Author: Press Room

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has officially resigned in the face of corruption charges at home and calls for her ouster in Washington. News broke minutes before the House Ethics Committee was about to meet for a public hearing Tuesday afternoon to determine a punishment for the third-term Democrat, who was charged with stealing $5 million in Covid relief funds. In a statement, Cherfilus-McCormick said the congressional proceedings did not constitute a “fair process” and that she was “choos[ing] to step aside” rather than “play these political games.” “I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than…

US Vice President J.D. Vance is reportedly headed to Islamabad for potential talks as the deadline for the current ceasefire looms Iranian officials have struck a defiant tone ahead of a possible new round of talks with Washington, warning that Tehran is prepared to “reveal new cards on the battlefield” while rejecting any negotiations conducted “under the shadow of threats.”Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused US President Donald Trump of trying to turn negotiations into “a table of surrender,” and said Iran has spent the past two weeks preparing new military options.“Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the…

Section 127 plans may be the answer for employers looking to add employee benefits.gettyWhen it comes to perks at work, free stuff is always a bonus. But as great as complimentary coffee and doughnuts might be, employees are increasingly looking for ways to eliminate or pay down student debt, which now averages $39,075 per borrower. One tax-favored benefit can be found in the tax code. Under section 127, employers can provide tax-free assistance to employees who pursue their education while working or (more recently) for repaying student loans. While section 127 was created by Congress in 1978 as a temporary…

Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin failed to place a customer’s satellite into the correct orbit during a Sunday launch, triggering massive financial losses for the satellite operator. The New York Post reports that Blue Origin experienced a mission failure when it deployed AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite into an incorrect orbit from its Cape Canaveral, Florida, launch site. The satellite was carried aboard the company’s New Glenn rocket but failed to reach the required altitude for operational deployment. According to AST SpaceMobile’s official statement, the satellite was placed into a lower orbit than planned due to issues with the upper…

The head of Peru’s National Election Jury (JNE), a body that evaluates disputes regarding ballots and other vote technicalities, told reporters this weekend that her office expects to be able to offer the nation the complete results of the April 12 election by mid-May. The JNE does not do the first round of vote-counting – the National Electoral Processes Office (ONPE) does. ONPE has finished counting about 80 percent of ballots nationwide at press time, presenting extremely close results on its website. At press time, conservative former first lady Keiko Fujimori holds about 17 percent of the vote, leading radical…

Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” President Donald Trump said his pick for Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh would do a “great job” which should include the U.S. having the lowest interest rate in the world. Co-host Joe Kernen asked, “Something else happening today and that that is your pick for Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is on Capitol Hill. We had a couple of guests today say the best thing that we need now is for Jay Powell to leave in May, like he’s supposed to, and have Kevin Warsh in his Fed chair for that next June meeting. But we…

Bobby Olivier, a food and culture Editor and a music reporter for NJ Advance Media, took Bruce Springsteen to task this week calling the rocker’s Prudential Center concert in Newark on Monday “all hypocritical crap. Profiteering over legitimate protest.” “Springsteen’s artistic identity, as a bleeding-heart populist who sings for the destitute and downtrodden, has never been more disconnected from his economic behavior as a touring act or businessman. The blue-collar troubadour now charges exorbitant amounts for his tickets — up to $2,900 retail for the best seats in Newark Monday; prices he agreed to despite fan backlash,” Olivier writes at NJ.com.…

Florida Sen. Rick Scott is blocking quick confirmation of hundreds of Coast Guard promotions as he tries to resolve a dispute involving a shipbuilder in his home state. The Republican said in an interview Tuesday that he has placed a hold on the Coast Guard promotions, which prevents the Senate from easily clearing them unanimously and would force Majority Leader John Thune to set up time-consuming roll call votes on promotions that are usually agreed to with little fanfare. “I’ve been talking … since Trump came into office about trying to resolve an issue they have with a boat builder…

Over 70% of displaced Palestinian households have cited threats to women and children as decisive reason for leaving Israeli soldiers and settlers are systematically using sexual violence and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank, according to a report by the West Bank Protection Consortium – a group of international humanitarian organizations. The report, published on Sunday and titled ‘Sexual Violence and Forcible Transfer in the West Bank’, documents at least 16 cases of conflict-related sexual violence attributed to Israeli settlers and soldiers over the past three years. The researchers noted that the actual number is…

The Department of War revealed that U.S. forces boarded another stateless, sanctions-defying “shadow fleet” tanker on Monday night to enforce the blockade against Iran. The Department of War (DoW) said the ship, called M/T Tifani, was boarded “without incident” in the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) area of responsibility. INDOPACOM covers the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but not the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf, indicating the tanker was intercepted before it could reach those waters. According to ship tracking data, the Tifani was traveling from Sri Lanka to Indonesia with a cargo of crude oil when it was intercepted. Although DoW…