Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

Hong Kong's High Court found media mogul and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and sedition. The case has become a symbol of Beijing’s crackdown on dissent. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Claire Lai, Jimmy Lai’s daughter. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

IRS filings for new business applications have been climbing the past few months — particularly in the retail sector. The last time we saw a spike like this was in 2020. Are Americans ditching the corporate life, seeking stability, or in need of a second income? Likely a mix of all three. Also in this episode: Insurance coverage decisions go beyond medication sticker prices, home builder confidence ticks up, and the penny phase-out adds up for businesses doing a lot of cash transactions.

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Today, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the City Council kicked off a series of high-profile budget meetings, and the clock is ticking for them to pass the 2026 budget. The major sticking point continues to be whether the corporate head tax as a revenue stream should be included in the proposal. A new WBEZ data analysis digs into the claim that it’s a job killer, showing little connection between job trends in the city and an earlier version of the tax, which was repealed in 2014. We get more info from Mariah Woelfel, WBEZ city politics reporter; Amy Qin, WBEZ data reporter; and Bob Bruno, director of the labor education program at the School for Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.

There’s more evidence that China’s economy is stalling. Beijing released a batch of government data today that was not encouraging. Chinese consumers have slammed their wallets shut, and data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China paints a picture of stagnating investment, output, and consumption. And later, we'll preview long-delayed economic data slated to come out this week and learn why retailers are hiring fewer workers for the holiday shopping season.

This week, the Senate is set to take up the $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act. The House passed it last week. It is more than 3,000 pages of defense policy planning that the Senate will be digging through; the actual funding of these plans comes later. But there's also a whole lot of stuff that's not defense-related. Today, we'll dig in. Plus, we'll hear how China came to dominate in money laundering.

From the BBC World Service: "It's like I'm standing inside a cloud of dust and smoke," says BBC correspondent Devina Gupta of air quality in India's capital. Residents there have been urged to stay indoors, and new restrictions are affecting worker productivity and costing businesses. Then, a Hong Kong court has found media tycoon Jimmy Lai guilty of sedition. And later, retailers in the U.S. are hiring a record low number of seasonal employees.

Gary Marcus, professor emeritus at NYU, explains the differences between large language models and "world models" — and why he thinks the latter are key to achieving artificial general intelligence.

“This Is Uncomfortable” returns Jan. 15. Listen to this note from Reema for more, including an exciting change — we're going to start coming to you weekly! Bringing you more uncomfortable conversations with everyday people, experts, and authors about how money shapes our choices, relationships, and identity.

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Two gunmen opened fire Sunday evening on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, sending crowds fleeing for safety. At least 16 people are dead, including one alleged gunman and a 12-year-old child, and 38 others were wounded. Ali Rogin speaks with Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the nonprofit Jewish Council for Public Affairs, for more. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

In our news wrap Sunday, Zelenskyy met with U.S. representatives for more talks on how to end the war in Ukraine, crowds gathered in Gaza for the funeral of a top Hamas commander killed by an Israeli strike, and the National Weather Service forecasts an arctic blast across the eastern U.S and Great Lakes. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy