Stock Markets
Biden digs in as pressure from fellow Democrats escalates
(Refiles to fix typo in word ‘of’ in paragraph 10)
By Andrea Shalal and Nandita Bose
WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) – Facing increasing calls from fellow Democrats to end his campaign for re-election, U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday gave no hint that he was considering stepping aside after a pair of defiant public appearances a day earlier.
Biden, 81, is facing a slow-boil uprising from congressional Democrats and some influential donors who have grown concerned he lacks the capacity to defeat Republican Donald Trump, 78, in the Nov. 5 election. A much-anticipated interview the president gave to ABC News that aired Friday evening seemed to do little to temper those worries.
In that interview, Biden said only the “Lord Almighty” could persuade him to abandon his campaign, dismissing the possibility that Democratic leaders could band together to try and talk him into standing down. He held a business-as-usual call with the national co-chairs of his campaign on Saturday, the White House said.
Pressure from Congress seems only likely to ramp up in the coming days as lawmakers return to Washington from a holiday recess.
On Saturday, U.S. Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota became the first Democratic member of the House of Representatives in a battleground district to call for Biden to relent.
“Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” Craig, a top 2024 target of House Republican efforts, posted on X.
Some Democratic House lawmakers are circulating two separate letters calling for Biden to step aside, House Democratic sources have said. Many of those lawmakers had been waiting to see the ABC News interview before moving forward.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has scheduled a virtual meeting on Sunday with senior House Democrats to discuss Biden’s candidacy and the path forward, NBC News reported.
U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, who had previously called on Biden to step aside, told CNN after the interview, “Every day he (Biden) delays makes it more difficult for a new person to come on board to defeat Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile on the Senate side, U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia is planning a meeting of senators on Monday to discuss Biden’s condition.
Biden is spending Saturday at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, with no public events on his schedule, although he often attends an evening church service. Sunday will be a busy day for him, with two Pennsylvania campaign events in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
At a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin on Friday, Biden vowed to stay in the race.
“I am running and gonna win again,” Biden told supporters.
Some polls show Trump’s lead over Biden widening, and Democrats worry concerns about the president could weigh on down-ballot races.
But Biden registered his best showing yet in a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult tracking poll of battleground states, with Trump leading Biden by only 2 percentage points, 47% to 45%, in the critical states needed to win the November election.
One bright spot for Biden came early Saturday, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas accepted a U.S. proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, a move that could pave the way for a ceasefire to end the nine-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the top choice to replace Biden if he were to step aside as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, will speak in New Orleans at the Essence Festival of Culture, an annual culture and music festival sponsored by Essence magazine, which caters to Black women.
Harris on Friday posted a supportive note on X after Biden’s rally in Madison, saying the president had devoted his life to fighting for Americans. “In this moment, I know all of us are ready to fight for him,” she said.
Margaret Washa, 75, a retired physical therapist from Middleton, Wisconsin, saw Biden at the Madison rally and thought he looked more vigorous, but grew dismayed after watching the interview.
“It’s starting to be about him and whether he can do it, and rather than about what’s best for our nation, and about turning over leadership to the next generation,” she said. “It’s time to pass the baton. There are so many good, strong, younger, intelligent, more charismatic Democrats out there.”
(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 10)
By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the discussions.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to withdraw, probably on Day One or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health (NS:) Law.
The Financial Times was first to report on the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump’s longstanding criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major U.S. health agencies including the CDC and FDA.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
Trump has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect U.S. contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred Reuters to comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Dec. 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the U.S. time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a U.S. withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
“The U.S. would lose influence and clout in global health and China would fill the vacuum. I can’t imagine a world without a robust WHO. But U.S. withdrawal would severely weaken the agency,” Gostin said.
U.Today – MicroStrategy has made headlines again by purchasing 5,262 BTC for approximately $561 million at an average price of $106,662 per BTC. The company now holds a staggering 444,262 BTC, accumulated at a total cost of approximately $27.7 billion, with an average purchase price of $62,257 per BTC.
Despite impressive returns of 47.4% since the beginning of the quarter and 73.7% since the beginning of the year, skepticism about the company’s strategy is growing.
It is believed that to sustain its purchases, MicroStrategy raises capital through methods such as issuing convertible and corporate bonds, securing credit lines and selling shares.
This cycle appears to operate as follows: shares are sold to acquire the cryptocurrency, and the rising price per BTC increases asset value, enabling further loans, which are then reinvested in more purchases.
Some observers warn that a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price or MicroStrategy’s stock could trigger a cascade effect. A sharp fall in MSTR shares would weaken the collateral backing its loans, potentially leading to forced asset sales, including BTC.
This scenario could exert downward pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market, as the company holds 2.2% of the global Bitcoin supply now.
Thus, while some view Michael Saylor’s approach as a bold bid to cement the cryptocurrency’s role in the financial system, others see it as unsustainable. History offers a cautionary note: in 2000, MSTR shares surged to $333 before plummeting 99%, a collapse that took 24 years to recover from.
National homebuilder ranked No. 12 on inaugural list ranking companies based on trust
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — With a longstanding reputation for trust, national homebuilder and land developer Taylor Morrison (NYSE:) (NYSE: ™HC) has been recognized by Forbes on their inaugural list of the Most Trusted Companies in America. The homebuilder ranked No. 12 out of 300 companies across all industries.
“There are few things more powerful than trust and it’s something we strive to earn amongst all company stakeholders, from our customers to our team members, our shareholders, and our local communities,” said Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer. “To be included on this esteemed list in its inaugural year is especially meaningful and these awards are important reminders of the relationships we’re building across all aspects of our business.”
Fueled by hundreds of millions of data points, the Most Trusted Companies in America list combines data on a wide range of factors across four categories: employee trust, customer trust, investor trust and media sentiment. The ranking was created in partnership with research companies HundredX, Signal AI and Glassdoor.
Taylor Morrison also earned the No. 67 spot on Forbes’ inaugural America’s Best Companies list. The ranking is Forbes’ most comprehensive company ranking to date and factored in ratings for financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, cybersecurity, sustainability, companies’ remote work policies, media coverage and more. Forbes’ America’s Best Companies list assessed more than 60 metrics across 11 primary categories to identify which organizations excel across the board. Of the more than 2,000 U.S.-based publicly traded companies that were eligible, only 300 qualified for each list.
In addition to being named among the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America by Forbes, Taylor Morrison holds several additional accolades including being named on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies and America’s Greenest Companies lists, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For list, the American Opportunity (SO:) Index, America’s Most Trusted ® Home Builder for nine years, Hearthstone’s 2021 BUILDER Humanitarian Award, and inclusion on the Fortune 500 list since 2021.
About Taylor Morrison
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and developers. We serve a wide array of consumers from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury and resort lifestyle homebuyers and renters under our family of brands”including Taylor Morrison, Esplanade and Yardly. From 2016-2024, Taylor Morrison has been recognized as America’s Most Trusted ® Builder by Lifestory Research. Our long-standing commitment to sustainable operations is highlighted in our annual Sustainability and Belonging Report.
For more information about Taylor Morrison, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.
CONTACT:
media@taylormorrison.com
Forex2 years agoForex Today: the dollar is gaining strength amid gloomy sentiment at the start of the Fed’s week
- Forex2 years ago
How is the Australian dollar doing today?
- Forex2 years ago
Unbiased review of Pocket Option broker
- Forex2 years ago
Dollar to pound sterling exchange rate today: Pound plummeted to its lowest since 1985
- Cryptocurrency2 years ago
What happened in the crypto market – current events today
- World2 years ago
Why are modern video games an art form?
- Commodities2 years ago
Copper continues to fall in price on expectations of lower demand in China
- Forex2 years ago
The dollar is down again against major world currencies
