Latest News

See the latest news and get GPT analysis of articles

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's comments about unions violated federal law, NLRB judge rules None - An administrative law judge has ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated labor law by making certain anti-union comments during media interviews two years ago A federal administrative law judge ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated labor law by making certain anti-union comments during media interviews two years ago. The ruling, issued Wednesday, follows a complaint filed in 2022 by the National Labor Relations Board that accused Jassy of crossing the line during sit-down interviews in which he said that workers were better off without a union. In the ruling, National Labor Relations Board Judge Brian D. Gee pointed to statements Amazon’s chief executive made on CNBC’s television program “Squawk Box,” and during two summits organized by Bloomberg News and the New York Times. Gee said predictions Jassy made about unionization changing the employee-employer relationship were lawful. But other statements about how employees would be less empowered under a union, “find it harder to get things done quickly and would be better off” without one ran afoul of federal labor law, the judge said. In a prepared statement, Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis said the company strongly disagrees that “any part of these comments” were inappropriate and intends to appeal the ruling within the administrative law system. “The decision reflects poorly on the state of free speech rights today, and we remain optimistic that we will be able to continue to engage in a reasonable discussion on these issues where all perspectives have an opportunity to be heard,” Paradis said. Jassy’s comments came amid increased unionization efforts at Amazon following a historic victory by the Amazon Labor Union during a union representation vote at a warehouse in New York City. The company has continued to appeal the union’s win and refused to come to the bargaining table. In his ruling, Gee advised Amazon to avoid “threatening its employees” with similar comments in the future and to post a notice in its facilities nationwide that signaled the company's compliance with the judge’s finding.

EU announces 1 billion euros in aid for Lebanon amid a surge in irregular migration None - The European Union has announced an aid package for Lebanon of 1 billion euros — about $1.06 billion — that will mostly go to strengthening border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the small, crisis-wracked country across the... BEIRUT -- The European Union announced Thursday an aid package for Lebanon of 1 billion euros — about $1.06 billion — much of which will go to boost border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the small, crisis-wracked country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy. The deal follows other EU aid packages for countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania to fortify their borders. It comes against a backdrop of increasing hostility toward Syrian refugees in Lebanon and a major surge in irregular migration of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to Cyprus. European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a Beirut visit with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides that the aid distribution will start this year and last till 2027. The bulk of the aid — 736 million euros — would go to support Syrian refugees “and other vulnerable groups” in Lebanon, while 200 million euros are meant to bolster Lebanese security services in enforcing border and migration control, according to figures provided by the Cypriot government. An unspecified amount would go to Lebanese fishermen, to discourage them from selling their boats to smugglers. Von der Leyen said the EU will also work on a “more structured approach to voluntary return" of Syrian refugees "in close cooperation with” the U.N. refugee agency. The bloc will continue to maintain “legal pathways” for resettlement of refugees in Europe, she said. Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati praised the package, saying that “Lebanon’s security is security for European countries and vice versa,” and that an escalation of the crisis ”will not be limited to Lebanon but will extend to Europe." Lebanon, which has been in the throes of a severe financial crisis since 2019, hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands more who are unregistered, the world's highest refugee population per capita. Lebanese political officials have for years urged the international community to resettle the refugees in other countries or assist their return to Syria — voluntarily or not. Lebanese security forces have stepped up deportations of Syrians over the past year. Tensions further flared after an official with the Christian nationalist Lebanese Forces party, Pascal Suleiman, was killed last month in what military officials said was a botched carjacking by a Syrian gang. The incident prompted outbreaks of anti-Syrian violence by vigilante groups. Meanwhile, Cypriot authorities complain the island nation has been overwhelmed by irregular migration of Syrian asylum seekers, many of them coming on boats from Lebanon. The UNHCR in Lebanon said it had verified 59 “actual or attempted” departures by boats carrying a total of 3,191 passengers from Lebanon between January and mid-April, compared to three documented boat movements carrying 54 passengers in the same period last year. Usually, few boats attempt the much more dangerous crossing in the winter. In all of 2023, UNHCR recorded 65 boat departures carrying 3,927 passengers. Cyprus has taken a new approach to halting the flow of migrants. Last month, it suspended processing of Syrian asylum applications, and human rights groups accused the Cypriot coast guard of forcibly turning back five boats carrying about 500 asylum seekers coming from Lebanon. Cypriot officials have denied this. Bassel al-Shayoukh, a Syrian refugee from Idlib living in Lebanon since 2014, said his brother and several cousins and nephews were on one of the boats turned back. Now he wants to make the journey himself. “In the beginning I thought that in a year or two the war would be over in Syria,” he said, but it dragged on, while in Lebanon “every year ... the situation began to get worse.” Shayoukh said he fears being beaten by vigilantes or deported to Syria after Lebanese authorities declined to renew his residency permit. His 17-year-old nephew, who declined to give his name fearing for his safety, said the Cypriot coast guard started making waves to push the boat he was on away. “I was terrified... I don’t know how to swim,” he said. “I thought we were going to die.” The people on the boats “stayed three days without food or water” before turning back to Lebanon, the teen added. Back in Lebanon, they were detained by the army; those registered with UNHCR were released and the others deported. Mohammed Sablouh, a Lebanese human rights lawyer who works on refugee and migrant cases, says Lebanese authorities are deliberately “turning a blind eye" to the surge in migration to "pressure the international community.” The Lebanese army did not respond to a request for comment on their measures to combat smuggling. Thursday's aid announcement comes ahead of the annual fundraising conference for the Syrian crisis in Brussels later this month. After 13 years of civil war, donor fatigue has set in while the world’s attention is occupied by the humanitarian fallout of more recent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The Cypriot president said Thursday was a “historic day” and called for European officials to go farther and declare some areas of Syria safe for return. “The current situation is not sustainable for Lebanon. It is not sustainable for Cyprus, it is not sustainable for the European Union,” Christodoulides said. But not all Lebanese officials are convinced the European aid would solve the problem. Lebanese Forces party head Samir Geagea told The Associated Press earlier this week that European authorities are mainly concerned “that the refugees don’t go to Europe." "For us the problem is that we cannot have our country drowning in illegal Syrian refugees,” Geagea said, urging for Syrians to be sent back to either government or opposition-held areas of the neighboring country. But Shayoukh says he has nowhere to go. The Damascus government wants him for opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad, he said, while the Islamist group that now controls his hometown behaves "the same way as the regime’s intelligence services” in crushing dissidents. ___ Associated Press writer Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s global migration coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Cyprus gives Chevron another 6 months to come up with a timetable on a natural gas field development None - Cyprus has given Chevron another six months to come up with a revised plan to develop a sizeable natural gas deposit off the island nation’s southern coastline after an earlier plan was deemed lacking in a specific timetable Cyprus gives Chevron another 6 months to come up with a timetable on a natural gas field development NICOSIA, Cyprus -- The Cyprus government has given Chevron another six months to come up with a revised plan to develop a sizeable natural gas deposit off the island nation’s southern coastline after an earlier plan proposed by the U.S. energy company lacked a timetable, an official said Thursday. Chevron’s development proposal from March 29 for the Aphrodite deposit estimated to hold 4.2 trillion cubic feet of gas “wasn’t considered targeted and was without specific timetables,” the official with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the deal. In a reply letter last Thursday, Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou asked Chevron for “specific, targeted actions” and a “specific timetable” that would confirm its commitment to developing the gas field. In January this year, the Cypriot government and Chevron reached a “mutually beneficial” agreement on how to develop the gas field, ending long stalled negotiations on plans to extract the hydrocarbon since its discovery in 2011. At the time, the Cypriot energy ministry said Chevron affirmed that both sides are in “alignment” regarding the “wider framework of the field’s exploitation.” Chevron had wanted to send the gas to Egypt through a pipeline, but Cyprus preferred to process it on a floating production facility because it would be more economically beneficial for the island nation and would lend more flexibility to supplying other markets. On Tuesday, Claudio Descalzi, chief executive officer of the Italian energy company Eni discussed with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides ways to expedite development of gas fields that Eni discovered in waters off Cyprus’ southern coast. A statement said the two men reviewed discoveries that Eni and its partner TotalEnergies of France made in 2022, confirming “the encouraging outcomes of the previous wells.” Eni, which has had a presence in Cyprus since 2013, operates five offshore areas – or blocks – and has participating interest in another two.

Video Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged None - 2020’s DNC and RNC are different than any before

Microsoft will invest $2.2 billion in cloud and AI services in Malaysia None - Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company will invest $2.2 billion over the next four years in new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Microsoft is investing $2.2 billion over the next four years in Malaysia's new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure as well as partnering with the government to establish a national AI center, its CEO Satya Nadella said Thursday. It marks Microsoft's single largest investment in Malaysia, as the tech giant seeks to bolster support for AI development in the region and worldwide. “We are committed to supporting Malaysia’s AI transformation and ensure it benefits all Malaysians,” he said. “Our investments in digital infrastructure and skilling will help Malaysian businesses, communities and developers apply the latest technology to drive inclusive economic growth and innovation across the country.” Nadella on Tuesday also announced a $1.7 billion investment in cloud and AI services in Indonesia during his visit there as part of his Southeast Asia tour. On Wednesday, he said Microsoft will build its first regional data center in Thailand. In April, the tech giant similarly unveiled a $2.9 billion investment in Japan and $1.5 billion in G42, an AI firm in Abu Dhabi. Microsoft also pledged to provide AI training for 2.5 million people in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam by 2025. Nadella earlier met Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who said the investment will be the key support pillar for the government's goal to enhance AI capacity in Malaysia. The new investment will include AI training for another 300,000 people, the establishment of a national AI center of excellence, enhancing the nation's cybersecurity capabilities and supporting the growth of Malaysia's developer community, Anwar said on Facebook. Microsoft runs one of the world’s largest cloud computing operations and has taken a leap into artificial intelligence through its partnership with OpenAI, developers of ChatGPT. Since then, Microsoft has integrated an AI assistant into its Microsoft Edge browser, named Copilot, helping lift its profits by 20% in the first quarter. Microsoft sees Southeast Asia, with its population of over 600 million people, as a growing market and potential location for more AI product development. A study held by global consulting firm Kearney said AI could contribute nearly $1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s GDP by 2030. Indonesia is expected to capture $366 billion of the total and Malaysia $115 billion. Microsoft said in a statement that the investment in Malaysia will build on its 2021 program to support inclusive economic growth. It said the proposed national AI center will drive AI adoption across key industries and public sector, while ensuring AI governance and regulatory compliance. “Together with Microsoft, we look forward to creating more opportunities for our (small and medium-sized enterprises) and better paying jobs for our people as we ride the AI revolution to fast-track Malaysia's digitally empowered growth journey," Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz said in the statement.

Nonstop Mideast coverage of Israel-Hamas war pauses for protests and police action at US schools None - After weeks of nonstop coverage of destruction and death across the Gaza Strip, media across the wider Middle East has latched onto the demonstrations roiling American university campuses over the Israel-Hamas war Nonstop Mideast coverage of Israel-Hamas war pauses for protests and police action at US schools JERUSALEM -- After weeks of nonstop coverage of destruction and death in the Gaza Strip, media across the wider Middle East have latched onto the demonstrations roiling American university campuses over the Israel-Hamas war. For some, the protests and what they described as a heavy-handed police crackdown on them represent the double standards of life in the United States, which routinely calls on nations to respect dissent and free speech. However, across most of the Mideast, demonstrations of any kind remain illegal as many countries face warfare, economic challenges or other broad unrest. The coverage included nearly breathless reporting from Iranian state television, which aired live video from the protests and police actions. Even soccer commentators brought it up during matches as one analyst later described it as “the death of liberal democracy.” “The expansion of pro-Palestinian student protests to over 200 universities while full-fledged crackdown by police continues,” one newscast began, offering arrest figures as well. The Iranian coverage of student protests in the U.S. comes despite state TV largely ignoring the mass demonstrations surrounding the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which resulted in over 500 people dead and 22,000 detained. The hard-line Iranian newspaper Kayhan, which routinely calls for the destruction of both the U.S. and Israel, used the student protests in the U.S. to try to discredit a BBC report alleging Iranian security services sexually assaulted and killed a 16-year-old girl during the Amini demonstrations. “At a time when consciences around the world are protesting the suppression of students in America and other Western countries, and while the global outcry against the Israeli regime’s countless crimes is greater than ever, the BBC World Service, in a strange act of suicide, has published such a ridiculous report,” the newspaper said. In Israel, where the normally rambunctious free press has largely rallied behind the war in Gaza, the images from the U.S. protests have prompted widespread concerns that public opinion has turned against Israel. Many commentators have dismissed the protests as antisemitic, a charge the protest leaders reject. Israel's public broadcaster Kan repeatedly aired images of the U.S. protests on Wednesday, and some have called on Israel to open its doors to Jewish academics and students who feel unsafe in the U.S. “When antisemitic demonstrations calling for the destruction of Israel are raging on campuses around the world, the Council for Higher Education must make a decision to encourage academic institutions in Israel to proactively absorb Jewish students from abroad,” wrote Peretz Lavie, a professor emeritus and former president at Technion — the Israel Institute of Technology. In the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth, its Washington bureau chief Orly Azulai offered a different perspective. “People in Israel fail to see the demonstrations correctly because they aren’t always shown them correctly and because it is easier not to see,” she wrote. “The same is true of the dead children in Gaza, the hunger, the shortage in medication and the destruction that overwhelmingly has left the Gaza Strip uninhabitable.” She added: “We must not allow the extremists on both sides to win. There isn’t any other choice; we have to learn how to live together.” Meanwhile, weekly protests in Israel draw thousands demanding the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip and the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the Gaza Strip itself, some Palestinian protesters waved signs thanking individual American universities, while at least one man spray-painted his appreciation on the side of a tent. In the hereditarily ruled United Arab Emirates, in which protests and political parties are illegal, one newspaper cartoon included an image of silhouetted university graduates marching into a police van, an American flag visible on its side. State media in neighboring Saudi Arabia broadly stayed away from the news, reporting instead on its own universities opening enrollment for the next academic year. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper carried an opinion piece by lawyer Rafia Zakaria, suggesting the student protests “may succeed in ushering in a new era in U.S. foreign policy.” “For a long time, U.S. foreign policy prided itself on its ruthless realpolitik, whose architect Henry Kissinger died last November," she wrote in a piece published Wednesday. "Now a younger generation is calling into question the blatant hypocrisy that has been visible to the rest of the world for decades.” The demonstrations even made it to state-run television in Afghanistan, now overseen by the country's Taliban-controlled government. “These protesters have made slogans against the attacks and genocide of the Zionist regime,” the broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan said. Qatar's Al Jazeera news network, which has focused extensively on the Israel-Hamas war and has seen its correspondents wounded and killed in the Gaza Strip, quoted prominently in its website a warning from an American as saying: “Our democracy is in danger.” Qatar as well is a hereditarily ruled sheikhdom. The channel also provided context to the banner unfurled by demonstrators who seized Columbia University's Hamilton Hall that renamed the building ”Hind Hall" — after 5-year-old Hind Rajab whose panicked call to paramedics before her death in Gaza gained international attention. Al Jazeera's English-language broadcaster went live from New York and North Carolina, showing the breadth of the student demonstrations. “It was just devastation,” said a Duke University protester identified as Abigail who spoke during a live report from the nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We were all being treated really horrifically by the police.” Wearing a black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarf on air, Abigail added: “I want to speak directly to the people of Palestine, the people of Gaza if I may, and say just because this encampment was torn down yesterday doesn't mean this is over.” ___ Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Retailers jacked up prices and squeezed consumers. They might have just blinked None - New York CNN — Retailers are feeling jittery. Consumers aren’t shopping like they used to. In a game of chicken between stores and shoppers, it’s the stores that appear to be yielding first, by dropping prices on thousands of products. The markdowns come as inflation has pushed prices higher for the past two years, squeezing Americans and forcing them to choose between wants and needs. That’s a problem not just for individual shoppers or even big retail chains but for the whole American economy, of which about two-thirds comes from consumer spending. A slew of retailers in recent weeks have announced price cuts as they strive to pull consumers into stores and entice them to spend money on things like new clothes, decorative items for the home and arts and crafts or hobby kits. Ikea has slashed prices on hundred of products. In April, an 18-piece dinnerware set at Ikea was marked down to $29.99 down from $49.99, a glass door bookcase now costs $189 down from $229 and a bedframe with storage and headboard costs $499 down from $549. It’s telling that these are categories considered to be discretionary purchases, meaning things that are nice to have but maybe aren’t everyday necessities in the same vein as groceries and medicine. Shoppers have pulled back for a year now as costs have risen 20% to 30% higher than they were a year ago and as incomes failed to keep up, said Sarah Wyeth, managing director, retail and consumer with S&P Global Ratings. This is making consumers across income levels look for deals. “The ‘budget conscious consumer’ is no longer just low- or middle-income earners. By far the starkest decrease in intent to spend is coming from the higher-income groups, and those that were previously the most immune to an economic downturn are now tightening their belts,” said Chad Lusk, managing director in global consultancy firm Alvarez & Marshal’s consumer and retail group. “Retailers should be thinking about targeted deals on higher-priced discretionary merchandise, too, to increase buying frequency.” The end result has been a palpable sense of anxiety from the industry. “Retailers have been nervous for quite a while,” Wyeth said. “There’s just less dollars for consumers to spend.” The challenge for retailers now is to shake consumers out of that frugal mindset. Juicing sales “Retail sales overall haven’t been terrible, but they’re not also absolutely great,” said Zak Stambor, senior analyst, retail and ecommerce, with market research firm eMarketer in an interview with CNN. Retail sales rose 0.7% in March from the prior month, a slower pace than February’s upwardly revised 0.9% gain, according to the latest government report. That beat the 0.4% increase that economists projected, according to a FactSet poll. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation. Retail spending has increased in seven of the past 10 months through March. In that period, spending has been a mixed bag, boosted by purchases of high-ticket items such as cars, robust online buying and spending on services such as restaurants, travel and entertainment. But elsewhere, spending on furniture, clothing, sporting goods and electronics remains weak. Businesses want to change that, Stambor said. A customer shops in a Walmart Supercenter on February 20, 2024 in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images “A lot of retailers have said that discretionary spending is slowing. People are buying essentials, they’re also trading down in prices and then calling it a day,” Stambor said. “If you want to convince consumers to spend you have to give them a reason to do so. Lower prices are a clear opportunity to drive people into the store or online.” It’s a lever that Walmart, he said, has pulled forever. Walmart said in December that lower grocery prices will be coming this year. “It’s a very effective lever. It’s a great marketing strategy to get consumers’ awareness, get them into the store and convince them to open their wallets and spend,” said Stambor. “There is the perception of value, and value is very much front of mind for consumers even when as they continue to spend to some extent.” Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group (Ikea Retail’s Dutch holding company) told CNN in March that Ikea is “lowering prices more than it has ever done.” “This is not rocket science really, we lower our prices, in particular when we are in times when people have less money in their pockets,” Brodin said. “The last six to eight months definitely have been slower than we have ever seen.” Michaels, the arts and crafts destination with more than 1,300 stores nationwide, in early April said it was dropping prices on 5,000 products. “It’s more important than ever to deliver exceptional value for every customer looking to stretch their dollar,” Ashley Buchanan, CEO at Michaels, said in a statement announcing the new discounts on April 18. Specifically, the retailer said shoppers would see prices of frequently bought products like paint, markers and pens slashed by up to 15%; the cost of adhesive, papers and stickers cut by up to 20%; and painting canvases up to to 35% cheaper. Clothing chain H&M told analysts during its most recent earnings call that it, too, would lower prices. “At the end of this year, we believe we’ll have lower prices than where we were at the beginning of this year,” H&M CEO Lars Daniel Ervér told analysts during the call in March. Other businesses competing for consumers’ dollars are jumping on board with price-cutting moves of their own. Frida, a maker of babycare products, in February announced it had dropped the price of the NoseFrida, its flagship product, to its original 2014 launch price of $14.99 from $17.99 and reduced prices on other products. Last week, restaurant and kids’ entertainment chain Chuck E. Cheese announced what it called “budget-friendly” efforts to make it a more affordable destination for families. The company said it was lowering prices of games and offering 50% off on foods and drinks as part of a new discounted summer promotion. Stambor expects retailers will also look beyond price cuts to a wider array of levers to use “such as highly-tailored offers within loyalty programs or limited-time specific offers” in their continued quest to boost sales. –CNN’s Bryan Mena contributed to this report.

'He is on record': Weissmann reveals key Trump admission that’s 'on paper' None - 'He is on record': Weissmann reveals key Trump admission that’s 'on paper' Jen Psaki is joined by political reporter Ashley Parker and legal experts Andrew Weissmann and Neal Katyal to break down the latest updates in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, including former aide Hope Hicks' emotional testimony. May 5, 2024

Lawrence: I went to Trump's trial and found him in a jail of his own making None - Lawrence: I went to Trump's trial and found him in a jail of his own making MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell went to Manhattan criminal court room 1530 where he saw Criminal Defendant Donald Trump on trial – and the first time in Donald Trump’s life he’s spent in confinement.May 3, 2024

Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment None - Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. Al Jazeera went off Israel’s main cable and satellite providers in the hours after the order. However, its website and multiple online streaming links still operated Sunday. The network has reported the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants' initial cross-border attack Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel's grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its staff. While including on-the-ground reporting of the war's casualties, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional militant groups. “Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.” Al Jazeera issued a statement vowing it will “pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions in its quest to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information.” “Israel’s ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law,” the network said. “Israel’s direct targeting and killing of journalists, arrests, intimidation and threats will not deter Al Jazeera." The Israeli government has taken action against individual reporters over the decades since its founding in 1948, but broadly allows for a rambunctious media scene that includes foreign bureaus from around the world, even from Arab nations. It also blocked the foreign broadcasts of the Hezbollah-affiliated, Beirut-based Al Mayadeen news channel at the start of the war. A law passed last month allows the government to take action against Al Jazeera, Netanyahu's office said. Israeli Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi later published footage online of authorities raiding a hotel room Al Jazeera had been broadcasting from in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope to one day have for their future state. He said officials seized some of the channel's equipment there. “We finally are able to stop Al Jazeera’s well-oiled incitement machine that harms the security of the country,” Karhi said. His office said it would bar Al Jazeera from operating in Israel for at least 45 days, a measure that can be renewed. The ban did not appear to affect the channel’s operations in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip, where Israel wields control but which are not sovereign Israeli territory. The decision threatens to heighten tensions with Qatar at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza, along with Egypt and the United States. Qatar has had strained ties with Netanyahu in particular since he made comments suggesting that Qatar is not exerting enough pressure on Hamas to prompt it to relent in its terms for a truce deal. Qatar hosts Hamas leaders in exile in Doha. The sides appear to be close to striking a deal, but multiple previous rounds of talks have ended with no agreement. In a statement Sunday, Hamas condemned the Israeli government order, calling on international organizations to take measures against Israel. The Foreign Press Association in Israel criticized the order. “With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station,” it said. “This is a dark day for the media.” The New York-based Committee to Project Journalists similarly warned the move represented an “extremely alarming precedent for restricting international media outlets working in Israel.” Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, criticized the Israeli order as “an assault on freedom of the press.” “Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, the Israeli government should stop committing them,” he added. Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias. Relations took a major downturn nearly two years ago when Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank. Those relations further deteriorated following the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas on Oct. 7, when the militant group carried out a cross-border attack in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Since then, the Israeli military campaign in Gaza has killed over 34,000 people, according to local health officials there, who don't break figures down into civilians and combatants. Israeli media largely has avoided the plight of those in the Gaza Strip, instead focusing on the Oct. 7 attack, the hostages held there and tales of Israeli military heroism. Meanwhile in December, an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera cameraman as he reported on the war in southern Gaza. The channel’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, was wounded in the same attack. Dahdouh, a correspondent well-known to Palestinians during many wars, later evacuated Gaza but only after Israeli strikes killed his wife, three of his children and a grandson. Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. Criticism of the channel is not new, however. The U.S. government singled out the broadcaster during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and for airing videos of the late al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. Al Jazeera has been closed or blocked by other Mideast governments. Most notably in 2013, Egyptian authorities raided a luxury hotel used by Al Jazeera as an operating base after the military takeover that followed mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi. Three Al Jazeera staff members received 10-year prison sentences, but were released in 2015 following widespread international criticism. ___ Gambrell reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv contributed.

Jury at Abu Ghraib civil trial might not be able to reach verdict: judge says None - The judge presiding over the trial of a military contractor accused of contributing to detainees' mistreatment at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq two decades ago is speculating that the jury may not be able to reach a verdict Jury at Abu Ghraib civil trial might not be able to reach verdict: judge says ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The judge presiding over the trial of a military contractor accused of contributing to the mistreatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq two decades ago speculated Wednesday that the jury may not be able to reach a verdict after it concluded a seventh day of deliberations. “It's a very difficult case,” U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema told lawyers in the case Wednesday afternoon, outside the jury's presence. “I'm not sure we're going to get a verdict.” The eight-person civil jury in Alexandria has now been deliberating for more than a week, longer than the trial itself. Three former Abu Ghraib detainees sued Reston, Virginia-based contractor CACI, which supplied civilian interrogators to the prison in 2003 and 2004. A worldwide scandal erupted in 2004 when photos became public showing U.S. soldiers smiling while they inflicted physical and sexually humiliating punishments on naked detainees. The plaintiffs allege that CACI contributed to their abuse, even if its interrogators didn't directly inflict it, by instructing military police guarding the prison to impose harsh treatment as a means to “soften up” detainees for questioning. CACI has denied wrongdoing and has argued that the Army should be held responsible for any misconduct. While numerous soldiers were convicted and sentenced to prison for their roles at Abu Ghraib, none of the civilian interrogators were ever charged with a crime. The jury has asked frequent questions throughout its deliberations. Most have focused on whether CACI or the Army is responsible for misconduct by CACI interrogators if those interrogators were integrated, at least to some extent, into the Army's chain of command. When the jury asked two pointed questions Wednesday afternoon about two key pieces of evidence in the case, Brinkema begged off providing a substantive answer. She told jurors that their role as factfinders requires them to evaluate the evidence and give it the weight they deem appropriate. The jury said Friday it was deadlocked, but Brinkema instructed the jury at that time to keep working toward a consensus. Jurors gave no indication of how many believe CACI should be held liable. Indeed, they are instructed at the outset of deliberations never to provide the court any sort of numerical breakdown on their views. If the jury can't reach a unanimous verdict, the judge would declare a mistrial, and the plaintiffs could seek a new trial with a new jury. The trial involves the first lawsuit brought by Abu Ghraib detainees to be heard by a U.S. jury. It was delayed by 15 years of legal wrangling and multiple attempts by CACI to have the case dismissed.

Union Pacific undermined regulators' efforts to assess safety, US agency says None - Federal regulators say Union Pacific managers undermined their efforts to assess safety at the railroad by coaching employees on how to respond and suggesting they might be disciplined OMAHA, Neb. -- Union Pacific managers undermined the U.S. government's efforts to assess safety at the railroad in the wake of several high-profile derailments across the industry by coaching employees on how to respond and suggesting they might be disciplined, federal regulators say. The meddling was so widespread across Union Pacific’s 23-state network that the Federal Railroad Administration had no choice but to suspend its safety assessment of the company, the agency's chief safety officer, Karl Alexy, told Union Pacific executives in a letter dated last week that labor groups posted online Tuesday. The company indicated Wednesday that the issue was limited to one department. Its president told FRA in a response letter that Union Pacific“did not intend to influence or impede the assessment in any way.” The agency launched safety assessments of all major railroads in the U.S. at the urging of congressional leaders after Norfolk Southern’s disastrous February 2023 derailment in eastern Ohio, and the episode with Union Pacific may prompt lawmakers to finally act on stalled railroad safety reforms. “FRA has discovered that numerous employees were coached to provide specific responses to FRA questions if they were approached for a safety culture interview," Alexy wrote. "Reports of this coaching span the UPRR (Union Pacific railroad) system and railroad crafts. FRA has also encountered reluctance to participate in field interviews from employees who cite intimidation or fear of retaliation.” The chief of safety at the nation's largest rail union, Jared Cassity, noted that the FRA is so small that it must rely on the railroads to police themselves and report safety issues. “To think that a company the size of a Union Pacific is willing to go to great lengths to intimidate and harass their employees, so that they’re not honest in their assessment of a company’s safety culture. That begs the question of what else are you covering up?” said Cassity, who is with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers' Transportation Division, also known as SMART-TD. A Union Pacific spokeswoman said the railroad believes regulators' concerns center on a message that one manager sent out to employees in his department across the railroad with a copy of the questions FRA planned to ask to help prepare them for an interview. “The steps we took were intended to help, not hinder, and were taken to educate and prepare our team for the assessment ethically and compliantly," Union Pacific President Beth Whited said in a response letter to the FRA on Tuesday. “We apologize for any confusion those efforts caused.” Last year, the FRA found a slew of defects in Union Pacific's locomotives and railcars after sending out a team of inspectors, and the agency is still working to nail down what caused a railcar to explode in the railroad's massive railyard in western Nebraska. Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who cosponsored the bipartisan railroad safety bill after the East Palestine derailment, called Union Pacific's meddling “unacceptable.” “The big railroads keep fighting efforts to improve safety,” Brown said. “We need much stronger tools to stop railroad executives from putting their own profits and greed ahead of basic safety.” Brown pledged to fight for a vote in the Senate soon on the bill that would set standards for trackside detectors and inspections that are supposed to catch problems before they can cause a derailment along with other changes. The House has yet to take up a railroad safety bill because Republican leaders wanted to wait until after the National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the East Palestine derailment that's expected in late June. Whited told the Federal Railroad Administration that Union Pacific plans to launch an internal safety assessment this month, as the agency suggested, because “our goal is to be the safest railroad in North America, a place we know we can get to even more quickly with the FRA's assistance. ” But Cassity said he doubts an internal survey would be accurate because many Union Pacific workers are afraid to speak out about safety concerns. He said the prevailing attitude seems to be “move the freight at any cost,” making another major derailment all the more likely.

Madonna's biggest-ever concert transforms Rio's Copacabana beach into a massive dance floor None - Madonna has put on a free concert in Rio de Janeiro, turning the vast stretch of sand of Copacabana beach into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans RIO DE JANEIRO -- Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans. It was the last show of The Celebration Tour, her first retrospective, which kicked off in October in London. The “Queen of Pop” began the show with her 1998 hit “Nothing Really Matters.” Huge cheers rose from the buzzing, tightly packed crowd, pressed up against the barriers. Others held house parties in brightly lighted apartments and hotels overlooking the beachfront. Helicopters and drones flew overhead, and motorboats and sailboats anchored off the beach filled the bay. “Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna, 65, told the crowd. Pointing out the ocean view, the mountains and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, she added: “This place is magic." Madonna performed her classic hits, including “Like A Virgin” and “Hung Up.” For the introduction to “Like A Prayer,” her head was completely covered in a black cape, a rosary gripped in her hands. The star paid an emotional tribute to “all the bright lights” lost to AIDS as she sang “Live to Tell,” with black and white photos of people who died from the illness flashing behind her. Later, she was joined on stage by Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar. Rio spent the last few days readying itself for the performance. An estimated 1.6 million people attended the show, G1 reported, citing Rio City Hall’s tourism agency. That is more than 10 times Madonna’s record attendance of 130,000 at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987. Madonna's official website hyped the show as the biggest ever in her four-decade career. In recent days, the buzz was palpable. Fans milled outside the stately, beachfront Copacabana Palace hotel, where Madonna is staying, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star. During the sound check on the stage set up in front of the hotel, they danced on the sand. By midday Saturday, fans crowded in front of the hotel. A white-bearded man carried a sign saying, “Welcome Madonna you are the best I love you.” Flags with “Madonna” printed against a background of Copacabana's iconic black and white waved sidewalk pattern hung from balconies. The area was packed with street vendors and concert attendees kitted out in themed T-shirts, sweating under a baking sun. “Since Madonna arrived here, I've been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who sported a gold-colored cone bra and a black cap. “It’s going to be an unforgettable show here in Copacabana,” said Oliveira Bohrer, a retired civil servant who lives in the area. Eighteen sound towers were spread along the beach to ensure that all attendees can hear the hits. Her two-hour show started at 10:37 p.m. local time, nearly 50 minutes behind schedule. City Hall produced a report in April estimating that the concert would vinject 293 million reals ($57 million) into the local economy. Hotel capacity was expected to reach 98% in Copacabana, according to Rio's hotel association. Fans hailing from across Brazil and even Argentina and France sought out Airbnbs for the weekend, the platform said in a statement. Rio’s international airport had forecast an extra 170 flights during May 1-6, from 27 destinations, City Hall said in a statement. “It's a unique opportunity to see Madonna, who knows if she'll ever come back,” said Alessandro Augusto, 53, who flew in from Brazil's Ceara state — approximately 2,500 kilometers (1,555 miles) from Rio. “Welcome Queen!” read Heineken ads plastered around the city, the lettering above an image of an upturned bottle cap resembling a crown. Heineken wasn't the only company seeking to profit from the excitement. Bars and restaurants prepared “Like a Virgin” cocktails. A shop in the downtown neighborhood famed for selling Carnival attire completely reinvented itself, stocking its shelves with Madonna-themed costumes, fans, fanny packs and even underwear. Organization of the mega-event was similar to New Year's Eve, when millions of people gather on Copacabana for its fireworks display, local authorities said. That annual event often produces widespread thefts and muggings, and there was some concern such problems might occur at Madonna's show. Rio state's security plan included the presence of 3,200 military personnel and 1,500 civilian police officers on stand by. In the lead-up to the concert, Brazil's navy inspected vessels that wished to position themselves offshore to follow the show. A number of huge concerts have taken place on Copacabana beach before, including a 1994 New Year’s Eve show by Rod Stewart that drew more than 4 million fans and was the biggest free rock concert in history, according to Guinness World Records. Many of those spectators also came to see Rio's fireworks show, though, so a more fitting comparison might be to the Rolling Stones in 2006, which saw 1.2 million people crowd onto the sand, according to Rio's military police, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported at the time. Ana Beatriz Soares, a fan who was at Copacabana on Saturday, said Madonna has made her mark across the decades. “Madonna had to run so that today’s pop artists could walk. That’s why she’s important, because she serves as an inspiration for today’s pop divas," Soares said. "And that’s 40 years ago. Not 40 days, 40 months. It’s 40 years,” she said. ___ AP video journalist Douglas Engle contributed to this report.

US regulators maintain fishing quota for valuable baby eels, even as Canada struggles with poaching None - U.S. regulators have decided to allow American fishermen to harvest thousands of pounds of a valuable species of tiny fish in the coming years, even as Canadian authorities have shuttered the industry while they grapple with poaching PORTLAND, Maine -- U.S. regulators decided Wednesday to allow American fishermen to harvest thousands of pounds of valuable baby eels in the coming years, even as authorities have shuttered the industry in Canada while they grapple with poaching. Baby eels, also called elvers, are harvested from rivers and streams by fishermen every spring. The tiny fish are sometimes worth more than $2,000 per pound because of their high value to Asian aquaculture companies. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission decided Wednesday that U.S. fishermen will be allowed to harvest a little less than 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) of the eels per year. That quota, which holds current levels, will stand through at least 2027 and could be extended beyond that year, the panel decided. The decision came less than two months after Fisheries and Oceans Canada shut down the elver fishing season in the Maritime provinces for this year. It said in a statement that illegal fishing, and harassment and threats between harvesters and fishery officers, were among the reasons for the closure. U.S. fishermen made the case prior to Wednesday's commission decision that they have been good stewards of the valuable fish and deserve a larger quota, but regulators kept the quota the same. Maine is the only American state that allows commercial-scale fishing of elvers. “This is the most restricted fishery in Maine and no one can get away with anything, and they should allow us to fish,” said Darrell Young, founder of the Maine Elver Fishermen Association, before the meeting. Elvers are raised to maturity so they can be used as food. Some return to the U.S. for use in Japanese restaurants. They are worth so much in part because worldwide supplies of eels have diminished in recent decades. That has led to criticism from environmental groups that believe eel fishing is unsustainable. The worldwide eel fishing industry has also long been beset by poaching and illegal sales. In April, Canadian fishery officers arrested five Maine fishermen in Nova Scotia for breaking fishing laws and seized about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kilograms) of elvers, according to a statement from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Maine authorities have managed to thwart poaching in the state using new controls including a swipe card system meant to deter illegal sales. Poaching in Canada “threatens this valuable resource and fishery on both sides of the border,” said Jeff Nichols, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The commission's decision to keep the state's elver quota at its current level is “good news for Maine's elver harvesters, who earn nearly $20 million a year from the vital fishery,” Nichols said. Maine fishermen are about 80% of the way through this year's elver quota. The elvers were selling for a little less than $1,200 per pound as of Wednesday. That was cheaper than the last three years, but more expensive than they typically sold for prior to 2012.

Cyclone Hidaya weakens as it moves toward Tanzania's coastline, officials say None - Tanzania's meteorology department says Cyclone Hidaya has significantly weakened as it approaches Tanzania’s coastline Cyclone Hidaya weakens as it moves toward Tanzania's coastline, officials say NAIROBI, Kenya -- Cyclone Hidaya significantly weakened as it approached Tanzania's coastline, the country's meteorology department said Saturday. Officials warned residents to remain cautious, however, as the cyclone brings heavy rain and strong winds to the country through Sunday. The meteorology department did not say what the cyclone's updated maximum wind speeds were. A major blackout hit most of Tanzania Saturday as heavy rains and strong winds from Hidaya lashed the country following weeks of flooding in the region. Ferry services between Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar were suspended as Hidaya earlier approached the East African coast with maximum winds of 120 kph (33 mph) and powerful gusts. Reports of trees falling due to strong winds experienced in Mafia island were shared by local media by Saturday afternoon. Authorities had warned residents to exercise caution as the intensity of the cyclone increases. The weather service said more than usual amounts of rainfall were recorded in coastal areas overnight. The Tanzania Red Cross Society has been carrying out preparedness campaigns along the coast. Heavy rains and flooding in recent weeks in Tanzania and the rest of East Africa have left some 155 people dead, authorities said. More than 200,000 others have been affected.

Federal Reserve says interest rates will stay at two-decade high until inflation further cools None - The Federal Reserve emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high and said it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high in recent months and said it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target. The Fed issued its decision in a statement after its latest meeting, at which it kept its key rate at a two-decade high of roughly 5.3%. Several hotter-than-expected reports on prices and economic growth have recently undercut the Fed’s belief that inflation was steadily easing. The combination of high interest rates and persistent inflation has also emerged as a potential threat to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. “In recent months," Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference, “inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective." “It is likely that gaining greater confidence,” he added, "will take longer than previously expected.” Powell did strike a note of optimism about inflation. Despite the recent setbacks, he said, “My expectation is that over the course of this year, we will see inflation move back down.” Wall Street traders initially cheered the prospect that the Fed will cut rates at some point this year as well as Powell's comment that the Fed isn't considering reverting to rate increases to attack inflation. “I think it’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike," he said. Later, though, stock prices erased their gains and finished the day essentially unchanged from where they were before Powell's news conference. Still, Powell sketched out a series of potential scenarios for the months ahead. He said that if hiring stayed strong and “inflation is moving sideways,” that “would be a case in which it would be appropriate to hold off on rate cuts.” But if inflation continued to cool — or if unemployment rose unexpectedly — Powell said the Fed would likely be able to reduce its benchmark rate. Cuts would, over time, bring down the cost of mortgages, auto loans, and other consumer and business borrowing. Those comments were “a signal that the (Fed) is a lot less confident that they know how policies are going to unfold over the course of this year,” said Jonathan Pingle, an economist at UBS. “We were all sort of hoping for an update on the committee's path forward. And instead what we got was, ‘We’re really not confident enough to tell you what our path forward is going to be.’ ” The central bank’s overarching message Wednesday — that more evidence is needed that inflation is slowing to the Fed's target level before the policymakers would begin cutting rates — reflects an abrupt shift. As recently as their last meeting on March 20, the officials had projected three rate reductions in 2024, likely starting in June. But given the persistence of elevated inflation, financial markets now expect just one rate cut this year, in November, according to futures prices tracked by CME FedWatch. The Fed’s warier outlook stems from three months of data that pointed to chronic inflation pressures and robust consumer spending. Inflation has cooled from a peak of 7.1%, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, to 2.7%, as supply chains have eased and the cost of some goods has actually declined. Average prices, though, remain well above their pre-pandemic levels, and the costs of services ranging from apartment rents and health care to restaurant meals and auto insurance continue to surge. With the presidential election six months away, many Americans have expressed discontent with the economy, notably over the pace of price increases. On Wednesday, the Fed announced that it would slow the pace at which it’s unwinding one of its biggest COVID-era policies: Its purchase of several trillion dollars in Treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds, an effort to stabilize financial markets and keep longer-term rates low. The Fed is now allowing $95 billion of those securities to mature each month, without replacing them. Its holdings have fallen to about $7.4 trillion, down from $8.9 trillion in June 2022, when it began reducing them. On Wednesday, the Fed said it would, in June, reduce its holdings at a slower pace. Instead of allowing $60 billion in Treasuries to roll off each month, it will allow just $25 billion. At the same time, it will continue letting $35 billion in mortgage-backed bonds mature each month. By cutting back its holdings, the Fed could contribute to keeping longer-term rates, including mortgage rates, higher than they would be otherwise. That’s because as it reduces its bond holdings, other buyers will have to buy the securities instead, and rates might have to rise to attract the needed buyers. The U.S. economy is healthier and hiring stronger than most economists thought it would be at this point. The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for more than two years, the longest such streak since the 1960s. And while economic growth reached just a 1.6% annual pace in the first three months of this year, consumer spending grew at a robust pace, a sign that the economy will keep expanding. He also downplayed any concerns that the economy might be at risk of sliding into “stagflation” — a toxic combination of weak growth, high unemployment and elevated inflation that afflicted the United States during the 1970s. “I was around for stagflation," Powell said, "and it was 10% unemployment, it was high-single-digit inflation. And very slow growth. Right now, we have 3% growth which is pretty solid growth, I would say, by any measure. And we have inflation running under 3%. ...I don’t see the ‘stag’ or the ‘flation,’ actually.”

Pivot podcast host Scott Galloway: ‘Tech bros conflate luck with talent’ None - Scott Galloway is an American professor of marketing at New York University Stern school of Business. He has founded and sold several tech firms, and served on the board of directors of companies such as the New York Times and Urban Outfitters. With tech journalist Kara Swisher he co-hosts the hugely popular tech and business podcast Pivot. He is a fierce critic of tech companies and their business models and he has written five books, the latest of which is The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Economic Security. You spend a lot of time with wealthy and successful people. Do they have any common habits? Well, the most common attribute I’ve registered is they were born at the right place at the right time. What I’ve found is that the majority of people’s success is not their fault. And I think something that plagues people, especially tech bros, is they conflate luck with talent. But across those who excel, the thing I have found is that if you want to be successful, you need to collect allies along the way. There’s this cartoon of Monty Burns in The Simpsons, the guy who owns the power plant, who has no friends, who lights cigars with a hundred dollar bill. But what I have found is that really wealthy people are constantly put in rooms of opportunities, because from a young age they’ve acquired allies. You say that when picking a vocation you shouldn’t follow your passion. The people telling you to follow your passion are already rich. Your job in your 20s is to find something you’re good at, that you could be great at. When there are too many people in high-romance industries – fashion, sports, nightclubs, restaurants – consumers and companies don’t have to pay you a lot. What I’ve found is if you find something you’re good at with a high employment rate, the accoutrements of mastery of that business – economic security, camaraderie, prestige – will make you passionate about that thing. Anything that provides security for your kids, your parents, and lets you do the incredible things that capitalist society affords will make you passionate about whatever that thing is. A lot of wealth has transferred and accumulated with older generations who have pulled up the drawbridge and aren’t willing to change the system. Why should the young engage in a structure that’s stacked against them? In the US we basically have seniors voting, and seniors who vote themselves more wealth. In the US, the two biggest tax deductions are mortgage interest and capital gains. Who owns homes and stocks? People my age. Who rents, who makes all of their money from current income? Young people. Even in Covid we flushed [paid out in stimulus] $5tn in the US, and 60% of payments to individuals were not spent. They were saved and used to pay down debt. Which sent housing prices skyrocketing. It sent stocks skyrocketing. Which is great if you own stocks and houses, if you’re an incumbent. But if you’re an entrant trying to buy a house or hoping some day to start buying stocks yourself, everything’s too expensive. And even worse, we’ve put it on the credit card of the young people. They will pay for it. It’s just a transfer of wealth from the young to the old. Technology promised to democratise knowledge, make it simpler to build networks and start businesses. But it hasn’t delivered. It’s a double-edged sword, because 25-year-olds are watching [videos about the psychologist] Daniel Kahneman on TikTok. They have apps that round up their purchases to the nearest dollar and it immediately gets invested in a stock market tracker. And then if they do that, by the time they’re 40, they’re going to have a lot of money. So there’s some amazing things about technology. They’re also, though, fighting some real winds in their face. Technology is constantly trying to seduce you with the perfect offer at the perfect time to take all of your disposable income. And in addition, for the first time in history, a 30-year-old is making less money than his or her parents were at 30. So these kids are facing a godlike technology that soaks up every disposable dime they have, just when they’re making less money. And the things they need to save and make money, like a house, and/or a degree, all of these things have skyrocketed in costs. So I think, actually, it’s really tough for kids right now. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Observed Free weekly newsletter Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Elon Musk is a brilliant man. But I’m just sick of talking about him Why do you think it seems to be young males who are more alienated and disfranchised? You’ve said they are sequestered in their basements, living a no-risk simulation of life. You have a generation of men who are not going to college, don’t have a male role model, feel shunned by women, and they become more prone to misogynistic content, more prone to nationalism, less inclined to believe in climate change. And some just become shitty citizens. Women are much better without the prospect of a romantic relationship. Women are much better at maintaining friend networks. And friends and relationships are not only important to your mental health, they’re also great guardrails. You’re just less inclined to make a really stupid decision when you have friends in your life. I relate to this because I think I was one of them when I was a young man. I didn’t have a lot of economic or romantic prospects. If I’d had Reddit and Discord and [cryptocurrency exchange platform] Coinbase and YouPorn and video games, I’m not sure I would have gotten out of the house very much. And if you don’t develop those skills, then at some point, when you’re a 30-year-old who hasn’t engaged in relationships or with the workplace, you become, I don’t want to say unsave-able, but there’s that [Benjamin Franklin] statement that a lot of men die at 25 but are not buried until they are 75. I think we have a lot of those young men walking around right now. You’ve spent a lot of time in the UK recently. Our politicians always talk about aping the success of Silicon Valley, with projects such as Silicon Roundabout in London, or the Silicon Fen around Cambridge. Are these just kind of deluded visions? It’s a really interesting question, because if you look at the AI boom, the biggest font of it was in the US, but the second biggest has been in the UK. There’s been a ton of innovation and thought leadership around AI coming out of UK educational institutions, yet they haven’t been able to really monetise it. And also, my impression of London is, there’s not a lot of organic value creation, that the money is being made serving other people’s wealth that was made elsewhere. The UK has all the underpinnings for the kind of economic growth you could register with tech, and yet Apple is worth more than the entire FTSE 100. So the honest answer is, I don’t have an answer. Whenever I meet anyone who’s rich in London, it’s one of two things: they’re serving other rich people, or they made their money somewhere else. On Pivot, the podcast you present with Kara Swisher, you spend a lot of time talking about Elon Musk. Will you always be talking a lot about Elon Musk? God, I hope not. We get a lot of criticism for covering him so much, and yet by far most downloaded segments are when we talk about Elon Musk. He’s a brilliant man. But I’m just sick of talking about him. I feel like a reporter in the 1990s talking about Monica Lewinsky. OK, we get it. Let’s get on to something else. He’s going to continue to be in the news for a lot of reasons. One is his personal behaviour. He can’t seem to resist acting strange. Two, Tesla is going to go down in value, which will create a lot of headlines, and SpaceX and Starlink will go up in value. So yeah, I don’t think he’s going anywhere. The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway is published by Torva (£22). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

Why Labour leapt on board with private open access train providers None - A direct train from London to Wrexham? The chance to whiz to Scotland for less than £50? Trains run by a firm specialising in a single route, competing to lure customers away from the expensive big operators? What’s not to like? Given the promise of cheaper fares to under-served UK destinations, it is perhaps little wonder that Labour’s plan for a “pragmatic” renationalisation of the railways matches the Conservatives’ policy on “open access” train providers. It also signals that the party remains open for business. That means likes of Lumo, which in 2021 joined Hull Trains and Grand Central on the east coast mainline, can rest easy after the local elections, even while parent companies FirstGroup and Arriva face ejection from main national rail routes under a Labour government. Privately owned open access operators are a curiosity. Rightwing thinktanks would love to see a multitude of them competing on the railways. But their scope is limited by physical constraints such as depots, track space, timetables, stations and connections. So far, only the east coast trio have stayed (as well as, technically, Heathrow Express and Eurostar), accounting for 3.8m journeys in 2022-23 (the nationalised London North Eastern Railway accounts for 23.4m). We were amazed by how many people couldn’t afford trains. Ask council leaders in Hartlepool, Bradford or Halifax if they’d be without us Ian Yeowart, Grand Union As well as demonstrating that the party is not wedded to ideology, retaining open access suits Labour because it primarily benefits northern regions and “red wall” constituencies, bringing local jobs and cheaper direct trains. But the industry has long been divided, with some maintaining that the taxpayer would be better off without them. One senior railway source argued that, given capacity constraints, open access operators undermined the wider public good. That limited capacity was the reason for massive outlay on building HS2 and expensive upgrades on the conventional railway. In their view, open access operators were “gaming the system”, and rules meant to protect the main contracted train company were exacerbating the problem. To win a contract with the Office of Rail and Road, an open access operator has to show that its trains would not be “abstracting” revenue (taking fare income from the incumbent). But that required a particular pattern of station stops, the source said. “You get people stopping randomly to meet the regulatory threshold for abstraction – it just further restricts efficient utilisation of the railway.” Proponents argue that it allows different stations and routes to get a decent showing. Ian Yeowart, founder of Grand Central, has now started Grand Union to run open access services from London to Stirling and Carmarthen from next year. He said: “It has opened up the market. We were amazed by how many people couldn’t afford to travel by train when we started. Ask the leaders of councils in Hartlepool, Bradford or Halifax if they’d be without us. There is a huge amount of support at grassroots level.” That was underlined when, on the day Labour announced its rail nationalisation plan, state-run LNER confirmed the end of its daily direct London-Sunderland service, citing low passenger numbers. Yeowart said: “When things become difficult it is the extremities that lose out. I think people on the east coast would be horrified if they lost their alternatives.” But critics doubt how much those destinations contribute to profits, with the Carmarthen service, say, perhaps taking fares from passengers travelling to already well-connected Swansea. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Observed Free weekly newsletter Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Some open access has proven valuable. If you’re going to do more, you have to be honest about the true costs Andrew Haines, Network Rail Yeowart insisted open access operators brought more people from road and air to rail. While total UK passenger numbers are below 2019 levels, mainly as commuting has fallen, usage across all the east coast operators was up on pre-Covid levels, he said. “What’s it got that’s different? Competition. And a little competition keeps everyone honest.” Others have been encouraged to join: France’s Alstom is looking to set up a direct London-Wrexham service, which it hopes can better an ill-fated predecessor by using the jealously guarded west coast main line to offer shorter journey times. Andrew Haines, Network Rail’s chief executive, said: “Some open access has proven to be valuable. If you’re going to do more, you have to be honest about the true costs of running it. In some places the benefits will outweigh the costs; in others it needs quite close scrutiny. “As an ex-chair of Hull Trains, I’m a massive advocate where it works well… but we should be transparent about the downsides if it ends up eating up capacity inefficiently.” While high fares, rigid central control and strike disruption persist, open access operators appear to offer an attractive alternative to both government and opposition. However, Labour’s policy document suggests some scepticism: open access “will remain where it adds value and capacity to the rail network”, and future applications will be decided “on the basis of an updated framework and guidance issued by the secretary of state”. Until the whole of the Great British Railways vision becomes reality – with a “guiding mind” running a fully integrated, functioning system – it may remain unclear whether open access trains are a cure for, or a symptom of, Britain’s fragmented railway.

Unite warns it will hold back funds if Labour weakens plan on workers’ rights None - Labour’s biggest union backer has warned it may divert election funding earmarked for the party, amid claims that Keir Starmer is diluting plans to overhaul workers’ rights. In an interview with the Observer, Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said the Labour leader risked “limping into Downing Street” if he backed down in the face of intense lobbying from businesses. She warned that any rowing back or delay represented a “red line” for her and her members, adding she was seeking reassurances from Labour’s leaders. She also suggested that, with the election just months away, she would also consider using potential election funds to instead back a grassroots campaign that would lobby Labour MPs to stand by their pledges to workers. “When I went to our union’s rules conference last year, the thing I spoke about the most, as to why it was important for us to continue to back Labour, was the new deal for working people,” said Graham. “I’ve been really clear that I’m not interested in the factional politics in Labour, but I am interested in what goes on for workers. “We’ve got £29m in our political fund,” she said. “Of course, normally my conversations with Labour would be around policy, but also around how we can assist. Now we’re looking to see whether we have to spend some of this on trying to get them into the right place, campaigning in constituencies and making sure that they understand this is a really important thing. It’s not as simple a discussion as we thought it was going to be.” It comes after suspicions on the left that Starmer is watering down some of the key elements of the so-called “new deal for working people”, which was first announced by his deputy, Angela Rayner. It has since become a central campaigning issue for Labour in Scotland, which could be crucial in delivering the party a majority. Details of the latest version of the plan are set to be revealed soon. Many of the policies are to be the subject of consultations, which some fear will see them diluted or delayed. A pledge to give workers basic job protection from their first day of employment is expected to allow employers to use reasonable probationary periods for new staff. A vow to ban zero-hours contracts is expected to be changed to allow some workers to keep the status – but this has raised concerns that they may be forced to do so by pressure from their bosses. Unite was the only Labour-affiliated union not to approve changes to the programme when they were discussed during a party policy meeting last summer, because Graham feared it was being diluted by stealth. She said she was now being proved right. She said that a change in the party’s wording to ban “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, rather than the wider practice, was a worrying move that could create a power imbalance between bosses and their staff. “Obviously, we want a Labour government, I want a Labour government, the country needs a Labour government,” she said. “But there is a real difference between limping into Downing Street or being carried on workers’ shoulders. “This is not an issue about cost. This is an issue where they have been effectively moved by the business lobby, there’s no doubt about that. For me, it is a red line. I’m going to be meeting a number of Labour figures, including reaching out to Keir and having a conversation. I’m a negotiator. I know what changes of wording mean.” Other union leaders are currently backing Starmer over the plan and party officials insist the current process is simply exploring ways to translate the headline policies into a workable programme that weeds out unfair practices. Labour said: “The new deal will be a core part of Labour’s offer and we will be campaigning on this ahead of the general election. Labour’s new deal for working people was agreed at the party’s national policy forum last summer, building upon our green paper. Our commitments to bring forward legislation to parliament within 100 days to deliver the new deal and to consult widely on implementation have not changed.”

Andrew Weissmann: Prosecutors are getting ‘hostile witnesses’ to give hard evidence against Trump None - Andrew Wiessmann, former top prosecutor at the Justice Department, Melissa Murray, NYU Law University Professor and Vaughn Hillyard, NBC News Correspondent, joins Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with dissect how the prosecution has been able to use former Trump employees and White House officials to corroborate hard evidence like checks and bank statements to make it nearly impossible for a jury to not see how involved Donald Trump was with the scheme to cover up hush money payments. May 6, 2024