Author: Press Room

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is not going to be the US president, America’s incoming head of state Donald Trump has said, dismissing Democratic lawmakers’ taunts that Musk is the “real leader” of the Republican Party after his online campaign helped sink the government spending bill.Some Democratic leaders have raised concerns about Musk’s undue influence on the Republican politician, implying that Trump had ceded the presidency to the tech billionaire.Delivering his first major speech since the November election at Turning Point’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday, Trump rejected the claims.“No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell…

Americans’ consumer confidence apparently (and unexpectedly) tumbled in December (104.7 from 112.8 prior vs 113.2 exp), driven largely by a plunge in expectations (which dropped from93.7 to 81.1)…Source: Bloomberg“The recent rebound in consumer confidence was not sustained in December as the index dropped back to the middle of the range that has prevailed over the past two years,” Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement.And if that is a little confusing given the surge in confidence we have seen among small business, large business, and various other sentiment indicators (like UMich), the explanation is simple….It’s not…

Judge Aileen Cannon delayed the trial for would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh to September 8, 2025. Routh’s attorneys asked the judge to delay the trial to December 2025 citing the ‘large volume of evidence,’ however, Cannon scheduled the trial to begin in September. Reuters reported: A U.S. judge on Monday delayed a trial for the suspect in the second assassination attempt of President-elect Donald Trump until September 2025, according to a court order. Lawyers for the suspect, Ryan Routh, sought a delay of the scheduled Feb. 10 trial date, citing the large volume of evidence in the case. Florida-based U.S.…

FILE – Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe watches a pitch during the fourth inning of a … [+] baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sept. 11, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved Several MLB clubs had a first baseman on their holiday shopping list this year, and they stuffed their stockings this weekend. Since Friday, six teams either signed a first baseman or were involved in a trade affecting the position. A seventh team was given a deadline for a contract extension with the one they can’t afford to lose.…

VIENNA, VIRGINIA – JANUARY 8: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks to reporters following a … [+]Getty Images We last visited the pending January 1, 2025, deadline to file the new Beneficial Ownership Information (“BOI”) report in my article, With Deadline Looming, FINCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Is A Hot Mess (Dec. 9, 2024). At that time, a U.S. District Court had issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting FINCEN from enforcing the BOI filing requirement. The article warned that the Treasury Department would be taking an appeal and that it was entirely possible that the preliminary injunction would be lifted.…

Iraqi parliamentarian Habib Al-Halawi, leader of the Al-Sadiqoon parliamentary bloc in Iraq, declared in a recent interview that his forces would kill Americans “like we killed this fly,” while invoking the deaths of key figures as a rallying cry for jihad and martyrdom. In a fiery interview on Iraq’s Al-Ahd TV last month, Habib Al-Halawi, who also serves as the political leader of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl Al-Haq militia, issued a chilling threat against the United States. “Inshallah [God willing], we will kill the Americans like we killed this fly,” Al-Halawi proclaimed. The representative accused the U.S., Israel, and Turkey…

The outgoing Biden-Harris administration has renewed South Africa’s eligibility for trade benefits through the end of the next fiscal year, despite South Africa’s moral support for Palestinian terrorism and Russia’s war against Ukraine. U.S. Trade Representative Sam Michel, a former press secretary for the Biden campaign in liberal Minnesota, decided Monday that South Africa could retain its eligibility for preferential trade with the U.S. under a law called the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which aims to help developing African economies. South African observers worried that the country’s aggressive advocacy for the Palestinian cause — such as filing a…

Senator-Elect John Curtis (R-UT) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he has no qualms about speaking up when he disagreed with President-elect Donald Trump. Curtis said, “You know, it’s very important to me that President Trump is successful. I want to see him wildly successful, and I’ll be supportive of him when he’s talking about inflation and the economy and everything like that. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be moments when I disagree with him. And I think it’s very important to me and my constituents that — that at those moments that I feel comfortable speaking up.”…

Russian scientists have unveiled the remains of a 50,000-year-old baby mammoth found in thawing permafrost in the remote Yakutia region of Siberia during the summer.They say “Yana” – who has been named after the river basin where she was discovered – is the world’s best-preserved mammoth carcass.Weighing in at over 100kg (15st 10lb), and measuring 120cm (4ft) tall and 200cm long, Yana is estimated to have been only about one-year-old when she died.Before this, there were only six similar discoveries in the world – five in Russia and one in Canada.Yana was found in the Batagaika crater, the world’s largest…

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s Congress approved Monday a law that would lift the country’s seven-year-old ban on mining for metals.The law, proposed by President Nayib Bukele and passed on a 57 to 3 vote, would allow mining everywhere except nature reserves and sensitive watersheds. It’s expected to go into law with his approval.The law bans the use of toxic mercury in gold mining, and would require private companies to enter a type of joint venture with the government to open mines.Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inboxSee for yourself — The Yodel is the…