from a former British intelligence officer who allegedly was biased against Trump. The memo concluded that the warrant was invalid and, thus, the investigation into Trump regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election was tainted. He is a child of immigrants In his book “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for Our Democracy,” Patel describes his parents as working-class Hindu immigrants from India. The family did not eat meat at home, he writes, describing weekly jaunts to the Jackson Heights neighbourhood in Queens with his father for butter chicken. He was drawn to becoming a doctor, like a “stereotypical Indian American,” he writes, but gave up after looking up medical school programs and coming across a group of golf-playing defence lawyers while caddying at the Garden City Country Club in Long Island. “Instead of being a first generation immigrant golf caddie, I could be a first-generation immigrant lawyer at a white shoe firm making a ton of money,” he wrote. Patel attended the University of Richmond and earned a law degree at Pace University in New York before working for nearly a decade as a public defender in Florida.
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‘Most MSMEs reluctant to adopt new technologies’Notable quotes by Jimmy CarterPoint of Sale (POS) operators have been spotted in the Lekki area of Lagos State hawking new Naira notes as bank customers lament their inability to withdraw cash from ATMs. The operators charged N4,000 as a fee for N10,000 withdrawals. They displayed cash notes from N100 to N1000 for interested persons. This is coming a few months after most banks carried out upgrades on their digital infrastructure to serve customers better. However, most bank services have deteriorated with users experiencing what appear to be the worst offerings in recent years. Sadly, over-the-counter (OTC) services have not offered any respite for customers who are being systematically forced to pay huge fees to POS operators to access their monies. More frustrating for bank customers is that most banks have restricted cash withdrawals per transaction to a maximum of N10,000. This has led to another round of cash scarcity across the country, pushing up agent banks’ charges by as much as 100 percent or more in some cases. These rising challenges come days to Christmas and just when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warned that it would begin to sanction banks that fail to upscale their capacity to serve the fast-growing population of online banking customers. Data from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that cashless transactions in Nigeria rose by 84.37 per cent to N572.63 trillion in the first seven months of 2024, suggesting that the digital banking space is busier than ever. This growth showed the growing reliance on digital payments in a country. As of the end of 2023, cashless payments grew to N611.06 trillion from N395.38 trillion in 2022, with experts saying the numbers would hit unprecedented levels in 2024. The payment platforms of banks are currently jaundiced, bringing harrowing experiences to customers in the last three months of the year. Before the widespread system upgrade, which primarily sought to improve customer experience, banks had relied on foreign companies to manage their IT infrastructure, spending significant amounts on maintenance in foreign currencies. The big digital infrastructure spending continued in the first half of 2024 when five major Nigerian banks collectively invested N178.77 billion in enhancing their information technology infrastructure, according to the analysis of their financial statements.
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Golden Prospect Precious Metal ( LON:GPM – Get Free Report ) shares shot up 0.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as GBX 35.65 ($0.45) and last traded at GBX 35.54 ($0.45). 34,814 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 309,578 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 35.50 ($0.45). Golden Prospect Precious Metal Stock Performance The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 39.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 36.68. The firm has a market cap of £30.39 million and a P/E ratio of -507.71. Golden Prospect Precious Metal Company Profile ( Get Free Report ) Golden Prospect Precious Metals Ltd. is a close ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by CQS Asset Management Ltd. It is co-managed by CQS Cayman Limited Partnership. The fund invests in public equity markets. It invests in stock of companies operating in the precious metal sector. Golden Prospect Precious Metals Ltd. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Golden Prospect Precious Metal Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Golden Prospect Precious Metal and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
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Two U of A researchers named fellows of inventors' academyFor the third year in a row, Elon Musk’s charitable foundation did not give away enough of its money. And it did not miss the mark by a small amount. New tax filings show that the Musk Foundation fell $421 million short of the amount it was required to give away in 2023. Now, Musk has until the end of the year to distribute that money, or he will be required to pay a sizable penalty to the IRS. Musk, in his new role as a leader of what President-elect Donald Trump is calling the Department of Government Efficiency, is promising to downsize and rearrange the entire federal government — including the IRS. But the tax records show he has struggled to meet a basic IRS rule that is required of all charity leaders, no matter how small or big their foundations. Musk’s is one of the biggest. His foundation has more than $9 billion in assets, including millions of shares in Tesla, his electric vehicle company. By law, all private foundations must give away 5% of those assets every year. The aim is to ensure that wealthy donors like Musk use these organizations to help the public instead of simply benefiting from the tax deductions they are afforded. Musk’s group has fallen further and further behind. In 2021, his foundation was $41 million short, then $234 million the following year. Now, the hole is deeper still. Private foundations do have a way to solve the problem if they do not give away enough money. They can distribute more the following year as a make-good. Musk could choose to do so in 2024. Musk did not respond to requests for comment. His foundation, which is required to make its tax filings public, provided the 2023 document to The New York Times. The IRS appears to be among Musk’s early targets as a leader of Trump’s government efficiency initiative. The tax agency serves as the federal government’s charity regulator and thus oversees Musk’s foundation. Last month, Musk used X, his social media platform, to ask users if the IRS’ budget should be increased, kept the same, decreased or “deleted.” His followers chose “deleted.” Musk, who on Wednesday became the first person with a net worth of over $400 billion, has been an unusual philanthropist. He has been critical of the effectiveness of large charitable gifts, and his foundation maintains a minimal, plain-text website that offers very little about its overarching philosophy. That is different from some other large foundations that seek to have national or even worldwide impact by making large gifts to causes like public health, education or the arts. The Musk Foundation’s largesse primarily stays closer to home. The tax filings show that last year the group gave at least $7 million combined to charities near a launch site in South Texas used by Musk’s company SpaceX. Other large charitable foundations have also failed to distribute the IRS’ minimum required amount in recent years, sometimes by more than $100 million, according to tax filings compiled by the company CauseIQ, which analyzes charity data. But Musk’s foundation is unusual even among those, both for the amount of its shortfall and the speed at which it is increasing. In 2022, the last year for which full data is available, the Musk Foundation had the fourth-largest gap of any private foundation in the country, according to CauseIQ data. Musk’s charity, which he founded in 2002, has never hired paid employees, according to tax filings. Its three directors — Musk and two people who work for his family office — all work for free. The filings show they did not spend very much time on the foundation: just two hours and six minutes per week for the past three years. But the board’s task grew enormously in 2021 and 2022, when Musk tripled the foundation’s assets by giving it billions of dollars’ worth of Tesla stock. Tax experts said if he claimed those donations on his personal taxes in the year given, those gifts would have been very beneficial to him. Because of the deductions allowed for charitable gifts, they potentially saved Musk as much as $2 billion on his tax bills. Because of the skyrocketing growth in assets, the three-person board had to give away hundreds of millions of dollars per year just to meet the minimum. That group entered 2023 needing to pay off the previous year’s $234 million shortfall, or it would have to pay a penalty tax of 30% on whatever was left at the end of the year. The foundation met that, giving away a total of $236 million and avoiding the penalty. But it also had to give away an additional $424 million to meet its obligation for 2023. The filings show it did not come close, leaving an even bigger deficit to make up this year. “The distributions made by the foundation are meeting the bare minimum to avoid penalties,” said Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at the Ohio State University who studies nonprofits. “It is clear that the organization is not in a hurry to spend its money.” In 2023, as in other years, many of the foundation’s gifts went to organizations that were closely tied to Musk or his businesses. In 2023, for instance, he gave $25 million to a donor-advised fund, a separate charitable account over which Musk retains effective control. Musk began donating to schools in the Brownsville, Texas, area just after his company’s reputation took a major hit: One of its rockets exploded, showering the area with twisted metal. The foundation’s largest gift for the year — $137 million in cash and stock — went to a nonprofit called The Foundation. That charity, run by Musk’s close associates, has set up a private elementary school in Bastrop, Texas. The school is a short distance from large campuses operated by Musk’s businesses and a 110-home subdivision planned for his employees. Related Articles Business | Australian Senate debates social media ban for under-16s Business | California commission that approves rocket launches is anti-Elon Musk, claims SpaceX lawsuit Business | SpaceX blasts past 100 launches in 2024 with 101st from California Business | Tesla Optimus bots were remotely operated at Cybercab event in Burbank Business | In engineering feat, SpaceX ‘arms’ catch Starship rocket booster back at launch pad Mittendorf noted that Musk gave that school $102 million on Dec. 28 — days before the deadline to give away the unspent millions from the year before. The Musk Foundation’s gifts for 2023 gave little hint of the political transformation that would follow this year, as he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to support Trump’s presidential campaign. Throughout 2023, Musk became increasingly right-wing in his public statements, especially on issues like crime and immigration. But his foundation’s only gift with an apparent political tilt was a small one: The Musk Foundation gave $100,000 to a libertarian think tank in Utah. This article originally appeared in The New York Times .Fabian Hurzeler seeking 'right solution' amid Evan Ferguson speculation