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Israeli troops forcibly remove staff and patients from northern Gaza hospital, officials sayA big battery will plug into the solar corridor to the south of Canberra, with the profits to go to the taxpayer in a revenue-sharing first. Login or signup to continue reading Located next to existing powerlines and solar farms, construction has begun on Eku Energy's $400 million project that will bring 200 jobs for local tradies. The 250 megawatt/500 MW hour Williamsdale battery energy storage system located 35km south of Canberra will store enough renewable energy to power one-third of the capital for two hours during peak demand periods when it comes online in 2026. A critical energy asset for greater energy security and a bulwark against future price spikes, it is also a crucial step in the fight against climate change, according to ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr. Importantly, a revenue-sharing deal means profits from the project will flow to the ACT and pay for more clean energy and other services for a growing population, he said in Williamsdale. "That is an important principle for our community, who want to see investment in renewable energy and battery storage not only supporting the effectiveness and reliability of our energy network but generating revenue." Recently re-elected and already the nation's longest-serving political leader, Mr Barr says the revenue-sharing model could be extended nationally as a good template for government procurement. Working with Evoenergy, Tesla Energy and the Australian Energy Market Operator, the Williamsdale battery will also be part of the NSW energy market and the broader east coast energy market. "The electrons flow in real time so what we would be replacing is the next most expensive form of generation when we dispatch," Eku Energy chief executive Daniel Burrows told AAP. It will provide additional supply when the market is tight, which should help lower wholesale prices and support making more clean energy available when it is required, he said. The battery will also provide more grid security by responding within milliseconds to demand and storing energy when it is abundant. "What we have in Australia is a prevalence of distributed energy - rooftop solar, large-scale wind and batteries - and a reasonably sophisticated grid," Mr Burrows said. "As we're doing business all around the world, other businesses, other governments, other industry players are looking to what happens here as to how we might manage the energy transition." Not a player in a nuclear energy future, he says Eku Energy focuses on projects that are "genuinely the most cost-effective and will stand the test of time". A $500 million community grants program set up by the company will be available to eligible local non-profit organisations for employment and education, social and environment initiatives. Another $500,000 will go to an Australian National University program that has been a testing ground for neighbourhood batteries and other technology. "Research funding in this area helps ensure we remain at the forefront of advancing technology for a clean energy future," Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program co-director Heather Logie says. Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water Suzanne Orr donned high-vis gear to shovel dirt alongside Mr Barr in her first public engagement in her new portfolio. Simon Corbell, the architect of the ACT's clean energy transition as a Labor minister more than a decade ago, is one of her heroes, she told AAP. "Everyone has a different journey in coming to politics and mine has definitely been flavoured by the environmental movement," she said. Ms Orr, first elected in 2016, replaced former energy and emissions reduction minister Greens Leader Shane Rattenbury in the new government that has taken power without the ACT Greens as a partner. Canberra has already achieved a nation-leading 100 per cent renewable electricity supply and the ACT is aiming for net-zero emissions by 2045. The territory is phasing out household gas, with support for households to buy new appliances, electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries. But Ms Orr said the next stage of the transition will be more than "care and maintenance" of what has already been achieved. "I don't think anyone wants to rest on their laurels," she said. The Big Canberra Battery project that Mr Barr began as climate action minister will include the large-scale system in Williamsdale and neighbourhood-scale batteries at nine government sites. Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Get the latest property and development news here. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. 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Democrats are facing a long-term Electoral College crisis that is much bigger than Donald Trump over the next few years — and is at least partially of the party's own making. Trump carried the Electoral College by a 312-226 margin in this year's presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris . But by the end of the decade, Democrats may be dealing with even more difficult electoral math as population projections suggest growth in red states like Florida and Texas will outpace growth in big blue states like California and New York. This means that after the 2030 Census — assuming the pace of migration patterns does not significantly reverse — blue states are likely to lose Electoral College votes and Congressional districts, making it even more difficult for Democrats to win at the presidential level. Experts point to a number of reasons why red states are growing faster than blue states— many people have left big metroplexes like New York City, San Francisco and Chicago due to their higher cost of living, housing prices and an increase in crime and disorder since the pandemic. Others are simply seeking job opportunities in red states, or moving to warmer climates in the south where they can work remotely. Fertility and morality rate differences across various states also play a substantial factor. Nationwide, the U.S. is expected to see a 5.5 percent population increase by the end of the decade, according to a population projection from the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. States with the highest growth tend to skew Republican , according to the projection. Utah is expected to see the highest growth at 13.1 percent, followed by Idaho at 12.4 percent. Florida and Texas, the two largest Republican-leaning states, will see 10.5 percent and 11.4 percent growth, respectively, according to the projection. Meanwhile, the largest Democratic states will see growth that is smaller than that of the nation overall, according to the projection. California is poised to see 4.5 growth, while New York is projected to grow at a rate just over 3 percent. Illinois is expected to see a slight population decline. If current trends hold, this will cost Democrats votes in the Electoral College, as they'll lose several House seats due to stagnated growth in these states. Each state gets two Electoral College votes, plus one for each of its Congressional districts. Population Changes Will Throw Wrench Into Democrats' Easiest Path to 270 Votes An apportionment forecast from the Brennan Center for Justice showed that several blue states are expected to lose districts in 2030—California is expected to lose four seats, New York could lose three, Illinois is poised to lose two seats and both Oregon and Rhode Island are at risk of losing a seat each. Several red states are expected to gain seats. Texas is forecasted to gain four, while Florida is expected to pick up three. Meanwhile, Idaho, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah are expected to gain a seat a piece. Among more competitive states, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania are poised to lose a seat each, while Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina are expected to gain a seat. This would complicate Democrats' easiest path to 270 Electoral College votes. This year, Harris only needed to win Democratic-leaning states, along with the three battleground Great Lakes states (Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) to reach 270. If current projections hold, that exact electoral strategy would yield exactly 256 Electoral College votes in the 2032 race. That means Democrats will need to win some combination of Sun Belt battlegrounds Arizona, Georgia, Nevada or North Carolina to win at the presidential level. It's not all doom-and-gloom for Democrats, however. These states—with the exception of Nevada, which has been a battleground for a generation now—shifted toward Democrats in 2016 and 2020, with President Biden carrying all of them except for North Carolina four years ago. Trump won them all this year, but they're not off the board for Democrats in 2028 and beyond. People moving from blue states to red states may also be bringing their left-leaning political views with them, and may help make these states even more competitive over the next few decades, William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Newsweek. "A lot of Californians moving to Texas, they're not all moving there because they like Texas politics. They're moving because of their job, and they may be bringing their liberal political attitudes with them," he said. He said the pandemic that kicked off the decade "supecharged" migration patterns from the north to Sun Belt states. Population changes have been slower after 2020, meaning that early projections may end up showing more extreme changes than what ends up happening after the Census is completed. The quality of the Census count will also play a role. In the last Census, for example, it is believed that Texas undercounted its population by 548,000 by not having a robust counting operation, costing them one Electoral College vote, Dudley Poston, professor emeritus of sociology at Texas A&M University, told Newsweek . "Texas was projected to gain three U.S. congressional seats but received only two new seats. Minnesota received the last seat in the 2020 apportionment of the House. Had 267,000 more Texans been counted, Texas would have received that last seat," he said. Why Are Red States Growing Faster Than Blue States? There are many reasons why population growth in red states is outpacing that in blue states, ranging from differences in fertility and mortality rate to economic and quality-of-life factors. Economics and Housing When it comes to interstate migration, the economy is the biggest driver compelling people to move from blue states to red states. "When it comes to deciding when to move, it's sort of like the last election. It's a pocketbook thing," said Frey. "When it's too expensive to live somewhere, you're going to look where there are job opportunities." Lower hosuing costs and taxes are two factors that are drawing blue-state residents to places like Florida and Texas, which have no income tax, according to Poston. Blue states like California and New York have become simply too expensive for an increasing number of working and middle-class people. Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York and Massachusetts are the five states with the highest cost of living, according to data from the Missouri Economic and Research Center. All but Alaska voted for Harris in this year's election. California and Hawaii also have the highest median housing price at $947,000 and $869,000, according to data from Bankrate. Critics have long raised concerns that California's expensive housing is making it difficult for its residents to stay in the state, prompting them to move elsewhere. States like Florida, Texas and North Carolina, which are much more fast-growing, are far outpacing traditionally Democratic states when it comes to building new housing, keeping costs lower in those states. Critics have said California's housing shortage may be costing it Electoral College votes, as people who may want to move there simply cannot afford a place to live. Fertility and Mortality Rates But migration is only part of the story. State-to-state differences in the fertility and mortality rates are among the biggest drivers in population changes, Christine Marie Percheski, a professor of sociology at Northwestern University, told Newsweek. Borth the fertility rate and mortaility rate is lower in New England and the West Coast compared to the South and Southwest, she said, noting that the biggest driver in the fertility rate is the rate in which women get an education. Areas where women are more likely to get a college education see lower fertility rates, while less educated areas are likely to see higher fertility rates. Economic and cultural differences play a smaller role in fertility rate, she said. It's difficult to predict exactly how the fertility and mortality rate will change in the later part of the decade, Percheski said. Prior to 2020, differences in fertility were stable across states. But the pandemic "threw a wrench in that," causing a large decrease in fertility across states, and it's yet to be seen whether states that saw a larger drop in fertility rates will rebound faster. Utah, for example, has always seen fast growth due tto having a higher-than-average fertility rate. It is currently projected to get a fifth Congressional district in 2030, according to the Brennan Center. Public health policy during Trump's second administration could shape how the mortality rate changes over the next few years, she said. "If there were to be a massive drop in vaccination rates for flu, for COVID, you could see differences in mortality widening across states, and that could map onto the political leanings of a state. Especially if red states are resisting vaccines more than blue states," she said. Do Politics Play a Role? Politics, however, play a smaller role in why people move from state to state, according to the experts who spoke to Newsweek . Percheski said that while, at the margins, some people may be a factor in where a small number of people are chosing to live, there's little evidence to back up the idea that people are fleeing either blue or red states in large numbers due to dissatisfaction with their states' political leaders. "Could you find somebody to get a random quote who said they're moving across state lines because of the governor? I'm sure you could find somebody, but that's not really what's going on at a larger level," she said. Still, it is a fact that most of the places seeing the largest levels of out migration are run by Democrats at both the state and local levels.Police say suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing wasn't a client of the insurerSemester 2 Registration Open at Sask DLC
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.Israeli troops forcibly remove staff and patients from northern Gaza hospital, officials sayZimbabwe’s high cost of compliance is eroding companies’ profits and incentivising informalisation, hence, the Government should do more to reverse the scenario, business leaders and experts have said. The cost of compliance for businesses is the total amount of expenses a business incurs to meet regulatory requirements. In Zimbabwe, business experts and captains of industry contend the mandatory regulatory environment remains tough for both old and new businesses and investors, resulting in some exploring loopholes to avoid compliance. Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) economist Dr Cornelius Dube, in a presentation at the Business Weekly-organised 2025 Post Budget Breakfast meeting on Monday, said Zimbabwe has the third highest mandatory compliance burden in the SADC region. “Profitability for companies has been falling while economic activity is still high. This is a result of the high cost of compliance, which is eroding profits while high informality is eroding market shares,” he said. He noted that according to World Bank data, the total tax and compliance rate is 32 percent of profit for Zimbabwe. Dr Dube said regulators could be the main beneficiaries of business activities, and the 2025 budget did not provide any measures towards dealing with costs of regulation besides passing the burden to the Office of President Cabinet (OPC). He noted that for a solar farm investment, engineering estimates on regulators collections in terms of permitting and licensing fees to completion of the project development phase of 1 to 10 megawatts (MW) amounts to US$129 774, with the EMA certification fee accounting for US$73 600. From 11 to 25MW, total permitting and licensing fees to completion require a total of US$264,256, while 25MW to 50MW requires US$524,048. Tax expert David Masaya said the 2025 Budget did not provide any measure towards costs of regulation. He noted that VAT collections have been going up while the profitability of companies is decreasing, highlighting the high nature of compliance costs. “Government should provide incentives to formalise the informal sector and make them see the benefits of formalisation through streamlining the costs of compliance,” he said. Zimbabwe’s economy is highly informalised, accounting for an estimated 60-70 percent of the economy, generating annual revenue of US$14,2 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. CZI president Mucha Mkanganwi, speaking at the post-budget meeting, said incentivising informal players through asset protection, rights entitlements, and benefits tied to formalisation could encourage them to transition. “The high cost of formalisation is a significant barrier. Instead of focusing on how to tax the informal sector, we should prioritise making formalisation attractive. Conditional incentives such as social insurance schemes could be an effective starting point,” he said. This is, however, different from a Government approach of instituting several tax heads and penalties in an effort to drive formalisation. According to Masaya, the tax expert, failure on mandatory registration of various operators, clothing merchandisers/boutiques, car dealers, and lodges and the compulsory use of POS machines triggers presumptive taxes ranging from US$20 000 to US$60 000 from a monthly average of US$1 700 to US$5 000, that is on assumed monthly profits of US$7 000 to US$20 000. Farai Mutambanengwe, founder and chief executive officer of the SME Association of Zimbabwe, said the current tax regime discourages formalisation. “Most SMEs are focused on survival and generating money. The moment they hear about taxes, they lose interest. Many don’t even understand the budget or its implications,” he said. He noted that the punitive nature of the tax system criminalises informal sector players. “It’s not that people don’t want to pay taxes, but the regime is too radical. Street vendors, for instance, cannot afford these taxes. This approach will only drive SMEs further into non-compliance,” he added. However, Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the informal sector is only informal to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) and National Social Security Authority (NSSA) but formal to other regulators and local authorities. “What is lacking is the sharing of data between Zimra and the local authorities; should that happen, we can formalise the sector quickly,” he said. The minister said through the 2025 Budget, he proposed a number of measures focused on SMEs aimed at bringing them into formal channels. He promised to act on the issue of the high cost of compliance in conjunction with the OPC, indicating that there are also windows of opportunity to review certain aspects of the budget as raised by industry, business, and experts. Source: Business Weekly
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York in an interview Thursday that investigators have uncovered evidence that Luigi Mangione had prior knowledge UnitedHealthcare was holding its annual investor conference in New York City. Mangione also mentioned the company in a note found in his possession when he was detained by police in Pennsylvania. "We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America. So that's possibly why he targeted that company," Kenny said. UnitedHealthcare is in the top 20 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization but is not the fifth largest. It is the largest U.S. health insurer. Mangione remains jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested Monday after being spotted at a McDonald's in the city of Altoona, about 230 miles west of New York City. His lawyer there, Thomas Dickey, said Mangione intends to plead not guilty. Dickey also said he had yet to see evidence decisively linking his client to the crime. Mangione's arrest came five days after the caught-on-camera killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. Police say the shooter waited outside the hotel, where the health insurer was holding its investor conference, early Dec. 4. He approached Thompson from behind and shot him before fleeing on a bicycle through Central Park. Mangione is fighting attempts to extradite him back to New York so that he can face a murder charge in Thompson's killing. A hearing was scheduled for Dec. 30. The 26-year-old, who police say was found with a " ghost gun " matching shell casings found at the site of the shooting, is charged in Pennsylvania with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Mangione is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family. In posts on social media, Mangione wrote about experiencing severe chronic back pain before undergoing a spinal fusion surgery in 2023. Afterward, he posted that the operation was a success and that his pain improved and mobility returned. He urged others to consider the same type of surgery. On Wednesday, police said investigators are looking at his writings about his health problems and his criticism of corporate America and the U.S. health care system. Kenny said in the NBC interview that Mangione's family reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.Steve Mann: Student helps keep Lodi officers alertNvidia challenge to investor suit spurned by Supreme Court
With Willy Adames officially signed, what’s next for SF Giants?
AP News Summary at 3:42 p.m. ESTNEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP: To: All persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Cassava Sciences, Inc. ("Cassava" or the "Company") SAVA between February 7, 2024 to November 24, 2024, both dates inclusive . You are hereby notified that the class action lawsuit Stephen Crocker v. Cassava Sciences, Inc., et al. (Case No. 1:24-cv-01525) has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. To get more information go to: https://zlk.com/pslra-1/cassava-sciences-inc-lawsuit-submission-form or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500. There is no cost or obligation to you. The complaint alleges that defendants provided investors with material information concerning Cassava's leading drug candidate, simufilam. Defendants' statements included, among other things, clear confidence in simufilam's ability to treat Alzheimer's Disease. On November 25, 2024, Cassava released topline results for the first of its two ongoing Phase 3 studies on simufilam, the "ReThink-ALZ" study. The results indicated that simufilam failed to meet each of the pre-specified primary, secondary, and exploratory endpoints; in sum, simufilam failed to outperform the placebo. Following this news, the price of Cassava's common stock declined dramatically. From a closing market price of $26.48 per share on November 22, 2024, Cassava's stock price fell to $4.30 per share on November 25, 2024, a decline of about 83.76% in the span of just a single day. If you suffered a loss in SAVA securities , you have until February 10, 2025 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, the team at Levi & Korsinsky has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. Our firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States. CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Joseph E. Levi, Esq. Ed Korsinsky, Esq. 33 Whitehall Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10004 jlevi@levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212) 363-7500 Fax: (212) 363-7171 www.zlk.com © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.( MENAFN - PR Newswire) BEIJING, Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The closely watched Central Economic Work conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday as Chinese leaders decided priorities for the economic work in 2025. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered an important speech at the annual conference. According to the meeting, despite the "complex and severe situation of growing external pressures and increasing internal difficulties," China has ensured the overall stability and steady progress of the economy, and the major goals and tasks for economic and social development in 2024 are expected to be accomplished. It stressed that China must adopt more proactive macro policies, expand domestic demand, and promote the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation to do a good job in economic work in 2025. Efforts must also be made to secure the steady development of the real estate and stock markets, guard against and defuse risks and external shocks in key areas, and stabilize expectations and stimulate vitality so as to promote sustained economic recovery, said the meeting. From fiscal policy to monetary policy According to the meeting, China will also adopt a "more proactive" fiscal policy, including an increase in the ratio of deficit and in the issuance of ultra-long special treasury bonds and local government special-purpose bonds. China's government debt-to-GDP ratio, according to the Ministry of Finance, stood at 67.5 percent at the end of 2023, much lower than the average 118.2 percent among G20 members and 123.4 percent for G7 countries estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). China's fiscal deficit has long been below 3 percent, significantly lower than other major economies. With a low government leverage ratio, China's central budget has room for increased borrowing and deficit expansion, Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an said in October. The Central Economic Work Conference said China will adopt a "moderately loose" monetary policy and lower the reserve requirement ratio and interest rates when necessary to ensure adequate liquidity. It marks the first "prudent" to "moderately loose" transition in the country's monetary stance since 2011. Since the beginning of 2024, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, has cut the reserve requirement ratio twice, by 1 percentage point in total, for financial institutions, releasing approximately 2 trillion yuan (about $274.8 billion) in long-term liquidity. From domestic demand to opening up The Central Economic Work Conference listed priorities for economic work in 2025 in nine aspects, from stimulating consumption and developing new quality productive forces to preventing and addressing risks in key areas, consolidating poverty alleviation achievements and boosting green development. The meeting stressed the need to vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency and expand domestic demand on all fronts. China remains one of the largest markets in the world. From January to October this year, China's total retail sales of consumer goods approached 40 trillion yuan, while last year's total exceeded 47 trillion yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. A national program aimed at promoting consumer goods trade-ins, unveiled in March, has demonstrated the untapped room of China's domestic demand. Over 30 million participants have been attracted to the program, contributing total sales of over 400 billion yuan. The two-day meeting also called for more efforts to further promote high-level opening up and secure the steady growth of foreign trade and foreign investment. "China's development is open and inclusive," said Xi while meeting leaders of major international economic organizations, including the IMF, in Beijing on Tuesday, one day before the start of the annual conference. China will put in place new systems for a higher-standard open economy, provide more opportunities for the development of other countries and share more development benefits with the world, Xi told the leaders at the Great Hall of the People. Starting December 1, China has granted zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent of tariff lines to all least developed countries with which it has diplomatic relations. That will help more products from these countries enter the Chinese market, sharing opportunities and boosting development, said Lyu Daliang, an official from China's General Administration of Customs. For more information, please click: SOURCE CGTN MENAFN12122024003732001241ID1108988690 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
Wall Street week ahead: Investors’ focus on consumer price inflationWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump's supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump's movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump's Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer's comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry's need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump's world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world's richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump's movement but his stance on the tech industry's hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry's need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent," he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump's own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump's businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country" and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country," he told the “All-In" podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump's budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
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These new California laws will go into effect in 2025Hungary has granted political asylum to a Polish opposition politician wanted on suspicion of corruption, an act that triggered a diplomatic spat between the two nations. Poland plans to take Hungary to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its decision to grant asylum to Polish opposition politician Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted on criminal corruption charges. The announcement was made by Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna. On 19 December, the Warsaw Regional Court issued a European Arrest Warrant for Romanowski, the former Deputy Minister in the Law and Justice government. The warrant has now been sent to Hungary. The Polish foreign minister said if Hungary does not comply with the European arrest warrant, Poland will take the matter to the ECJ, using an EU treaty article that allows one member state to sue another for failing to meet its obligations. In an interview, Romanowski said Hungary’s decision to grant asylum came after he convinced authorities of the ongoing rule of law crisis in Poland. The act has triggered a diplomatic spat between the two nations. Both Poland and Hungary are members of the 27-member European Union, and Poland believes Budapest’s move of offering political asylum to Romanowski is "an action contrary to the fundamental principle of loyal cooperation” as laid out in the EU treaties. The Polish prosecutor’s office has accused Romanowski of committing 11 crimes, including rigging tenders and the misappropriation of funds. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took office last year vowing to restore democratic norms and fight corruption that has prevailed under the national conservative government of Law and Justice, who are aligned with Hungary. As part of that effort, his government has been seeking to bring to justice some former government officials who allegedly broke the law during Law and Justice's eight years in office, from 2015 to 2023.
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