Argentina's President Milei presents 2025 budget, vowing austerity and setting up a showdown
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Libertarian President Javier Milei of Argentina has presented the 2025 budget to Congress, outlining policy priorities that reflected his key pledge to kill the country's chronic fiscal deficit and signaled a new phase of confrontation with lawmakers. In an unprecedented move, Milei personally pitched the budget to Congress instead of his economy minister, lambasting Argentina's history of macroeconomic mismanagement and promising to veto anything that compromised his tough slog of tight fiscal policy. The president's budget proposal Sunday followed a week of political clashes in the legislature -- where Milei controls less than 15% of the seats -- over spending increases.
The Coast Guard will hear from former OceanGate employees about the Titan implosion
The U.S. Coast Guard officials investigating the implosion of a submersible en route to the wreck of the Titanic will hear from former employees of the company that owned the experimental watercraft. A hearing was scheduled to begin Monday with testimony from a former engineering director, finance director and contractor of OceanGate, the company that owned the Titan submersible. The Titan imploded in the North Atlantic in June 2023, killing all five people on board and setting off worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration. OceanGate co-founder Stockton Rush was among those killed. The company immediately suspended operations after the implosion.
Asian stocks mixed amid weak China data after Wall Street closes the best week of 2024
HONG KONG (AP) -- Asian stocks are mixed with several key markets closed for a holiday, after U.S. stocks finished their best week of the year and climbed to the cusp of their records. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped on Monday after data released over the weekend showed a slowdown in China's economy in August. Markets in Japan, mainland China and South Korea were closed for a holiday. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday and is just 0.7% below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.7%. Traders are rekindling hopes the Fed may deliver a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates.
Air Canada and pilots union reach a tentative agreement to avoid a shutdown
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) -- Air Canada and the union representing its pilots have come to terms on a labor agreement that is likely to prevent a shutdown of Canada's largest airline. The airline said early Sunday that talks betwen the company and the Air Line Pilots Association produced a tentative, four-year collective agreement. Air Canada says terms will remain confidential until ratification by union members and approval by the airline's board of directors over the next month. Union leaders say they approved the agreement on behalf of more than 5,400 Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge pilots in anticipation of a $1.9 billion increase for the employees over the period of the agreement. Federal Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon has confirmed the sides reached a deal.
Which candidate is better for tech innovation? Venture capitalists divided on Harris or Trump
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Being a venture capitalist carries a lot of prestige in Silicon Valley. So when some of the industry's biggest names endorsed former President Donald Trump and the onetime VC he picked for a running mate, JD Vance, people took notice. Hundreds of other VCs threw their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris, drawing battle lines over which presidential candidate will be better for tech innovation and the conditions startups need to thrive. For years, many of Silicon Valley's political discussions took place behind closed doors. Now, those casual debates have gone public -- on podcasts, social media and online manifestos.
'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' is No. 1 again; conservative doc 'Am I Racist' cracks box office top 5
Moviegoers are saying yes to more "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice." The Tim Burton sequel easily topped the domestic box office charts again this weekend, with $51.6 million in ticket sales. Studio estimates Sunday showed the number down only 54% from a week earlier. The North American gross for the Warner Bros. release is already at $188 million. Second place at the box office went to the James McAvoy horror "Speak No Evil," which came in at $11.5 million. "Deadpool & Wolverine" placed third with $5.2 million. In fourth place was the conservative mockumentary "Am I Racist?" which recorded $4.7 million in ticket sales from 1,517 theaters.
Autoworkers are set to demonstrate in Brussels to protest a layoff threat
BRUSSELS (AP) -- Trade unions and thousands of disgruntled workers are set to demonstrate through the Belgian capital Monday to protest the threat of thousands of layoffs in a state of the art Brussels car factory and other key industries. The trigger for the unrest is the announcement of the German carmaker Audi to restructure its operations in the Forest plant in southern Brussels. It imperils the jobs of 3,000 staffers, many of whom are experts in electronic vehicles production.
McCormick's hedge fund days are a double-edged sword in Pennsylvania's Senate race
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Before he ran for the Senate in Pennsylvania, David McCormick was a big name on Wall Street as CEO of the world's largest hedge fund. But McCormick's Wall Street days have provided grist for attacks by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. Casey is pressing the case that the hedge fund invested in Chinese companies that are considered part of Beijing's military and surveillance industrial complex. But McCormick's fund was hardly alone. American investment in Chinese companies surged while McCormick was CEO. Now, each candidate is trying to show he's the tougher one on China.
Jordan's king appoints Harvard-educated aide to serve as prime minister
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Jordan's King Abdullah II has tapped a longtime aide to serve as the kingdom's new prime minister. The Royal Court said the king has asked Jafar Hassan to form a new government. Hassan is a former planning minister and the current head of Abdullah's office. The Harvard-educated Hassan is to replace the outgoing prime minister whose Cabinet resigned Sunday in the wake of a parliamentary election. Hassan must now cobble together a new Cabinet to confront a series of challenges. Those include a struggling economy and widespread public anger over the Israel-Hamas war. An Islamic party emerged as the largest faction in last week's parliamentary election. That happened in part because of the anger over the war in Gaza.
ESPN and other channels return to DirecTV with a new Disney deal after a nearly 2-week blackout
DirecTV on Saturday announced it had reached a deal with Walt Disney Co. that will restore ESPN and ABC-owned stations to its service after a nearly 2-week dispute that blacked out those networks for millions of viewers across the U.S. The end of the impasse came in time for sports fans to watch ESPN's slate of college football games on DirecTV. It also will ensure that ABC's telecast of the Emmy Award on Sunday night will be available in more major markets where viewers subscribe to DirecTV's pay service. The markets where ABC had been dark on DirecTV included Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston.