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‘Face the facts’: Rep. Moulton explains why he’s calling on Biden to drop out of the race None - In a week where President Biden has come under scrutiny by Democrats, some have gone as far as to tell him to drop out of the presidential race. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) is one of those Democrats and he joins Alex Witt to explain his reasons.July 7, 2024

Schiff: Biden has to win 'overwhelmingly' or he has to pass the torch None - Schiff: Biden has to win 'overwhelmingly' or he has to pass the torch Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., believes President Biden needs to win "overwhelmingly" in the general election or he must "pass the torch" to another candidate who could. NBC News' Julie Tsirkin reports on the growing number of Democrats voicing their concerns about Biden's chances in November.July 7, 2024

NBC News looks at fighting in Rafah as war enters ninth month None - NBC News’ Matt Bradley was among the first international journalists to be embedded with the Israeli Defense Forces inside the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Israeli forces said they are trying to block tunnels used by Hamas under the Gaza and Egyptian border to smuggle contraband and weapons.July 7, 2024

Biden and Trump should 'be willing' to take cognitive tests, says Rep. Adam Schiff None - Biden and Trump should 'be willing' to take cognitive tests, says Rep. Adam Schiff Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) tells Kristen Welker during an exclusive interview with Meet the Press that both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump should be willing to take cognitive tests. July 7, 2024

Rep. Adam Schiff says Biden needs to ‘win overwhelmingly’ or ‘pass the torch’: Full interview None - ‘Ukrainians know best’ how to win war, but they need U.S. help, says former ambassador 05:48

Kenya's dramatic flooding sweeps away a central part of the economy: Its farms None - Kenyan farmers' financial security and optimism have been shaken by recent flooding MACHAKOS, Kenya -- With dismay, Martha Waema and her husband surveyed their farm that was submerged by weeks of relentless rainfall across Kenya. Water levels would rise to shoulder height after only a night of heavy downpour. The couple had expected a return of 200,000 shillings ($1,500) from their three acres after investing 80,000 shillings ($613) in maize, peas, cabbages, tomatoes and kale. But their hopes have been uprooted and destroyed. “I have been farming for 38 years, but I have never encountered losses of this magnitude,” said the 62-year-old mother of 10. Their financial security and optimism have been shaken by what Kenya's government has called “a clear manifestation of the erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.” The rains that started in mid-March have posed immediate dangers and left others to come. They have killed nearly 300 people, left dams at historically high levels and led the government to order residents to evacuate flood-prone areas — and bulldoze the homes of those who don't. Now a food security crisis lies ahead, along with even higher prices in a country whose president had sought to make agriculture an even greater engine of the economy. Kenya's government says the flooding has destroyed crops on more than 168,000 acres (67,987 hectares) of land, or less than 1% of Kenya’s agricultural land. As farmers count their losses — a total yet unknown — the deluge has exposed what opposition politicians call Kenya’s ill preparedness for climate change and related disasters and the need for sustainable land management and better weather forecasting. Waema now digs trenches in an effort to protect what's left of the farm on a plain in the farthest outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, in Machakos County. Not everyone is grieving, including farmers who prepared for climate shocks. About 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Waema’s farm, 65-year-old farmer James Tobiko Tipis and his 16-acre farm have escaped the flooding in Olokirikirai. He said he had been proactive in the area that's prone to landslides by terracing crops. “We used to lose topsoil and whatever we were planting," he said. Experts said more Kenyan farmers must protect their farms against soil erosion that likely will be worsened by further climate shocks. Jane Kirui, an agricultural officer in Narok County, emphasized the importance of terracing and other measures such as cover crops that will allow water to be absorbed. In Kenya’s rural areas, experts say efforts to conserve water resources remain inadequate despite the current plentiful rainfall. At Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, professor John Gathenya recommended practices such as diversifying crops and emphasizing the soil's natural water retention capacity. “The soil remains the biggest reservoir for water," he said, asserting that using it wisely requires much less of an investment than large infrastructure projects such as dams. But soil needs to be protected with practices that include limiting the deforestation that has exposed parts of Kenyan land to severe runoff. “We are opening land in new fragile environments where we need to be even more careful the way we farm," Gathenya said. “In our pursuit for more and more food, we are pressing into the more fragile areas but not with the same intensity of soil conservation that we had 50 years back.” ___ The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

An Alaska tourist spot will vote whether to ban cruise ships on Saturdays to give locals a break None - Each year, a crush of tourists arrives in Alaska’s capital city on cruise ships to see wonders like the fast-diminishing Mendenhall Glacier An Alaska tourist spot will vote whether to ban cruise ships on Saturdays to give locals a break JUNEAU, Alaska -- Each year, a crush of tourists arrives in Alaska’s capital city on cruise ships to see wonders like the fast-diminishing Mendenhall Glacier. Now, long-simmering tensions over Juneau’s tourism boom are coming to a head over a new voter initiative aimed at giving residents a respite from the influx. A measure that would ban cruise ships with 250 or more passengers from docking in Juneau on Saturdays qualified for the Oct. 1 municipal ballot, setting the stage for a debate about how much tourism is too much in a city that is experiencing first-hand the impacts of climate change. The measure would also ban ships on July 4, a day when locals flock to a downtown parade. The “ship-free Saturdays” initiative that qualified this week will go to voters unless the local Assembly enacts a similar measure by Aug. 15, which is seen as unlikely. Juneau, accessible only by water or air, is home to the Mendenhall Glacier, a major draw for the cruise passengers who arrive on multi-story ships towering over parts of the modest downtown skyline. Many residents of this city of about 32,000 have concerns about increased traffic, congested trails and the frequent buzz of sight-seeing helicopters transporting visitors to the Mendenhall and other glaciers. Deborah Craig, who has lived in Juneau for decades, supports ship-free Saturdays. Craig, who lives across the channel from where the ships dock, often hears their early-morning fog horns and broadcast announcements made to passengers that are audible across the water. The current “overwhelming" number of visitors diminishes what residents love so much about Juneau, she said. “It’s about preserving the lifestyle that keeps us in Juneau, which is about clean air, clean water, pristine environment and easy access to trails, easy access to water sports and nature," she said of the initiative. “There’s this perception that some people are not welcoming of tourists, and that’s not the case at all," Craig said. “It’s about volume. It’s about too much — too many in a short period of time overwhelming a small community.” The current cruise season runs from early April to late October. Opponents of the initiative say limiting dockings will hurt local businesses that rely heavily on tourism and could invite lawsuits. A voter-approved limit on cruise passenger numbers in Bar Harbor, Maine, another community with a significant tourism economy, was challenged in federal court. Laura McDonnell, a business leader who owns Caribou Crossings, a gift shop in Juneau’s downtown tourist core, said she makes 98% of her annual revenue during the summer season. Tourism is about all the "local businesses that rely on cruise passengers and our place in the community,” said McDonnell, who is involved in Protect Juneau’s Future, which opposes the initiative. Some schools recently closed due to factors including declining enrollment, while the regional economy faces challenges, she said. “I think that as a community, we really need to look at what’s at stake for our economy," she said. “We are not in a position to be shrinking our economy.” The cruise industry accounted for $375 million in direct spending in Juneau in 2023, most of that attributable to spending by passengers, according to a report prepared for the city by McKinley Research Group LLC. After a two-year pandemic lull, cruise passenger numbers rose sharply in Juneau, hitting a record of more than 1.6 million in 2023. Under this year's schedule, Sept. 21 will be the first day since early May with no large ships in town. The tourism debate is polarizing, and the city has been trying to find a middle ground, said Alexandra Pierce, Juneau's visitor industry director. But she noted there also needs to be a regional solution. If the Juneau initiative passes, it will impact other, smaller communities in southeast Alaska because the ships, generally on trips originating in Seattle or Vancouver, Canada, will have to go somewhere if they can’t dock in Juneau on Saturdays, she said. Some residents in Sitka, south of Juneau, are in the early stages of trying to limit cruise visitation to that small, island community, which is near a volcano. Juneau and major cruise lines, including Carnival Corp., Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group, agreed to a limit of five large ships a day, which took effect this year. They more recently signed a pact, set to take effect in 2026, seeking a daily limit of 16,000 cruise passengers Sundays through Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays. Pierce said the overall goal is to keep total cruise passenger visitation around 1.6 million, and to even out daily numbers of visitors that can spike to about 18,000 on the busiest days. Peak days in the past have felt “a bit suffocating," she said. Juneau traditionally has been the most popular cruise port in the state. A number of projects around Juneau are expected to help make existing cruise numbers feel less impactful. Those include plans for a gondola at the city-owned ski area and increased visitor capacity at the Mendenhall Glacier recreation area, she said. Renée Limoge Reeve, vice president of government and community relations for the trade group Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said the agreements signed with the city were the first of their kind in Alaska. The best strategy is “ongoing, direct dialogue with local communities" and working together in a way that also provides a predictable source of income for local businesses, she said. Protect Juneau's Future, led by local business leaders, said the success of the ballot measure would mean a loss of sales tax revenue and millions of dollars in direct spending by cruise passengers. The group was confident voters would reject the measure, its steering committee said in a statement. Karla Hart, a sponsor of the initiative and frequent critic of the cruise industry, said the threat of litigation has kept communities from taking steps to limit cruise numbers in the past. She was heartened by legal wins this year in the ongoing fight over the measure passed in Bar Harbor, a popular destination near Maine's Acadia National Park. She believes the Juneau initiative will pass. “Every single person who is going to vote has a lived experience and knowledge of how the cruise industry impacts their lives,” she said. —- This story corrects a quote from Pierce about peak days.

Federal Reserve minutes: Inflation is cooling, but more evidence is needed for rate cuts None - Federal Reserve minutes: Inflation is cooling, but more evidence is needed for rate cuts Federal Reserve minutes: Inflation is cooling, but more evidence is needed for rate cuts

Average rate on 30-year mortgage climbs for 1st time since late May to just under 7% None - The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose this week, pushing up borrowing costs on a home loan for the first time since late May Average rate on 30-year mortgage climbs for 1st time since late May to just under 7% LOS ANGELES -- The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose this week, pushing up borrowing costs on a home loan for the first time since late May. The rate rose to 6.95% from 6.86% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Wednesday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.81%. The uptick follows a four-week pullback in the average rate, which has mostly hovered around 7% this year. When rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers. The elevated mortgage rates have been a major drag on home sales, which remain in a slump dating back to 2022. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, pushing the average rate to 6.25% from 6.16% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.24%, Freddie Mac said. Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy and the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield, which topped 4.7% in late April, has been generally declining since then on hopes that inflation is slowing enough to get the Fed to lower its main interest rate from the highest level in more than two decades. Fed officials have said that inflation has moved closer to the Fed’s target level of 2% in recent months and signaled that they expect to cut the central bank’s benchmark rate once this year. But until the Fed begins lowering its short-term rate, long-term mortgage rates are unlikely to budge from where they are now. Most economists think the Fed’s first rate cut will occur in September, with potentially another cut by year’s end. But mortgage rates could begin easing in coming weeks, if bond yields move lower in anticipation of a Fed rate cut, said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “While today’s report is not what homebuyers were hoping for, we may actually start to see rates fall sooner than expected,” she said. Mortgage rates fell to historic lows during the pandemic, setting off a homebuying frenzy that sent home prices soaring. Between 2019 and 2023, the median national sales price of previously occupied U.S. homes jumped more than 43%. And despite declining sales this year, home prices hit an all-time high in May of $419,300. High home loan borrowing costs and record-high home prices discouraged many would-be homebuyers this spring, traditionally the busiest period of the year for the housing market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in May for the third month in a row, and indications are that June saw a pullback as well. Most economists' projections call for the average rate on a 30-year home loan to remain above 6% this year. That’s still double what the average rate was just three years ago. “We are still expecting rates to moderately decrease in the second half of the year and given additional inventory, price growth should temper, boding well for interested homebuyers,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Federal Reserve Chair Powell: US inflation is slowing again after higher readings earlier this year None - Federal Reserve Chair Powell: US inflation is slowing again after higher readings earlier this year Federal Reserve Chair Powell: US inflation is slowing again after higher readings earlier this year

General Motors will pay $146 million in federal penalties because 5.9 million older vehicles emit excess carbon dioxide None - General Motors will pay $146 million in federal penalties because 5.9 million older vehicles emit excess carbon dioxide General Motors will pay $146 million in federal penalties because 5.9 million older vehicles emit excess carbon dioxide

Fiery railcars with hazardous material mostly contained after derailment in North Dakota None - The flames from derailed train cars carrying hazardous material are mostly extinguished a day after the incident in a remote area of North Dakota Fiery railcars with hazardous material mostly contained after derailment in North Dakota Enflamed railcars carrying hazardous material were mostly extinguished Saturday, a day after they derailed in a remote area of North Dakota. Officials said Friday no one had been hurt. The threat to those living nearby remained low, according to county emergency management, which reported no air contamination in the area or downwind. Twenty-nine cars of a CPKC train derailed around 3:45 a.m. in a marshy area surrounded by farmland that is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Fargo, county emergency management director Andrew Kirking said. Kirking said in a statement Saturday that the fire would still occasionally flare up as responders moved railcars from the tracks. But “firefighting operations through the night and morning have been incredibly successful,” he said. Emergency officials now say the contents of the derailed cars included anhydrous ammonia, methanol and plastic pellets. Bill Suess, spill investigation program manager for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, identified ammonia as a potential risk, but wind was carrying the smoke away from the nearby town of Bordulac, which has about 20 residents. “Wind has been in our favor on this,” Suess said Friday. Exposure to high concentrations of ammonia in the air can cause burning of the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory tract, and can result in blindness, lung damage or death, health officials say. Exposure to lower amounts can result in coughing and irritation of the nose and throat. CPKC said in a statement Friday that it has “initiated its emergency response plan and launched a comprehensive, coordinated response.” The railroad was the result of a merger last year of Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern. The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that it is investigating.

Struggles at Belfast’s Titanic shipyard reflect UK’s faded naval power None - The Harland & Wolff (H&W) shipyard in Belfast is famous for having built the Titanic, the largest passenger ship of its time before it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic. But things have moved on since 1912. In recent weeks Samson, one of the two yellow gantry cranes that dominate Belfast’s skyline, has been straddling a giant oil processing vessel. This is the Canadian-owned SeaRose, which is being upgraded by H&W in a contract worth more than £90m. The SeaRose is even larger than the Titanic, weighing in at 150,000 tonnes. The sight of a massive ship in Belfast harbour recalls the city’s glory days as a shipbuilding superpower. H&W collapsed into administration in 2019, but now the shipyard is back at the centre of British hopes to restore something of the industry’s past glories. Those hopes now appear to be under threat as H&W waits for Keir Starmer’s government to decide whether to proceed with a controversial £1.6bn deal that would see the small, Aim-listed company given a £200m loan guarantee completely underwritten by the UK taxpayer. It has six months to find new money to replace previous debts. The yard’s travails illustrate the gap between the UK’s pretensions to be a major military power and the reality in the industry. For all its Herculean endeavours, H&W is a minnow, valued at only £14.5m before its shares were suspended last week after it failed to file accounts on time. Britain once had the most powerful navy in the world – albeit one built to sustain an empire rather than for defence – and even during the Falklands war in 1982 it could muster 23 destroyers and frigates (it now has 17) plus two aircraft carriers. The days of naval supremacy are long gone, but the UK is still a mid-ranking military power, with a nuclear arsenal, a permanent seat on the UN security council and a pledge to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence. View image in fullscreen BAE Systems is building Royal Navy frigates in Govan, near Glasgow. Photograph: Iain Masterton/Alamy In May, Grant Shapps, who was defence secretary until the general election, hailed a “new golden age for British shipbuilding”, with six new warships to be built in the UK, with another 22 military vessels already in the pipeline. Most of the ships will be built by the UK’s two dominant naval shipbuilders, with Type 26 frigates being made by BAE Systems in Govan and Scotstoun near Glasgow, and Type 31 frigates by Babcock International at Rosyth near Edinburgh. BAE also builds submarines for the Royal Navy at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. However, the programme also includes three “fleet solid support” ships, which carry ammunition and other supplies to aircraft carriers. That £1.6bn contract has been awarded to a consortium of H&W, Spain’s state-owned shipbuilder Navantia, and British design firm BMT. The government said the contract would create 900 shipyard jobs in Belfast, plus another 300 at a yard in Appledore, Devon, bought by H&W’s owner, InfraStrata, in 2020 after it closed in 2019. Made in Belfast Hundreds of new jobs will provide a huge morale boost for Belfast, but the city will still be a long way from reliving its former glories. In the 19th century, Belfast’s growth matched anything seen in England’s northern industrial cities. According to Graham Brownlow, senior lecturer in economics at Queen’s University Belfast, the city’s population rose from 75,000 in 1841 to 387,000 in 1911, and by 1914 H&W had 14,000 employees. This rapid growth was, he says, an early example of what is now known as industrial strategy, with the city’s Harbour Commission reclaiming land to build docks. John Parker, the veteran industrialist who now chairs builder Laing O’Rourke, joined H&W as an apprentice in the late 1950s, when it ran the largest single shipyard in the world, building on 19 slipways at a time. “It was just the most massive operation” and “an amazing training ground”, said Parker, who went on to become chief executive from 1983-93. Yet from the late 1960s, international competition surged and Northern Ireland’s Troubles took a lot of energy out of the city. The ship now under the Belfast cranes, the SeaRose, was built in South Korea which, together with China and Japan, dominates global non-military shipbuilding, making 94% of the world’s merchant fleet, according to UN figures. “The collapse of UK shipbuilding wasn’t because of a lack of local tonnage being produced,” said Brownlow. “It was because the share of tonnage was falling as the rest of the world caught up.” View image in fullscreen The Samson and Goliath cranes at the Harland & Wolff shipyard. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images There’s very little chance of the UK (which contributed no new ships to the merchant fleet in 2023) winning many commercial shipbuilding orders – barring perhaps a dramatic new technology to lower emissions. So any British shipbuilding revival will have to rely on warships – plus perhaps contracts for maintenance, repairs and upgrades that can be handled by smaller yards. Labour has promised a strategic defence review within its first year, before it sets its spending priorities. The party has already made some firm commitments on how it will spend the equivalent of 2.5% of GDP on defence, including sticking closely to the Conservatives’ plan to build four new nuclear submarines. The review would look in detail at every large contract, including the fleet solid support ships, a party source said. This will take time because security classifications mean opposition politicians, like the general public, see only the bare minimum of information about any defence deal. None of that augurs well for the quick turnaround of the H&W loan guarantee expected by chief executive John Wood, who claimed in May on social media that the general election would not delay the deal. Financial troubles View image in fullscreen Harland and Wolff workers protest at the yard’s threatened closure in 2019. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA A threatened strike has been called off after the company reached a pay agreement with workers. But if the loan guarantee is not given, H&W could be in trouble. Last Monday, the company blamed its share suspension on a dispute with auditors over when it could recognise revenues from future years, and released unaudited figures showing it lost £43m in 2022. It also said: “Should there be any material delays to securing the facility post the general election, the company’s ability to execute new and large contracts would be adversely affected.” The situation is urgent because H&W is carrying massive liabilities. These include $115m (£91m) in loans agreed from March 2022 with Riverstone Credit Management, a private US lender, which is charging it interest of more than 14% a year. H&W said it had made repayments, and reported debt costs of £18m for 2023. The loan must be repaid by 31 December. Significant further delays to the UK loan guarantee would probably eat into the £77m H&W earmarked for capital investments, including new robotic welding machines and an expanded fabrication hall. Riverstone holds charges over H&W’s key properties, including Appledore, the main shipyard, its leases of smaller yards in Methil and Arnish in Scotland, plus land off Northern Ireland’s coast related to a gas storage project. This means that if H&W defaults on its loans, the yards could fall into the lender’s hands. An H&W spokesperson said: “Our number one priority is investing in our yards and people so that we can capitalise on the significant opportunities facing us, including the landmark fleet solid support contract. We have supportive financing partners and are progressing alternative solutions that are better suited to the long-term growth of our business. “Turnover has increased substantially with the completion of multiple projects and market forecasts are projecting a revenue line of £200m this financial year.” Whatever H&W’s fate, its struggles illustrate the difficulty of spreading warship construction work beyond the big Scottish yards. MPs have raised concerns that much of the building may be carried out in Navantia’s yard in Cádiz, Spain, with only superficial work being done in Belfast and north Devon. Trevor Taylor, professorial fellow at the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, said he believed it was technically feasible to spread some warship work to other UK yards – as recommended by Parker in a 2016 report for government – because modern ships are built in blocks and then joined together. The Navy’s two Queen Elizabeth- class aircraft carriers were built in blocks at seven yards across Britain before being floated around the coast for assembly at Rosyth, north of Edinburgh. However, Taylor warned that the political attraction of revitalising Belfast is matched by “risks in delivery” because of the need for funding. If H&W were to drop out, one option would be to bring back the previously rejected consortium led by BAE and Birkenhead’s Cammell Laird shipyard. Both Taylor and Parker said the industry had withered to such an extent that companies such as H&W would struggle to build a workforce with the right skills. H&W said this was “categorically not true” and that it had already increased its workforce from 46 to almost 1,600. Emma Evans, defence policy adviser at ADS, a lobby group for the UK defence industry, said the government could change a “feast and famine approach to contracting, which leads to a drain of skills, and makes it very difficult for industry to train, invest, and retain skilled workers”. For Parker, the prize of billions of pounds of economic value being spread across the UK is worth it. “This can be a great source of economic growth,” he said. “Belfast certainly needs that type of opportunity to create highly skilled jobs.” Marine adventures While H&W’s main focus is now on shipbuilding, the company and its chief executive have a history of unorthodox marine projects. Before buying the shipyard out of administration in 2019 and taking its famous name, H&W was called InfraStrata. It emerged out of a gas drilling company in 2008, and tried to frack for gas in Northern Ireland (drawing the ire of Avengers-star-cum-campaigner Mark Ruffalo in the process). It then pivoted to a project for storing gas in salt caverns at Islandmagee, on Northern Ireland’s east coast. H&W suffered a severe blow last month when Belfast’s court of appeal ruled that government approval of the project had not been lawful. The company said it was considering whether it could take its case to the supreme court. Wood joined InfraStrata in 2018, having previously been a director of MSC Europe, a Southampton ship refitter that collapsed in 2007, reportedly owing suppliers £3m. (The company said that Wood had since then “delivered multibillion contracts and run businesses delivering major programmes”.) After a stint managing ship repairs at BAE Systems, and then working for consultancies, he led the £3.3m purchase of the Belfast shipyard in December 2019. View image in fullscreen The Isles of Scilly ferry: H&W is hoping to launch a rival service. Photograph: Alamy But aside from building ships, H&W is now involved in a different marine adventure: setting up a rival to the ferry service from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly, a 28-mile crossing in often-rough seas. The project has been hit by delays in procuring a usable vessel. The company had planned to build the ferry in Appledore, and put in a bid for government levelling-up funding. It abandoned that idea and sourced a boat from Spain instead. It has blamed heavy rain at the dry dock in Portsmouth for delays to a yellow paint job on the new ferry, which to be called the Atlantic Wolff. The company is taking bookings, but customers have said these are being fulfilled by a 12-passenger rigid inflatable boat, and in some cases a helicopter. Complaints on social media tell of a lack of communication from Scilly Ferries about when the ferry will be in service, after it missed promises to start by June, and then by “mid-June”. H&W it is “committing maximum resources, seven days a week” but added that it was still working on “some important regulatory issues”, including a crucial passenger certificate from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Prison reform experts hail role for shoe repair CEO James Timpson None - Making a shoe repair businessman the minister for prisons is an unusual governmental appointment, but James Timpson is an unusual type of businessman. The 52-year-old chief executive of the Timpson group has given the family business a reputation for radical approaches to the way it treats employees and customers that goes beyond offering key cutting, phone repairs and dry cleaning. More than 10% of the firm’s workforce are former prisoners. It has an “upside down” management style where the 5,600 employees are in charge and the Timpson family is in the top 10 highest taxpayers in the UK. In 2021, Timpson told workers they could claim prescription charges for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on expenses. They have offered to clean job interview outfits for free for customers who are unemployed. The Alex Timpson Trust offers free holiday homes for foster families because James’s parents, John and Alex, who died in 2016, fostered 90 children over 31 years at their home in Manchester. And the company does small jobs for free, such as adding a new belt hole for customers, asking them to make a donation instead of paying, which has raised more than £4m for charities so far. James Timpson has previously worked with Conservative ministers on prison reform – Rishi Sunak visited a Timpson’s during the election campaign – and was chair of the Prison Reform Trust until his surprise appointment yesterday, which was broadly welcomed. A worker at a Timpson’s in south Kensington, who didn’t want to give his name, said: “Although they hire ex-offenders, they won’t bring back certain criminals. So they have control of who they bring into the workforce so there’s no accidents or recurrences in the future. “To give people second chances – to help them believe that they can actually be good and decent people, and to be able to help out the community and just be seen as a normal person without having to worry about all their past dealings – is a great thing.” Andrea Coomber, chief executive at the Howard League, a leading prison reform charity, welcomed the appointment. “For more than 20 years, James has been visiting prisons and recruiting prison leavers,” she said. “Having seen the system up close, James understands that prisons currently are unable to rehabilitate or hold safely and decently the huge numbers of people within them. 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 “He understands that an urgent review of population numbers and of sentencing is long overdue. We look forward to sound, evidence-led policy from the new government that prioritises rehabilitation, productive sentences and the use of prison only where absolutely necessary.” Prison Reform Trust chief executive Pia Sinha thanked Timpson for his “inspirational leadership, support, wisdom and generosity”.

White House assures Biden is not being treated for Parkinson's disease None - White House assures Biden is not being treated for Parkinson's disease White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered questions from reporters about President Biden's past physical exams and said that he was not being treated for Parkinson's disease.July 8, 2024

'Risky strategy' for Biden to attack Democrats concerned about age and debate performance: Glasser None - Former Rep. Max Rose and co-author of 'The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021' Susan Glasser join Ana Cabrera to react to President Biden's exclusive interview with Morning Joe where he said he is "not letting up" amid calls for him to step down.July 8, 2024

'I am not going anywhere': Biden confirms he's staying in 2024 race None - President Biden calls in to Morning Joe for an exclusive interview about his debate performance, why he says he's not getting out of the race and why he says he's the best person to beat Donald Trump.July 8, 2024

How major US stock indexes fared Monday, 7/8/2024 None - Stocks wavered to a mixed close on Wall Street, nudging the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite to more records How major US stock indexes fared Monday, 7/8/2024 The Associated Press By The Associated Press Stocks wavered to a mixed close on Wall Street, nudging the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq composite to more records. The S & P 500 inched up 0.1% Monday, and the Nasdaq rose 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up an early gain and fell 0.1%. Specialty glassware maker Corning surged after raising its sales forecast. Traders are looking ahead to several earnings reports this week including updates from Delta Air Lines on Thursday and JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Friday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addresses Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday: The S & P 500 rose 5.66 points, or 0.1%, to 5,572.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.08 points, or 0.1%, to 39,344.79. The Nasdaq composite rose 50.98 points, or 0.3%, to 18,403.74. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 11.94 points, or 0.6%, to 2,038.67. For the year: The S & P 500 is up 803.02 points, or 16.8%. The Dow is up 1,655.25 points, or 4.4%. The Nasdaq is up 3,392.39 points, or 22.6%. The Russell 2000 is up 11.60 points, or 0.6%.

Video Biden calls for unity for Democrats to beat Trump in November None - Biden calls for unity for Democrats to beat Trump in November President Joe Biden sent a letter to Democrats in Congress calling for unity. Meanwhile, some wealthy donors are sounding the alarm over Biden staying in the race.

Devon Energy buys Grayson Mill Energy's Williston Basin business in $5B cash-and-stock deal None - Devon Energy is buying Grayson Mill Energy's Williston Basin business in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5 billion as consolidation in the oil and gas sector ramps up. The transaction includes $3.25 billion in cash and $1.75 billion in stock. Grayson Mill Energy, based in Houston, is an oil and gas exploration company that received an initial investment from private equity firm EnCap Investments in 2016. The firm appears to be stepping back from energy sector as it sells off assets. Last month EnCap-backed XCL Resources sold its Uinta Basin oil and gas assets to SM Energy Co. and Northern Oil and Gas in a transaction totaling $2.55 billion. EnCap had another deal in June as well, selling some assets to Matador Resources for nearly $2 billion. Devon said Monday that the deal significantly expands its position in the Williston Basin with the addition of 307,000 net acres. The basin spans parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Canada. The company anticipates that production from the acquired properties will be maintained at approximately 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day next year. The deal is targeted to close by the end of the third quarter. Devon said its board will expand its buyback authorization by 67% to $5 billion through the middle of 2026. The company also anticipates the deal adding to its dividend payout beginning next year. Shares of Devon Energy Corp., based in Oklahoma City, fell more than 2.5% Monday.