by Sundance via The Conservative Treehouse,
Annnd… Here we go. If you have not read the background {Go Deep}, you will not have the appropriate context to absorb the latest revelation about how the Dept of Defense will now conduct online monitoring operations, using enhanced AI to protect the U.S. internet from “disinformation” under the auspices of national security.
Asian stocks are set to open lower Tuesday, as traders return their focus to China’s efforts to halt its economic malaise after markets in the US were shut for the US Labor Day holiday.
Futures in Japan and Australia point to shares easing on Tuesday, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index — which jumped more than 3% Monday before paring gains — is also set to fall. That comes after European shares failed to provide a strong lead for investors, with the Stoxx 600 gauge closing little-changed in low-volume trading after rising as much as 0.8% earlier.
China’s beleaguered property sector is getting a boost from the announcement that down-payment thresholds across the nation would be lowered, with Shanghai and Beijing seen as benefiting the most. A Bloomberg gauge of Chinese developers jumped as much as 8.7% on Monday, with sentiment improving further after news of a weekend surge in home sales in two of its biggest cities, an early sign that government efforts to cushion a record housing slowdown is helping.
China’s PMI composite and services data to be released Tuesday will provide further indications on whether Asia’s biggest economy is starting to emerge from its post-pandemic torpor.
“We have been looking for more significant property rescue measures for some time to shore up sentiment and consumer confidence,” UBS Global Wealth Management Chief Investment Officer Mark Haefele said. “This now appears to be materializing in a more convincing way.”
On Monday, Europe’s consumer, travel and leisure and mining shares — sectors with exposure to China — advanced. Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S rose to a new record high, having just become Europe’s most valuable firm. Carmaker Mercedes Benz Group AG added 1% after unveiling a new, longer-range electric vehicle.
Meanwhile, expectations of crude supply cuts from the OPEC+ group kept oil futures near nine-month highs. WTI crude oil edged higher after surging last week on Russia’s announcement that it will extend export curbs. Saudi Arabia — which along with Moscow sets the tone at the OPEC+ alliance — is widely expected by traders to follow suit by pushing its voluntary curbs into October.
Markets got a boost from a US jobs report on Friday that showed a steadily cooling labor market, offering the Federal Reserve room to pause rate increases this month. Some investors are convinced the Fed won’t hike rates further this cycle, bets that were reinforced after last week’s jobs data. At the same time, this year’s US stock market rally is strong enough to withstand another leg higher for bond yields, according to the latest Markets Live Pulse survey.
Some investors are convinced the Fed won’t hike rates further this cycle, bets that were reinforced after last week’s jobs data. At the same time, this year’s US stock market rally is strong enough to withstand another leg higher for bond yields, according to the latest Markets Live Pulse survey.
“The incoming data supports our view of a ‘softish’ landing for the US economy,” Haefele said.
While Treasury markets were closed, bond yields inched higher in the euro zone, with rate-setters seemingly divided on whether policy needs to be tightened further this month, given above-forecast inflation and sluggish growth. In a speech in London, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde avoided signaling whether policymakers will raise or hold interest rates next week.
Elsewhere, Australia’s central bank is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged today. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after rallying 0.4% on Friday.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-stocks-set-fall-china-222354986.html
A change made to US immigration policy by the Biden administration led to a "predictable" rise in the number of "family units" attempting to cross into the US border.
Based on a new report of preliminary Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) data, August was the highest month this year for overall migrant encounters - hitting 91,000. Policy experts say that was 'entirely predictable' due to a rule change which exempted 'family units' from being automatically denied asylum.
"Notwithstanding the administration’s claim that they are refusing to consider asylum claims from people encountered between ports of entry, the rule they adopted has huge loopholes. Among those explicitly exempted are family units," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in a Friday statement to Just the News.
"So, guess what? We are seeing a surge in family units crossing the border illegally and it is not even clear if they really are family units. As we have seen in the past, there have been rent-a-kid schemes to help people take advantage of the laxer rules that apply to adults accompanied by children. The record number of family units encountered at the border was entirely predictable," he added.
Since May, immigrants seeking asylum at the U.S. border have been able to request appointments, up to 1,450 per day, CPB says, with immigration officials using the CBP One smartphone application.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Just the News that the immigrants who use the CBP One app to schedule appointments still have to make it to the border somehow. -Just the News
"They still have to pay smugglers to get here and the whole thing is a boon for alien smugglers," said Krikorian. "It's supposed to only be for people who have made it to Mexico already and even that's bad enough, because you have to pay a smuggler to get there but the smugglers have figured it out. They're actually using it."
Krikorian also says that the increase in family units was predictable due to current DHS policy.
"I don't know what the administration thought was going to happen," he continued.
Hilariously, the White House is now claiming that President Joe Biden has "done more" to secure the border "than anybody else."
Secure it for who, exactly?
According to the CBP, a family is defined as "group of two or more aliens consisting of a minor or minors accompanied by his/her/their adult parent(s) or legal guardian(s)."
Last Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the number of family units seeking entry into the US hit a record high in August.
The Post reports that the US Border Patrol "arrested at least 91,000 immigrants who crossed as part of a family group in August, exceeding the prior one-month record of 84,486 set in May 2019."
And how many didn't they arrest?
Simple Online Pharmacy, a UK-based online pharmacy chain, will charge patients with private insurance or those paying out of their own pockets between 199 pounds and 299 pounds ($251-$377) for a month's supply of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy.
It was the first indication how much the popular weekly injection would cost private patients in Britain after Novo announced it had launched Wegovy earlier on Monday.
It said it expected to have Wegovy in stock "within the next 24 hours". More than 50,000 people have registered an interest in Wegovy on its website.
Saxenda, a daily injection which is Novo's older weight-loss treatment already on the UK market and which is less effective than Wegovy, is also in short supply.
"Our research into other markets indicates Wegovy demand typically outpaces Saxenda somewhere between 3 and 6 times, so we expect to be inundated," said Chief Executive & Co-Founder Addy Mohammed in the statement.
Simple is one of the main providers of weight-care medications in Britain, alongside Walgreens Boots Alliance and LloydsPharmacy.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-wegovy-weight-loss-drug-101431136.html
People in Britain who can afford to pay out of their own pocket may get easier access to Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy than those seeking treatment in the country's state-run health service, some doctors and medical experts warned on Monday.
That risks worsening health inequality in the country with the highest obesity levels in Europe when Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is under increasing financial strain and struggling with record waiting times.
Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk announced on Monday the launch of the drug in Britain, its fifth market, making it available on the NHS weight management scheme, where it will be prescribed for free, but also on the private market.
Novo said on Monday that it would allocate a portion of available supply for the NHS, which said around 50,000 patients could be eligible in England, but cautioned that supplies will be constrained for the foreseeable future.
Naveed Sattar, a Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow who has consulted for Novo but said he had no knowledge of its decision-making process, said he was "not comfortable" with Wegovy being available privately.
"It just doesn't make sense to me because there is substantial need in the NHS. Why wouldn't we put all that (supply) through the NHS?" he said.
A 2019 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report said that nearly one in three adults are obese in the United Kingdom, the highest level in Europe.
In the most deprived areas in England, prevalence of obesity or being overweight is 14 percentage points higher than in the least deprived areas, data for 2020/21 show, according to a NHS report published in January.
Many obese people who live in poverty or face other barriers such as not speaking fluent English may struggle to access the NHS specialist service, said Duane Mellor, a dietician and senior lecturer at Aston University's medical school.
The U.S. Consulate in the northern Mexican border town of Matamoros on Monday said its "employees are currently under a shelter in place order" due to gun violence in the city.
In recent years Matamoros, which borders the southern U.S. city of Brownsville in Texas, has been racked by violence linked to drug trafficking.
"We recommend you shelter in place and stay tuned to local news for updates in your area," the U.S. Consulate General said on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Earlier this year two Americans were killed when members of a drug cartel kidnapped four people in Matamoros in a case of apparent mistaken identity, an incident that threw a harsh spotlight on violence in Mexico and sparked angry reactions from some U.S. lawmakers critical of Mexican efforts to fight crime.
https://www.aol.com/u-consulate-mexico-border-town-193908518.html
