Tag: Christmas

Theresa May has stated that she will finally read the ‘Brexit For Dummies’ book she got for Christmas over a cosy weekend. The prime minister will snuggle up in her big, cosy chair at home with a glass of wine and begin reading the ‘Brexit For Dummies’ book she was given as a Christmas present. ‘The person who gave me this urged me to read it right away, but I’ve been busy. It’s good to finally be able to begin my Brexit preparations with this,’ she told us. With Brexit less than forty days away, Theresa is hoping the book will give her all the info she needs to get a great deal for Britain. ‘I’ve been procrastinating on all this for, to be honest. I’m sure “Brexit For Dummies” will teach me everything I need to know though,’ said Theresa. A ‘Brexit For Even Bigger Dummies’ book is already being hastily written in the event the prime minister struggles with the current edition.

In the first episode of 2019, the Press Gallery podcast team takes a look at the ream of official complaints being filed inside the world of Alberta politics. Over Christmas we had the UCP lodge an official complaint to the election commissioner about foreign funding to left-leaning third-party advertiser Progress Alberta, and Freedom Conservative leader Derek Fildebrandt doing the same about a donation in kind he made to Jason Kenney. Then, to kick off the new year, Alberta Party MLA Karen McPherson complained about the Speaker’s response to her call for an investigation into how the NDP handled sexual misconduct complaints levelled against two of its MLAs. Join host Emma Graney with guests Clare Clancy, Keith Gerein and Dave Breakenridge to talk about all of that, and make some prognostications about 2019. Good Stuff from the Gallery Clare’s pick: Literary Fiction, an excellent monthly podcast about books. Keith’s pick: University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe’s opinion piece about why equalization is not, in fact, unfair to Alberta. Emma’s pick: The wonderful Netflix documentary series 7 Days Out, which takes us behind the scenes in the countdown to some of the world’s biggest events. Also! The 2019 Popsugar reading challenge. Dave’s pick: Broken Record, an awesome music podcast by Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam.

Just before Christmas, Malaysian authorities filed criminal charges against Goldman, seeking a stunning $7.5 billion in reparations for the bank’s role in the scandal. At year’s end, Goldman is known to be under investigation in the U.S., Singapore and Malaysia, while 1MDB probes are ongoing in at least 10 countries. Blankfein does not recall any one-on-one meeting with Mr. Low, nor have we seen any record to suggest such a meeting occurred.” In December, outside analysts predicted the bank might need to set aside $1 billion or more for penalties. The scandal showed that all it takes is a corrupt official and a morally flexible bank office to generate billions in public losses. According to Wright and Hope’s book Billion Dollar Whale, for instance, Goldman’s Asia President, David Ryan, was suspicious of some of the deals in the third bond issue. What was in it for the bank? About $600 million in fees. Still, Goldman charged Malaysia what by all accounts was a beyond-exorbitant price. The Billion Dollar Whale authors asserted the bank earned “two hundred times the typical fee.” Clare Brown of the Sarawak Report, who broke many of the early stories about 1MDB, was writing about Goldman’s pricing a long time ago. Goldman has survived many scandals in recent years.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson announced the arrest of Gustavo Perez Arriaga in Bakersfield, about 280 miles southeast of Newman, where Police Cpl. Ronil Singh was gunned down early Wednesday; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.' #TheFive #FoxNews FOX News…

Media in a frenzy over President Trump asking girl if she still believes in Santa; former Gov. Mike Huckabee reacts. #FoxandFriends #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as…

The Story: The staff at Vote.net wishes a Merry Christmas to all of those of our readers who celebrate this holiday, and we would like...

The Japanese yen and the Swiss franc rose on safe-haven buying on Monday as investors grappled with political instability in the United States and fears of a global economic slowdown. Trading volumes were thinning out with most global markets set to shut for Christmas, while Japan was closed on Monday for a holiday. They were up about 0.1 percent each on the dollar in early Asian trade. "The global equity market rout has been driving sentiment in the currency markets. The dollar, also sought out as a safe-haven, managed to hold up despite troubles of its own, including a partial U.S. government shutdown. In a widely expected move, the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 25 basis points last week for its fourth hike of the year, underpinned by a relatively robust U.S. economy compared with its peers elsewhere. However, with the Fed signalling "some further gradual" rate hikes despite global risks, traders are growing increasingly nervous that higher borrowing costs would hurt corporate profits and put the brakes on the world's biggest economy. The partial U.S. government shutdown which could continue to Jan. 3, when the new Congress convenes and Democrats take over the House of Representatives, has also contributed to the souring of risk sentiment. The heightened fears over slowing global growth benefited the Japanese currency the most last week; it rose 2 percent on the U.S. dollar, and against the Australian dollar, the yen put on a sizable 4 percent. The Australian dollar, often considered a barometer of global risk appetite, changed hands at $0.7047, up slightly on its U.S. peer after sliding ore than 2 percent last week.

The archbishop of New York says to leave the stress of the holiday season behind and be present with loved ones and God's word. #FoxandFriends #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking…

Ministers were ill-prepared for government or ill-suited to it. She has managed a coalition with the Greens and New Zealand First. But the biggest challenge for Labour? The same challenge it always has: tax. National has had significant challenges this year. The Greens looked swamped by New Zealand First at times but can also be happy with 2018. It wasn't a big bang approach, more of a big ban approach. Well it's only in Parliament because National lets David Seymour win Epsom. In 2020 National lets Act wither. You'd be back to an FPP style, two party Parliament of National and Labour.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has demanded that the prime minister give MPs the opportunity to vote on whether or not they have confidence in her after she delayed the showdown on her Brexit deal to January. Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in Theresa May on Monday evening. While the government is not obliged to schedule a confidence vote before Christmas, the Labour leader said a refusal to do so would demonstrate that she was unable to command the confidence of the House of Commons. Announcing his intention, Corbyn told the Commons it was “very clear that it’s bad, unacceptable, that we should be waiting almost a month before we have a meaningful vote” on May’s Brexit deal. Instead, May has said the Brexit vote will be held in the week commencing 14 January. He added that the motion he intended to table, aimed specifically at the prime minister and not at the government as a whole, was “the only way I can think of of ensuring a vote takes place this week”. As Corbyn went to sit down after finishing his remarks, May stood up and walked out of the chamber, nodding to the chair as she left. We will vote against Labour in any confidence motion.” The Democratic Unionist Party also said it would back the prime minister, with its Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, saying his MPs would not support “the antics of the Labour party”. Haddon said a motion of no confidence in the government under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act would force May’s hand. But Corbyn announced his intention to table the motion as the debate closed.