Tag: plans

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Politics

Biden’s Electrical Automotive Plans Hinge on Having Sufficient Chargers

Biden’s Electric Car Plans Hinge on Having Enough Chargers

Startups, automakers, and other companies have been slowly building chargers for years, mostly in California and other coastal states, where most electric cars are sold. These companies use different strategies to make money and auto experts say it is not clear which one will be successful. The most station company, ChargePoint, sells chargers to individuals, workplaces, businesses, condominiums and apartment buildings, and companies with electric vehicle fleets. It charges subscription fees for software that manages the chargers. Tesla offers charging mainly to get people to buy their cars. And others make money selling electricity to drivers.

The switch to electric cars

Once the poor cousin of the hip business of building sleek electric cars, the charging industry has been swept away by its own gold rush. According to PitchBook, venture capital firms poured nearly $ 1 billion in fees last year, more than in the previous five years combined. In 2021, venture capital investments will total more than $ 550 million so far.

On Wall Street, according to Dealogic, a research firm, publicly traded-purpose businesses or SPACs have closed deals to buy eight charging companies out of 26 deals in electric vehicles and related businesses. The deals typically involve an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars from large investors like BlackRock.

“It’s early days and people are trying to figure out what the potential is,” said Gabe Daoud Jr., managing director and analyst at Cowen, an investment bank.

These companies could benefit from the infrastructure bill, but it’s not clear how the Biden administration will distribute money for charging stations.

Another unanswered question is who will be the Exxon Mobil of the electric car age. It could be automakers.

Tesla, which makes about two-thirds of the electric cars sold in the US, has built thousands of chargers that it made available to early customers for free. The company could open its network to vehicles from other automakers by the end of the year, its CEO Elon Musk said in July.

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World News

Airbnb plans to briefly home 20,000 Afghan refugees

Airbnb plans to temporarily house 20,000 Afghan refugees

Families begin an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, Jan.

Sgt. Samuel Ruiz | US Marine Corps | via Reuters

Airbnb plans to house 20,000 Afghan refugees worldwide for free, the company’s CEO Brian Chesky said Tuesday.

The refugees will be housed in accommodations listed on the Airbnb platform and the stays will be funded by Airbnb, Chesky said on Twitter, without specifying exactly how much the company plans to spend on the engagement or how long refugees will be housed.

The US announced Monday that it has evacuated around 48,000 people from Afghanistan in the past few days, while thousands are still trying to flee, fearing reprisals from the Taliban fighters now in power.

The main exit point is Kabul Airport, where huge crowds have gathered in the sweltering heat. The Taliban have set August 31 as the airlift deadline and there are concerns that many who want to leave the country will not be able to leave the country.

“The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US and elsewhere is one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time,” said Chesky. “We feel a responsibility to become stronger.”

He added, “I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. There is no time to waste.”

Chesky urged Airbnb hosts to reach out to him if they would like to host a refugee family and promised to connect them with the right people at the company.

Companies of all shapes and sizes are rushing to show their support to victims in times of great crisis; it is an opportunity to be non-profit while strengthening public relations.

Texas Medical Technology, a medical equipment supplier and distributor, told CNBC Tuesday that it plans to recruit 100 Afghan refugees at a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Houston within a year.

Airbnb, valued at around $ 92 billion, often offers to cover emergency housing costs. Since 2012, 75,000 people have found a place to stay in times of crisis.

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World News

Home delays vote on infrastructure, funds plans

House delays vote on infrastructure, budget plans

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) takes questions as she holds her weekly news conference with Capitol Hill reporters at the Capitol in Washington, July 22, 2021.

Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

The House scrapped a planned Monday vote to advance two key economic proposals as centrist Democrats and party leaders failed to break a stalemate over how to proceed with President Joe Biden’s sprawling economic agenda.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pushed to pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and her party’s separate $3.5 trillion spending plan at the same time. The process could take months, as the House needs to join the Senate in passing a budget resolution before lawmakers write a final proposal.

Nine members of Pelosi’s caucus urged the California Democrat to approve the Senate-passed infrastructure legislation this week and send it to Biden’s desk. Pelosi wants to pair the bills to ensure the centrists wary of a $3.5 trillion price tag and progressives who consider the infrastructure plan inadequate back both measures.

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Democratic leaders have a tiny margin for error as they try to pass their plan to expand the social safety net without a Republican vote. They will need to win over all 50 members of their Senate caucus and all but three Democrats in the House.

In a letter over the weekend, Pelosi told Democrats she aims to pass both the infrastructure bill and Democrats’ spending plan before Oct. 1.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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Politics

Home Democrats to carry votes on Biden financial plans

House Democrats to hold votes on Biden economic plans

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will hold a press conference at the US Capitol Visitor Center on March 19, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

The House of Representatives will return to Washington next week preparing the latest test of President Joe Biden’s sprawling economic agenda.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California, plans to hold a procedural vote as early as Monday to move forward with a handful of Democratic priorities: the $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate, the $ 1 trillion Democratic Plan $ 3.5 trillion to expand the social safety net and a voting law.

She will then work with the Senate to pass a budget resolution, which is the first step in getting the Democrats to approve their massive spending plan without a Republican vote.

The spending plan is not expected to get through the Senate for weeks or even months, which would delay the final passage of the infrastructure bill if everything goes according to plan.

In an effort to keep the progressives on board with the smaller infrastructure plan and keep the centrists in tune with trillions more new spending, Pelosi has announced not to adopt either of the economic plans until the Senate passes both of them. Opposition from their faction has threatened to derail the speaker’s plans so that the Democrats will look for a way forward if they return to the Capitol.

A group of nine centrist Democrats in the House of Representatives on Monday reiterated their call for the chamber to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill before considering spending on social programs and climate policy. With Democrats holding a slim majority in the House of Representatives, the nine lawmakers could sink the budget decision themselves – which would delay progress on an economic agenda that Democrats hope will boost budgets and improve their fortunes in next year’s midterm elections .

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It’s unclear whether Pelosi will change their plans before next week. The White House this week approved their strategy of holding the procedural vote to move forward with plans for infrastructure, welfare spending and voting rights and then passing the budgetary decision.

In a letter to her group this week, she said delays in passing the measure would jeopardize the party’s political goals.

“When the House of Representatives returns on August 23, it is important that we pass the budgetary decision so that we can move forward united and determined to realize President Biden’s transformative vision and make historic strides,” she wrote.

If Pelosi pulls off their plan, the infrastructure bill would wait for a final House vote – and then Biden’s signature – while both houses of Congress write the $ 3.5 trillion spending plan. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., gave committees a goal on September 15 to complete their pieces of legislation.

The bill is expected to include a Medicare expansion, a universal Pre-K, wider access to paid vacation and childcare, an expansion of strengthened household tax credits, and measures to encourage clean energy adoption. The proposal could be scaled back as Senate Democratic centrists including Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona criticize the $ 3.5 trillion price tag.

A Democratic vote against the proposal would sink him in the Senate, which is split 50:50 by party.

The nine Democrats in the House of Representatives have pushed for the final passage of the Infrastructure Bill, arguing that a later vote would delay projects to renew American traffic, broadband and infrastructure.

“We now have the votes to pass this bill, so I think we should first vote immediately on the bipartisan infrastructure package, send it to the president’s desk, and then quickly think about the budget resolution that I want to support.” New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of the nine Democrats, said in a statement Friday.

“We have to get people to work and shovel in the ground,” he said.

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Politics

Warren Plans to Suggest Minimal Tax on Company Income

Warren Plans to Propose Minimum Tax on Corporate Profits

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and her allies will propose a minimum tax on the profits of the nation’s richest corporations, regardless of what they say they owe the government, as part of the Democrats’ $ 3.5 trillion economic and social package.

Ms. Warren’s so-called “real corporate income tax” was an important part of her presidential campaign, and she has enlisted Senator Angus King, of Independent Maine, to support her case that profitable corporations should be taxed regardless of loopholes and maneuvers that many of them do have made it possible to avoid state corporation tax altogether.

The move would require the most profitable companies to pay a 7 percent tax on the profits they report to investors – known as the annual book value – over $ 100 million. By taxing the revenues reported to investors, not the Internal Revenue Service, the Democrats would be making profits that companies would like to maximize, rather than the revenues they are trying to reduce for tax purposes.

“During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden and I were at odds on some tax policies, but we strongly agreed on one thing: Corporations shouldn’t be able to tell their shareholders they were making huge profits and then tell the IRS that they were not making a profit . ”“ Ms. Warren said in an interview.

Following the passing of a $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill expected this week, Democrats will turn to a draft budget that sets out the terms of a sprawling multi-trillion dollar package that will support the rest of their ambitions of strengthening and paying for the nation’s social safety net by increasing taxes on wealthy individuals and businesses. If it releases the Senate, it is almost guaranteed as only the votes of the 50 Senators who join with the Democrats come in.

This package will not be fully implemented until the fall, but the unveiling of the sober draft has spurred Democrats like Ms. Warren to offer their proposed contributions. While suggestions on topics like free pre-K, community college, and family vacations have attracted a lot of attention, how it is paid, including the proposed tax hikes for the wealthy and businesses, will generate at least as much controversy. The campaign to further screen wealthy businesses was supported by reports from ProPublica showing that the richest Americans pay very little in taxes.

“Now is the time to put the revenue on the table to pay for our infrastructure plans – this is the time,” said Ms. Warren.

In a separate interview, Mr. King responded to the expected Republican criticism by saying, “This is not socialism – it is an attempt to have a fair tax at a fairly low level for companies that would otherwise pay zero.”

An economic analysis by Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez, economics professors at the University of California, Berkeley, who advised Ms. Warren during the presidential campaign, estimated that around 1,300 public companies would be affected by politics, generating nearly $ 700 billion by 2023 would and 2032.

“We understand that responsible legislation includes how it’s paid and These payments come from the billionaires and giant corporations who have avoided paying their fair share for so long, ”Ms. Warren said. “In order to get the tax revenue part of the reconciliation package right, the point is to make the competitive conditions a little more balanced for everyone.”

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World News

Biden administration has plans to require most international guests to be vaccinated.

Biden administration has plans to require most foreign visitors to be vaccinated.

The Biden administration is developing plans to require all foreign travelers to the United States to be vaccinated against Covid-19, with limited exceptions, according to an administration official with knowledge of the developing policy.

The plan, first reported by Reuters, will be part of a new system to be put in place after the current restrictions on travel into the country are lifted, but officials have yet to determine when that might be done.

President Biden has been under pressure for months to ease restrictions on people wishing to travel to the United States, particularly as other countries, including England, Scotland and Canada, relax their own measures.

But White House officials have said in recent days that there is no plan to lift current restrictions anytime soon, in light of the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

“Given where we are today,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters last week, “with the Delta variant, we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point.”

That stance was reiterated on Wednesday evening by White House officials who said that there was no timetable yet for requiring foreign travelers to be inoculated.

“The interagency working groups are working to develop a plan for a consistent and safe international travel policy, in order to have a new system ready for when we can reopen travel,” the administration official, who was not authorized to publicly detail the plan, wrote in an email. “This includes a phased approach that over time will mean, with limited exceptions, that foreign nationals traveling to the United States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated.”

Travelers from Iran, China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, India, the Republic of Ireland and Europe’s Schengen area — spanning 29 countries, city-states and micro-states — are currently barred from entering the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, unless they are a U.S. citizen or they spend 14 days before arrival in a country that is not on that list.

The United States began restricting travel by foreigners in January 2020, when former President Donald Trump cut off some travel from China in the hope of preventing the spread of the virus. That effort largely failed.

But health officials pressed the Trump administration to expand travel bans to much of Europe during the first surge of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, and more countries have been added to the ban as the original virus and several variants have spread rapidly from country to country.

This week, the Biden administration said that it would keep in place Title 42, a public health rule that allows the government to turn back people attempting to enter the United States from its southern border.

The decision, confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, amounted to a shift by the administration, which had been working on plans to begin lifting the rule this summer, more than a year after it was imposed by the Trump administration.

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Entertainment

Metropolis Plans Central Park Live performance for the Vaccinated: LL Cool J, Santana and Extra

City Plans Central Park Concert for the Vaccinated: LL Cool J, Santana and More

LL Cool J, Elvis Costello, Andrea Bocelli, Carlos Santana and the New York Philharmonic, along with Bruce Springsteen and other artists, will be at the starry Central Park concert next month, which the city plans to announce its comeback from the pandemic, Mayor Bill announced de Blasio on Tuesday.

The mayor said that concert-goers would need to show a vaccination card.

“We want this to be a concert for the people,” said Mr. de Blasio at a video press conference, announcing additional headliners – and the name – of the We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert, which will take place on August 21st take place on the Great Lawn. “But I would also like to make it clear: it has to be a safe concert. It has to be a concert that will help us advance our recovery. “

“So if you want to go to this concert, you must have a vaccination card,” he added.

The line-up includes artists and music icons from a range of eras, genres, and styles, including the Killers; Earth, wind; Wyclef Jean; Barry Manilow and the previously announced cast including Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson and Patti Smith.

While 80 percent of the tickets are free, proof of vaccination is required to participate. (Adequate accommodation would be provided for those unable to be vaccinated because of a disability, the city said in a press release.) Masks will be optional due to the vaccination requirement and the fact that it takes place outdoors.

Free tickets will be released to the public in batches from Monday at 10 a.m. on nyc.gov/HomecomingWeek. Others will be available for purchase on Monday.

Gates will open at 3 p.m. on August 21 for the concert produced in partnership with Live Nation, and the show will start at 5 p.m. CNN will also broadcast the event live worldwide, including on CNN en Español.

The venerable music producer Clive Davis, a native of Brooklyn, has been working on the concert since May. He had lived in New York for most of his life, he said at the press conference, but he had never seen anything like the events of the past year and a half.

“As a born, raised, and true New Yorker, I know exactly how resilient we are and how New York keeps coming back,” said Mr. Davis. “And yes, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be back. And I really can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate this than an unforgettable concert in one of the most extraordinary places in the world: the Great Lawn at Central Park. “

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Health

Moderna says it plans to develop trial for teenagers 5 to 11

Moderna says it plans to expand trial for kids 5 to 11

With her husband Stephen by her side Erin Shih hugs her children Avery 6, and Aidan, 11, after they got their second Moderna COVID-19 vaccines at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Friday, June 25, 2021.

Sarah Reingewirtz | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

Moderna plans to expand the size of its clinical trial testing its Covid-19 vaccine in kids ages 5 to 11, the company confirmed to CNBC on Monday.

The U.S. drugmaker is expanding the trial, which began in late March, to increase the likelihood of detecting potential rare side effects, the company said, declining to say how many children it ultimately hopes to enroll. The Food and Drug Administration last month added a warning label to the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to list a rare risk of heart inflammation, which was reported in young people, as a potentially rare side effect.

“It is our intent to expand the trial and we are actively discussing a proposal with the FDA,” the company told CNBC in a written statement. “At this point, we expect to have a package that supports authorization in winter 2021/early 2022, should the FDA choose to use the authorization avenue.”

The New York Times reported earlier Monday that the FDA asked both Moderna and Pfizer to include 3,000 children in the 5- to 11-year-old trials, citing unnamed sources. One source described that as double the original number of study participants envisioned, according to the Times.

In a statement to CNBC, Pfizer said it has not provided any updates to the previously stated timelines or details for its trial.

The update comes as parents in the U.S. patiently wait for their children to be eligible to get vaccinated. In May, the FDA permitted the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for kids ages 12 to 15. Moderna’s vaccine is expected to be authorized for children as young as 12 any day now.

Vaccinating children is seen as crucial to ending the pandemic. The nation is unlikely to achieve herd immunity — when enough people in a given community have antibodies against a specific disease — until children can get vaccinated, scientists say.

Federal health officials will need to balance the risk of potentially rare side effects from the shots against the risks of getting Covid.

In June, health officials said there had been more than 1,200 cases of a myocarditis or pericarditis mostly in people age 30 and under who received the shots. Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis is the inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart.

There have been just 12.6 heart inflammation cases per million doses for both vaccines combined, officials said at the time. They added the benefits still outweighed the risks.

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Health

Hong Kong biotech start-up Prenetics plans $1.three billion SPAC merger

Hong Kong biotech start-up Prenetics plans $1.3 billion SPAC merger

Signage for Prenetics, a Hong Kong-based biotechnology company, at the company’s laboratory in Hong Kong, China, on Jan. 26, 2018.

Anthony Kwan| Bloomberg | Getty Images

Hong Kong biotech company Prenetics is set to merge with Artisan Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that will value the new entity at $1.3 billion or more, according to a source close to the deal.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year. The SPAC is already traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker ARTU.

SPACs are shell companies set up to raise money through an initial public offering — their sole purpose is to merge with or acquire an existing private company and to take it public. They bypass Wall Street’s traditional IPO process.

Artisan Acquisition is backed by Adrian Cheng, the CEO and Executive Vice Chairman of Hong Kong-listed New World Development, a conglomerate with $88 billion in assets.

Prenetics is a diagnostic and genetic testing company with significant operations in Hong Kong and the U.K. It was founded by serial entrepreneur Danny Yeung and will become the first billion-dollar start-up in Hong Kong to go public.

A technician handles a sample at a Prenetics laboratory in Hong Kong, China, on Jan. 26, 2018.

Anthony Kwan | Bloomberg | Getty Images

UBS, Citi, Credit Suisse and CICC are financial advisors on the potential de-SPAC transaction.

Artisan raised $339 million in the SPAC, and has signed a further $60 million forward purchase agreements with investment firm Aspex and PAG, a private asset manager for institutional investors, according to the source who requested anonymity as that person was not allowed to discuss the information publicly.

Talks with additional pipe investors are said to be ongoing, with strong initial demand, the source said.

The company has grown significantly since its founding in 2014, and 2021 revenue is projected to surpass $200 million. That would mark 400% growth over the year prior, according to the source.

Annual revenue is expected to reach $600 million by 2025, said the source.

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Politics

FBI to help investigation, no U.S. troop plans

FBI to assist investigation, no U.S. troop plans

The crowd reacts near the Petionville Police station where armed men, accused of being involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, are being detained in Port au Prince on July 8, 2021.

Valerie Baeriswl | AFP | Getty Images

The U.S. is sending senior FBI and DHS officials to Port-au-Prince as soon as possible to assist with the investigation into the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the White House said Friday, in response to the Haitian government’s formal request for assistance.

“The United States remains engaged and in close consultations with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing.

However, the U.S. has no plans to send military assistance at this time, White House officials told NBC News on Friday afternoon, amid reports that Haitian officials had requested troops to secure critical infrastructure.

An FBI spokesperson said the agency is working with the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and law enforcement partners to determine how to assist with the investigation.

Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., Bocchit Edmond, said on Friday that the Haitian government’s request outlined the “critical role” the FBI and the Justice Department can play in the investigation into the assassination. 

Edmond added that the Haitian government also requested the U.S. impose sanctions on perpetrators involved in the attack under the Global Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the U.S. president to deny entry to and impose economic sanctions against any foreign individual responsible for extrajudicial killings or human rights abuses.

“We look forward to engaging with our US partners as we seek truth and justice,” Edmond said in a series of posts on Twitter.

Colombia has also announced that it will be assisting with the probe, Reuters reported Friday. Colombian President Ivan Duque said the head of Colombia’s national intelligence directorate and the intelligence director for the national police will be sent to Haiti with Interpol.

The U.S. State Department confirmed on Friday that two Americans have been arrested by Haitian authorities following the president’s assassination.

“We are aware of the arrest of two U.S. citizens in Haiti and are monitoring the situation closely,” a State Department spokesperson told CNBC. “We remain committed to cooperating with Haitian authorities on the investigation.”

The State Department declined to comment any further, citing privacy considerations, and pointed to Haitian authorities for further information.

Haitian police on Friday identified the American suspects, who are of Haitian descent, as James Solages and Joseph Vincent. Solages, 35, is the youngest of the suspects, and Vincent, 55, is the oldest, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections.

They are among at least 20 suspects that Haitian police have detained so far in the shocking assassination, alongside 18 Colombians.

The search continues for at least five additional suspects, and four others were killed by police in an exchange of gunfire, according to Haitian police. Haiti Chief of Police Leon Charles on Thursday urged the Haitian public to help authorities locate the other suspects but not to “take justice into their own hands.”

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned the assassination and said he was “shocked and saddened to hear” about it.

“The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti,” Biden said in a statement. 

Citizens take part in a protest near the police station of Petion Ville after Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was murdered on July 08, 2021 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Getty Images

A group of gunmen assassinated Moise and wounded his wife in their private residence Wednesday, plunging the Caribbean nation into an even deeper political crisis that has been fueled by gang violence and protests against the late president’s increasingly authoritarian rule. 

Claude Joseph, Haiti’s interim prime minister, said the police and military were now in control of security in Haiti. Authorities declared a siege in the country following the killing and closed the international airport. 

Edmond has called for an international investigation into the assassination and has asked the U.S. for assistance in bolstering Haitian security. 

The State Department on Thursday vehemently denied that the Drug Enforcement Administration was involved in the assassination after the attackers reportedly identified themselves as DEA agents. 

Edmond has said the attackers were posing as DEA agents, describing them as “well-trained professional killers, commandos” based on a video shot from a neighbor’s house during the attack. He also noted that some spoke Spanish. Haitians speak French and Creole. 

Protests against the late Haitian president turned violent in recent months as opposition leaders and their supporters demanded his resignation.

Moise had been accused of seeking to increase his power even after his term expired in February. Opposition leaders pointed to his approval of decrees limiting powers of a court that audits the government and his creation of an intelligence agency that answers only to him.

Opposition leaders and their supporters also rejected Moise’s plans to hold a constitutional referendum with controversial proposals that would strengthen the presidency’s power.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.