Argentina will cease expanding its monetary base as part of the government’s campaign to combat inflation, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said on messaging platform X on Saturday.
“From now on the amount of money remains the same or is reduced if the central bank (BCRA) sells dollars” in the official exchange market known as the MULC, Caputo wrote.
“If the BCRA buys dollars in the MULC, the issuance of equivalent pesos will be sterilized with the sale of equivalent dollars in the cash with liquidation (CCL) market,” a market where dollar transactions are settled in cash, Caputo wrote.
The policy will go into effect on Monday.
The announcement comes after official data published on Friday showed a five-month streak of slowing inflation ended in June when inflation was higher than in May.
Since libertarian President Javier Milei took power late last year, inflation has slowed dramatically in Argentina, decelerating from 25.5% in December to 4.2% in May. June’s figure was 4.6%.
U.S. President Joe Biden is set to meet virtually on Saturday with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to discuss the 2024 election, according to the White House.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel and the United States were responsible for an attack that killed dozens in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, but the Western-backed leader also blamed Hamas for the continuing war in Gaza.
His comments signal rising tension between Abbas's Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas group, which accused the Palestinian president of taking Israel's side.
Israel said the attack was aimed at killing the Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif and his aide. It remained unclear whether Deif or his deputy were killed in the strike that left at least 90 Palestinians dead and 300 wounded, according to Gaza health ministry.
"The Palestinian presidency condemns the slaughter and holds the Israeli government fully responsible, also the U.S. administration that provides all kinds of support to the occupation and its crimes," said Abbas in a statement published by his office.
But Abbas, whose authority maintains a limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, assigned some blame to Hamas, whose Oct 7 attack inside Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others were abducted, kicked off the nine-month war in Gaza.
"The presidency sees that by escaping national unity, and providing free pretexts to the occupation state, the Hamas movement is a partner in bearing legal, moral and political responsibility for the continuation of the Israeli war of genocide in Gaza Strip," the statement said.
Hamas has run Gaza since its 2007 takeover of the coastal territory from Abbas loyalists.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters Abbas's statement meant the Palestinian Authority "has chosen to be in the same trench with the occupation".
"Such an attitude will not succeed in blackmailing the resistance or pressuring it," said Abu Zuhri.
Efforts by Arab mediators, led by Egypt, have so far failed to reconcile power struggles between the two sides.
Another Hamas leader, Basem Naim, who took part in previous reconciliation talks with Abbas's Fatah faction, said Abbas was to blame for the failure to reach a unity deal.
Naim said Abbas's comments made him and his authority "partner to the Zioinist enemy and its crimes not only in Gaza but also in all of the Palestinian land."
Financial institutions snapping up Chinese government bonds are basically shorting the Chinese economy, China's central bank-backed Financial News reported on Saturday, citing what it said were the views of industry sources and experts.
The report is the latest warning to the country's bond market after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) sounded concerns and introduced plans to sell treasury bonds to cool a bond rally.
It came after the paper said late on Friday that China's central bank is determined to maintain a normal upward-sloping yield curve and correct bond-market risks.
The PBOC said earlier this month it has hundreds of billions of yuan worth of bonds at its disposal to borrow, and will sell them depending on market conditions.
The move shows the central bank's desire to stabilise exchange rate and economic expectations, Financial News reported, citing unnamed experts.
"Financial institutions frantically snapping up government bonds equals to expecting that interest rates will get lower and lower in the future," the paper said.
"They are basically shorting China's yuan and the Chinese economy, increasing the pressure for capital outflows."
A U.S. trade regulator on Friday announced a suite of actions taking aim at "unfair and deceptive practices" it said are illegally imposed on U.S. franchisees by their brand owners, such as requiring new fees not outlined in franchise contracts, or using contract provisions to discourage franchisees from speaking with regulators.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's declaration that these practices are illegal did not name any specific companies as being in violation of the law, but in doing so it took a stance on issues that have inflamed tensions in recent years between companies and operators at major brands like McDonald's and Subway.
"Franchising is a chance for Americans to build a business," said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. "But the FTC has heard concerns about how unfair franchisor practices, like a failure to fully disclose fees upfront, go unreported thanks to a fear of retaliation."
The International Franchise Association, a trade group that speaks on behalf of franchising companies, criticized the FTC's actions on Friday as "contrary to the reality that the vast majority (of) franchise relationships are working and that franchising continues to grow each year."
Among the actions taken by the FTC was issuing a policy statement warning brand owners that it is illegal to discourage franchisees from speaking with regulators about unfair practices or potential law violations through non-disparagement contract clauses, or any threat of retaliation.
Relatedly, the agency said it was soliciting a new round of comments from franchisees, brand owners and other stakeholders.
The agency also released new guidance that prohibits "undisclosed junk fees" -- echoing language used to describe hidden fees imposed on consumers -- that brand owners charge to franchisees, but which are not outlined in franchise contracts. As an example, the FTC said brand owners sometimes introduced these costs through on-the-fly changes to the operating manual, a sort of rulebook that franchisee owners must abide by to stay in compliance with their brand owners.
In response to a request for public comments on franchisor business practices last year, the agency received 5,200 comments, including some from McDonald's franchisees.
The National Owners Association, comprised of several hundred McDonald's franchisees, said in its comment that "the current climate is dictatorial and there is zero room for negotiation" with McDonald's. The burger chain unilaterally imposes new costs on franchise owners by making changes to the McDonald's operating manual, then uses non-disparagement clauses to silence critics, said the franchisee advocacy group, which formed in 2018.
Asked for comment, McDonald's referred Reuters to the International Franchise Association's statement.
The FTC said the number of franchise-related complaints submitted to the agency had increased significantly over the past three years, citing an analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office published last year.
"Today the Commission is making clear that contractual terms prohibiting franchisees from reporting potential law violations to the government are unfair, unenforceable, and illegal," the FTC statement said.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain suggested Donald Trump is on track to defeat Joe Biden in November, warning Democrats risk a catastrophic repeat of their 2016 election loss unless they confront “hard truths.”
“We’re speaking truth to those who need to hear it most and that’s the Democrat Party,” Fain said Friday at the Netroots Nation conference in Baltimore, urging people not to put “our heads in the sand and hide from reality — we tried that in 2016 and it didn’t work.”
Fain is one of the nation’s most influential labor leaders and he delivered Biden a long-sought and effusive endorsement in January, buoying the president’s reelection campaign. While Fain didn’t directly address Biden’s debate performance or the calls to replace him on the ticket, his comments indicate concern within the labor movement about the president’s prospects in November.
Amid the fallout from Biden’s June debate disaster, the UAW chief told the crowd of progressive activists that it was necessary to face uncomfortable facts.
“We’ve seen it before: We saw in 2016 people just wanted to buckle down and hope for the best knowing that we weren’t meeting the moment,” Fain said. “And we see it happening again, though very few people are willing to speak up about it: The truth is the billionaire class and the corporate class has the working class on the ropes, and they’re ready, through their messiah Donald Trump, to deliver a fatal blow, and our political system is set up to let that happen.”
Earlier: Biden Tells Voters ‘I’m OK’ in Bid to Rescue Troubled Campaign
Fain didn’t mention Biden by name, though he praised the president’s record on labor issues.
“We’ve got a president in the White House who wants to stand with the working-class and we’ve made incredible gains over the last three and a half years,” he said. In contrast, Fain added, Trump “would be a complete disaster for the working class.”
Fain spoke on a day that Biden was campaigning in Michigan, where the union has its headquarters.
Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said in a statement on Friday night that he has been a “champion for working people over greedy corporations. That’s why our campaign has 33 unions supporting us - it reflects Joe Biden’s record of delivering results for working families.”
Biden has highlighted his union support as he tries to beat back pressure to exit the presidential race. The AFL-CIO announced Wednesday that its executive council, which includes Fain, had voted unanimously “to reaffirm its commitment” to reelect Biden, saying in a statement that he has run “the most pro-union administration in our lifetimes.”
But Fain at a Thursday meeting of the UAW executive board expressed concern about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump, according to people familiar with the conversation. Reuters reported earlier on Fain’s private misgivings.
As a reporter asked Biden a question at his Thursday press conference about Fain’s concerns, the president interjected, “UAW just endorsed me, but go ahead.”
Headline USA has uncovered the identity of an anonymous Georgia prison inmate suing the state for a sex change, and can reveal that the plaintiff is a convicted violent sodomizer who was indicted in April on multiple federal charges for constructing and mailing bombs to federal facilities.
The plaintiff, David Cassady, 55, an inmate at Phillips State Prison in Georgia, is represented by the big law firm Baker Botts, as well as the Murell Law Firm and the Florida-based group Rights Behind Bars. Additionally, the ACLU and the Justice Department have filed amicus briefs in support of Cassady’s lawsuit.
Ironically, the DOJ filed its brief in support of Cassady in January, while the inmate was presumably still under DOJ investigation for alleged bomb-making. Even more ironically, the inmate was under investigation for sending a bomb to 1400 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.—a building that houses a DOJ office.
In other words, the DOJ filed an amicus brief in support of an inmate who apparently tried bombing the DOJ, according to the DOJ. To add a drop of stupidity, the DOJ refers to Cassady as a female in the sex-change litigation, but calls him a man in the bombing case.
The DOJ declined to comment, while the non-profit groups didn’t respond to an email inquiry. Georgia’s Department of Corrections also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
As Headline USA reported in May, a U.S. district judge ordered the Georgia DOC to provide Cassady—who was still anonymous at the time—with “breast and buttock padding.” That judge did deny Cassady’s motion to be transferred to a female prison, noting that the inmate was transferred to Phillips State Prison—a “Special Mission Facility”—in 2022, specifically because that facility was “uniquely situated to manage Plaintiff, given her history of violence.”
Headline USA was able to uncover Cassady’s identity thanks to a recent affidavit filed by attorney Thomas Vaseliou, one of the attorneys representing Georgia DOC.
In his affidavit filed on Wednesday, Vaseliou referenced several exhibits still under seal, including a court record of Plaintiff’s conviction in 1988 for aggravated sodomy; court record of Plaintiff’s conviction in 2020 for violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act; and an April 4, 2024, press release announcing the most recent indictment against the inmate. Headline USA found that April 4 press release, which identified Cassady.
“Cassady was an inmate in the now-closed Georgia State Prison in Reidsville, Ga., in Tattnall County, when he constructed destructive devices and mailed two of them via U.S. Mail to the United States Courthouse and Federal Building in Anchorage, Alaska, and to a federal facility at 1400 New York Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.,” the DOJ’s press release said, identifying Cassady as a man.
According to the DOJ’s website, 1400 New York Avenue NW is the Bond Building, where packages are sent for the DOJ’s “Fraud Section, Criminal Division.”
“The indictment alleges the bombs were sent in an attempt ‘to maliciously damage or destroy, by means of fire or explosive, a building in whole or in part owned or possessed by, or leased to, the United States,’ and ‘created substantial risk of injury to a person,’” the DOJ said in its press release.
According to the DOJ’s indictment, Cassady’s bomb-making occurred from September 2019 to January 2020. He faces one count of making an unregistered destructive device, two counts of mailing a destructive device, and one count of attempted malicious use of an explosive.
When the indictment was unsealed in April, WSB-TV in Atlanta revealed that Cassady sent a bomb to the widow of a man he sexually assaulted as a teenager.
“How is somebody who is in prison for life, for horrific acts against the community, how is possible that he can still terrorize members of the community from behind bars?” the widow reportedly said. “And now somehow, he was able to access all of this and mail it out of prison. Somebody needs to look at the bigger picture of who he is.”
Cassady has pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to the court docket. The inmate is already serving a life sentence.
Cassady isn’t the only trans bomber to receive DOJ support in a sex-change lawsuit. As Headline USA exclusively documented last year, former neo-Nazi bank robber Pete/Donna Langan, who has ties to the Oklahoma City bombing, reached a settlement with the DOJ to become the first federal inmate in history to receive a sex change.
