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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Governor Newsom and most democratic lawmakers are preparing to protect California's progressive policies in the courts like they did during the first Trump administration. "California won 80% of those lawsuits, so this is a man who has no issues violating the law and we want to send a very clear message not just to Donald Trump but the people of California that we have people's back here in California," State Senator Scott Wiener said. "Of course, we should and we will work with the President-elect on areas where we agree and there are always going to be some agreements. It's not about fighting for the sake of fighting." This time, lawmakers anticipate there will be more on the list of possible lawsuits. "It could be things like climate action, reproductive freedom, civil rights, immigrant families. But also one part of this, that is important as well is protecting California taxpayers," Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel said. MORE: Newsom asks state legislature for $25M legal defense fund before Trump takes office Protecting California taxpayers means that if Californians pay their share of taxes to the federal government, then President-elect Trump should not withhold any kind of federal disaster funds as he threatened to do last October. On the flip side, one may argue that necessity is the mother of "political innovation." New York State Senator Liz Krueger recently suggested some liberal Northeast states could withhold billions of dollars in federal taxes if President-elect Trump goes through with his plans for mass deportations. California already gets back less in federal taxes than it pays. 2022 data reveals that California and 12 other states received proportionately less in federal funds. That means California and the other wealthier states are subsidizing the rest of the states. In Fiscal year 2022, California sent about $692 billion to the federal government and only got back around $620 billion in federal funds, which is about a $72 billion deficit. MORE: Newsom meets with Biden as part of effort to 'Trump-proof' California By comparison, that is about three times the state's $27 billion 2023-24 budget deficit. We've known about this deficit for some time because, in 2003, then-Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger complained that the federal funding system was unfair and that he would fight for that money. He was quoted then as saying, "For each dollar that we pay, we only get 77 cents back. So there's a lot of money we can get from the federal government." Would California lawmakers today have the political will to intensify it's pressure on the Trump administration? "I think if you are going to start threatening the federal government with withholding, demanding that individuals withhold their federal taxes, that isn't a rhetoric that doesn't actually work well. You don't want to to be in that battle," said Corey Cook, Provost at Saint Mary's College. John Perez was Speaker of the Assembly near the end of Schwarzenegger's administration and says there are ways to get more money for California. "One of the things that I think are going to be the most successful strategies to draw down more federal money is to keep more here at home," Perez said. "How do we do that? We do that by working on a bipartisan basis to overturn the limits on deductibility of California state and local taxes." MORE: A look at change in Silicon Valley as tech industry shifts to support Trump Tax reforms passed last time President Trump was in office limited tax deductions to $10,000. He has indicated he may reverse those limits on things like the cap on your mortgage interest deduction. Voters have also indicated they want government to work for them and as the national election showed us, here in California there was voter frustration over some of the state's progressive policies. That's one reason why Republicans gained ground in almost all counties in the state. "Our constituents, they don't feel that the state of California is working for them," said the new Speaker of the California Assembly, Robert Rivas. Rivas suggested that we set certain issues aside and focus on charting a new path forward and renew the California dream by focusing on affordability. "They're anxious because they feel it, they feel it at the grocery stores, where they have to pay their bills, they feel it every time they fill up their gas tanks for their long commutes from work to home," he said. "The democratic party has not effectively addressed the rising costs of living, has not addressed economic concerns," Cook said. "So certainly if you are going to talk about the agenda for the legislature, for the coming year, addressing affordability, the cost of living, housing, those related set of issues that we know are priorities for voters is critical for the legislature to address."The year in money: inflation eased, optimism ticked upward
Social media users are misrepresenting a report released Thursday by the Justice Department inspector general's office, falsely claiming that it's proof the FBI orchestrated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The watchdog report examined a number of areas, including whether major intelligence failures preceded the riot and whether the FBI in some way provoked the violence. Claims spreading online focus on the report's finding that 26 FBI informants were in Washington for election-related protests on Jan. 6, including three who had been tasked with traveling to the city to report on others who were potentially planning to attend the events.Javed Munshi , a suspected member of the outlawed ' Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen ' outfit in Kashmir, was granted transit remand till December 31 by the Alipore Court on Sunday. Munshi was arrested on Saturday in a joint operation by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal Police. The transit remand was sought by the Jammu and Kashmir Police for further investigation. Munshi, 58, was apprehended near the Indo-Bangladesh border in the Canning area of West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district. According to Public Prosecutor Vikash, Munshi was allegedly working to revive the Muslim League. The Srinagar police travelled to West Bengal to secure the transit remand for further inquiries. The prosecutor stated that during Munshi's arrest, police seized a book, a CD, a plastic bag, and several documents. 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One person, named Javed Ahmed Munshi, 58 years old, was working with the purpose of reviving the Muslim League... He was arrested in the Canning PS area. From his possession, one book, one CD, a plastic bag, and several documents were seized by the police... The court allowed transit remand up to 31st December," Vikash said. The police reported that Munshi had arrived in the Canning area a few days before his arrest, allegedly planning to exfiltrate into Bangladesh under instructions from Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives. Javed Munshi, an expert in IEDs and weapons handling, is associated with the banned terrorist organisation Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM). He has a history of involvement in terror-related activities, including his alleged role in the 2011 murder of Shaukat Shah, a leader of the Ahl-i-Hadith. Munshi has also served multiple jail terms for terrorism-related charges. During preliminary interrogation, Munshi admitted to having visited Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan multiple times using fake Pakistpassports, acting on instructions from his handlers. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
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( ) is a Canada-based company that went public in late 2021. Over the last three years, the has returned over 250% to shareholders, crushing broader market returns by a significant margin. However, PRL stock also trades 8% below all-time highs and remains a top investment choice at current multiples. Here’s why I’m bullish on Propel Holdings stock right now. Propel Holdings is a fintech company that facilitates access to credit products such as installment loans and lines of credit to customers in Canada and the United States. It has increased sales from $60.2 million in 2018 to $416.4 million in the last 12 months. Despite elevated interest rates, Propel increased its sales by 41% year over year to $117.2 million, while adjusted net income growth was higher at 66%. It ended the third quarter (Q3) with a combined loan and advances balance of $432 million, up 44% year over year. While most Canadian banks have a return on equity of less than 20%, Propel reported an ROE of 34% in Q3, up from 27% in the year-ago period. Its adjusted ROE rose from 37% to 45% over the last 12 months. Propel completed the acquisition of QuickMarket for a purchase price of $71 million in Q3, allowing it to enter the U.K. market. The acquisition was funded by an equity offering of $115 million and should be immediately accretive to revenue and earnings. A strong U.S. economy, coupled with low unemployment rates and steady GDP growth, should help Propel increase its revenue over the next 12 months. Unlike several other growth stocks, Propel reports a consistent profit and even pays shareholders a growing dividend. Propel recently raised its annual dividend by 7% year over year to $0.60 per share, which translates to a forward yield of 1.6%. In fact, the company has raised its dividends six times since the start of 2023. Investors should expect the dividend payout to keep growing as revenue is forecast to touch $450 million in 2024 and $629 million in 2025, given consensus estimates. Analysts project adjusted earnings to expand from $0.98 per share in 2023 to $2.57 per share in 2025. So, priced at 14.6 times , PRL stock trades at a reasonable valuation. During the recent earnings call, Propel emphasized leveraging artificial intelligence capabilities to support its credit disbursement process and maintain credit quality. Moreover, its partnership with Coho should expand distribution channels and create a scalable growth avenue by gaining traction in multiple underserved markets. Further, investors are bullish on Propel because of its lending-as-a-service business, which is experiencing ongoing geographic expansion, a widening purchaser base, and an increase in commitments from existing clients. Propel appears to be executing well on multiple fronts while maintaining strong credit quality and operational efficiency. The company’s investment in AI and technology infrastructure seems to be paying off through improved metrics across the board. Analysts tracking the stock remain bullish and expect it to gain over 20% from current levels, given consensus price target estimates.
As the world enters an era shaped by artificial intelligence (AI), low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are expected to capture just 10% of the economic growth generated by AI technologies. But by forming strategic partnerships and making large-scale infrastructure investments, LMICs can harness these technologies to foster inclusive, sustainable development. Rapidly evolving AI systems have immense potential to revolutionise public-service delivery and alleviate poverty, unlocking economic opportunities for developing economies like Togo. But fully realising the promise of these new tools requires adequate infrastructure, such as a reliable electricity supply and broadband connectivity. Without these foundations, the world’s most advanced technologies will remain out of reach for communities that could benefit from them the most. On November 13-15, Togo’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation organised an international AI conference in Lomé, bringing together government officials, researchers, civil-society leaders, international experts, and students to discuss the potential of emerging technologies to improve public services in the developing world. Togo is a prime example. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we launched Novissi, one of the world’s first fully digital cash-transfer programs. Initially designed to support low-income urban residents, Novissi rapidly expanded to cover rural areas in Togo’s 200 poorest cantons, enabling more than 920,000 informal-sector workers – roughly 25% of the country’s adult population – to enrol. By combining machine learning with mobile-phone metadata, satellite imagery, and phone surveys, the Novissi program ultimately identified and supported more than 150,000 households, demonstrating how data-driven approaches can help governments deliver essential services quickly and equitably. And this is just the beginning. In recent years, we have leveraged data science and digital technologies to improve our emergency response capabilities and make government services more efficient, cost-effective, and responsive to citizens’ needs. Consider the agriculture sector, which employs two-thirds of Togo’s population and accounts for 40% of its GDP. Using satellite imagery and machine-learning tools like Mosaiks, Togolese policymakers can forecast crop yields, anticipate poor harvests, and craft targeted agricultural policies. But the real strength of these technologies is their versatility: a single investment enables policymakers to make evidence-based decisions on a wide range of issues, from electrification to deforestation. By bolstering local ownership, African governments can drive inclusive growth. In Togo, we are working to build a sustainable ecosystem of local expertise through initiatives like the newly launched Togo Data Lab, a collaboration between the Ministry of Digital Economy and Transformation and the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley. The project joins other prominent African institutions working to position Africa at the forefront of digital development, such as the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. In Togo, the Lab will assist the Togolese government in building sustainable data-science capabilities, thereby enabling us to use AI tools like large language models (LLMs) to accelerate progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Togolese data scientists trained at the Lab will then collaborate with international experts, thereby ensuring that solutions are driven by local talent. In its first year, the Togo Data Lab will focus on agriculture, training staff to use Mosaiks to measure crop yields more precisely. But we have much higher ambitions. We see the Lab as a scalable platform capable of addressing major challenges in health, education, and climate policy. We imagine a health-care system transformed by data science, with AI tools improving disease surveillance and enabling policymakers to predict outbreaks of preventable illnesses, and classrooms where LLM-assisted tutors handle administrative tasks, freeing teachers to do what they do best: teaching and connecting with students. We have made remarkable progress, but there is much more to be done. For too long, African countries have been sidelined from the digital revolution due to limited technical capacity and inadequate infrastructure. That must change, and now is the time to change it. I urge the international community to join this vital effort. By engaging the private sector and making targeted investments, Africa could become a leader in the global digital economy, not just a participant. Investing in local capacity not only empowers policymakers in developing countries like Togo to make smarter, data-driven decisions. It also lays the groundwork for a vast global network of problem solvers, ready to harness cutting-edge technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. – Project Syndicate Cina Lawson is Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation of Togo Related Story Qatar establishes WEF's Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution 61 countries to compete in 8th Katara Award for Reciting Holy Qur’an
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World News | Trump Wants to Turn the Clock on Daylight Saving TimeMedical accounts of red wine headaches go back to Roman times , but the experience is likely as old as winemaking – something like 10,000 years . As chemists specialising in winemaking , we wanted to try to figure out the source of these headaches. Many components of red wine have been accused of causing this misery – sulfites , biogenic amines and tannin are the most popular. Our research suggests the most likely culprit is one you may not have considered. Sulfites have been a popular scapegoat for all sorts of ailments since it became mandatory in the 1990s to label them on wines in the US. However, not much evidence links sulfites directly to headaches, and other foods contain comparable levels to wine without the same effects. White wines also contain the same amount of sulfites as red wines . Your body also produces about 700 milligrams of sulfites daily as you metabolise the protein in your food and excrete it as sulfate . To do so, it has compounds called sulfite oxidases that create sulfate from sulfite – the 20 milligrams in a glass of wine are unlikely to overwhelm your sulfite oxidases. Some people point the finger for red wine headaches at biogenic amines. These are nitrogenous substances found in many fermented or spoiled foods, and can cause headaches, but the amount in wine is far too low to be a problem. Tannin is a good guess , since white wines contain only tiny amounts, while red wines contain substantial amounts. Tannin is a type of phenolic compound – it’s found in all plants and usually plays a role in preventing disease, resisting predation or encouraging seed dispersal by animals. But there are many other phenolic compounds in grapes’ skin and seeds besides tannin that make it into red wines from the winemaking process, and are not present in white, so any of them could be a candidate culprit. Tannin is also found in many other common products, such as tea and chocolate, which generally don’t cause headaches. And phenolics are good antioxidants – they’re unlikely to trigger the inflammation that would cause a headache. Some people get red, flushed skin when drinking alcohol, and the flushing is accompanied by a headache . This headache is caused by a lagging metabolic step as the body breaks down the booze. The metabolism of alcohol happens in two steps. First, ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde. Then, the enzyme ALDH converts the acetaldehyde to acetate, a common and innocuous substance. This second step is slower for people who get flushed skin, since their ALDH is not very efficient. They accumulate acetaldehyde , which is a somewhat toxic compound also linked to hangovers . So, if something unique in red wine could inhibit ALDH, slowing down that second metabolic step, would that lead to higher levels of acetaldehyde and a headache? To try to answer this question, we scanned the list of phenolics abundant in red wine. We spied a paper showing that quercetin is a good inhibitor of ALDH. Quercetin is a phenolic compound found in the skins of grapes, so it’s much more abundant in red than white wines because red grape skins are left in longer during the fermentation process than white grape skins. Testing ALDH was the next step. We set up an inhibition assay in test tubes. In the assay, we measured how fast the enzyme ALDH breaks down acetaldehyde. Then, we added the suspected inhibitors – quercetin, as well as some other phenolics we wanted to test – to see whether they slowed the process. These tests confirmed that quercetin was a good inhibitor. Some other phenolics had varying effects, but quercetin glucuronide was the winner. When your body absorbs quercetin from food or wine, most is converted to glucuronide by the liver in order to quickly eliminate it from the body. Our enzyme tests suggest that quercetin glucuronide disrupts your body’s metabolism of alcohol. This disruption means extra acetaldehyde circulates, causing inflammation and headaches. This discovery points to what’s known as a secondary, or synergistic, effect . These secondary effects are much harder to identify because two factors must both be in play for the outcome to arise. In this case, other foods that contain quercetin are not associated with headaches, so you might not initially consider quercetin as the cause of the red wine problem. The next step could be to give human subjects two red wines that are low and high in quercetin and ask whether either wine causes a headache. If the high-quercetin wine induces more headaches, we’d know we’re on the right track. So, if quercetin causes headaches, are there red wines without it? Unfortunately, the data available on specific wines is far too limited to provide any helpful advice. However, grapes exposed to the Sun do produce more quercetin, and many inexpensive red wines are made from grapes that see less sunlight. If you’re willing to take a chance, look for an inexpensive, lighter red wine. Andrew Waterhouse , Professor of Enology, University of California, Davis and Apramita Devi , Postdoctoral researcher in food science and technology, University of California, Davis This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .