As primary vote counting began Tuesday evening, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) took an early but decisive lead in the race to replace outgoing Rep. Adam P. Schiff in the Los Angeles-area House seat. Friedman still held a solid lead as of 2 a.m. Wednesday, when the latest tranche of results was shared by the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office. Republican intensive care physician Alex Balikian came in second.State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank) came in third, while Los Angeles' former Atty. Mike Feuer, also a Democrat, narrowly trailed Portantino in fourth place. The province is expected to announce the next set…
Author: ricardofrancois
Mindfulness and meditation apps have huge potential in the realm of extended reality. The complete immersion created by headsets like the Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro offers great potential to initiate such practices, which are very difficult to initiate and maintain. As such, a partnership between leading meditation app Headspace and Quest-maker Meta is a no-brainer. This morning, the two companies announced a collaboration with multimedia design company Nexus Studios, which is working to customize the extended reality headset experience. The aptly named Headspace XR app features practices guided by the app's mindfulness/meditation coaches, Dora Kamau and Kessonga Giscombe.…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Higher rate taxpayers selling residential property in the UK will pay less capital gains tax, arguing that the measure will increase tax revenues, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Budget on Wednesday. Jeremy Hunt said the tax paid on capital gains from such transactions would fall from 28 per cent to 24 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers from April after government studies showed the change would raise revenue by encouraging more people to sell. . UK homeowners do not generally…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.Egypt secured a deal to double its International Monetary Fund bailout to $8 billion after the country allowed its currency to fall to a record low against the US dollar, unleashing support to avert the worst economic crisis in decades.The Fund said on Wednesday that Cairo had taken “decisive steps to move towards a flexible and reliable exchange rate system” after the Central Bank of Egypt devalued the pound by 40 percent and raised interest rates significantly to ease foreign currency shortages.Floating…
Gold mining stocks are on track for their best week of the yearA record rally in gold puts gold mining stocks on track for their best week of the year.the Van Eck Gold Miners Fund (GDX) It rose about 2.5% in early trading, and is now up more than 7% for the week. This would be the fund's best stretch since the week of December 1, when it rose 8.5%.Stock chart icon Stock chart iconGDX is on track to have its best week of the year.Stocks open higherThe three major indexes opened Wednesday's session higher, marking a turnaround from the…
Private sector job growth improved during February although growth was slightly lower than expected, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday.Companies added 140,000 jobs during the month, an increase from the upwardly revised reading of 111,000 in January but slightly below the Dow Jones estimate of 150,000.Job gains came in multiple areas, led by leisure and hospitality with 41,000 and construction, which added 28,000 jobs. Other industries that showed strong gains included trade, transportation, and utilities (24,000), finance (17,000), and other services category (14,000).Of the total, 110,000 came from the services sector while goods producers added 30,000. The growth was concentrated…
Youssef Jamal Al-Din | CNBCThe Egyptian pound hit a record low against the dollar on Wednesday after the central bank raised interest rates by 600 points and devalued the currency.These steps aim to facilitate reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which is expected to confirm the extension of the current financial support package of $3 billion for Egypt.The Egyptian pound was trading at about 50 pounds to the dollar after the announcement, from 30.85 pounds previously, according to data from the London Stock Exchange. The central bank said on Wednesday that the country's key interest rate now stands…
Time travel is real, and people across the country do it together twice a year — as the United States goes in and out of daylight saving time.On Sunday, our digital clocks will automatically move most Americans from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., which will cost them an hour of sleep. Here's everything you need to know about the history of daylight saving time and some critics calling for it to be ditched.Where did daylight saving time come from? Congress passed a law mandating the transition to daylight saving time in March 1918, when the United States was trying to…
An aerial view shows a subdivision that has replaced a rural landscape on July 19, 2023 in Hawthorne Woods, Illinois. Scott Olson | Getty ImagesSpring hasn't officially arrived yet, but the spring housing market appears to be on the move despite persistently high mortgage rates.Mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 11% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index. Demand is still 8% lower than the same week a year ago.The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) fell to 7.02% from 7.04%, with…
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who has vowed to continue her campaign despite losing nearly every state in this year's GOP primaries, will announce Wednesday morning that she plans to suspend her campaign, according to a source familiar with her plans who was granted anonymity. Discussion of Haley's decision.However, the source said Trump's former UN ambassador has no immediate plans to endorse the former president, and will urge him to enlist the support of Republicans and independent voters who have become wary of him.Haley's announcement is expected to come Wednesday morning, hours after she lost nearly every state on Super…