Inflation fears on Important Road are operating hotter once more

The fight against inflation was going well for the Federal Reserve and economy for much of last year and into 2024, but one important demographic remained unconvinced about the progress being made in lowering pricing: small business owners.

Now, more influential parties are coming around to a view that small businesses have been stubborn in saying is closer to the on-the-ground truth: inflation isn’t coming down fast enough. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell conceded that after three months of disappointing data on inflation, there has been a “lack of further progress” this year. Market traders, who not long ago were in interest rate cut euphoria mode and forecasting up to six rate cuts by the Fed this year, are now more likely to see one or two cuts at most.

Disappointment over inflation is nothing new for small business owners, and their frustration over high prices is increasing again, according to the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for Q2 2024.

One in four (24%) small business owners tell CNBC that they think inflation has reached a peak, down from 29% in the previous quarter, and back to where the economic sentiment reading was a year ago. The percentage of small business owners who expect inflation to rise from here is trending up as well — 75% this quarter, up from 69% in Q1.

“Small business owners are the engine of our economy, and the data shows they are still pessimistic about overcoming inflation,” Lara Belonogoff, senior director of brand management and research at SurveyMonkey, said in a statement upon the Q2 survey’s release.

This CNBC|SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted April 8-12, 2024 among a national sample of 2,130 self-identified small business owners ages 18 and up.

Despite a positive market reaction to Fed Chair Powell’s comments after the FOMC meeting on Wednesday — in the least, Powell all but ruled out another rate hike this year — small business confidence in the Fed has declined. Last quarter, a little over one-third (35%) of business owners said they had confidence in the Fed. That’s not fallen back to 31%, where it was in Q2 of last year.

“Inflation remains a top concern, clearly, for small businesses,” said U.S. Small Business Administration head Isabel Casillas Guzman in an interview with CNBC’s Kate Rogers at the virtual Small Business Playbook event on Thursday. “We’ve tried to make sure the SBA is more readily available to credit worthy borrowers out there. Half of businesses don’t get the capital they need fully, or at all.”

She suggested small business owners start with local SBA resource partners, local district offices, which can connect them with lenders on the ground, as well as starting with the SBA’s online Lender Match tool.

One finding over which small businesses are in line with a broader macro view is the overall state of the economy. Over one-quarter (27%) describe the economy as “excellent or good,” which has not trended lower even as inflation fears have picked back up. It’s also notably up from 21% in the year-ago quarterly survey. The economy’s performance helps explain why nearly three times as many business owners cite inflation as the biggest risk they face (37%) compared to the No. 2 threat, consumer demand, at 13%.

SBA Administrator Guzman cited the 17.2 million new business applications filed during the Biden administration as a sign of the economic optimism despite inflation. She pointed to the Biden legislation that is spurring government spending on infrastructure and clean energy, which are economic growth drivers. “These are all small business trades across those opportunities,” she said. “That’s the economic growth the president has been focused on.”

Increasingly, though, it’s also a fiscal policy-linked spending plan and rise in federal debt that economists are tying to sticky inflation.

The CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index was unmoved quarter-over-quarter, at 47 out of 100, and up one point from Q2 of last year.

Fed's Jerome Powell: Inflation remains too high and path forward is uncertain

The CNBC|SurveyMonkey data is consistent with other recent small business survey findings. Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Voices survey released this week cited 71% of small business owners saying inflationary pressures have increased on their businesses over the past three months and 49% saying they’ve had to raise the prices. In the CNBC survey, 48% said they are raising prices.

Inflation will loom large in how America’s small business owners tilt in the presidential election.

Inflation is the No. 1 issue over which small business owners say they will vote, with 63% of survey respondents citing it, followed by economic growth at 61%.

Confidence in President Biden’s handling of the presidency — which is typically low in a small business demographic that skews conservative — remains underwater in the new survey, at 31%, down by two percentage points quarter over quarter. Among Republican small business owners taking the survey, 5% approve of the job Biden is doing. Among Democrats, 82% of small businesses approve of Biden, though pollsters say that approval ratings under 90% within one’s own party are a signal of dissatisfaction.

Biden has made some gains with his supporters, with the overall Small Business Confidence Index reading among this survey subset unchanged quarter over quarter at 61, and up from 55 in Q3 of 2023.

The CNBC survey found that in one area, small business owners who identify as either Republicans or Democrats do reach a rare point of consensus: both say that when it comes to government policy, they are getting slighted compared to large corporations.

The Goldman Sachs survey found that 55% of business owners are unhappy with the amount of focus small business issues get from candidates. Inflation, at 73%, was the issue cited most frequently.

Guzman said that the SBA has doubled the number of small-dollar loans, including to startups, as well as to women and people of color, who she noted are starting businesses at the highest rates. She also said more of the government loan volume is going into “rural banking deserts.”

And the total amount of government contracts going to small businesses has reached 28%, Guzman said, roughly $178 billion, according to the recent government scorecard. “We want more people to do business with the largest buyer in the world,” she said. 

FDA approves Amgen small cell lung most cancers remedy

The Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California.

Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Amgen‘s therapy for patients with the most deadly form of lung cancer. 

The agency cleared the drug, which will be marketed under the name Imdelltra, as a second or later line of treatment for people with advanced small-cell lung cancer. That means patients can take the drug if their cancer progresses while on or after trying one other form of treatment, which is typically a type of chemotherapy. Amgen’s drug is also known by its generic name tarlatamab.

In clinical trials, Amgen’s drug has been shown to reduce tumor growth and help people with small-cell lung cancer live significantly longer.

Of the more than 2.2 million patients who are diagnosed with lung cancer worldwide each year, small-cell lung cancer comprises 15%, or 330,000, of those cases, Amgen said. Around 80% to 85% of people with small-cell lung cancer are diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Cancer.

There are around 35,000 patients with small-cell lung cancer in the U.S., Dr. Jay Bradner, Amgen’s chief scientific officer, told CNBC. 

Small-cell lung cancer usually starts in the airways of the lung and grows rapidly, creating large tumors and spreading throughout the body. Symptoms include bloody phlegm, cough, chest pain and shortness of breath.

Only 3% of patients with small-cell lung cancer that has spread to other parts of the body live past 5 years, according to the American Cancer Society. That five-year survival rate accounts for 7% among all patients with the condition, regardless of whether the cancer spreads. Bradner said patients with small-cell lung cancer typically have four to five months to live.

Lynne Bell, a small-cell lung cancer patient from Atlanta, Georgia, is an exception. She says she was “horrified” and “in a dark place” after she was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the condition in 2021.

But she started taking Amgen’s Imdelltra in an ongoing clinical trial in September after other treatments, including chemotherapy, stopped working. Since then, Bell said her tumors have shrunk significantly and cancer scans “look great.” She said she specifically noticed her pain go away after taking a second dose of Amgen’s drug.

When asked how long she would continue Imdelltra, Bell said, “If this medication is working and I’m not having any side effects, I’m good to go. I’m in it to win it.”

Maida Mangiameli, a small-cell lung cancer advocate and patient mentor from Naperville, Illinois, is also a survivor of the devastating disease. She was diagnosed with an advanced stage of the condition in 2018 but was deemed in remission this year, meaning the treatment she received has reduced the signs and symptoms of the cancer. 

Mangiameli has been in remission for five years. Her treatments included chemotherapy and 28 days of radiation therapy. She told CNBC that Amgen’s Imdelltra may “not be something for me, but it might be down the road.” 

Mangiameli added that she’s excited to know that there will be another therapy option for other patients suffering from small-cell lung cancer. She said the development of new treatments for the disease has been “on the back burner” for several years. 

Amgen’s Bradner also said treatment options “are pretty meager.” 

“It’s just one of the most dreadful cancers and so we needed a new solution,” he said. 

Lung cancer tumor and light micrograph, illustration.

Kateryna Kon | Science Photo Library | Getty Images

Amgen’s drug is called a bispecific T-cell engager, which is designed to redirect the immune system’s T-cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. 

The approval is based on results from a phase two trial that followed more than 200 patients with small-cell lung cancer. Cancer tumors shrank in 40% of people who were given a 10-milligram dose of Imdelltra every 2 weeks.

Notably, the median time that people lived after starting 10-milligram doses of Amgen’s drug was 14.3 months. That compares with around six to 12 months with current treatments, according to the National Cancer Institute. 

“These patients who would normally only have four to five months enjoy almost another full year of life,” Bradner told CNBC. 

That time can make a huge difference for patients. 

For Mangiameli, receiving treatment for small-cell lung cancer gave her years to get closer to her grandchild, who was born not long before she was diagnosed with the disease. 

“I had the impetus, the drive to make sure I survived. … I just had my first grandchild, I have to live long enough for us to become pals,” Mangiameli said. 

Meanwhile, Bell said taking Imdelltra gave her the time to travel; she went on a trip with her daughter to San Diego.

“I’m trying to go as many places that I can get to,” Bell told CNBC.

Amgen is continuing to study Imdelltra in several trials, including some that will test the drug as an earlier line of treatment for small-cell lung cancer. 

That includes a late-stage trial comparing Imdelltra with chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for the disease. Amgen also plans to start another phase three study on the drug as a first-line treatment for patients at an advanced stage of small-cell lung cancer. 

“What makes us hopeful is, as you develop cancer medicines, that if they work in later stages of the disease, they can work even better when you move them” to first-line treatment, Bradner said.

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Hakeem Jeffries Calls Justice Alito An Insurrectionist Sympathizer

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Supreme Court Justice Alito an insurrectionist sympathizer and called on Congress to impose an ethical code of conduct on the Supreme Court.

Read: Samuel Alito Is The Insurrectionist Threat To Democracy On The Supreme Court

Leader Jeffries said in a statement, “Samuel Alito should apologize immediately for disrespecting the American flag and sympathizing with right-wing violent insurrectionists. He must recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump. Congress should immediately consider legislation to impose an ethical code of conduct on a runaway Supreme Court. The Constitution demands and the American people deserve more from a justice serving on the highest court in the land than baseless election denial.”

Leader Jeffries was correct on all points. Congress needs to act to control a rogue and corrupt Supreme Court, and just as troubling for the country is the fact that an unrepentant insurrectionist sympathizer sits on the bench.

Alito was the Justice who wrote the majority decision that gutted reproductive freedom rights, and now he is coming after American democracy.

Supreme Court reform has never seemed more urgent and vital.

The odds of the Republican-controlled House doing something about this crisis are zero, but once Democrats take back the House, fixing the broken and failing Supreme Court majority should be a priority.

 

A Special Message From PoliticusUSA

If you are in a position to donate purely to help us keep the doors open on PoliticusUSA during what is a critical election year, please do so here. 

We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value.

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

Brad Hinkelman Has A Vision for Medellin

Brad Hinkelman
Brad Hinkelman

My name is Brad Hinkelman, and for over 15 years, I have envisioned tourism in Colombia as a significant economic and social opportunity. In 2008, my initial visit to Colombia was among only 500,000 foreigners that year. By 2024, it is expected that Colombia will see over 5,000,000 foreign visitors, marking an incredible 1000% increase in tourism over just 15 years.

Today, Colombia boasts approximately 12,000 hotels and 120,000 Airbnb hosts, as per Cotelco and Asohost. In December 2023 alone, Airbnb reported over $87M USD in payouts to property owners nationwide. In 2024, Airbnb could potentially pay nearly $1 billion to its Colombian hosts (AirDNA). President Gustavo Petro has called tourism “one of the largest drivers of economic well-being,” while ex-President Ivan Duque referred to tourism as “Colombia’s new petroleum.” Indeed, the country has made significant strides since 2008.

My journey began with a single Airbnb listing in 2010 when Airbnb first entered the Medellin market. I was a true pioneer. One listing grew to two, then three, and today I manage over 500 listings, making my company, Casacol, the largest Airbnb operator in Medellin. Coupled with our 350-room hotel operations, we are the largest tourism operator in Medellin. Over 250 foreign investors have followed my lead and the promotional efforts of Procolombia, ACI Medellin, and the Ministry of Commerce to help build and acquire over $100M USD in Medellin real estate. We sell almost 20,000 rooms per month solely in Medellin and support nearly 300 full-time jobs directly, with hundreds more indirectly. The growth of my company has mirrored the rapid expansion of tourism in Medellin and Colombia.

Minister German Umaña and Procolombia President Carmen Caballero recently highlighted foreign investment in Colombian tourism infrastructure at the prestigious Raffles Hotel in London, which charges $1,000 per night. The focus was on sustainable tourism, a critical question for all stakeholders: is tourism quantity and quality in Colombia sustainable? Lately, I have had my doubts.

We are ready to work collaboratively with policymakers to ensure a brighter, more sustainable future for all 50 million Colombians, with responsible and sustainable tourism at our core.

In the past five years, especially post-COVID, I have witnessed a significant decline in the quality of tourism in Medellin. Colleagues in Cartagena report similar issues. Social media is flooded with content promoting what can be charitably called international dating and more accurately described as sex tourism. Additionally, foreigners seeking cheap cocaine or experimenting with local synthetic substances do so freely and without consequence. Colombia has increasingly become a hub for low-quality tourism and its accompanying vices.

On March 28, 2024, we experienced a serious incident when an Airbnb guest was reported to the police with two underage victims of presumed sexual abuse. Despite our strict policies and best efforts, our property was linked to the accused, tarnishing our reputation. To add insult to injury, politicians suggested our property could face asset forfeiture, a risk that now concerns every investor in Colombian hospitality.

Colombia is indeed at a critical juncture regarding its international reputation. Medellin has recently adopted the brand “aquí todo florece,” and Colombia is known as “the country of beauty.” Responsible tourism in Colombia can begin with policymakers collaborating with governments worldwide. The U.S. has over 850,000 registered sex offenders in public databases. The Department of Homeland Security’s Angel Watch Center alerts foreign law enforcement about Americans convicted of sex crimes who may be traveling. Colombia does not currently participate in this program. Countries like Canada cooperate with the U.S. through reciprocal programs like NCIC/CPIC to ensure that any criminal record results in automatic denied entry. Australia and the UK have similar programs. Colombia should consider such cooperation to prevent criminal tourists from entering the country.

However, we must also address the root social issues enabling human trafficking. Where are the parents and guardians? What conditions did these children grow up in? What kind of education did they receive, if any? The OECD reports that it takes 11 generations for a Colombian child born today to escape poverty. Colombian policymakers have some deep soul-searching to do.

Tourism can be part of the solution. It is a labor-intensive industry benefiting every socioeconomic stratum. It employs construction workers, engineers, architects, taxi and Uber drivers, cooks, waiters, baristas, maids, receptionists, and security guards, among others. Entrepreneurs, both local and foreign, invest capital to develop infrastructure and attract tourists to Colombia. If tourism (currently 2% of GDP) in Colombia reaches the level of Spain (12%), millions of Colombians could rise from poverty into stable, decent jobs in the formal economy.

~ Brad Hinkelman

Gypsy Rose Shares Emotional Message About Mother, Dee Dee

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is getting transparent with fans while sharing an emotional message about her late mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, on Mother’s Day.

RELATED: Issa New Nose For The Rose! Gypsy Rose Shows Off Her New Look After Rhinoplasty Procedure

Gypsy Rose Shares Mother’s Day Tribute To Her Late Mom Dee Dee Blanchard

On Sunday, May 12, Rose took to TikTok to share a video with fans. In the clip, she explained that she wanted to “make a video basically celebrating the really strong and wonderful women” who have been “mother figures” to her in the last eight years of her life.

Before sharing her thoughts, Rose noted that she turned off the comments on her video because she didn’t want to hear any negative responses.

“It does not go without notice that my own biological mother is not here to celebrate Mother’s Day,” she explained. “And what I choose to feel on Mother’s Day, regarding my own mother, is that I think the best of her.”

Rose added that she thinks of the “good times” with her mother instead of what her mom “did” to her. Additionally, the 32-year-old stated that she doesn’t believe her mom was a “good person” or the “best mom in the world,” but Dee Dee was still her mother. Therefore, however she chooses to feel about Dee Dee is her choice.

The 32-Year-Old Got Candid About Her “Regrets”

Before concluding on the topic of her mother, Rose explained that she has been “working for years on forgiveness.” Additionally, she hopes that her mother is in heaven and is “proud” of her accomplishments.

“I’ve been working for years on forgiveness, and I hope that she is in heaven. I hope that, to some degree, I make her proud… in heaven, they say that all mental and physical inflictions are gone, right? God makes you perfect in heaven. So,” Rose continued, as her voice appeared to shake. “If you take away the mental inflictions that my mother had, then I think what’s left is a good person.

Rose also transparently reflected on herself and her actions amid her words.

“Do I have regrets? Oh yeah, I’ve got many,” she added. “But nobody’s going to be able to tell me things about myself that I don’t already know.”

Ultimately, the 32-year-old explained that she planned to say a prayer for her mom.

“So I will say a prayer for her today, and I will remember the good that was inside of her, whether that be extremely deep or not,” she concluded.

Check out Gypsy Rose’s message about her mother and other important maternal figures in her life below.

@gypsyblanchard.tiktok

Happy Mothers Day to the wonderful women in my life💐 @Kristy M Blanchard @Raina Williams

♬ original sound – Gypsy Rose Blanchard

A Brief Recap Of Recent Events In Gypsy Rose’s Life

As The Shade Room previously reported, Rose was released early from a ten-year prison sentence in December 2023. Rose’s prison sentence stemmed from her reportedly enlisting her ex-boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, to murder her mother in 2015.

In July 2016, Rose reportedly pled guilty to a second-degree murder charge. However, in 2023, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections explained that Rose was granted parole after serving 85 percent of her overall prison sentence.

In an interview with PEOPLE, published on the day of her release, Rose explained that she was ready for “freedom.”

Since then, Rose has seemingly embraced her new lifestyle. In March, the 32-year-old revealed that she and her husband of almost two years, Ryan Scott Anderson, decided to separate, per The Shade Room.

The following month, Rose announced her plans to undergo rhinoplasty surgery, per The Shade Room. Since then, Rose has shown off her new look and officially filed for divorce from Anderson while spinning the block on another ex of hers.

RELATED: Movin’ On! Gypsy Rose Confirms She & Her Ex-Fiancé Are Back Together Amid Her Divorce

Issues that wealthy individuals face, in line with therapists

Depressed young male smoking cigarette, drinking alcohol and holding his head in hand.

Mixmike | E+ | Getty Images

Can money buy happiness? Contrary to what some may think, a million-dollar paycheck does not necessarily come with a problem free pass.

While wealth can bring with it some unconventional problems — such as being denied an invite-only Ferrari and accidentally destroying swathes of coral reefs with a 300-foot yacht — most other problems that the rich face may not be as esoteric as we think.

According to therapists that CNBC spoke to, more often than not, the super-rich struggle with feelings of isolation, depression, and paranoia, amongst others — a spectrum of emotions that many others tend to share.

“Most people can’t understand how rich people can have problems. They dismiss rich people’s mental health concerns as insignificant and of diminished importance,” Brad Hinkelman, a clinical psychotherapist who treats the ultra rich, told CNBC.

1. Feelings of isolation

A top problem that Hokemeyer’s clients suffer from is chronic isolation.

“They live in such a rarified place of the top 1% where there are very few people who share the realities of their world,” said the founding principal of Drayson Mews clinic, who shared that the super rich often cannot be fully certain if people like them for who they are, or for what they have.

Their relationships become defined for what they can provide to others rather than for who they are of themselves.

“People tend to see you as lucky and happy — neither may be true,” said Amanda Falkson, a psychotherapist versed in wealth counseling at Psychotherapy City.

She noted that they too face the gamut of emotions such as grief, trauma, losses and challenging relationships. But in addition to that, pressure on how the money is spent, and who to trust.

“Wealth can be pretty isolating … sometimes all eyes are on you to see what you do with your money,” she said, noting that some clients face the pressure of how they hope to be remembered, and where the money should go — whether it be investments, philanthropy, or legacy building.

2. Paranoia and distrust

Wealth can cause people around the super rich to view them as objects, Hokemeyer observed.

People who are rich tend to be of higher social status, and those who live in diminished states of power are often drawn to them. The latter could see the wealthy as ladders to elevate them into more powerful positions, he said.

The psychotherapist shared that his clients are often bombarded by a never-ending stream of requests.

“Their relationships become defined for what they can provide to others rather than for who they are of themselves,” he added. Against this backdrop, the super rich tend to become more suspicious of people’s motives in associating with them.

Woman in a hot tub.

Maria Korneeva | Moment | Getty Images

As a result, it can also be difficult to calibrate relationship dynamics of wealthy individuals whose partners may not have equal wealth or income, said Hokemeyer.

Often, the spouse who is more well-off may feel they are “being used” for their money, and the partner with less financial power can sometimes be stereotyped as a “gold digger” or looked upon negatively.

3. Distorted sense of purpose

There is also a difference between those who earned their wealth compared to those who inherited it or suddenly came upon a large sum of money.

People who became rich as a result of their own achievements have what is known as a strong internal locus of control, said Hokemeyer. They feel in charge and responsible for the trajectory of their lives, and are confident in their ability to make money again should they lose it.

Conversely, those who suddenly acquire wealth — be it through an inheritance or selling of a business — may find it harder to adjust to their new spending power, status and circumstances, the psychotherapists said. They are also less confident in handling and maintaining their wealth.

The sudden influx of wealth can often lead to existential identity challenges and strains on relationships, said Falkson.

“When there’s no need to work, where do you get your sense of meaning and purpose and structure? Do you become a walking dollar sign? Where do I fit in socially now that I’m not part of my old world anymore?” she said, voicing some of her clients’ concerns.

“Wealth doesn’t take away our human needs. And having meaning and purpose in life are very important needs.”

U.S. orders Chinese language-backed crypto miner to promote land close to army base

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivers remarks at the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC, on September 14, 2023. 

Olivier Douliery | Afp | Getty Images

U.S. President Joe Biden issued an order on Monday forcing a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining company to sell land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, citing national security concerns. 

The company, MineOne, acquired the real estate in June 2022, placing its operations within a mile of the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, a “strategic missile base and key element of America’s nuclear triad,” according to the White House. 

The company’s site contained “specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities,” the presidential order said.  

Biden said there was “credible evidence” to believe that the company, a British Virgin Islands firm that is majority-owned by Chinese nationals, “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” 

MineOne was ordered to divest from the land in the next 120 days, and to remove certain improvements and equipment at the property. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 

The move from the Biden administration comes against the backdrop of a wider crackdown on Chinese companies in the U.S. ahead of the upcoming presidential elections, and amid tensions between the world’s two largest economies. 

In April, Biden signed a law to force the divestiture of social media platform TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance on grounds of national security. Meanwhile, the administration is expected to issue new tariffs on several Chinese imports of EVs, medical supplies and other equipment, as soon as Tuesday. 

The latest order aimed at MineOne was made following an investigation by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States – a government agency chaired by the U.S. Treasury Department that investigates corporate deals for national security concerns. 

A 2018 law granted CFIUS the authority to review property transactions close to sensitive U.S. facilities, including Francis E Warren Air Force Base. 

In September, Biden issued an executive order instructing the committee to consider more national security risk factors in their assessments. The agency has also launched an investigation into TikTok. 

According to the White House order, MineOne’s property purchase was not filed to CFIUS until after the agency launched an investigation following a tip from the public.

In a statement by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, said the move against MineOne “highlights the critical gatekeeper role that CFIUS serves to ensure that foreign investment does not undermine our national security.”

China has also increased scrutiny of U.S. companies in recent years, citing national security concerns. The country recently beefed up its laws against sharing state secrets to include a broad category of “work secrets.”

The country also restricted some U.S. tech companies like Micron from selling to critical infrastructure in the country after a security review and cracked down on a number of foreign consultancy firms last year. 

Trump hush cash trial: Michael Cohen testifies

Michael Cohen, former attorney for Donald Trump, arrives at court in New York City, March 13, 2023.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

Michael Cohen testified Monday he feared there would be a “catastrophic” effect on the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump if porn star Stormy Daniels went public with her claim of having sex with the billionaire real estate mogul a decade earlier.

Cohen said Trump was very angry to learn that Daniels was again shopping around her account, five years after his then-personal lawyer and fixer Cohen first notified Trump about the potential story becoming public.

” ‘I thought you took care of this,’ ” Trump said, Cohen testified Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court at Trump’s criminal hush money trial. ″ ‘I thought this was under control.’ “

Trump then said, ″ ‘This is a disaster, a total disaster. Women will hate me,’ ” the 57-year-old Cohen testified.

” ‘Guys will think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign!’ ” Trump fumed, according to Cohen.

Cohen noted that at the time that he learned Daniels might sell her story of a one-night stand with Trump, the then-Republican nominee Trump “was polling very poorly with women.”

“And this, coupled with the previous Access Hollywood tape” made Trump upset, Cohen testified, referring to the infamous recording that captured Trump boasting of kissing women and grabbing their genitals without prior consent.

Michael Cohen is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger as former U.S. President Donald Trump sits with his eyes closed during Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 13, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. 

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

Earlier Monday, Cohen testified that Trump had warned him that “just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward,” once he announced that he was running for president in 2015.

Cohen also testified about secretly recording Trump during a meeting about reimbursing the publisher of The National Enquirer for making a $150,000 hush money payment to a Playboy model to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.

Pay with cash,” Trump says on that recording. The publisher ended up not being reimbursed.

Cohen’s revelations came on his first day of testimony at Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial, where he detailed efforts to protect Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 from being harmed by salacious disclosures.

Once slavishly devoted to Trump, Cohen is now his avowed enemy and could be the key witness against him in the case.

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 shortly before the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her silence about Trump.

When a prosecutor asked him if he would have paid Daniels without getting a “sign-off” from Trump, Cohen said no.

“Because everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off,” said Cohen, who also said, “I wanted my money back.”

Trump said, “Good, good,” when Cohen informed him he had paid Daniels, Cohen testified.

“Don’t worry, you will get the money back,” Trump also said, according to Cohen.

Trump’s reimbursement of Cohen for that payoff while he was serving in the White House is the basis for the Manhattan District Attorney’s case against the ex-president.

The Trump Organization reported the Daniels-related reimbursements, which ended up totaling $420,000 over 12 months, to Cohen as legal expenses.

But District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges that this constituted a crime — falsification of business records — committed by Trump to hide the fact that the hush money had protected his then-wobbling presidential candidate at a key moment.

Trump, who denies having sex with Daniels, says the felony charges are bogus. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee calls them an effort by a Democratic prosecutor to damage his chances to win the upcoming election against President Joe Biden.

Trump’s lawyers have suggested he had Cohen pay off Daniels because he was worried about the effect on his family, particularly his wife Melania, if the adult film actress went public with her story about having sex with Trump months after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple’s son Barron.

Cohen testified that at one point during discussions about the hush money situation he asked Trump “How things gonna go upstairs?” a reference to Melania Trump.

Donald Trump replied, “Don’t worry. How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long,” Cohen testified.

In addition to making the payment to Daniels, Cohen was closely involved in the arrangement of the other hush money payment that is a key element of the case, to Playboy model Karen McDougal by the publisher of the National Enquirer in 2016 in exchange for her story of an affair with Trump.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits with his eyes closed and New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg watches as Michael Cohen is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger during Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 13, 2024 in this courtroom sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

Cohen testified that as Trump moved to announce in 2015 that he would make a run for the White House, it became clear that the married real estate mogul factored in his secret personal life.

“Did Mr. Trump express any concerns about negative stories about his personal life?” assistant District Attorney Susan Hoffinger asked Cohen, as Trump sat at the defense table.

Cohen replied, “Yes.”

“What did he say?” Hoffinger asked.

Cohen answered that Trump said, ” ‘You know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement, just be prepared, there’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.’ ” 

As Cohen began testifying Monday, telling jurors about his personal and professional background, Trump listened with his eyes closed, in the same way that he had done when other witnesses in the case took the stand.

“During the time you worked there for Mr. Trump, how often would you say you met with him or spoke with him,” Hoffinger asked Cohen.

Cohen replied, “Every single day, and multiple times a day.”   

Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13, 2024 in New York City. 

Spencer Platt | Reuters

He told the prosecutor that working for Trump over a decade “was an amazing experience in many ways.”

“There were great times and some not great times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the responsibilities given to me, I enjoyed my colleagues, the Trump children,” Cohen said, as Trump’s son Eric Trump stared intently at him from the courtroom gallery.

“It was a big family.”

Cohen later detailed how he used to encryption app Signal to communicate with David Pecker, the then-CEO of American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, and Pecker’s lieutenant Dylan Howard.

Cohen said he used Signal when it “was a sensitive matter we wanted to keep private.”

He testified that in August 2015, Trump and Pecker met, and “What was discussed was the power of the National Enquirer being at the cash register of so many supermarkets and bodegas that if we could place positive stories about Trump that would be beneficial and if we could place negative stories about some of the other candidates, that could be beneficial.”

Cohen said that Pecker offered to alert Trump to any potentially negative stories about Trump so that he could stop them from being published.

In June 2016, Pecker and Howard alerted Cohen to the fact that the Playboy model McDougal was interested in selling her account of an affair with Trump to news outlets, Cohen testified.

Cohen said the impact from McDougal going public with her story could be “significant,” and that he “immediately” notified Trump after hearing from American Media about it.

“She’s really beautiful,” Trump said of McDougal when Cohen told him what Pecker and Howard had said.

“OK, but she’s shopping a story,” Cohen replied, according to his testimony Monday.

Trump then asked his fixer to see that McDougal’s account was not published, Cohen testified.

Cohen then substantiated Pecker’s previous testimony in which he told Trump it would cost $150,000 to “control” McDougal’s story.

“No problem, I’ll take care of it,” Trump told Pecker, according to Cohen.

But Trump did not pay back Pecker, which angered the publisher, Cohen testified.

During one restaurant meeting, Pecker told Cohen, “I need my money back,” Cohen testified.

“I said, ‘Mr. Trump said he will pay you back and he will pay you back,’ ” Cohen testified.

Cohen said he later told Trump he was concerned about a file American Media had on Trump.

“And one of the concerns that I had, that I expressed to Mr. Trump, was that if he [Pecker] goes, there’s a series of papers there that relate to you,” Cohen testified.

Hoffinger asked: “Was Mr. Trump concerned about that?”

“Yes,” Cohen replied.

He then said he recorded a conversation with Trump in September 2016 about buying the rights to McDougal’s life story.

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Cohen said he secretly taped Trump “so I could show it to David Pecker, and that way he would hear the conversation, that he was going to be paying — that he was going to be paying him back.”

“And I also wanted him to remain loyal to Mr. Trump,” Cohen testified.

The recording of Cohen and Trump’s conversation was then played for jurors.

“What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and for the benefit of Mr. Trump,” Cohen said of his involvement in getting Amerian Media to buy McDougal’s story.

Pecker and Howard also ran negative stories in the Enquirer about Trump’s GOP primary opponents, the senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016.

“Some of the negative ones that I received from David or Dylan was Hillary Clinton wearing thick glasses allegations that she had a brain injury, Ted Cruz photo of his father with Lee Harvey Oswald claiming he was involved in the assassination of JFK, articles about Marco Rubio in swimming pool with several men, that he was having a drug binge of some sort,” Cohen testified.

“AMI [American Media] would send over the cover story and I would show it to Mr. Trump and he knew David was loyal and on board and doing everything that he said he would do at the August meeting and he was actually doing it.”

Hoffinger asked Cohen if he recalled Trump’s reaction to those stories.

“That’s fantastic, that’ unbelievable,” Trump said, according to Cohen.

Cohen, who in the past has said he had a “blind loyalty” to Trump while working for him, is expected to testify for several days.

After Hoffinger finishes her first round of questioning, Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche will cross-examine Cohen.

Blanche is expected to hammer away at Cohen’s self-admitted history of lying — often in the service of Trump — and his federal criminal guilty plea to tax crimes and campaign finance violations in connection with the Stormy Daniels hush money payment.

Todd Blanche, attorney for former US President Donald Trump, sits in the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, US, on Thursday, May 2, 2024. 

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

“He’s a convicted felon. And he also is a convicted perjurer. He is an admitted liar,” Blanche said in his opening statement about Cohen at the start of the trial.

A number of prominent Republican supporters showed up at court Monday to support Trump, including two U.S. senators, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, and two state attorneys general, Steve Marshall of Alabama and Breanna Bird of Iowa.

“What’s going on inside that courtroom is a threat to American democracy,” Vance told reporters

On Friday, Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to slap a gag order on Cohen, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump. The former president is subject to a gag order about witnesses in the case.

Merchan did not agree to gag Cohen, but he did tell Bragg’s prosecution team to let Cohen know that the judge wanted him to stop making public statements about Trump or anything else in the case.

This is developing news. Check back for updates.

Novavax inventory jumps on Sanofi Covid vaccine deal

A vial labeled “Novavax V Covid-19 Vaccine” is seen in this photo taken Jan. 16, 2022.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Shares of Novavax closed nearly 50% higher on Monday as Wall Street cheered the company’s new multibillion-dollar deal with French drugmaker Sanofi that sparked a dramatic turnaround for the struggling vaccine maker.

Novavax’s stock almost doubled on Friday after it announced the licensing agreement with Sanofi. Novavax on Friday said the deal allows the company to remove its “going concern” warning, which it first issued in February 2023 due to major doubts about its ability to stay afloat.

“It really does help our business. It keeps us well capitalized, it takes the going concern off, it gives us the chance to pivot our strategy more toward what we’re best at — to bring additional value to all of our stakeholders, including our shareholders,” Novavax CEO John Jacobs told CNBC in an interview. 

Under the agreement, Sanofi will take a less than 5% stake in Novavax. The deal also entitles Novavax to an upfront cash payment of $500 million and future payments contingent on certain milestones, as well as royalties. 

Sanofi, one of the world’s largest vaccine makers, will co-market Novavax’s Covid vaccine in most countries starting in 2025. The deal also allows Sanofi to use Novavax’s Covid shot and flagship vaccine technology, Matrix-M adjuvant, to develop new vaccine products. The shots include combination jabs targeting Covid and the flu. 

A logo on the Sanofi exhibition space at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 15, 2022.

Benoit Tessier | Reuters

In a note Sunday, Jefferies analyst Roger Song said the deal will provide significant capital to Novavax and support the company’s growth. 

“Economically, the deal is highly lucrative and impactful,” Song wrote. 

He said the upfront payment helps remove investor worry about Novavax’s going concern warning, and that milestone payments are “significant and relatively near-term” for the company since they are not tied to sales. Meanwhile, royalties will provide a steady revenue stream each year, Song said. 

He added that the deal “validates” the company’s protein-based vaccine platform. 

Novavax’s shot is the first Covid vaccine to use protein technology, a decades-old method for fighting viruses used in routine shots against Hepatitis B and shingles. Health officials view the vaccine as a valuable alternative for people who do not want to take messenger RNA jabs from Pfizer and Moderna.

In a note on Sunday, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said he is interested to see how effective Sanofi is at raising consumer awareness about how the side effects of Novavax’s Covid vaccine are easier for patients to tolerate compared to competing shots from Pfizer and Moderna.

Risinger noted that consumer hesitancy around Covid boosters has come in part from fears about the fatigue and discomfort associated with Pfizer’s and Moderna’s shots. 

The firm expects Sanofi “to drive greater commercial success of [Novavax’s] vaccine starting in 2025, due to its commercial scale and contracting abilities, but it is difficult to predict the magnitude of impact,” Risinger wrote. 

He added that there could be “further upside” for Sanofi and Novavax if they develop a combination Covid and flu vaccine that has advantages over the mRNA combo shots being developed by Pfizer and Moderna. 

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Jenn Tran Named Star of The Bachelorette Season 21

Status: Split

On The Bachelorette’s season 17 finale in 2021, Katie got engaged to Blake Moynes. The pair first declared their love for one another during their overnight date, which involved a paintball excursion, a cowboy tub and a conversation under the stars.

Getting down on one knee, Blake told Katie, “You deserve the world, and I’m excited to support you and be there for you every day moving forward.”

Three months after the proposal aired, the couple announced their split. They explained in matching statements, “We are so grateful for the moments we shared together and the entire journey that has unfolded this year, but we ultimately have concluded that we are not compatible as life partners, and it is the most caring choice for both of us to move forward independently.”