PURITANS!

New Hampshire remains New England's lone holdout against legalizing recreational marijuana

Associated Press
Thu, 13 June 2024 


Rhododendrons bloom outside the New Hampshire Statehouse on Saturday, June 1, 2024, in Concord, N.H. On Thursday, June 13, the House killed legislation that would have legalized recreational use of marijuana, a step all other New England states have taken. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in New Hampshire died on the House floor Thursday after advancing further than ever in New England’s only holdout state.

The House has passed multiple legalization bills over the years only to have them blocked in the Senate. This year, both chambers passed legislation, and the Senate approved a compromise worked out by negotiators from both chambers. But the House declined to go along, instead voting 178-173 to table it and let it die as the session ended.

The House-passed version had included a 10% tax, while the final version kept the 15% favored by the Senate, as well as the state-run franchise model the Senate wanted and the House strongly opposed.

Rep. Jared Sullivan, a Democrat from Bethlehem, said the compromise did little to change what he called an “ugly” Senate bill. He described it as “the most intrusive big-government marijuana program proposed anywhere in the country, one that ignores free market principles, will stifle innovation in an emerging industry and tie future generations of Granite Staters to an inferior model indefinitely.”

Sullivan also pushed back against the suggestion that the law could have been tweaked next year to better reflect the House’s stance.

“Does anyone in here actually believe that we will be able to reel in a newly empowered government bureaucracy after they’ve spent millions of dollars?” he said. “Does anyone honestly believe it will be easy to pull back power from an unelected agency once they have it?”

Supporters had urged colleagues to pass the bill, suggesting that New Hampshire becoming the 25th state to legalize marijuana could be a tipping point for the federal government. Supporters also pointed to polls showing more than 70% of the state’s residents believe it should be legal.

“This bill does address what the people of our state want,” said Sen. Shannon Chandley, a Democrat from Amherst. “And besides being the will of the majority, it allows us to do what is really necessary, and that is to regulate.”

Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, said lawmakers appear content in ignoring the will of their constituents and to continuing to needlessly ensnare people, including many Black residents, in the criminal justice system.

“Marijuana legalization is not just a political squabble about the economic benefits,” she said in a statement. “The war on marijuana has real-life impacts.”

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, a past opponent of such bills, had signaled more openness to the idea but stopped short of saying he would sign the latest

Crypto Titans’ $160 Million War Chest Threatens Senate Democrats

Steven T. Dennis
Fri, 14 June 2024 


LEX LUTHER LOOK ALIKE

(Bloomberg) -- Crypto billionaires and their allies have amassed a $160 million war chest to protect their fortunes by bolstering US candidates who favor light-touch regulation of the embattled industry.

The staggering sum makes the crypto industry one of the most influential players in federal campaign finance. It’s the kind of money that’s already proven it can roil a California Senate race. In November, it could be pivotal in handing the Senate majority to Republicans.


Democratic control of the Senate hinges on the reelection of Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana, both cryptocurrency skeptics with tremendous sway over the fate of the crypto titans’ main legislative goals. They’re also the only two Democratic incumbents running this year in states Donald Trump won in the last election, making them prime targets for Republicans.

Fairshake, the crypto industry’s political action committee, and allied groups have nearly doubled their funding in just the past few weeks after getting $25 million each from Ripple Labs, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and Coinbase Global Inc. The billionaire twins Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, who co-founded crypto exchange Gemini, contributed $4.9 million earlier this year.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, whose estimated net worth soared 50% so far this year with the resurgent crypto market to $10.8 billion as of Thursday, last week urged followers to vote out lawmakers in either party who don’t support digital assets. This week, Armstrong went to Capitol Hill to meet with more than a dozen senators in both parties. That list included Tester, who said afterward he wants to talk to other senators about a crypto regulation bill.

Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer for Coinbase, said the company doesn’t control Fairshake and gave to the PAC to promote the industry’s agenda in elections.

“We’ve learned as an industry that you have to show up politically to be heard,” he said. “We’re very, very committed to see that though. We’re very committed to this cycle and beyond. This is only the beginning of a long road.”

Regulatory Goals

Crypto giants want to reduce oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has sued many major crypto players and imposed hefty fines. Gary Gensler, the agency’s chair, has said the industry is riddled with fraud and that exchanges don’t properly safeguard their customers’ assets and often mix them with their own funds.

Platforms like Coinbase, which the SEC sued last year for allegedly violating securities laws, have a lot to lose if the regulator’s position holds. The SEC claims Coinbase has made billions of dollars illegally promoting the sale of securities, and has also failed to register, as required, as an exchange, a broker and a clearing agency.

Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto said this week the super PAC is eyeing both Brown’s and Tester’s reelection races, though it hasn’t committed spending on either race. Earlier this year, Kristin Smith, chief executive officer of crypto trade group Blockchain Association, said the industry would be watching how Brown handles crypto’s legislative agenda.

The Democratic-led Senate so far hasn’t acted on the industry-friendly regulation package, which the Republican-controlled House approved in May.

Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who also met with Armstrong this week, said she’s working with senators on legislation to govern regulation of crypto assets by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, crypto’s preferred regulator.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer supports that effort, calling it “reasonable regulation.”

Heavy Spending

Fairshake spent $10 million ahead of California’s March open Senate primary to pummel progressive Representative Katie Porter, a Democratic crypto-skeptic, with negative ads ahead of her defeat. One television spot called the congresswoman a fake and an accomplished actor while the words bully, liar and unfit flashed across the screen. The ads didn’t mention crypto.

The high-visibility election influence campaign is a remarkable evolution from a year ago, when the crypto industry was reeling from a barrage of scandals and business failures, including exchange giant FTX’s implosion in late 2022.

FTX’s former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried built significant political influence in Washington with tens of millions of dollars in donations during the 2022 election. He was convicted of a range of crimes related to his management of FTX and sentenced in March to 25 years in prison.

The fallout from his political donations continues. Just last month, a federal judge sentenced one of his top deputies to more than seven years in prison for making millions in political donations while at FTX, drawing on loans from Alameda Research and acting as a straw donor for Bankman-Fried.

The crypto market rebounded this year thanks in large part to the approval by US regulators in January of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, drawing more investors to the most widely held cryptocurrency.

Choosing Sides

Armstrong recently touted a crypto advocacy website, which gave Brown an “F” grade and recommended Brown’s Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno, a longtime crypto advocate who founded a blockchain-based titling company. The website gives Tester a middling “C.”

Brown and Tester are feeling the pressure. Both senators bristled last week when asked about the issue, with Brown repeatedly saying he’s done enough talking to reporters about crypto and won’t negotiate in the press.

Tester, a frequent ally of the banking industry, said he’s stayed fairly neutral on crypto. “When I fully understand it, then we’ll deal with it,” he said.

Moreno, meanwhile, has courted the industry with his crypto experience. “I’m up against the most anti-crypto guy in America,” he said at a recent CoinDesk conference in Austin, Texas.

Tester’s Republican opponent, Tim Sheehy, blasted the Montana senator in posts on X, accusing Tester of trying to kill crypto. Sheehy called Bitcoin and cash “FREEDOM money.”

 Bloomberg Businessweek

UK

‘Tone deaf’ email reprimands Tory members who don’t donate for election

Charles Hymas
Fri, 14 June 2024 

The author told MPs, activists and members that they briefed the 'senior leadership' about those who gave to campaigns - PA/James Manning


Tory chiefs have faced a backlash after reprimanding party members who do not donate money for “not doing everything you can” to help fight the election.

The party bosses issued the appeal for funds earlier this week to Tory party members via email, which was headed “Gone missing?”

The author told MPs, activists and members that they briefed the “senior leadership” of the party about those who gave to the Tories’ campaigns.


“I do so every day. And I really hope that tomorrow your name can be on the list,” said the email.

It then set out the key attack lines of the election campaign, including Labour’s plan to “hike taxes on working people by £2,094”, “roll out the welcome mat” for illegal migrants, cancel Rwanda deportation flights and raid pensions through a retirement tax.

“Don’t you want to do everything you can to stop him? I’m briefing the chairman tomorrow about who’s donated so far. And who’s with us for the last stretch of the campaign. Will your name be on the list?,” it concludes.

The email, described as “tone deaf” by one observer, has provoked criticism from Conservative members who are understood to be unhappy at what they see as an arrogant begging letter coming on top of the annual fees that they pay to the party.
Critics on the Right

The biggest critics were activists on the Right of the party, who suggested they would contribute when the centrist Conservative Central Office took greater account of their views.

It is also understood to have sparked complaints over the number of special advisers parachuted into winnable seats at the expense of local candidates.

The unopposed selection of Richard Holden, the party chairman, for the safe seat of Basildon and Billericay has sparked the biggest backlash, with one constituency official describing it as a “slap in the face” for Tories in the area.

The row over the funding email comes just a day after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party overtook the Tories for the first time in a YouGov poll, putting them, respectively, on 19 per cent and 18 per cent.

ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Man who killed three soldiers in attack on India’s Red Fort to be hanged after president rejects mercy plea

KASHMIR IS INDIA'S GAZA

Arpan Rai
Thu, 13 June 2024 


Pakistani man Mohammad Arif (C) is escorted by Indian policemen as he walks out of the Karkardooma court in New Delhi in 2005 (Getty Images)

A convicted Pakistani national is set to face the death penalty in India after the president in New Delhi rejected his mercy petition over involvement in a deadly terrorist attack on popular monument Red Fort.

The man, Mohammed Arif aka Ashfaq, was confirmed to be a member of Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and was awarded death sentence on 31 October in 2005.

Indian president Droupadi Murmu rejected his mercy petition seeking relief from the execution sentence on 27 May, reported Indian news daily Hindustan Times. The mercy petition was sent to her on 15 May, officials aware of the matter said.

The attack, which took place a few days short of Christmas in December 2000, killed three Indian army personnel of 7 Rajputana Rifles unit. The armed forces personnel were guarding the pro Mughal-era monument from the inside when the terrorists entered the area. They later fled the spot by scaling the monument’s walls.

Indian police officials had said two men with automatic weapons had entered the Red Fort at about 9.40pm local time while a party for army families was being held inside. They reportedly fired indiscriminately.

Ashfaq was held four days later by the Delhi police’s special cell unit. He is currently lodged in India’s biggest prison facility – Tihar Jail – inside a high-risk cell. His mercy review petition was sent to India’s apex Supreme Court, after being rejected in lower Indian courts, but was rejected on 3 November 2022.

The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence and said there were no mitigating circumstances in Ashfaq’s favour. It underlined that the attack on the Red Fort posed a direct threat to the country’s unity, integrity, and sovereignty.

According to a former Indian civil servant who supervised the investigation into the attack, Ashfaq had camouflaged himself in India as a resident of Himalayan province Jammu.

He was arrested from Delhi’s eastern Ghazipur area where he was living as an Indian citizen, said Ashok Chand, the retired Indian Police Service officer told HT.

The attack on Red Fort was an attack on the country’s most important installations, he said.

Details of Ashfaq’s execution on Indian soil have not been officially released.

The attack came a day after the Indian government extended its unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir by a month.

After India’s announcement of the extension, Pakistan declared a partial withdrawal of its troops from along the ceasefire line dividing the Himalayan province. The ceasefire announced by India was dismissed by the terrorist group as an attempt to "hoodwink" the world over alleged violations in Kashmir.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose name means "Army of the Pure", had launched a number of similar attacks against Indian army installations in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Private equity firms have avoided taxation on over $1 trillion of income thanks to a loophole, new Oxford research reveals

Sunny Nagpaul
Thu, 13 June 2024 

Anthony Devlin—Getty Images


Calls to tax the world’s richest people are now focusing on another target: the world’s wealthiest private equity firms.

The largest PE firms in the world have avoided paying income taxes on more than $1 trillion of incentive fees since 2000 alone, according to new research from Oxford University, by making payments in a structure that subjects them to a much lower tax.

Private equity firms now control one-fifth of the U.S market, and can be an important source of foreign capital, but are now the target of politicians calling for crackdowns as governments in need of more revenue are looking for sources to pull from.

The new research, spearheaded by Oxford business professor Ludovic Phalippou, found the largest firms dedicated to private investment strategies—like buyout firms, venture capital, infrastructure, and bankruptcy and debt—have earned more than $1 trillion in carried interest pay since 2000. The main purposes of the research, Phalippou said in an interview with the Financial Times, is to show the colossal wealth created by the high fees of private funds, divulge the potential tax revenue governments could collect from these firms if such fees were treated as income tax rather than capital gains, and to reveal whether private investment strategies are worth what they cost.


“It shows you the upper bound of what you could collect if all of the countries in the world coordinated to tax that pot,” Phalippou said in the interview, adding, “once you understand how much money we are talking about, you can understand why private equity is the largest donor to politicians and universities.”

Senior employees of private equity advisory firms earn salaries that are subject to standard income taxes, the report states, but they also receive payments “conditional on the performance of the funds they advise: the carried interest.”

Most tax laws, he writes in the report, consider carried interest to be a capital gain, and is taxed at a much lower rate than income tax rates. These payments often resemble a performance-related bonus payment, but it comes with an exception that “employees should personally invest in the fund under management to be eligible for this bonus.” It’s a stark difference from how publicly traded firms operate, where as much as half of these fees are paid to shareholders in the form of dividends, the Financial Times reported.

The restructured payments have been dubbed a “loophole” by politicians—and the method has been drawing political scrutiny across the U.S and Europe for years, with the U.K.’s Labour party one of its most vocal critics.

Rachel Reeves—the country’s shadow chancellor and a member of the Labour party, which is widely expected to win this year’s elections—has vowed to move forward with plans to impose higher taxes on top private equity bosses. In its election manifesto published Thursday, the party pledged to consult on closing the carried interest tax loophole, which currently allows private equity bosses to pay tax at 28% capital gains rate, rather than the higher top marginal rate of income tax at 45%.

Reiterating this promise is the party’s latest push in a years-long effort to close the tax loophole, which Reeves has estimated could raise up to £440 million for the U.K government. Critics of the Labour party’s plan cite concerns that higher tax rates will give investment groups more reason to leave London, saying that foreign capital can help address needs that Britain's stretched public finances cannot fund on their own, like infrastructure, green energy, and more affordable housing.

In the U.S., several politicians including President Joe Biden and even former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump all made vows to end the special tax structure, but all those plans cracked under pressure from industry lobbyists.

The savings some top private equity bosses amass are sizable: Phalippou’s research calculates that Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity investor, earned $33.6 billion in carried interest—a sum that is over $10 billion larger than any other single investment firm.

Private equity firms have a notorious reputation for overtaking or forming monopolies in several industries by gobbling up publicly traded companies as private firms, which means they are not required by law to disclose information about their finances, operations, business risks, or legal liabilities. Such firms, though, are now in control of one-fifth of the American market, making a large chunk of the economy financially invisible to investors, the media and regulators.

Phalippou’s research is also meant to provide insight on how profitable private investment strategies really are in relation to the financial returns they generate. The report shows the median private equity fund earns just over 1.6-times investors’ money over four to five years, which is comparable to the long-term returns of U.S. stocks.

“It is hard for me to look at these numbers and be amazed,” Phalippou told the FT.

“The $1tn seems quite extraordinary. The return number, not so much,” Phalippou said. “It is good but it is not something to write home about.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

NOVA SCOTIA

DFO enforcement official says many arrested in elver fishery will face charges

BABY EELS

CBC
Thu, 13 June 2024 

Elver fishers are seen on a Nova Scotia river in 2023. The image was taken from a camera set up by licence holder Atlantic Elver Fishery and shows what the company said was unauthorized fishing. (Submitted by Atlantic Elver Fishery - image credit)


A top federal fisheries enforcement official says it's likely many of those arrested this spring for illegally fishing for baby eels along Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers will be charged as part of enforcement efforts to try to rein in an out-of-control fishery.

Tim Kerr, the Maritime director of conservation and protection for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said he believes deterrence is working, and the department intends to bring in new measures in an attempt to make sure next year's season runs more smoothly.

"We do expect a large number of charges and subsequent court appearances and decisions to be made against individuals who have been caught harvesting elver unauthorized this year," he said in an interview Thursday.


This year's spring season for baby eels, also known as elvers, was cancelled due to concerns related to violence and poaching. DFO has been criticized by elver fishermen and federal MPs for not cracking down soon enough on unauthorized fishing, and some have questioned whether arrests are actually leading to charges.

Kerr said 107 arrests related to illegal elver fishing were made in 2023, resulting in 133 charges under the Fisheries Act, and he expected a similar ratio this year related to the 169 arrests so far.

Elver fishers are seen on a river in Halifax County, N.S. in 2023. The image is taken from a camera set up by licence holder Atlantic Elver Fishery and shows what the company says is unauthorized fishing on a river assigned exclusively to the company by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said 103 arrests were made during last year's elver season. (Submitted by Atlantic Elver Fishery)

It's not clear how many of those charged will actually face trial, however, once the cases are in the hands of federal prosecutors. In one recent case, the Crown ended without explanation the prosecution of five Mi'kmaw men claiming they had a treaty right to fish for elvers.

Unauthorized elver fishing has soared in recent years due to demand from Asia, where they are shipped live and then grown to maturity for food.

Kerr said DFO is seeking to develop a traceability system that would be similar to the one deployed in Maine, where the elver fishery is electronically monitored in real time, with fishermen using fobs or QR codes to log the catch they sell.

A similar system in Canada would allow anyone who has elvers in their possession, from the fisherman on the river to the exporter at an airport, the ability to show where the tiny eels were harvested and prove they were caught legally, Kerr said.


The Department of Fisheries and Oceans posted this photograph from an elver seizure on May 31, 2024, at a facility in Dartmouth, N.S.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans posted this photograph from an elver seizure this May at a facility in Dartmouth, N.S. (DFO Maritimes/X)

Stanley King, an elver fisherman, said this week the commercial sector has long been in favour of a traceability system, and is frustrated DFO would not introduce one early enough to potentially avoid this year's shutdown.

"We only have nine months left until the next season," he said. "So we are very concerned, industry is very concerned that we won't have that."

On Thursday, DFO also released a statement about the concerns raised by commercial licence holders who were told this week the department is considering handing a substantial part of their quotas to First Nations and potentially other new operators.

Some licence holders have said they are in favour of greater First Nations access to the fishery, but want DFO to buy their licences and are upset at the prospect of losing a sizable chunk of quota with no compensation.

The department said the costs of fishing for elvers is much lower than other fisheries, as it doesn't require a boat and is done using nets at the riverside. Lobster, by contrast, requires much higher investment, including a boat and specialized gear.

DFO said that's why it's not entertaining a "willing buyer, willing seller" scenario where the department will purchase elver licences from those agreeing to sell them.

"Given the significant increases in elver value and relatively low input costs, the commercial elver fishery presents a unique opportunity to broaden the distribution of the prosperity that can be generated among various types of harvesters," the statement said.

Reallocating quota, the department said, is a step toward reconciliation by "reducing the long-standing socio-economic gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick."

UK

Why Labour and the Conservatives think they can improve the country without raising taxes – and why it’s a gamble


Shampa Roy-Mukherjee, Vice Dean and Associate Professor in Economics, University of East London

THE CONVERSATION
Fri, 14 June 2024 

The incoming government will have to keep its promises on tax. lovelyday12

Both the Conservatives and Labour have made the same pre-election promise not to increase taxes on working people. They’ve also made many other promises to improve the NHS, crack down on illegal immigration, build more houses and many other things. So how do they think they can do these things without raising taxes?

The short answer is that they are gambling on being able to grow the economy so they have more money to pay for new things. But that’s easier said than done.

The two main parties have pledged not to raise the rates of the biggest three sources of tax: income tax, national insurance contributions and VAT. (This is except VAT private school fees, which Labour has promised to introduce).

They also have committed to stay within the same rule, which says that the country’s national debt should be falling as a percentage of GDP – the total value of all the goods and services the country produces – within five years. And they are using as the basis for their plans the same forecast that the government’s Office for Budget Responsibility gave in March.

Both parties have also promised promised to freeze tax thresholds – the amount you have to earn before you pay the different taxes – at the current levels. And they’ve promised to raise the same amount by cracking down on tax avoidance.

The problem is that it’s simply not possible to maintain the same level of taxes, spend more on public services and borrow less.

This is particularly because income tax, national insurance and VAT collectively account for about two thirds of the total tax revenue. By ruling out increases in these biggest taxes, the two main parties are limiting their choices on spending on public services.

The only way that next government can avoid further public spending cuts is by focusing on policies that will lead to higher economic growth.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that UK economy will grow by 0.5% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2025.

There has also been a significant fall in inflation – the rate at which prices rise – to 2.3% in April 2024. And this means the Bank of England may lower interest rates this summer, making it cheaper to borrow money and reducing the cost of things like people’s mortgages so they have more money to spend on other things.

This may speed up the rate of short-term growth and help in the recovery of living standards.

But the economic outlook still looks gloomy. The increase in the size of the UK population and workforce, mainly through immigration, has been good for economic growth. But this has been offset by rising numbers of people not working after the COVID pandemic.

Another area of consideration is the fall in what’s known as labour productivity, which is a measure of how efficient a country is – how much money it makes for the amount of work people do. When productivity rises, people can earn relatively more and their standard of living goes up.

Historically, growth in UK productivity has been around 2% a year, but since the financial crisis it has been growing at a much slower rate.

This has also been exacerbated by the pandemic, Brexit and other global challenges. UK productivity was around 16% below the US and Germany in 2022.

Other than higher economic growth, the other area that any new government could focus on is tax reform.

Changing the tax system to make it more attractive to invest and start your own business, could be a top priority of any new government. Policies to promote growth could attract much-needed private investment as well as helping businesses to grow.

Labour’s commitment not to raise the headline rate of corporation tax, which companies pay, for example, will give businesses more certainty for long-term investment plans.

However, the danger remains that whichever of the two main parties wins the election – and it looks likely to be Labour – they won’t be able to raise enough money through growth or tax reform to make meaningful improvements to public services.

We have all heard people complain that politicians are all the same, and never do what they promise to do. So if their gamble doesn’t pay off and they can’t improve public services, trust in our political system will continue to fall.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Shampa Roy-Mukherjee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Edmond de Rothschild to open Saudi office and launch debt platform

ATTENTION CONSPIRACIOLOGISTS

Reuters
Thu, 13 June 2024 


FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured on the Edmond de Rothschild bank in Geneva


DUBAI (Reuters) - Edmond de Rothschild Group, a specialist in asset management and private banking, is set to open an office in Saudi Arabia this year and launch a platform to provide debt finance for infrastructure projects there, the Swiss bank said on Thursday.

The platform could help Saudi Arabia with its vast Vision 2030 plan which aims to wean the economy off oil, but has so far attracted limited investment from outside the kingdom.

The plan, spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the kingdom's prime minister and de facto day-to-day ruler, includes building massive new urban developments and investing in various sectors to help create thousands of new jobs.

Edmond de Rothschild will work with SNB Capital to set up the platform to help fund infrastructure projects across the Gulf country, the two companies said in a joint statement.


The Swiss bank, which has over 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in assets under management in infrastructure debt, has also set up a joint venture with Watar Partners to provide infrastructure debt advisory services to Saudi family offices and institutional investors.

The partnership is expected to go live in the second half of this year, together with the opening of a local office in Riyadh.

"This is a logical next step for our group, building on the long-standing business relationships we have with the country," the Geneva-based bank's CEO Ariane de Rothschild was quoted as saying in the statement.

Edmond de Rothschild last year also expanded its presence in Dubai, in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, with an advisory office.

($1 = 0.9266 euros)

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Mark Potter)

Man brags about hunts, portrays self as outdoor celebrity, then is busted

David Strege
Thu, 13 June 2024

ASSHOLE

A man who suggested that his hunting exploits should be featured on outdoor TV shows was sentenced as a big-game poacher, and trespasser.

Jason Smith, 29, illegally killed four elk, four black bears and five black-tailed deer in Western Washington and bragged on social media about his tracking and killing prowess, and posted photos of his kills, the Washington Department of Wildlife announced.

Smith was charged with two felony counts of first-degree unlawful hunting of big game, 27 gross misdemeanor charges of second-degree unlawful hunting of big game, unlawful black bear baiting and unlawful waste of wildlife; and three misdemeanor charges of unlawful hunting or retrieving wildlife from private property.

A King County judge sentenced Smith to 80 hours of community service and fined him $8,000.

WDFW Police began investigating Smith in early 2021 upon seeing his multitude of successful harvest posts on social media, believing early on that the suspect had illegally killed multiple elk in the North Bend area of King County.

During the next 1½ years, officers obtained numerous search warrants for social media and mapping tools, gathering evidence of the suspect’s poaching activities.

From the WDFW:

In numerous cases, Smith used illegal means to bait deer, elk, and black bear as well as trespassed onto private property to poach or retrieve illegally killed animals. In one case, he left an elk carcass to waste after another person found the poached elk before he could retrieve it.

Smith posted photos of his exploits on social media and told friends about his tracking and killing prowess, suggesting he should be featured on extreme outdoor TV shows. In reality, much of the wildlife he poached was baited into his yard or poached on his neighbor’s property. In a text message obtained during the warrant, Smith also said he would kill another elk for a friend that hadn’t shot one yet if he got to keep the head to mount.

In the end, Officers served a search warrant at Smith’s residence and seized some of the wildlife parts, including meat. Other animals were seized from a taxidermist.

“Smith attempted to portray himself as a type of outdoor celebrity, using social media to boast, when in reality, there was nothing ethical about his actions,” said WDFW Captain Dan Chadwick.

“I commend our Officers’ hard work and ingenuity in completing this case. They are committed to ensuring safe and ethical opportunities while conserving our big game natural resources. We’d also like to thank the King County Prosecutors Office and the Attorney General’s Office Environmental Protection Division for their work on this case.”

Ford will no longer require dealers to invest $500,000+ just to sell EVs

Nora Naughton
Thu, 13 June 2024 

Ford is ending a controversial program that required dealers to invest between $500,000 and $1 million to sell EVs.

EV sales are now open to all Ford dealers without certification requirements.

The change comes after Ford over-estimated EV sales growth.

Ford dealers no longer need to invest up to $1 million in order to sell electric vehicles.

The Blue Oval is ending its controversial EV dealership program less than two years after it was first announced, Ford Chief Operating Officer Marin Gjaja told reporters Thursday, according to CNBC.

Ford dealers will no longer be required to invest in certification to get EVs on their lot, opening battery-electric sales to Ford's entire dealership network — a move Gjaja said is designed to grow Ford's EV sales.

The program, first announced in September 2022, asked dealers to spend between $500,000 and $1.2 million to become "EV Certified." The steep price included expensive DC fast-chargers for dealer lots to double as charging locations and EV training for staff.

This rigorous buy-in program was built on optimistic EV sales forecasts that dealers would make back their investments as electric-car popularity increased. But a lot has changed in the US EV market since the fall of 2022, and growth in the segment hasn't played out as Ford initially expected, Gjaja said.

EV sales have slowed down in the past year. They are still on the rise but at a slower rate than the boom in growth that happened between 2020 and 2022. With wealthy early adopters largely sated, car companies are now trying to entice a new group of EV shoppers who are more frugal and practical.

Ford dealers were among the first to raise alarm bells about this slowdown when some stores started turning down Mustang Mach-E allocations last summer. Later, dealers started reporting issues with F-150 Lightning demand — further eroding Ford's relationship with its dealers.

Since then, Ford and other major automakers have gone back to the drawing board on their EV strategies.

Even before this slowdown in EV sales, many Ford dealers were unhappy with the high price of entry for selling electric cars. Several dealer associations filed lawsuits related to the program. In one case, an Illinois board ruled in favor of the dealers' claim that Ford's EV certification program violated state laws.

As of December of last year, a little more than half of Ford's nearly 3,000 US dealers had opted out of the EV investment requirements, an early sign that the program had backfired.

Ford's dealers will still need to make some investments to support EV sales on their lots, but they will no longer be held to the minimum $500,000 investment.

Ford vice chair John Lawler on EVs, 2024 profits, and why the automaker never abandoned hybrids

Pras Subramanian
·Senior Reporter
Sat, 15 June 2024 

Ford (F) is having a strong sales year in the US, with deliveries up 11% in the month of May, driven by a nearly 65% boost in hybrid sales from a year ago. Even electric vehicle sales are strong.

The sales success comes after a big transformation in the company last year. New vice chair John Lawler, Ford’s former CFO, played a big part in the company’s Ford+ plan, which split the automaker’s reporting structure into three units: its traditional gas-powered business (Ford Blue), commercial business (Ford Pro), and EVs (Model e).

While the EV business has seen higher costs and softer consumer demand, the company is still bullish on battery EVs. Yahoo Finance spoke to Lawler at the Deutsche Bank Global Autos Conference in midtown Manhattan this week, where Lawler gave investors and analysts an update on Ford’s 2024 outlook. Here are the edited excerpts:

John Lawler, then Ford's Chief Financial Officer, rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City last year. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)

Pras Subramanian: Ford had a strong sales month in May, powered by not just traditional ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles but also hybrids. Did Ford envision that a year ago at the delivering Ford+ event? EVs were the big push then but look at hybrid sales now. How do you explain that?

John Lawler: Yeah, so when you think about hybrids with Ford, we've been in hybrids for over 20 years. We're No. 3 in the US in hybrids right now. Now our hybrid sales are going to grow 40% this year; you can't just turn that on with a switch. So all the narrative and hype had been around EVs, but we never walked away from hybrids. We always had those in the plan. They were always funded, and you're seeing that now, as the demand has increased, we have the capacity to provide for consumers, and you're seeing that take place.

We're seeing the demand story for EVs slow down a bit, but Ford's EV sales are still quite strong. What's your take on that and how Ford can bridge the gap to EV profitability?

So the way we think about EVs is it's not a matter of if, it's when and how fast. And so we did see a slowdown relative to what people expected, but I think there was a false signal coming out of COVID of how quick demand was going to grow.

That was because of the early adopters — they were really excited about having the choice of electric vehicles. Then we get to the early majority. They're not willing to put up with some of the other issues that you might have with an EV around range and those types of things. So choice is important, and it's coming through where you have hybrids, where you have plug-in hybrids. Other technologies are coming along as well that I think will help that transition. So I think you're going to see the growth continue, [but] it's going be a little bit slower than what we've seen in the past.

Of course, for us, getting to profitability is key. With our segmentation, you can see exactly how we're performing in the EV space, and we have plans to improve that primarily with our second generation of vehicles, where we'll see step function changes in the cost and performance of the vehicles. And that's where we think we'll really start to gain traction from a business standpoint for our electric vehicles.

"I think you're going to see the growth continue": A Ford electric F-150 truck is displayed outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 23, 2023 in New York City. Ford held an event to explain its current operations including plans to reorganize its business units. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

So real profitability may come in those second-generation software-defined types of EVs?

Exactly. The cost structure of those vehicles is going to improve dramatically through battery technologies, efficiency of design, et cetera. That’s because [with] our first generation vehicles, to get to market quickly, we converted gas vehicles into electric vehicles. These [second-gen EVs) are ground-up platforms designed specifically to be EVs.

You’re talking about 2024 shaping up to be a strong sales year. Do you see that $10 billion to 12 billion adjusted EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) target in play?

When we came out of the first quarter, we had guided that we would be at the high end of that range. And so that's where our guidance sits right now.

I’ve known you as the CFO, grinding those numbers and financial metrics, but now you have more of a strategic role in the business. I know you used to work in Europe and Asia, and now you’re going to leverage some of those roots, right? What's the new role going to entail, and how do you make Ford more efficient from an operational point of view?

It's really around strategic initiatives. The level of change in this industry is unprecedented right now. You have the propulsion changes, moving from gas to electrification, and electrification is going to take many forms, as we're starting to see develop. You also then have the digital technologies in the platform. So I'm going to be focusing on which technologies we're going move into alliances, and as you said, partnerships are going to be key.

One of the issues with this industry has been capital efficiency, and a way you work through more capital-efficient structures is through partnerships and sharing some of that capital footprint. So we're going to focus on that. And then, of course, I've worked all over the world. I spent six years in China. I've worked in Europe. I've worked in Japan. And I think I can add a lot of value working with governments and their leaders on the policies and how Ford can help and how Ford's going to interface in those markets.

Is Ford still focused on China? Is it more of a joint-venture situation?

Well, we've always had joint ventures in China, and we have two - one in commercial vehicles, one for passenger vehicles. They're really important partners for us. I love our strategy in China. It's capital light, we're profitable in China, we're exporting from China, we're growing from that market base. So we have a lot of possibilities in China, and I'm excited about the future there.