Details of new US bank capital rules still uncertain with election looming – Reuters Source Link Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – U.S. bank investors, analysts and executives were trying to figure out on Wednesday how lenders would fare under revised hikes in capital requirements, with considerable uncertainty over what specifics will emerge from the Federal Reserve and other regulators, and the presidential election a looming wild card.
The Fed’s regulatory chief Michael Barr on Tuesday outlined a plan to raise big bank capital by 9%, easing an earlier proposal to hike capital 19%. It was a major concession to Wall Street banks that had lobbied to water down the “Basel” draft.
Muslim, European FMs to meet in Madrid on Israel-Palestine two-state solution today – Tribune UK Source Link Excerpt:
The foreign ministers of several Muslim and European countries will meet in Madrid on Friday to discuss how to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Spanish and Norwegian governments said.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will host the meeting, which will be attended by his European counterparts, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, and members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza.
The two-state solution set out in the 1991 Madrid Conference and the 1993-95 Oslo Accords has long been seen by the international community as the best way to settle the decades-long conflict, but the peace process has been moribund for years.
However, the search for a peaceful solution has been given new urgency by the 11-month-long war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas – the bloodiest episode yet in the overall conflict – as well as escalating violence in the occupied West Bank.
On May 28, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognised a unified Palestinian state ruled by the Palestinian Authority comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital. With them, 146 of the 193 member states of the United Nations now recognise Palestinian statehood.
Election Deniers Want AI Cameras to Stream Footage of Ballot Dropboxes – wired.com Source Link Excerpt:
Engelbrecht has also said the group is looking to roll out dropbox monitoring in multiple states, and mentioned Michigan as a possible location, though most of her focus appears to be on Wisconsin.
In her interview with Wallnau, Engelbrecht added that she was working with “three influential sheriffs” in Wisconsin, though didn’t name them.
WIRED contacted two dozen sheriffs from Wisconsin’s largest counties, but did not find a single one who was going to be part of the monitoring effort. Engelbrecht and Truth the Vote did not respond to multiple requests for comment from WIRED to name the sheriffs who have agreed to be part of the program.
“True the Vote has reached out to the Sheriff’s Office regarding ideas as they relate to election integrity and possible law violations,” Deputy Inspector Patrick R. Esser, from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, tells WIRED. “True the Vote proposed the idea of donating cameras to the sheriff’s office to monitor election sites, however, the obstacles associated with that idea made it impractical.”
While most sheriff offices WIRED contacted did not respond to requests for comment, a number, including offices in Buffalo County and Polk County, said they had not even heard about the dropbox initiative. “I was unaware of the plan and will not be participating,” Sheriff Mike Osmond from Buffalo County tells WIRED. “I am not sure if they are legal or not but do not have interest in implementing such a program.”
Fears mount that election deniers could disrupt vote count in US swing states – The Guardian Source Link Excerpt:
Fears are rising that the vote count in November’s presidential election could be disrupted as a result of the proliferation of Donald Trump’s lies about stolen elections and rampant voter fraud in the key swing states where the race for the White House will be decided.
A new survey of eight vital swing states reveals that at least 239 election deniers who have signed up to Trump’s “election integrity” conspiracy theories – including the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him – are actively engaged in electoral battles this year. The deniers are standing for congressional or state seats, holding Republican leadership positions, and overseeing elections on state and county election boards.
The report by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a watchdog group focusing on special interests distorting US democracy, reveals the extent of denial in the eight critical states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It shows that corrosive efforts to damage public confidence in elections have proliferated there despite the drubbing the election denial movement received in the 2022 midterms….
“What was striking to us about our research is how much election denialism and the voter fraud lie have infiltrated and taken over the Republican apparatus in each of these critical states,” said CMD’s executive director Arn Pearson.
Some cells can enter a ‘third state that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death.’ Here’s how.– www.livescience.com Source Link Excerpt:
… The third state challenges how scientists typically understand cell behavior. While caterpillars metamorphosing into butterflies, or tadpoles evolving into frogs, may be familiar developmental transformations, there are few instances where organisms change in ways that are not predetermined. Tumors, organoids and cell lines that can indefinitely divide in a petri dish, like HeLa cells, are not considered part of the third state because they do not develop new functions.
Xenobots are also able to perform kinematic self-replication, meaning they can physically replicate their structure and function without growing. This differs from more common replication processes that involve growth within or on the organism’s body.
Researchers have also found that solitary human lung cells can self-assemble into miniature multicellular organisms that can move around. These anthrobots behave and are structured in new ways. They are not only able to navigate their surroundings but also repair both themselves and injured neuron cells placed nearby.
Taken together, these findings demonstrate the inherent plasticity of cellular systems and challenge the idea that cells and organisms can evolve only in predetermined ways. The third state suggests that organismal death may play a significant role in how life transforms over time.
Diagram A shows an anthrobot building a bridge across a scratched neuron over the course of three days. Diagram B highlights the ‘stitch’ in green at the end of Day 3. (Image credit: Gumuskaya et al. 2023/Advanced Science, CC BY-SA)
Postmortem conditions
Several factors influence whether certain cells and tissues can survive and function after an organism dies. These include environmental conditions, metabolic activity and preservation techniques.
Different cell types have varying survival times. For example, in humans, white blood cells die between 60 and 86 hours after organismal death. In mice, skeletal muscle cells can be regrown after 14 days postmortem, while fibroblast cells from sheepandgoats can be cultured up to a month or so postmortem.
Metabolic activity plays an important role in whether cells can continue to survive and function. Active cells that require a continuous and substantial supply of energy to maintain their function are more difficult to culture than cells with lower energy requirements. Preservation techniques such as cryopreservation can allow tissue samples such as bone marrow to function similarly to that of living donor sources.
Different cell types have different capacities for survival, including white blood cells. (Image credit: Ed Reschke via Getty Images)
Factors such as age, health, sex and type of species further shape the postmortem landscape. This is seen in the challenge of culturing and transplanting metabolically active islet cells, which produce insulin in the pancreas, from donors to recipients. Researchers believe that autoimmune processes, high energy costs and the degradation of protective mechanisms could be the reason behind many islet transplant failures.
How the interplay of these variables allows certain cells to continue functioning after an organism dies remains unclear. One hypothesis is that specialized channels and pumps embedded in the outer membranes of cells serve as intricate electrical circuits. These channels and pumps generate electrical signals that allow cells to communicate with each other and execute specific functions such as growth and movement, shaping the structure of the organism they form.
The extent to which different types of cells can undergo transformation after death is also uncertain. Previous research has found that specific genes involved in stress, immunity and epigenetic regulation are activated after death in mice, zebrafishand people, suggesting widespread potential for transformation among diverse cell types.
Implications for biology and medicine
The third state not only offers new insights into the adaptability of cells. It also offers prospects for new treatments.
For example, anthrobots could be sourced from an individual’s living tissue to deliver drugs without triggering an unwanted immune response. Engineered anthrobots injected into the body could potentially dissolve arterial plaque in atherosclerosis patients and remove excess mucus in cystic fibrosis patients.
Importantly, these multicellular organisms have a finite life span, naturally degrading after four to six weeks. This “kill switch” prevents the growth of potentially invasive cells.
A better understanding of how some cells continue to function and metamorphose into multicellular entities some time after an organism’s demise holds promise for advancing personalized and preventive medicine.
I’d say he’s itching for the Senate to release their interim report:
“I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on the former president,” Blumenthal told Fox News. “But I think they also ought to be appalled and astonished by the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming, to be as candid and frank, as it should be to them in terms of providing information.”
US inflation rate slows as Federal Reserve prepares to lower interest rates – MSN Source Link Excerpt:
The consumer price index, the top measure for inflation in the U.S., slowed in August to 2.5% in the 12-month period ending in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics who released the updated consumer price index on Wednesday.
The new data shows that inflation is now below recent norms. In the last decade, prices generally increase at a rate of 3.2% per year. In the last 20 years, consumer inflation has generally increased 3% annually.
The consumer price index weighs the costs of goods based on their importance. Items like food, shelter and energy tend to be weighted more heavily.
After annual inflation reached 9% in the middle of 2022, the Federal Reserve implemented a series of interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 to combat high inflation. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has stated the Federal Reserve’s goal is to reduce inflation to an annualized rate of 2%.
CEO of World’s Largest Bank Hints at Historic Crash– www.breitbart.com Source Link Excerpt:
The world’s most powerful CEO just issued a grave warning to Americans: “This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”
His comment is especially disturbing because as the CEO of JPMorgan, the world’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon has access to more financial information than anyone. And he didn’t rise to power as a hot-head or doom-and-gloomer. He is calm, calculating, and knows the gravity of his words.
So, if he believes political instability is reaching a boiling point, one that could even hurt the world’s largest bank, smart investors know to take evasive action.
Dimon later got more specific when he said, “The danger is government debt and inflation.”
US appeals court voids $564 million verdict against Bank of Montreal in Ponzi case – MSN Source Link Excerpt:
Bank of Montreal persuaded a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to throw out a $564 million jury verdict against a subsidiary over its role in an approximately $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme run by convicted Minnesota businessman Tom Petters.
Citing a similar case involving Bernard Madoff, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a court-appointed trustee for the now-bankrupt Petters Co could not recover on behalf of its creditors because that firm had helped orchestrate the fraud.
The 3-0 decision by the St. Paul, Minnesota-based court overturned a November 2022 jury verdict, and directed that trustee Douglas Kelley’s case against BMO be dismissed.
