Wednesday, April 24, 2024

4/24 WAKE-UP CALL: Deal Done, Ukraine Gets Billions


A sweeping foreign aid package easily passed the U.S. Congress late on Tuesday after months of delay, clearing the way for billions of dollars in fresh Ukraine funding amid advances from Russia's invasion force and Kyiv's shortages of military supplies. The Senate approved by 79 to 18 four bills passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday, after House Republican leaders abruptly switched course last week and allowed a vote on the $95 billion in mostly military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and U.S. partners in the Indo-Pacific.

The four bills were combined into one package in the Senate, which President Joe Biden said he would sign into law on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was grateful to U.S. lawmakers for approving "vital" aid for Ukraine. "This vote reinforces America's role as a beacon of democracy and leader of the free world," Zelenskiy said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

The largest provides $61 billion in critically needed funding for Ukraine; a second provides $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones around the world, and a third mandates $8.12 billion to "counter communist China" in the Indo-Pacific.

➤STUDENT PROTESTS RAMPING UP: Protests resumed Tuesday near New York University as colleges across the nation grappled with more unrest after days of demonstrations, campus closures and arrests swirling around U.S. support for Israel in its war on Hamas. The protests fueled a national debate over free speech and student demonstrations amid growing unrest over the fate of Palestinians in Gaza and concerns for the safety of Jewish students at home. Dozens of protesters were arrested Monday at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and NYU in Manhattan. Hundreds of students at Stanford University in Northern California held a walkout. At the University of California, Berkeley, students erected a Free Palestine Encampment. New York's Columbia University, the epicenter of the demonstrations, announced classes will provide a virtual learning option − where technology permits − until spring semester ends May 10.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik is facing mounting discontent as the school grapples with intense protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Some faculty and student groups have called on her to step down, while other professors and alumni say changing leadership now would throw the campus into further chaos. A faculty group has drafted a resolution censuring Shafik, but doesn’t call for her ouster.

Tensions are also flaring at other schools around the country, with student groups setting up collections of tents on central campus spots and lodging various demands. The protests have forced some colleges to rethink their graduation plans.

➤BIDEN URGED TO MOBILIZE THE NATIONAL GUARD: Sens. Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton called on President Biden to mobilize the National Guard to protect Jewish American college students in response to anti-Israel, pro-terrorist demonstrations on campuses.Hawley, Missouri Republican, wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Biden Monday: “On college campuses across the United States, Jewish Americans are at risk. … In your statement on Passover, you stated that ‘in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.’ Now you must take action to match those words.”


➤1Q SHARP DROP FOR TESLA:   The car company reported net income of $1.1 billion for the January-to-March period, down 55% from the year prior. Revenue fell 9% to $21.3 billion. In contrast, GM reported a 24% rise in first-quarter profit and lifted its profit outlook for the year, as the automaker leans into strong demand for gas-powered trucks and SUVs while trimming investment in future bets such as robotaxis. Meanwhile, investors have pulled a net $2.2 billion from the six actively managed exchange-traded funds at Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management, which made bold pandemic bets on disruptive technology stocks such as Tesla and Zoom. Technology shares led stock indexes higher today ahead of a spate of major earnings reports.

➤PECKER TESTIFIES: Tabloid publisher David Pecker testified about a deal to bury stories that were politically harmful to Donald Trump. Pecker told jurors that after a meeting with the former president in 2015 he spoke to Michael Cohen, then Trump’s lawyer, about buying a doorman’s story of Trump fathering a love child with his housekeeper and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal’s story of an affair with the former president. Prosecutors say that agreement constitutes a criminal conspiracy. Trump has denied an affair with McDougal. 

Earlier in the day, Justice Juan Merchan weighed whether Trump had violated a gag order that bars the former president from threatening witnesses involved in the trial. After proceedings wrapped up for the day, Trump railed against what he called the “totally unconstitutional” gag order and blamed the trial on President Biden.

➤U-S DRAFTING SANCTIONS ON CHINESE BANKS: The U.S. is drafting sanctions on Chinese banks aiding the Russian war effort. The banks serve as key intermediaries for commercial exports to Moscow, handling payments and providing client companies credit for trade transactions. Beijing has heeded Western warnings not to send arms to Russia since the beginning of the Ukraine war. But China is now Moscow’s primary supplier of circuitry, aircraft parts, machines and machine tools, which U.S. officials say has allowed Russia to rebuild its military industrial capacity. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Beijing, officials are counting on the threat of banks losing access to the dollar and the risk of roiling trade ties with Europe to persuade China to change tack.

➤DOJ TO PAY NEARLY $139M TO NASSAR VICTIMS: The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it will pay nearly $139 million to survivors of Larry Nassar's sexual abuse as part of a settlement stemming from the FBI's mishandling of the initial allegations. 

In the settlement: The DOJ said the money will be distributed to a group of 139 victims – including Olympic champions Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman – working out to roughly $1 million per claimant, on average.   What did Larry Nassar do? The former U.S. women's national gymnastics team doctor and Michigan State University employee was found to have sexually assaulted more than 500 women and girls under the guise of providing medical treatment. A DOJ report found that FBI officials failed to respond to allegations they received involving Nassar "with the utmost seriousness and urgency" in 2015 – a delay that allowed the abuse to continue.

➤NON-COMPETES BANNED:  The FTC banned employers from using noncompete contracts to prevent most workers from joining rival firms. The measure, approved by the agency’s Democratic majority on a 3-to-2 vote, marks the first time in more than 50 years that FTC officials have issued a regulation to mandate an economywide change in how companies compete. The Biden administration pushed for a regulatory assault on non-competes in 2021, when the White House issued a blueprint for stricter enforcement of antitrust laws. The FTC’s final rule becomes effective in four months. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to sue the agency as soon as Wednesday over the rule. The suit would argue that the FTC lacks the legal authority to issue the rule and would ask a federal court to invalidate it, Chamber officials said this week.

⚾NOW THAT'S A SHOT!  In his first couple of months with Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani has awed his new teammates and coaches with what he’s capable of achieving at the plate. For years, the Dodgers have admired Ohtani from afar, but now they get to experience it on a daily basis. What has impressed everyone the most, however, is just how hard Ohtani hits the ball on a consistent basis. Ohtani took it to another level in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win over the Nationals on Tuesday night, launching a solo homer off right-hander Jacob Barnes in the ninth inning that had an exit velocity of 118.7 mph and a Statcast-projected distance of 450 feet.

“It looks like a cruise missile,” said Dodgers center fielder James Outman. “That was absurd. That was just absurd.” The 118.7 mph exit velo is the hardest-hit home run by a Dodger since Statcast started tracking data in 2015. It was also the hardest-hit homer of Ohtani’s career and the 12th hardest by any player since ‘15.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Yankees 4 Athletics 3
  • Tigers 4 Rays 2
  • Reds 8 Phillies 1
  • Giants 5 Mets 1
  • Angels 7 Orioles 4
  • Rockies 7 Padres 4
  • Mariners 4 Rangers 0
  • D-Backs 14 Cardinals 1
  • Royals 3 Blue Jays 2
  • Twins 6 White Sox 5
  • Cubs 7 Astros 2
  • Braves 5 Marlins 0
  • Dodgers 4 Nationals 1

🏀NBA  SCORES:
  • Mavericks 96 Clippers 93
  • Pacers 125 Bucks 108
  • Timberwolves 105 Suns 93
➤WEDNESDAY'S WEATHER:



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