Category: Headlines

Juan Williams: A new year of living dangerously for the Supreme Court

January 2, 2023 Published by

Just In | The Hill 

At the start of this new year, history’s eyes are locked on the Supreme Court.

Several rulings on religion and race — culture war hot buttons — are due in 2023. 

Those decisions will arrive after a year in which the Supreme Court had to put a fence around the building for a time to hold off protests. 

Six conservatives on the court advanced a right-wing political agenda by uprooting nearly 50 years of settled law and ending every American woman’s constitutional right to abortion.

Polls show the abortion ruling resulted in an historic drop in public trust in the Court.

“Just 47 percent of adults in Gallup’s survey expressed even some trust in the judicial branch of the federal government, a stunning 20-point drop over the last two years and a 7-point drop from last year,” CNN reported in September.

“And it’s not just trust…just 4 in 10 Americans said they approve of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job…That matches the lowest approval rating Gallup has ever recorded for the Supreme Court.” 

Numerous polls showed the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade was deeply unpopular — in several surveys, by around a two-to-one margin.

And it impacted the midterm elections. Registered voters told Fox News in a September poll that the top two issues “motivating” them to vote were inflation, at 19 percent, closely followed by 16 percent concerned with abortion,

Towards the end of the year, Congress collected enough support — including 39 Republican votes in the House and 12 in the Senate — to protect the rights of same-sex and interracial couples of marry. The legislation was a direct response to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ partisan opinion in the abortion case.

Thomas trumpeted the idea that conservatives on the court might do away with any right based on the concept of privacy. That opened the door to future rulings that would end the legal right to same-sex marriage, interracial marriage and even contraception.

The politics of the abortion decision also tore at trust among the justices.

During oral arguments, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked whether the Court could “survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts.”

The “stench” was evident in a leak of the Dobbs decision before it was officially released.

That sabotage was revealing. 

As a matter of strategy, it had one of two intentions. 

Number one, the conservative justices, or someone close to them, leaked it to keep any of them from abandoning the draft of a ruling they knew to be radical. Number two, the more liberal justices, or someone close to them, leaked to shame the conservative block in the hope that public pressure would force reconsideration of the decision.

The eventual ruling fit with the draft and led to an internal Supreme Court investigation. So far, there is no public report on the result. 

Now the talk is that the findings are being withheld because they will add to the fires raging at the court.

There are fires all around the court. 

After the Dobbs ruling, a former anti-abortion activist told Congress that in 2014 a donor to his group was told in advance by Justice Samuel Alito that they would get a favorable outcome of a pending case on contraception and religious rights.

Alito adamantly denied the allegation, as did the donor whom he allegedly told.

Another fire erupted when Thomas was the sole dissenter in a ruling that allowed Congress to see some Trump administration documents tied to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The politics became eye-opening when it later emerged that Thomas’s wife was keenly involved in efforts to overturn the election’s result.

Ginni Thomas was in direct correspondence with Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff, writing: “Help this Great President stand firm, Mark!!!… Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”

Also under scrutiny is a former Thomas clerk, John Eastman.

He was found to have offered advice to the defeated president on how to make a legal case for remaining in office.

I wrote a prize-winning biography of Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. Thomas sits in the seat once held by Marshall.

To my mind, he is the gold standard for a modern Supreme Court Justice. His agenda was to pursue equal justice for all. That meant asserting protection of individual freedoms for racial minorities, women, and children.

Conservative critics complained he was a liberal activist on the court.

But even the critics agree he was engaged in persuading his fellow justices based on existing law and not acting as part of any newly powerful majority to achieve a political agenda. 

As one of Marshall’s former clerks, current Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, said in September: “If there are new members of the court, and…very fundamental principles of law are being overthrown or being replaced…That just seems as though people with one set of policy views are replacing another.”

Welcome to a new year with the Supreme Court in need of a fence to keep out public rage.

Juan Williams is an author, and a political analyst for Fox News Channel.

​Opinion, Columnists Read More 

Strategic competition demands action in 2023

January 2, 2023 Published by

Just In | The Hill 

Keeping an economic edge is essential in the strategic competition between America, its allies and their authoritarian rivals. Security priorities like concluding the Ukraine conflict in a manner that discourages similar hostility against Taiwan and accelerating military modernization to deter great power aggression are vital.

Yet security strength relies on economic strength. You cannot afford to fund the world’s leading military without a strong economy.

Commercial technology leadership supports a technological edge in security. Five economic priorities are central to success in today’s strategic competition.

Selectively limit access to technology

America projects economic power through technology exports that animate economies around the world.

China’s rise was unfairly accelerated by misappropriating technology. Its military buildup and aggressive actions — whether menacing Taiwan or its recent hypersonic missile test — are cause for concern.

With civil technology empowering today’s weapons, targeted restrictions on high-tech exports or investments to avoid aiding capabilities used to threaten American interests can be justified. Yet unless other technologically advanced economies align with such restrictions, they will only result in diverting demand from American suppliers.

Given complex intertwined global supply chains, continuing collaboration with like-minded partners while preventing China from gaining access from diverted sources will require diligence to effectively monitor and enforce.

Priority: Restrict tech that benefits rival militaries selectively, only in tandem with key allies, and with diligent monitoring and execution.

Prioritize coordination with allies

Countervailing subsidies may be necessary to neutralize other nations’ efforts to gain commercial advantage if their subsidies cannot be restricted through trade negotiations. Any subsidies should be limited and for short duration to preserve America’s competitive advantage as a market-driven economy. Every effort should be made to avoid political manipulation in their application.

Sometimes the justification is to ensure access to critical materials for security purposes. Given Taiwan’s geopolitical vulnerability and its dominance in advanced chip fabrication, such was the justification for America’s Chips and Science Act.

Climate related credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) were in part driven to counter China’s subsidies seeking to corner the market on batteries and electric vehicles, as they have already done significantly with critical minerals and solar panels. Yet they were enacted with little regard to trade obligations or harm to nations whose cooperation is critical to the success of tech restrictions and more.

It is essential that any industrial policy actions are closely coordinated in advance with allies.

With America facing a peer competitor, it must always remember that strategic competition is a team sport.

Priority: America should prioritize achieving an understanding with allies on IRA credits and future industrial policy actions, if any.

Bolster international infrastructure support

Inattention to international infrastructure investment needs has allowed China to lay foundations which have long-lasting influence over governing principles and commercial ties. The U.S. agencies that provide such support regularly generate net revenue though still trail the scale of those of individual European nations and China. While recent actions have strengthened their capabilities, limitations remain. Collective action promised with the G7 to activate infrastructure investment has yet to be matched with sustained action.

America has only recently focused on securing critical supplies.

China has focused for decades on locking up vital ingredients for its economy and in so doing has accumulated chokeholds on several minerals vital to electric vehicles and security applications.

For America’s development and export finance agencies, any efforts to secure supply chains or blunt distortions of markets by other nations is secondary to their primary missions. Limitations on these agencies designed to ensure alignment with their original roles hampers their ability to address supply chains or counter abuse. One consequence — Huawei continues to capture global markets with unmatchable prices, putting digital security at risk.

Priority: America must bolster infrastructure support efforts further to address pressing global needs and meet competitive challenges.

Expand trade with like-minded nations

America avoiding trade agreements benefits China. Trade agreements benefit the exports of countries within the agreement relative to nations not included. America shunning agreements for mutual market access as China joins an Asian pact and seeks to join the Pacific agreement America abandoned after leading its creation, allows China to define the rules of trade to America’s disadvantage.

One in five jobs in America is supported by trade.

It could be more.

As China is displacing America as other nations’ leading trading partner, Chinese workers gain jobs that could instead go to American workers. China also gains influence at the expense of America.

An unbroken string of U.S. presidents following WWII supported trade liberalization recognizing it as a net benefit, culminating with Barack Obama who issued a report in 2015 that attested to the benefits of expanded trade on wages, consumer costs, labor standards, the environment and closing the gender wage gap.

Most recent labor market disruption is from technology’s advance. A smaller portion is from trade.

The answer to labor dislocations is better supporting job transitions, not sacrificing the benefits of trade.

Priority: America should seek to expand trade with other nations to reap mutual benefits and to reduce over-dependence on China for critical goods. As nations denied technology develop alternatives and market them globally, America will face more competition. This reinforces need to resume pursuit of trade agreements.

Seek opportunity to end harmful China tariffs

Targeted actions to avoid overdependence on China for critical materials or to address trade abuses are warranted. But today’s tariffs on China hurt America. The Federal Reserve finds they are destroying jobs in America and increasing prices. The Department of Agriculture finds retaliation to these tariffs is reducing agricultural exports.

Tariffs did prod Chinese companies to set up operations in Southeast Asia to avoid tariffs, but resulted in few benefits to America to offset costs imposed.

Priority: America should continue targeted trade actions while seeking an opportunity to lift harmful blanket tariffs.

Today’s strategic competition demands that America advance these priorities to strengthen its economy at home and the mutually beneficial economic power it projects abroad. Doing so is essential to a prosperous and peaceful 2023 and beyond.

Mark R. Kennedy is a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a U.S. Air and Space Forces Civic Leader, president emeritus of the University of Colorado, and former U.S. Representative (2001-07) from Minnesota.

​International, Opinion Read More 

You may not know the difference between 'habits' and 'routines'—and it's your key to success in 2023, says attention expert

January 2, 2023 Published by

Your New Year’s resolution this year might never become a true “habit” — but that’s probably OK, according to Nir Eyal, a bestselling author and behavioral design expert. 

Eyal works with companies to build habit-forming products — whether it’s helping patients take medication on a schedule or getting people to regularly use a product for learning a new language. He’s also the author of “Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life,” which focuses on how we break habits associated with distraction.

In Eyal’s mind, being able to harness your attention is “the most important skill of the century,” but it’s not something we formally learn — which is also what makes it so crucial to understand better. 

The first step toward being less distracted in the pursuit of our goals, including New Year’s resolutions? We need to understand what can and can’t become a habit.

The difference between habit and routine

The trouble, in Eyal’s eyes, is simple: We want to turn everything into a habit — without understanding the fundamental difference between a habit and a routine. 

“The definition of a habit is the impulse to do a behavior with little or no conscious thought,” Eyal says. “Most of the things that people want to turn into a habit will never be a habit.” 

Meanwhile, a routine is “a series of behaviors frequently repeated,” he adds. “Eventually, some routines can become habits, but not every routine can become a habit.” 

Approximately 45% of our daily behaviors are habits, like where we eat meals each day or how we get ready for bed. So, the logic goes, if only we could figure out a way to “hack” our New Year’s resolutions and turn them into habits, we’d be well on our way to completing them without even thinking about it.

But habits are just that — instinctual, performed without thought and largely subconscious. Accomplishing a new goal will always take some degree of effort, even if it’s something you do regularly, like going to the gym or writing. “If a behavior is effortful, it can’t be a habit by its very definition,” Eyal says. “We need to stop telling people everything can become a habit. It can’t.”

All the while, there’s a wide cultural emphasis on the ease and importance of building habits, rather than routines, Eyal notes, and the problem isn’t merely a matter of semantics. 

“What happens is people say, ‘Oh, I read this book … that told me I can turn everything into a habit. And then, after a month or two, they look back and say, ‘Wait a minute. This isn’t easy. This isn’t on autopilot … but the book told me this was something I could put on autopilot.'” 

From there, the problem snowballs: Eyal says people then think “there must be something broken — not in the methodology, but in me … and so they give up altogether. And now, we leave them worse off than when we started.”

Expect changes to be hard

Instead of aiming for habits, he says people should focus more on building routines, since, by definition, routines acknowledge the difficulty of changing patterns. 

“If we tell people, ‘Look, some behaviors are going to be hard — always, if you’re doing them right,'” Eyal says, that’s better than “teaching people that things can be somehow easy,” which is the subliminal emphasis on habits. 

Eyal adds that many people assume that when they feel bad about a new behavior they’re trying to develop, it’s inherently a bad thing. “If you feel bad, you’re getting better,” he says. “Expect it to be hard.” 

“Many of these behaviors require us to put in effort,” he continues. We shouldn’t think that there’s a “magical formula” that can turn anything into an automatic, second-nature habit in just three steps, Eyal says. “Rather, here are tools to help you deal with the inevitable discomfort that is going to come from getting better at something.”

Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter

source

Russian drone swarm continues New Year assault on Kyiv

January 2, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Russia continued its assault on Ukraine’s infrastructure in Kyiv with a swarm of explosive drones throughout Monday morning.

Russia’s attacks on Kyiv have been relentless since New Year’s Eve. Russia followed up its holiday missile attack with drones that flew into the city just after midnight on Monday morning. Air-raid sirens blared and at least two explosions were heard in the heart of Kyiv, according to The New York Times.

Russia has made relentless use of the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones since the fall. The drones have an extensive range and explode on impact.

Ukrainian air defenses routinely shoot down most of the drones on approach to their targets, the sheer volume of strikes allows some to detonate.

MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS ROCK EASTERN UKRAINE CITY OF KHARKIV

Ukraine largely uses U.S.-supplied anti-air defenses to protect its major cities. The U.S. has granted tens of billions of dollars in military aid to the country.

AIR FORCE TO END BASIC TRAINING ‘BEAST WEEK’ IN FAVOR OF 36-HOUR FIELD TRAINING

The flow of weapons has put a strain on U.S. stockpiles, and Congress passed a massive budget granting the Pentagon nearly $900 billion to refit.

The traditional measure of U.S. military readiness has been its capacity to supply and carry out two major conflicts in separate areas of the globe. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan argued in December that U.S. support for Ukraine has revealed weaknesses in that readiness.

“We went through six years of Stingers in 10 months,” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes told NYT. “So it will take us multiple years to restock and replenish.”

The U.S. has sent nearly $20 billion in military aid to Ukraine since February, and there are plans to send much more. The aid is such that President Biden’s administration is struggling to keep track of how the aid is being used. The volume of U.S. aid to the country has given rise to some skeptics within the Republican Party, who are calling for greater accountability.

 

​Read More 

 

House Republican calls McCarthy ‘part of the swamp cartel’

January 2, 2023 Published by

Just In | The Hill 

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) on Monday called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “part of the swamp cartel” and vowed to not support McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker ahead of the vote tomorrow. 

Good told Fox News’ Griff Jenkins on “Fox & Friends” that he plans to follow the will of his constituents, hundreds of whom he said have told him over the years to not support McCarthy. Good is one of the at least five Republicans who have directly said or indicated that they would not support McCarthy for the Speakership. 

Good said he is judging McCarthy by what he has done as House minority leader, and he has done “nothing” to earn his vote. 

“There’s nothing that indicates to me that he’s going to change his patterns since he’s been in leadership, where he’s part of the swamp cartel,” he said. 

Good blamed McCarthy as the reason why the House passed a “massive” omnibus bill to fund the government last month, a measure opposed by conservatives who wanted to fund the government only until early this year to give the new House Republican majority more leverage.

“There’s nothing about Kevin McCarthy that indicates that he will bring the change that’s needed to Washington or that’s needed to the Congress or bring the fight against the Biden-Schumer agenda and represent the interest of the voters who sent us to Washington to bring real change,” he said. 

With the GOP holding a narrow majority in the House, McCarthy can only afford to lose five votes to win the Speakership on the first ballot when the next session of Congress starts on Tuesday, presuming all members of the body are voting. 

McCarthy has sought to consolidate GOP support behind him over the past few weeks, but it remains unclear if he will win enough votes to become Speaker. 

He made several concessions in the House Rules package that was released on Sunday, including a rule to allow five GOP members to motion to vacate the chair. That rule would lower the threshold required to force the House to take a vote on ousting the Speaker from half of the Republican Conference. 

The rules would also create a select subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government” as many Republicans have called for launching several investigations into the Biden administration. 

Good said he expects 10 to 15 Republicans will not vote for McCarthy on the first ballot, forcing the election to go to a second ballot and allowing a “true” conservative to emerge. Good did not name who that conservative might be.

​House, Bob Good, House speaker, House Speaker vote, Kevin McCarthy Read More 

Kim Jong Un fires North Korea’s top military official

January 2, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un removed his top military leader last week during an annual end-of-year meeting with the nation’s highest officials.

Pak Jong Chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, was the second most powerful military official in the country, behind only Kim himself. He was replaced by one Ri Yong Gil during a series of meetings with the Commission and Kim’s Central Committee.

Pak was seen seated with other commission members early on in a meeting last week, but his seat then went unoccupied. He was also not present in official photos Kim’s regime released from the event, according to Reuters.

The leadership shakeup comes as Kim is growing increasingly aggressive with ballistic missile tests, having launched dozens throughout last year.

SOUTH KOREA FIRES WARNING SHOTS, SCRAMBLES AIRCRAFT AFTER NORTH KOREAN DRONES CROSS BORDER

The U.S., South Korea and Japan have all ramped up military activity in the region as a result, leading to more aggressive language coming out of Pyongyang. The country focused heavily on Japan’s recently announced plan to bolster its military spending.

“Japan’s foolish attempt to satiate its black-hearted greed – the building up of its military invasion capability with the pretext of a legitimate exercise of self-defense rights – cannot be justified and tolerated,” a foreign ministry spokesman told state media in December.

AIR FORCE TO END BASIC TRAINING ‘BEAST WEEK’ IN FAVOR OF 36-HOUR FIELD TRAINING

North Korea has long attacked Japan for the atrocities it committed throughout Asia prior to and during the world wars. The country now argues Japan seeks a return to its colonial ambitions through its alliance with the U.S.

Japan’s renewed emphasis on its military is focused on not only North Korea but China as well. China also has grown increasingly aggressive toward Taiwan and has refused to acknowledge its lack of sovereignty in areas of the South China Sea.

The U.S. and its allies in the region have sought to prepare Taiwan for a potential invasion, with some threatening potential military intervention.

At least one of North Korea’s ballistic missiles flew over the island of Japan, and China conducted weeks of military exercises last year in an apparent trial run for invading Taiwan.

 

​Read More 

 

Bucs' Jake Camarda receives praise for heads up punt in closing moments against Panthers

January 2, 2023 Published by

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got monster performances from Tom Brady and Mike Evans in their win over the Carolina Panthers but it may have been their punter who made the play of the day on Sunday.

With 42 seconds left in the game, the Buccaneers were forced to punt the ball away. Jake Camarda lined up to kick the ball away but he fumbled the snap. He managed to run to his left and kicked the ball away with his right foot.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Ryan Succop #3 and Jake Camarda #5 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrate after a field goal during the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium on January 01, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. 

Ryan Succop #3 and Jake Camarda #5 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrate after a field goal during the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium on January 01, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. 
(Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Camarda’s extra effort helped Tampa Bay avoid a blocked punt or worse. A penalty on the play also gave the Buccaneers a second chance at putting the Panthers away. The second punt attempt was driven 41 yards and Carolina was forced to start at their own 8-yard line.

Fans were quick to applaud Camarda’s punt in the tricky situation.

TOM BRADY, MIKE EVANS PUT TOGETHER MONSTER PERFORMANCES TO LIFT BUCS TO NFC SOUTH-CLINCHING WIN

Camarda was a fourth-round pick out of Georgia in 2022. He was fresh off a national championship when he was named the starting punter. He’s appeared in all 16 games for Tampa Bay this season.

Jan 1, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA;  Tampa Bay Buccaneers punter Jake Camarda (5) looks down after he missed the field goal against the Carolina Panthers during the first half at Raymond James Stadium.

Jan 1, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA;  Tampa Bay Buccaneers punter Jake Camarda (5) looks down after he missed the field goal against the Carolina Panthers during the first half at Raymond James Stadium.
(Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

Brady had three touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown to lift the Buccaneers to a 30-24 victory over the Panthers and clinched the NFC South title. He finished the game 34-of-45 with 432 passing yards and added a rushing touchdown to his tally.

It was the first time he’s gone over 400 yards passing since Week 16 against the New York Jets last season.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Dec 25, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers punter Jake Camarda (5) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.

Dec 25, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers punter Jake Camarda (5) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium.
(Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

Evans and Chris Godwin each had 100 or more receiving yards. Evans finished with 10 catches for 207 yards. Godwin had nine catches for 120 yards.

Ryan Gaydos is the sports editor for Fox News Digital.

source

Brazil’s Lula inaugurated as new president after Bolsonaro reportedly fled to Florida home of MMA fighter

January 2, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Brazilian leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in as president on Sunday with his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro notably absent. 

Bolsonaro, now lacking presidential immunity, reportedly departed for the United States on Friday still without conceding defeat since October’s election. Bolsonaro reportedly plans to stay in Florida for at least a month, according to The New York Times, renting the Orlando home of a professional mixed-martial-arts fighter a few miles from Disney World.

In a speech to Brazil’s Congress Sunday, Lula went after the outgoing president of Latin America’s largest country, accusing Bolsonaro of wielding anti-democratic threats following the most fraught election in a generation and promising to hold members of his administration to account. 

“We do not carry any spirit of revenge against those who tried to subjugate the nation to their personal and ideological designs, but we will guarantee the rule of law,” Lula said, according to Reuters, without mentioning Bolsonaro by name. “Those who erred will answer for their errors.”

BRAZIL’S BOLSONARO TELLS SUPREME COURT ELECTION ‘IS OVER’ 

“Under the winds of redemocratization, we used to say, ‘Dictatorship never again,’” he added, according to the Times. “Today, after the terrible challenge we’ve overcome, we must say, ‘Democracy forever.’”

Lula, once forced into political hiatus while serving 580 days in prison on corruption charges before the country’s Supreme Court later threw out the convictions, vowed Sunday that in his new third term as president he would tackle deforestation and climate change and invoke stricter gun restrictions. He also criticized Bolsonaro’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which reportedly left 680,000 Brazilian dead. “The responsibilities for this genocide must be investigated and must not go unpunished,” Lula said.

At his elaborate inauguration — which included a motorcade, music festival and hundreds of thousands of supporters filling the central esplanade of the capital of Brasília – Lula announced that he accepted a presidential green-and-yellow sash from “the Brazilian people.” 

Breaking tradition, a garbage collector handed the sash to the incoming president because outgoing Bolsonaro wasn’t there to do so. 

“We look forward to continuing the strong U.S.-Brazil partnership in trade, security, sustainability, innovation, and inclusion,” Biden administration U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted. “Here’s to a bright future for our countries – and the world.”

King Charles also congratulated Lula, saying in a letter that he was “encouraged to hear you emphasize the urgent need to tackle the climate crisis in your victory speech and at COP27.”

A few hours before reports of his departure, Bolsonaro addressed the country as president on his social media. At times on the verge of tears, Bolsonaro said he wasn’t able to find a legal alternative or enough support to change the course of history and prevent his departure from office.

“How difficult it has been to stay quiet for two months, working to find alternatives,” he said. “If you’re upset, put yourself in my place. I gave my life to this country.”

Bolsonaro also condemned a recent bomb threat in Brasilia, saying it was not the time to attack people but rather to try to build opposition against the future government.

“We lost a battle, but we will not lose the war,” he said. “The world does not end on Jan. 1.”

A crowd of supporters stood outside the presidential residence in the pouring rain listening for a sign from their leader, and many were left disappointed. Some shouted the words “traitor” and “coward.” One woman cried, according to The Associated Press. 

Since his electoral loss, some of Bolsonaro’s most die-hard supporters have been camping outside military buildings in Brasilia and elsewhere in the country, asking for the armed forces to intervene. Many believed election results were fraudulent or unreliable and hoped Bolsonaro would somehow remain in power.

Others have blocked roads and highways or set buses and trucks on fire. Police are also investigating the attempted invasion of the federal police’s headquarters in Brasilia earlier this month and said most of the 32 individuals they are looking for have had contacts with the Brasilia pro-Bolsonaro encampment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

 

​Read More 

 

European shares start 2023 on upbeat note on encouraging factory data

January 2, 2023 Published by

European shares rose in the first trading session of 2023 on Monday as euro zone manufacturing data suggested the worst had passed after a year marred by fears of a recession as central banks hiked rates globally.

The pan-regional STOXX 600 rose 0.8%, supported by consumer discretionary stocks. The automobiles and parts sector gained 2.5% and luxury names like LVMH and Kering added about 1.5% each.

“With 10-year bund yields above 2.50%, relaxed year-end trading and the probable drop in HICP inflation are raising hopes for an upbeat start into the year,” Commerzbank Research analysts said in a note, referring to the euro zone consumer prices inflation data due later this week.

An early indicator was data showing the downturn in euro zone manufacturing activity has likely passed its trough as supply chains begin to recover and inflationary pressures ease, leading to a rebound in optimism among factory managers.

The STOXX 600 ended 2022 with sharp losses, driven by central banks’ aggressive policy tightening to rein in soaring prices, an economic slowdown, the Russia-Ukraine conflict that fanned inflationary pressures and growing concerns over COVID cases in China.

Rate-sensitive technology stocks, among the worst-performing shares last year, rose 1.5% on the day, despite more hawkish signals from the European Central Bank.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said euro zone wages are growing quicker than earlier thought and the central bank must prevent this from adding to already high inflation.

Bond yields of Europe’s largest economy, Germany, dropped from their highest levels in more than a decade as investors braced for inflation data this week.

Germany’s finance minister expects inflation in Europe’s biggest economy to drop to 7% this year and to continue falling in 2024 and beyond, but expects high energy prices to be the new normal.

The German DAX gained 1.0%, while other European exchanges also started the year on a positive note. The London and Dublin stock exchanges are closed for the New Year’s day holiday.

The energy sector added 1.3%, tracking firm crude prices.

Croatia rang in the new year with two historic changes, as the European Union’s youngest member joined both the EU’s border-free Schengen zone and the euro common currency.

source

More forecasts: 30 days Toronto weather