Author: James Martin

Democrats came one step closer to gaining control Thursday morning. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 14-14 on party lines to advance FCC nominee Gigi Sohn and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya to the Senate floor. Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said she would report the ties to the Senate floor, where Democrats hold a narrow majority secured only by the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Harris.Both agencies with broad oversight over Silicon Valley companies, the FCC and FTC have lacked a Democratic majority for months, preventing them from moving forward with widely anticipated initiatives, like restoring open Internet regulations and crafting…

Oil prices were pushed to dizzying heights Thursday as investors maneuvered around Russian products. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, reached $116 per barrel in premarket trading for the first time since 2008. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was trading near $117 per barrel, its highest level since 2013.Story continues below advertisementPrices for aluminum, nickel and wheat — other exports tied to Russia and Ukraine — also have been pushed to multiyear highs as the conflict continues.Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average had gained 0.6 percent, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 had…

There are some savage localized losses for emerging market investors, and global demand for dollar cash is undeniably strong. But this is nothing like a Lehman moment, despite some well-publicized weekend commentary from Credit Suisse Group AG strategist Zoltan Pozsar. Broad access to funding has not been impaired. It is still messy but confidence in the financial sector remains solid. That’s partly because Russia has been deliberately reducing its dollar exposure in recent years, but is also down to reforms implemented in the wake of the global financial crisis that have made money markets more robust Story continues below advertisementOne key innovation is the Federal…

The situation calls for emergency measures, akin to those deployed by central banks during the 2008-09 global financial crisis, to overcome the supply shock. Here are six key points:Story continues below advertisement*First, a problem traders call “self-sanctioning”: Market participants are simply refusing to deal in Russian oil, even if Western governments allow it within the sanctions they have imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The reasons include confusion about what’s legally permitted, fears about reputational damage, or moral objections.Russia exports about 5 million barrels a day of crude, plus nearly 3 million barrels of refined products. Estimates of the potential losses are hard to…

Users in the test group will see a message inviting them to click for more context when they encounter a tweet that has been flagged by a volunteer fact-checker participating in Birdwatch. There, they’ll find one or more notes written by Birdwatch contributors, correcting or adding relevant background to the tweet itself, and ideally citing reliable outside sources. They’ll then be asked to rate the note’s helpfulness — ratings that in turn are used to determine whether to continue showing that note to others on Twitter.Story continues below advertisementTwitter launched the Birdwatch pilot more than 13 months ago, inviting interested…

As things stand, the picture is grim. Consumers buy a million plastic drinking bottles a minute and use trillions of plastic bags every year, not to mention an immense amount of polyester and other synthetic textiles. Less than a tenth of all that material is recycled. Companies and governments have promised to cut back and reuse more, but even if those targets were met, they’d only reduce the plastic flowing into the ocean by 7% by 2040.Plastic is also taking a toll on the climate. By poisoning crucial wildlife, it’s inhibiting the ocean’s ability to act as a natural carbon…

“We obviously can’t buy nuclear bombs or rockets,” said Kuna.io’s chief executive, Michael Chobanian. But “most nonlethal things you can buy with crypto.”Cryptocurrency was expected to be a key variable in the war — both as a potential vehicle for Russia to evade sanctions and as a tool for supporters to fund the Ukrainians. But in the days since Russia invaded, the Ukrainian government’s embrace of crypto has grown more overt, attracting Western crypto evangelists who see a chance to battle-test their claims that blockchain technology can promote open societies.Story continues below advertisementThe cryptocurrency donations are far smaller than President…

Simon Williams, RAC fuel spokesman said they were calling for an “emergency, temporary cut in VAT” rates to help struggling drivers. They said this would “better protect” road users from any further petrol and diesel increases.It comes after fuel costs have soared to record highs in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The RAC said February’s 4.5p increase in petrol prices was the first since a monthly record was set last October.Unleaded petrol ended the month at 151.16p on average, up from just 146.62p at the start of the month.Mer Williams said: “Motorists are having to endure successive months of…

This is a reminder of two of Biden’s key traits as president, both of which are generally strengths. One is his insistence on inclusion. The Biden presidency continues to be a historical outlier in its demographic diversity, something that he’s achieved with relatively little fuss. It’s likely that any Democratic president elected in 2020 would have nominated more women and more Black, Latino and Asian citizens to various posts — including the judiciary — than any previous president, but Biden deserves credit nevertheless. He appears to see it, correctly, as a source of strength to choose from a wider and deeper…

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued several calls for such a zone to protect civilians and prevent Russia from using its key strategic advantage: its powerful air force. A member of the U.K. House of Commons Defense Committee, Tobias Ellwood, added his voice to the cause, as have Ukrainians themselves, terrified of Moscow’s bombardment.Story continues below advertisementBut the flow-on effects of a no-fly zone would be catastrophic. For one, it would give Russia cause to intensify its nuclear preparedness. President Vladimir Putin has already ordered his nuclear forces to high alert, raising the threat that tensions could escalate into atomic warfare. The direct…