Sign up today
Softphone APP for Android &IOS
Missiles Are “Depleted.” Defense Contractors Are Cashing In
Missiles Are “Depleted.” Defense Contractors Are Cashing In
The Lever · 2 days ago
by Veronica Riccobene · International
In the weeks before launching strikes in Iran, the Trump administration had a problem: figuring out how to spend the $500 billion in extra Pentagon money the White House plans to request from Congress next year. Just two days later, the administration told Congress that in the next year alone, it plans to burn through $153 billion in additional military funding approved in 2025 — money Congress expected to be spent over five years.
Now, less than a week after the strikes, executives representing weapons manufacturers including RTX (formerly Raytheon) and Lockheed Martin are scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss the nation’s “diminishing” munitions stockpiles.
While the president insists U.S. munitions stockpiles have “never been higher or better,” defense-industry funded consultants and lobbyists are warning that in less than a week, the U.S. has “burn[ed]” through its precision-guided long-range missile reserves. They argue that a shrinking industrial base and declining productivity could undermine U.S. military objectives in places like Ukraine and Israel. Of particular concern are the country’s stockpile of precision missile interceptors, a quarter of which were reportedly depleted in just 12 days of fighting between Israel and Iran last summer and are on track to be further drained in the Iran war.
Yet, since the 1990s, U.S. military spending has nearly doubled, exceeding the combined spending of the next nine largest militaries.
So where has all that money gone? Into the pockets of top shareholders.
The weapons industry has become incredibly concentrated: Since the 1990s, the number of “prime” contractors working with the Defense Department has shrunk from 51 to five. And in recent years, these giants — propped up by trillions in taxpayer spending — have spent more enriching investors than in expanding production.
Migration north for the yachting season
Migration north for the yachting season
A new offshore race in 2026 will begin May 9 from St. Barths in the Caribbean and finish off Fort Adams in Newport, RI.
Organized by US Sailing, the US Open – Offshore will be approximately 1,500 nautical miles and supported by Saint Barth Yacht Club and New York Yacht Club. For subsequent editions, yacht clubs and race organizers will be invited to bid annually for hosting rights.
“This is an exciting milestone for offshore racing in the Americas,” said Bryon Ehrhart, Event Chairman. “The course from St. Barths to Newport presents a terrific tactical challenge and establishes a high standard for future editions.” - Full report
The app that alerts you if smart glasses are close by
Niv Bavarsky
If you’re wondering if that guy (you know it’s a guy) at the table across from you might be recording you with his smart glasses, there’s a new app called Nearby Glasses that detects surveillance spectacles, giving you a good reason to pay your tab and leave. The app, which is only available for Android, was created in response to reports that Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses have been used in immigration raids and to harass sex workers, per 404 Media, and as a way to guard against the potentially invasive tech. Here’s how the app works:
Only getting more intrusive: The New York Times reported last month that Meta is considering adding facial recognition technology to its glasses. Meanwhile…on Tuesday, Deveillance announced Spectre I, a device it says prevents smart devices and AI recorders from “collecting conversations and turning them into data.” |
70 days out, concerns loom over World Cup
Nick Iluzada
As yesterday marked 70 days until the World Cup kickoff, some fans wagered on tournament favorites Spain and England clinching the trophy, while others worried about whether North America is even ready to host. Safety concerns are top of mind for the dozens of crowded events set to take place across the US, Canada, and Mexico:
In addition, there are now doubts about whether Iran’s national team will participate in stateside matches. Cash-strapped citiesUS host city officials warned lawmakers last week that World Cup safety is in jeopardy due to funding chaos and a lack of security coordination between local and federal agencies. Uncle Sam earmarked $875 million to enhance game security, but that cash is being held up by a standoff over Homeland Security funding in Congress. Mundial has run into municipal hitches…with the Boston-area town of Foxborough threatening to block the matches set to take place there until someone fronts $7.8 million in security costs. |
Friends are splitting on home ownership
Getty Images
The high cost of buying a home has helped some reimagine the concept of friends with benefits. Instead of cramming into an overpriced studio rental to save money, buddies are splitting the cost of owning a property they couldn’t afford individually. Zillow reported that US home values skyrocketed 45% between February 2020 and February 2025, which it called “more than a decade’s worth of typical growth” in only five years. And the rental market saw a similarly large increase over that time, per Rental Housing Journal, making co-buying a consideration for younger generations. Per a 2025 FirstHome IQ survey of 1,000 respondents between the ages of 18 and 44:
A 2024 report by JW Surety Bonds found that 15% of Americans have made home purchases with a friend or relative, and another 48% would consider doing so. Home security: Since this isn’t the same as roommates splitting the cost of a couch, it’s recommended to put the partnership in writing. Two options are a joint tenancy agreement or a tenancy-in-common agreement. These arrangements allow partial ownership of the property (and theoretically, the couch, too) to be sold or inherited if circumstances change. End of an era? Zillow home trends expert Amanda Pendleton told CNBC that one reason why only 5% of homes were co-bought last year is that rent prices are stabilizing. According to the new Apartment List National Rent Report, the national median rent has fallen for six straight months, not that anyone looking for a place in New York or San Francisco will believe that. |
Is it Live Nation’s turn to face the music?
Sopa Images/Getty Images
Live Nation may have finally found a venue it wants nothing to do with. The live entertainment company will be in a Manhattan court today for jury selection in a federal antitrust case that could result in a breakup. Who is suing? The Department of Justice, 39 states, and the District of Columbia argue that Live Nation has maintained an illegal monopoly over live entertainment since it merged with ticket provider Ticketmaster in 2010, and that customers are paying the
The company maintains that artists can perform wherever they want and sell tickets however they want. What next? Live Nation has been trying to settle the case for months, per Bloomberg, and that could still happen. But for now, the case is going to trial, with testimony possible from singer Kid Rock, Roc Nation CEO and co-founder Desiree Perez, and SeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger, which would actually make an amazing cast for the next season of The Traitors. |
Countries in the Americas can act to protect the environment without the United States
Countries in the Americas can act to protect the environment without the United States
by Alexandra R Harrington, Visiting Scholar, McGill University Faculty of Law, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, McGill
The United States federal government recently revoked a landmark scientific ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency that stated greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. U.S. President Donald Trump said the ruling was a “disasterous” policy that “severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers.”
The revocation is the latest move by a U.S. administration that has framed action to tackle climate change as hampering the U.S. economy. In this context, trade has become a buzzword over the past year. With the focus on tariffs, it is easy to overlook the impacts of U.S. trade policies on the environment and the organizations tasked with bridging the two.
My areas of research focus on international law, specifically environmental law and the intersections between trade and international organizations.
In January, Trump indicated that the U.S. will withdraw from the NAFTA/CUSMA-linked Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the process for dealing with claims that Canada, Mexico or the United States are shirking their environmental commitments — the submission on enforcement matters (SEM) process.
The U.S. withdrawal highlights the importance of these issues at the regional level. It also provides an opportunity for other countries in the Americas to take action on climate change without the United States.
Read more: Three ways Canada can navigate an increasingly erratic and belligerent United States
What are SEMs?
In 1994, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. adopted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) along with two side agreements. One of these was the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), establishing the Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the SEM process.
When NAFTA was renegotiated in 2018, the SEM process was incorporated into the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), and the NAAEC was replaced by the Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.
The Commission on Environmental Cooperation is charged with overseeing this agreement, while SEM is the process for dealing with claims that Canada, Mexico or the U.S. are not living up to their environmental commitments.
That process can lead to the creation of a “factual record”; an investigative report detailing the commission’s findings. Although not a legal decision, the factual record is a powerful evidentiary and fact-finding tool to generate reforms.
Reporting on derelict environmental commitments through the SEM process remains a vital tool. It has provided important factual records on leakage from Alberta tailings ponds and failures to protect species such as the loggerhead turtle, North Atlantic right whale and vaquita porpoise, among other issues.
The SEM model was replicated in U.S. trade agreements with Central American states, Colombia, Panama and Peru. In each of these agreements, however, the U.S. was exempted from SEM jurisdiction because it was already under the jurisdiction of CUSMA.
Given the U.S. decision not to provide the core funding needed for these entities to function, it would be possible for the Central American states, as well as Colombia, Panama and Peru, to enter into a separate agreement regarding SEMs. The same would be true for Canada and Mexico under CUSMA.
A new generation of environmental accountability
The U.S. was a driving influence in the creation of the SEM process. And the U.S. retreat could be accepted as a way to end systems that have brought significant issues in national enforcement of environment law to light.
Examples include the failure to properly monitor implementation of environmental laws and standards, ranging from those intended to protect communities living near pollution discharge points to those intended to protect species on the edge of extinction.
Other countries in the Americas now have an opportunity to create a larger environmental oversight mechanism. This would demonstrate their ability to step into the governance gap left by the U.S. and generate stronger regional alliances. This would not only benefit the Americas. It would also provide a model for other international organizations as they face the loss of a powerful member state.
This alternative would entail creating a new SEM process, along with an equivalent to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation to oversee it, linking all members of the impacted agreements and any other interested countries in the Americas. The most comprehensive way to do this would be to negotiate a new multilateral agreement similar to current regional agreements but without the emphasis being on trade.
Similar to the current SEM process, individuals and groups could make submissions claiming that a member state is failing to fulfill its environmental obligations. Once a submission is received, the SEM unit would determine whether it meets basic requirements. If so, the submission would move on and, ultimately, a factual record could be developed.
This alternative framework would demonstrate the collective commitment of countries across the Americas to environmental protection. It would reflect the reality that the Americas face significant shared environmental threats that are also increasingly threats to national security and economic interests.
Such an agreement could mainstream the SEM process, building on provisions established in NAFTA, NAAEC and CUSMA. Existing regional offices could be maintained to ensure strong connections on the ground, and the procedures used could largely be unchanged.
At a time when many countries seem to be focusing on narrow self-interest and military spending rather than the environment, this is a challenging proposition.
However, integrating the SEM process into a new, broader, collective effort would allow American countries to assert hemispheric leadership without having to reinvent the wheel. It would also allow citizens the continued ability to bring claims and to have some accountability.
As the U.S. government withdraws from its international obligations, reconceiving international organizations that are under existential threat is now a necessity. Reconfiguring SEMs throughout the Americas would serve as a model for other organizations and as a way of shifting international organizations to be less dependent on any one state.
Alexandra R Harrington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Milliard invested as Liberal candidate in Orford
Milliard invested as Liberal candidate in Orford
Sherbrooke Record · 18 hours ago
by Matthew Mccully · News
New Quebec Liberal leader says he identifies with Townships’ energy and passion
Michael Keegan
The Record – LJI
Newly acclaimed Quebec Liberal leader Charles Milliard was officially named the party’s candidate in the riding of Orford for the coming provincial election, the first of 125 candidates, he says he’s eager to present to Quebecers for the 2026 campaign. The investiture took place before a very enthusiastic audience of 200 party members at the Hôtel Chéribourg in Orford on Feb. 28.
To the delight of the party faithful, Milliard, whose remarks were predominantly in French, proclaimed that the Quebec Liberal Party was “finally back in Estrie,” referring to the party’s hold on the riding ever since it was created in 1973, up until the Coalition Avenir Québec’s (CAQ) Gilles Bélanger was first elected there in 2018.
Milliard and the members of the party establishment who welcomed him put great emphasis on the importance of being first and foremost an attentive and effective representative in one’s riding. Milliard invoked the names of former Orford MNAs George Vaillancourt, Robert Benoit, and Pierre Reid. Present to offer their support to Milliard were the wife of Benoit, Gisèle, and Benoit’s former attaché Lynn Blouin.
Former premier of Quebec Daniel Johnson Jr. gave a speech that sought to contrast what he said were the Liberal party’s values from those he said were being demonstrated by the CAQ government. He said Liberal values consist in “respecting the values of one another.” In a clear reference to the CAQ’s Bill 1, their proposed Quebec Constitution, Johnson said, “Rights must be expanded, not removed, not limited.”
Early on in his approximately 30-minute speech, Milliard said the Orford riding executive reflected what he would like every executive to be, “a mix of experience and renewal that reflects the diversity of the riding.” He thanked Notre-Dame-de-Grace MNA Désirée McGraw for having been present in the riding and said that “job is coming to an end and reinforcements are on the way.”
Milliard praised the Townships as having “something balanced and authentic.” He said one finds there “an economic dynamism that is impressive, led by its local businesses, but also great cultural vitality.”
After describing the people of Estrie as innovative entrepreneurs, elected officials who take their responsibilities seriously, and engaged voters who follow the issues and aren’t shy about making their voices heard, Milliard said, “I identify with your energy and I want to embody with you that passion for the region which unites us.”
“The riding of Orford also includes a significant proportion of English-speaking Quebecers,” said Milliard in the longest of three brief remarks he made in English. “For too long this community has been overlooked or taken for granted. I’m committed to listening to its needs, listening to its concerns and making them my own, especially when it comes to obviously protecting, fundamental rights, but also on crucial issues like the economy, agriculture, and the living conditions of our seniors.”
Subscribe to read the full story and more
L’article Milliard invested as Liberal candidate in Orford est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record.
The traveling boom town
The stage for the BTS reunion concert in South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
It stings when out-of-towners flock to a nearby concert that you couldn’t get tickets to, but at least your economy might get the last laugh. Taylor Swift’s and Beyoncé’s GDP-shifting world tours showed how restaurants and hotels can reap massive benefits when big arena shows come to town. So, go ahead—let all those other fans drop $300 on nosebleed seats while you bask in the economic ripple effects. The next Eras Tour: Flights and hotel rooms in 34 cities around the world quickly sold out this year after the K-pop phenomenon BTS announced it was back together and going on an international tour. The group’s return is so eagerly anticipated that Booking.com searches surged 6,700% compared to a year prior for a November tour date in one Taiwanese host city. Globally, the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that music tourism could surpass $9 billion in value by 2030 (driven by millennial and Gen Z spending power), marking a 50% increase from 2023. That’s peanuts compared to sports tourism, which could comfortably surpass $1 trillion in the next few years, per the WEF. A chunk of that spending will happen in California, where tourist revenue is already among the highest in the US:
Other hot spots include…Sydney, London, Barcelona, Paris, Dubai, and New York, which top the leaderboards for event-based travel overall. For host cities, concerts and sports matches can be the perfect lure—30% of international event tourists plan to return to wherever they’re visiting, per the WEF. |
Calls for a boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup are growing
Calls for a boycott of the 2026 FIFA World Cup are growing, but how realistic is one?
The Conversation – Articles (CA) · 7 days ago
by Noah Eliot Vanderhoeven, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Western University
The next major international sporting event, the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup hosted jointly by the United States, Canada and Mexico, is already garnering international scrutiny. There have been numerous calls to boycott it.
Calls for a boycott were amplified recently following U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland from Denmark, prompting soccer officials in Germany and France to broach the possibility of both countries boycotting the tournament.
Both countries’ soccer federations have pushed back against calls to boycott the World Cup for now, although recent events in Minneapolis have heightened concerns about the U.S.’ role in hosting the tournament and what that will mean for visitors.
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter — who was suspended by FIFA in 2015 and replaced by current FIFA president Gianni Infantino amid a corruption scandal he was later acquitted of — recently voiced concerns over the marginalization of political opponents and violent crackdowns on immigration in the U.S.
The World Cup has historically been an event that brings together fans from across the world. Many fans rely on tourist visas, and ICE is expected to be responsible for security at the World Cup. ICE’s director has refused to commit to pausing the agency’s operations during the tournament.
Human rights groups have raised concerns over whether World Cup visitors will be detained and handed to ICE if they engage in actions deemed critical of the U.S. government.
Boycotts at international sporting events
In the history of international sporting events, boycotts have been far less common than bans.
Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were not invited to attend the 1920 Olympic games after losing the First World War.
South Africa was invited to the 1964 Tokyo Games but saw their invitation rescinded due to apartheid, and only rejoined Olympic competition in 1992. Rhodesia saw its invitation to the 1972 Games rescinded due to its government enacting a white supremacist regime.
Notably, both instances of rescinded invitations to the Olympic Games came after other African nations threatened to boycott the Games if South Africa and Rhodesia were invited to participate.
There were also partial boycotts at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Several nations announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics to protest China’s mistreatment of the Uyghur Muslims, prohibiting many government officials from attending in an official capacity, while still permitting athletes to compete. Russia has been banned from most major international sports competitions since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
However, the most famous boycott of an international sporting event occurred in 1980 ahead of the Summer Olympics in Moscow following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. More than 60 countries boycotted those Games, led by the U.S. In turn, 19 countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, led by the Soviet Union and other Eastern bloc countries.
Yet there has never been a World Cup boycott by qualified teams on political grounds. In 1934, Uruguay famously chose not to travel to the second-ever World Cup in Italy because several European teams, including Italy, declined to travel to Uruguay for the inaugural tournament in 1930.
Prior to the 1966 World Cup, all African teams withdrew from qualifying in protest because FIFA had only allocated all of the teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania one combined place at the tournament. There were calls for Norway to boycott the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar, but they did not qualify for the tournament.
How likely is a boycott?
As of yet, no leaders of major soccer federations have endorsed calls for their country to boycott the tournament, despite pressure from some executives and politicians. It would likely take decisive action from a federation head, akin to the action President Jimmy Carter took prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, to arrive at a country boycotting.
Furthermore, given the relationship Trump has built up with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the effect of a boycott, or any credible threats of one, on the United States’ immigration policy or hosting responsibilities would likely be rather limited, making a boycott an unpopular decision that may not achieve the desired goal of any boycotting nation.
Infantino attended Trump’s inauguration and controversially awarded Trump FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize. More recently, he signed an agreement with Trumps’ Board of Peace on behalf of FIFA.
Infantino was also a staunch defender of Qatar’s building practices in the face of heavy human rights criticism and was willing to change FIFA’s policies at the last minute to acquiesce to Qatar’s demands for limited alcohol sales during the 2022 Men’s World Cup.
Trump could still escalate geopolitical tensions enough to spark further boycott discussions. But for now, a boycott remains unlikely, and even credible threats would likely do little to shift Infantino and Trump from the status quo.
Noah Eliot Vanderhoeven does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Almost 800 Quebec organizations utterly reject Bill 1
Almost 800 Quebec organizations utterly reject Bill 1
Sherbrooke Record · 3 days ago
by Matthew Mccully · News
Group opposing the CAQ’s Quebec constitution says the number of signatories is unprecedented
Michael Keegan
The Record – LJI
A declaration categorically rejecting the Coalition Avenir Québec’s proposed bill to create a Quebec constitution has been signed onto by 779 civil society groups from across the province, according five major organizations who held an online press conference on March 17.
Leaders from the Confederation of Trade Unions (CSN), the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ), the Quebec Women’s Federation (FFQ), the Autonomous Community Action Network of Quebec (RQ-ACA), and Quebec’s Rights and Freedoms League (LDL) held a press conference in French at the National Assembly in Quebec City to lay out the reasons why they and hundreds of organizations from across Quebec say Bill 1 must be withdrawn altogether.
On the LDL’s website, the English version of the declaration they all signed onto reads as follows:“Bill 1, the Quebec Constitutional Act, 2025, is a deliberate attack on democracy and human rights. The process is unilateral and rushed, and does not meet any of the democratic criteria for drafting a legitimate constitution. Furthermore, it perpetuates a colonial mindset by denying Indigenous people’s right to self-determination. Instead of addressing the issues that actually concern citizens (health, education, housing, the environment, gender equality, the cost of living, etc.), the government is attacking rights and freedoms, checks and balances, and the rule of law. Consequently, the undersigned groups demand the complete withdrawal of Bill 1.”
Caroline Senneville, President of the CSN, spoke first. Calling a constitution the foundation of a nation, she said, “What we have before us is a partisan bill from a government that day after day is losing its legitimacy, with a premier who has a known expiry date in April, a few weeks from now.”
Senneville said the bill had three fundamental flaws, the first being that it ignores First Nations. She said the second is that a constitution should be the law of laws, and the closest Quebec already has to such a thing — the Quebec Charter of Rights – is weakened by the bill. The third, she said, was that it was an extremely divisive document.
“That’s starting with three strikes,” she said.
Subscribe to read the full story and more
L’article Almost 800 Quebec organizations utterly reject Bill 1 est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record.
Home sale contracts signed last month fell to the lowest point since 2001
Anchiy/Getty Images
Buying a starter home in 2026 is equivalent to medaling at the Olympics, at least in terms of how much your parents will brag about it to their friends. That’s because becoming Though prices have come down slightly in the past year, the current median home sale price of $405,000 is far above the $329,000 from 2020. And on top of the initial price tag, there’s the eye-popping cost of a home loan, which has been driven up by the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates starting in 2022:
Meanwhile, homeowners who locked in low mortgage rates pre-2022 are now reluctant to list their properties, constraining supply. As a result, prices for preowned homes are elevated, and fewer keys are changing hands. The number of home sale contracts signed last month fell to the lowest point since 2001, per the National Association of Realtors. Older buyers, smaller homesPricier homes mean that by the time Americans have saved up for a down payment, they might need glasses to read the fine print on their mortgage documents: The median age of first-time homebuyers has climbed to 40 in 2025, from 30 in 2010. While Americans are paying more for homes, they’re getting less floor space. The size of an average new home dropped by 11% over the last decade, while the price per square foot rose 74%, according to a recent LendingTree study. Developers are building homes with fewer hallways in order to scrimp on increasingly expensive labor and materials. Silver liningsBut there might be more housewarming parties soon. Mortgage rates have started to come down in recent months, thanks to the Fed slashing interest rates. Economists predict that rates continuing to decline could lead to more homeowners listing their dwellings as they look to move. And though preowned homes are growing pricier, they’re also becoming more affordable for some, as price growth slowed and income growth outpaced home inflation last year. The rate of homeownership by Gen Zers rose by 1 percentage point last year to 27%, per Redfin, driven by new condos becoming more affordable. But many youths are done chasing the white picket fence dream…instead turning to other ways to grow their piggy banks, like investments in stocks and crypto, particularly by those with spare cash but not enough of it to afford a home. |
Americans are ditching America in droves
Nick Iluzada
If you hear someone with a Texas twang ordering a tall iced coffee with seven sugars in a Parisian cafe, they might be a local. Americans are moving abroad in record numbers, with at least 180,000 US citizens relocating overseas in 2025, according to the Wall Street Journal. On top of surging deportations and lower immigration, departing Americans have flipped the migration balance, pushing US departures above arrivals for the first time since 1935, according to the Brookings Institution. An estimated 4 million to 9 million Americans are now expats, and their ranks grew last year:
Why seek greener pastures? A lower cost of living on a US income appeals, as do The American dream, for many, is now a villa in Barcelona. The share of US adults who desire to relocate overseas permanently doubled between 2010 and 2025, to 20%. And 40% of American women age 15 to 44 now say they want to leave the country, per Gallup. |
The Epstein files are toppling business bigwigs
Véronique Tournier/Getty Images
Besides bringing a windfall to crisis communications consultants, revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files recently released by the Justice Department are spurring a parade of high-profile resignations across the business sector. Some VIPs appeared to have been chummy with the disgraced late financier even after his crimes became Googleable. Many of those caught in the files’ fallout are now putting in their two weeks:
The files have also sent shockwaves through DC: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is facing bipartisan calls to resign amid accusations that he downplayed the extent of his relationship with Epstein. Lutnick said they didn’t have a personal relationship but acknowledged stopping by Epstein's private island with his family in 2012. The fallout is global…with the head of Dubai’s largest port operator, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, leaving the position last week over Epstein links. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff departed earlier this month for his role in appointing Epstein’s friend, Peter Mandelson, to the US ambassadorship. Mandelson was sacked from the post last year and resigned from parliament earlier this month. |
54% of teens use AI for schoolwork
Getty Images
The days of cramming a SparkNotes summary of A Midsummer Night’s Dream 10 minutes before an in-class essay appear to be over. Instead, high schoolers are turning to chatbots for help. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey:
When reached for comment, your former history teacher just kind of stared into the distance without saying anything, before walking away. |
Companies seeking tariff refunds face uphill climb
The Washington Post/Getty Images
What do the businesses that shelled out $175 billion for Trump tariffs and anyone who was supposed to fly to the Northeast today have in common? They’re figuring out how to get refunds in light of drastic turns of events. ICYMI: On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump lacked authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act without congressional approval, and that means the ones he created cannot stand. In theory, that means the tariffs already collected ought to be refunded. But the Supreme Court stopped short of saying how, leaving it to the US Court of International Trade to figure out the refund process. That might take a minute…After the Supreme Court’s announcement on Friday, President Trump suggested refunds would not be easy to come by for companies seeking them, saying, “We’ll end up being in court for the next five years.” But many businesses seem eager to get money back ASAP, since they began legal proceedings long before Friday. According to Reuters:
Tariff Magic 8 Ball says “Cannot Predict Now”International trade lawyer Nancy Fischer told Reuters that the amount of time it will take to disburse refunds “depends on whether the administration decides to play hardball. It could get resolved quickly…but I am not so sure that necessarily is going to be the case.” Zoom out: Some companies may never try to get their refunds in an attempt to stay on the administration’s good side. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told ABC’s This Week that Trump’s tariff policy hasn’t changed and that the president will enact tariffs by other means. |
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)