ECB raises interest rates days after euro zone banking data showed lowest loan appetite in 10 years
Policymakers had been split in the run up to the meeting between a 25 basis point and a 50 basis point rise but markets and economists had overwhelmingly bet on the smaller increase after soft data in recent weeks and similar moderation by other big central banks.
Retiring password: Google transitions to passkeys to enhance online security by restricting phishing
Passkeys can sync between your devices through end-to-end encrypted services like Google Password Manager and iCloud Keychain. Or you can set up passkeys on multiple devices by generating a QR code on a device that’s logged in to your Google account that will anoint another device where you want to log in.
US Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rates, hint at pause in 14-month tightening cycle
Inflation has been falling only slowly, leaving some Fed officials unconvinced that interest rates have moved high enough to truly control it; yet the economy itself appears to be weakening, a trio of recent bank failures has raised concern about broader trouble in the financial sector, and the unsettled nature of debt limit talks between Republicans in Congress and the Democratic-controlled White House could trigger an acute crisis if the US government is forced to stop paying its bills.
Beauty and the beast: How US and UK health officials promoted and hawked death wrapped in Covid vaccines
US and UK Secretly Agreed to Hide Vaccine Reactions. In the days leading up to the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, US and UK health officials entered into a “mutual confidentiality agreement” to keep vaccine adverse events under wraps.
Hollywood script writers opt for industrial action to protest slump in earnings occasioned by streaming TV boom
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called its first work stoppage in 15 years after failing to reach an agreement for higher pay from studios such as Walt Disney Co and Netflix Inc. The last strike lasted 100 days and cost the California economy more than $2 billion.
Fired Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson reminds Americans: Truth is contagious; lies are, but truth is as well
Moreover, Carlson proclaims, “The truth is contagious. Lying is, but the truth is as well. And the second you decide to tell the truth about something, you are filled with this – I don’t want to get supernatural on you – but you are filled with this power from somewhere else.”
Revealed: Fox News TV reporter Tucker Carlson was sacked for laying bare how WHO and Twitter lied about Covid
These efforts appear to have begun on June 24, 2021, when Elizabeth Busby, a policy communications specialist with “Twitter Comms,” sent an email to colleagues inquiring if an op-ed Carlson had written the previous day should be flagged for Covid-19 “misinformation.”
Kremlin warns US and allies of more asset seizures after grabbing Finland’s Fortum and Uniper
President Vladimir Putin late on Tuesday signed a decree establishing temporary control of the Russian assets of Finland’s Fortum and Germany’s Uniper, which both operate power plants in Russia. Fortum said it was “investigating” and Uniper, which was once Fortum’s subsidiary, said it was “reviewing” the move.
A spokesperson for Germany’s Finance Ministry, which oversees the government’s ownership of Uniper, said Berlin needed to assess the concrete implications of Russia’s decree. Finland’s outgoing minister in charge of state holdings Tytti Tuppurainen tweeted that the information was “worrying” and that the state, as Fortum’s majority owner, would follow the matter closely.
Big Pharma in US fined $11 billion for conspiring to block introduction of lower-cost generics
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted international supply chains – rendered fragile by decades of neoliberal globalisation – corporations fortified by preceding rounds of consolidation have capitalised on these and other crises to justify price hikes that far outpace the increased costs of doing business.
