It’s really not as simple as saying good news on the economy was treated as bad news on Wall Street. Yes, the S & P 500 shed 1.5% Friday, after December payroll growth of 256,000 was 100,000 above forecasts and the unemployment rate fell a tick to 4.1%. But the mini-market tantrum is less about disliking prosperity than worrying it might not be sustainable given the way bond yields and the Federal Reserve are acting in response. What the market knows is that the economic data released early in each year since the pandemic has come in hot, only to…
Author: usaeverydaylife
In light wool trousers, dress shoes and an overcoat that was partly open, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was minimally clothed for the minus 13 degrees Celsius weather on Monday when he stepped out of his official residence to announce his resignation.Mr. Ignatieff pulled on a Team Canada hockey jersey — conveniently Liberal red in color — and, mostly for the benefit of television camera crews and photographers, went for a skate with some other members of Parliament and senators from his party.I went ahead of them and randomly stopped other skaters to ask whether they recognized Mr. Ignatieff. Few did.…
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesMark Zuckerberg’s announcement this week that Meta would pivot its moderation policies to allow more “free expression” was widely viewed as the company’s latest effort to appease President-elect Donald Trump. More than any of its Silicon Valley peers, Meta has taken numerous public steps to make amends with Trump since his election victory in November.That follows a highly contentious four years between the two during Trump’s first term in office, which ended with Facebook — similar to other social media companies — banning Trump from its platform.As recently as March, Trump was using his preferred…
The Lebanese prime minister on Saturday headed to the Syrian capital, Damascus, for the first official visit to meet with the new government there, after clashes along the countries’ shared border left several Lebanese soldiers wounded last week.The prime minister, Najib Mikati, spoke with Ahmad al-Shara, the leader of the new Syrian government, on Saturday afternoon, according to the Lebanese prime minister’s office. Mr. al-Shara leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group that spearheaded the lightning offensive that toppled the decades-long rule of Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian president, last month.Mr. Mikati’s visit came after the election of Joseph Aoun…
The Harvard Sentences are hundreds of sentences that have been used for many decades to test technologies in which understanding speech is essential, like telephone systems and hearing aids. I came across the list recently and was charmed by it.Some sample sentences: It’s easy to tell the depth of a well. The hogs were fed chopped corn and garbage. Help the woman get back to her feet. The harder he tried the less he got done. It caught its hind paw in a rusty trap. Write a fond note to the friend you cherish. Most of the news is easy…
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves listens during the 11th China-UK Economic And Financial Dialogue on January 11, 2025 in Beijing, China.Pool | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesBritish finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Saturday that she would take action to ensure that the government meets its fiscal rules announced in October’s budget.”Those fiscal rules that I set out in the budget in October are non-negotiable and we will take actions to ensure that we meet those fiscal rules,” Reeves told reporters during a trip to Beijing.Asked if she would use a budget update on March 26 to…
The flight recorder of the Jeju Air passenger jet that crashed last month, killing 179 people, stopped recording for its last four minutes, South Korean officials said on Saturday, a significant setback for investigators.Data extracted from the so-called black box, consisting of the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, is generally crucial in investigations of aviation accidents. Officials in South Korea, who have been working with the United States’ National Transportation Safety Board, have said that the flight data for the plane’s last four minutes would be especially important in this crash.But on Saturday, South Korea’s Ministry of…
Deadly wildfires ravage Southern California as water runs lowMultiple out-of-control blazes in the Los Angeles area yesterday killed at least two people and seriously injured many others. The fires destroyed homes and businesses and blanketed highways in smoke. Officials warned of a dwindling water supply and said the worst was yet to come. Follow our live coverage here.Tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes, and more areas were placed under evacuation orders by the hour. At least 18 school districts reported closures, and about 400,000 energy customers were without power. Air quality worsened as smoke poured…
From above the raging flames, these planes can unleash immense tankfuls of bright pink fire retardant in just 20 seconds. They have long been considered vital in the battle against wildfires.But emerging research has shown that the millions of gallons of retardant sprayed on the landscape to tame wildfires each year come with a toxic burden, because they contain heavy metals and other chemicals that are harmful to human health and the environment.The toxicity presents a stark dilemma. These tankers and their cargo are a powerful tool for taming deadly blazes. Yet as wildfires intensify and become more frequent in…
Israeli warplanes bombed ports and a power plant in Yemeni territory controlled by the Houthis on Friday, the Israeli military said, in the latest attempt to force the Iranian-backed militant group to stop firing at Israel and commercial ships in the Red Sea.Israel has escalated its strikes on the Houthis in recent weeks in response to repeated attacks by the Yemeni militia, which has been launching missiles and drones against Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. The United States and Britain have also struck Yemen repeatedly in an effort to secure international waterways from Houthi attacks, including new American…
