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    Labor Day holiday, Fed decision

    Peter Watson
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    Labor Day holiday, Fed decision

    An Hour Ago

    Microsoft opens first regional data centre in Thailand

    Tech giant Microsoft announced it will open its first regional data center in Thailand.

    The company said it will also build new cloud and AI infrastructure in Thailand, as well as provide AI skilling opportunities for over 100,000 people

    Microsoft said the data center region will expand the availability of its hyperscale cloud services, “facilitating enterprise-grade reliability, performance, and compliance with data residency and privacy standards.”

    — Lim Hui Jie

    3 Hours Ago

    Mitsui’s full-year profit falls 6%, shares climb as $1.26 billion buyback announced

    Japanese trading house Mitsui and Co reported a 6.4% fall in profit to 1.08 trillion yen ($6.84 billion) for its 2023 financial year ended March 31.

    Profit before tax came in at 1.3 trillion yen, down 6.7% year-on-year, while revenue dipped 6.9% to 13.32 trillion yen compared to the same period last year.

    Despite the poorer results, shares of the company climbed 1.23% as it also announced a 200 billion yen share buyback from May 2 to Sept. 20.

    Mitsui will buy back up to 40 million shares, or 80 million after a share split on July 1.

    4 Hours Ago

    Oil on pace for three straight days of losses amid rising inventory and ceasefire hopes

    Oil prices have fallen for a third straight day as U.S. inventories rise as well as optimism for a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East.

    Brent contracts slid 0.88% to $85.57 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude saw a larger loss of 1.03% to $81.09 per barrel.

    Reuters reported that U.S. crude oil inventories swelled last week by 4.906 million barrels, while gasoline and distillate stockpiles fell, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

    — Lim Hui Jie

    6 Hours Ago

    Money market data suggests that yen strengthening may have been intervention: Reuters

    The sudden strengthening of the yen on Monday is likely due to intervention by Japanese authorities, Reuters reported, citing money market data from the Bank of Japan.

    Money market data revealed that the central bank’s projection for Wednesday’s money market conditions indicated a 7.56 trillion yen ($47.91 billion) net receipt of funds.

    Reuters said this compared with a 2.05 billion to 2.30 billion yen estimate from money market brokerages that excludes intervention, adding that currency trades take two days to settle.

    On Monday, the yen weakened to a 34-year low against the greenback, hitting 160.03 before strengthening to about 155 in the space of a few hours.

    6 Hours Ago

    South Korea’s exports post sharp increase in April, beats expectations

    South Korea posted a 13.8% increase in exports in April, a sharp increase compared to the 3.1% rise in March, according to preliminary estimates by the country’s customs service.

    The rise also beat the 13.7% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters.

    Imports to South Korea climbed 5.4%, less than the 6.2% rise expected and a reversal from the 12.3% fall in March.

    As such, the country’s trade balance narrowed to $1.53 billion, down from the $4.29 billion recorded in March.

    — Lim Hui Jie

    7 Hours Ago

    CNBC Pro: Citi names 3 biotech stocks to play a growing $2.9 billion opportunity — giving one about 50% upside

    The outlook is starting to look bright for biotech stocks, according to some.

    With markets now expecting the first rate cut to be in September rather than June or July, as previously thought, biotech stocks could start to do well.

    Biotech encompasses many different areas, but Citi has identified one with a $2.9 billion market — which it says is set for even more growth. According to Citi, the market for it is set to grow by mid-single digit over the next five years.

    CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

    — Weizhen Tan

    7 Hours Ago

    CNBC Pro: Only 2 stocks in Europe have beaten estimates for 5 quarters and rallied each time

    Only two European stocks have positively surprised markets every quarter for the past five quarters, according to analysis by CNBC Pro.

    CNBC Pro screened for Stoxx 600 stocks that report EPS figures and have analysts’ estimates available on FactSet.

    One of the stocks stood out for several large share price jumps following quarterly earnings releases. Most recently, the company beat earnings estimates by 6.1% and shares rallied by more than 8% in the following session. Similarly, the stock rallied by 12.8% in a single session four quarters ago.

    CNCB Pro subscribers can read more about the stocks here.

    — Ganesh Rao

    11 Hours Ago

    Bitcoin briefly dips under $60,000, slides to worst month since 2022

    Bitcoin continued its month-long slide to close out April, falling 4% and at one point trading just below the $60,000 level.

    The flagship cryptocurrency is on pace to end the month down 15% and post its first negative month in the past eight. It would be its worst month since November 2022, when FTX collapsed. It’s still up 43% for 2024.

    See Chart…

    Bitcoin (BTC) over the past month

    Stocks whose performance is tied to the price of bitcoin tumbled with the cryptocurrency. Crypto exchange Coinbase fell 6%, while MicroStrategy lost 15%. The software company and self-described Bitcoin development company also reported a loss for the first quarter.

    In the mining sector, Marathon Digital dropped 10.5%, while Riot Platforms lost 8.5%. IREN and CleanSpark were each lower by 7%.

    For more on what’s in store for bitcoin in the month ahead, read our investment outlook here.

    — Tanaya Macheel

    16 Hours Ago

    Consumer sentiment measure hits lowest level since July 2022

    People shop at the Macy’s store on Herald Square in New York City.

    Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Consumer confidence hit its lowest level since mid-2022 in March as fears grew over employment and inflation, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.

    The board’s main index registered a reading of 97, below the downwardly revised 103.1 in March and missing the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 103.5. This was the lowest level for the index since July 2022, though board officials said their measure of current conditions is still at a fairly healthy level and the headline index has been in a “relatively narrow range” for more than two years.

    Still, there were concerns about where things are headed. Respondents answers reflected that “elevated price levels, especially for food and gas, dominated consumer’s concerns, with politics and global conflicts as distant runners-up,” said Dana M. Peterson, the board’s chief economist.

    —Jeff Cox

    18 Hours Ago

    Employment compensation measure increased more than expected in Q1

    Total compensation costs for workers rose by more than expected in the first quarter, providing another sign that inflation pressures are not going away.

    The employment cost index increased 1.2% for the period, faster than the 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2023 and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 1%, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The index is watched by Federal Reserve officials as a sign of underlying inflation.

    On a year over year basis, the index for civilian workers rose 4.2% after having increased 4.8% for the same period in 2023.

    —Jeff Cox

    Takeaways from Day 9 of the Trump hush money trial

    Peter Watson
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    Takeaways from Day 9 of the Trump hush money trial



    CNN
     — 

    Judge Juan Merchan handed down his first punishment to Donald Trump for violating the judge’s gag order in the New York hush money trial Tuesday, fining Trump $9,000 for nine violations.

    The judge also warned the former president in his written order that continued violations could also lead to imprisonment – a striking reminder of the historic and surreal nature of this trial.

    Once the trial itself began Tuesday, jurors heard from the attorney who negotiated both the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush money agreements, Keith Davidson, who detailed his tribulations with Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen in the final days of the 2016 campaign to get the money promised to Daniels for her to stay quiet.

    Davidson testified that a tabloid editor believed Daniels’ story would be the “final nail in the coffin” for Trump’s presidential aspirations in October 2016 after the Access Hollywood tape came out. Instead, Davidson negotiated a $130,000 hush money deal with Cohen on Daniels’ behalf, and she did not speak out publicly before the 2016 election.

    Here are the takeaways from day nine of the Trump hush money trial:

    Trump is fined – and faces more later this week

    Before the jury was called in Tuesday morning, Merchan levied a $9,000 fine against the former president for multiple violations of the judge’s gag order barring public discussion of witnesses in the case or the jury.

    Merchan fined Trump for nine violations – $1,000 each, the maximum allowed by law – after prosecutors had filed a motion to hold the former president in contempt over his social media posts and public comments about Cohen, Daniels and the makeup of the jury pool.

    This won’t be Trump’s last run-in with Merchan’s gag order, either. Last week, the district attorney’s office cited another four comments from Trump that allegedly violated the order. Merchan has scheduled a hearing on those violations for Thursday.

    The comments cited by prosecutors pointed to Trump’s continued commentary about witnesses, including that he thought AMI chief David Pecker was “nice.” Prosecutors argued that the remark was a message to other witnesses to “be nice” on the stand.

    In his order, the judge warned Trump that he could be imprisoned if he continues to willfully violate the gag order. Merchan could jail Trump for 30 days for finding him in contempt.

    “The Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote.

    Stormy’s lawyer takes the stand

    Davidson, an LA-based attorney, represented both McDougal and Daniels when they were shopping stories about their romantic relations with Trump in 2016.

    He described in detail his conversations with American Media Inc.’s then-chief content officer Dylan Howard – aided by text exchanges between the two rich in detail to help freshen up Davidson’s memory – as he cut a $150,000 deal with AMI for McDougal’s story and then struck a $130,000 deal directly with Cohen for Daniels after AMI backed out.

    Davidson said Daniels’ manager, Gina Rodriguez, approached him and asked him to close the deal. “It’s going to be the easiest deal you’ve ever done in your entire life,” Davidson said, before pausing and letting out a little laugh.

    Rodriguez told him it had already been negotiated. “All you have to do is talk to that a**hole Cohen,” Davidson recalled.

    Davidson walked jurors through the contracts he drew up with Cohen and the excuses he got when Cohen initially didn’t pay.

    “I thought he was trying to kick the can down the road until after the election,” Davidson testified about Cohen’s excuses for not coming up with the funding, which prompted him to tell Cohen at one point that the deal was off.

    Davidson’s testimony also provided some lighter moments. In the contract, he used pseudonyms: Peggy Peterson for Daniels because she was the plaintiff and David Dennison for Trump because he was the defendant.

    Assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass asked if Dennison was a real person. “Yes, he was on my high school hockey team,” Davidson said.

    “How does he feel about you now?” Steinglass asked.

    “He’s very upset,” Davidson said, holding back a laugh.

    Daniels’ attorney also had some choice words for Cohen. Asked to describe Cohen’s demeanor while negotiating the payment with him, Davidson said, “He was highly excitable, sort of a pants on fire kind of guy.”

    Cohen, Davidson added, was like the cartoon dog who yells “squirrel!”

    Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro returned Tuesday morning to walk the jury through Cohen’s bank activity around the payment to Daniels.

    Records show it took Cohen less than 24 hours to open an account for a shell company and use it to wire the money to Daniels’ attorney.

    On October 27, 2016, Cohen pushed his bank to expedite a $131,000 advance on the home equity line of credit tied to his personal property he shared with his wife. That was approved and the money was transferred to the new Essential Consultant LLC account Cohen opened, telling his banker at the time it was for a rushed real estate deal.

    The next morning Cohen wired $130,000 to an account facilitated by Daniels’ lawyer.

    Farro testified that when he dealt with Cohen, 90% of the time it was an “urgent matter.”

    The banker also said First Republic Bank closed all of Cohen’s accounts, leaving only his existing mortgages with the institution, after news of the Daniels hush money payment became public.

    Prosecutors used records custodians to enter several video clips into evidence Tuesday morning.

    Three C-SPAN clips of Trump speaking at public events were played for the jury in open court. Two clips from October 2016 campaign events showed then-candidate Trump vehemently denying allegations from women who publicly accused him of sexual assault after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released earlier that month.

    “As you have seen, right now I’m being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It’s a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are,” Trump says in one clip.

    In a clip from January 11, 2017, President-elect Trump said, “Michael Cohen is a very talented lawyer. He’s a good lawyer in my firm.”



    01:20 – Source: CNN

    Why a defense attorney thinks Judge Merchan didn’t jail Trump over gag order

    Snippets from Trump’s October 2022 deposition taken for his E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuits were also admitted into evidence and played in court.

    Prosecutors also played a clip from the deposition where Trump described that Truth Social was a platform he opened as an alternative to Twitter. In another clip Trump responds to questions confirming that he is married to Melania Trump, since 2005.

    Jurors also saw Trump identify himself as the speaker in the “Access Hollywood” tape during that deposition – although no video clip was played in relation to the question about the “Access Hollywood” tape, nor the tape itself. (The judge previously ruled only a transcript of the audio could be admitted into evidence – not the video footage.)

    Trump had several visitors in the gallery behind him in court on Tuesday, beyond the typical accompaniment of aides there each day.

    His son, Eric Trump, attended the trial – the first family member of the former president to appear during the trial. Susie Wiles, Trump’s senior campaign adviser, was sitting beside the former president’s son.

    Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, and David McIntosh, who has cofounded conservative political groups including the Club for Growth, stopped into the courtroom for some of Tuesday’s session, too.

    Tuesday’s appearances could be the beginning of a new kind of pilgrimage for Trump’s allies: instead of visiting him at Mar-a-Lago, they come to see the presumptive GOP nominee stand trial in New York.

    Former Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page – who was wiretapped by the FBI and later sued the Justice Department over it – was also inside the Manhattan courtroom, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported.

    Though Trump brought a slew of aides and allies with him to court, Page was not sitting near them and instead entered through security with reporters and members of the public. Page declined to comment to CNN on why he was present, but his presence speaks to the circus-like atmosphere that has enveloped Trump’s trial.

    Page was a key name during Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, and his presence emphasizes the throwback nature of this trial — where many figures from Trump’s past and several whom he no longer speaks with have taken center stage.

    Trump on Tuesday also got another dose of family friendly news: Before the trial began his attorneys had asked for May 17 off so that Trump could attend his son Barron’s graduation. The judge had said he didn’t know yet if that was possible – but on Tuesday, Merchan said things were moving quickly enough that he was comfortable having no court that day so Trump could attend graduation.

    Trump had previously attacked the judge for preventing him from attending Barron’s graduation, even though the judge had only previously said he was withholding a decision on the request.

    Starbucks revises 2024 guidance, after badly missing its Q2 earnings estimates

    Peter Watson
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    Starbucks revises 2024 guidance, after badly missing its Q2 earnings estimates

    The glass is looking half empty for Starbucks (SBUX) this quarter.

    For its Q2 earnings, the company missed expectations across the board, posting lower than expected revenue, earnings, and same store sales growth, as customers pulled back on the frequency of their visits and size of their orders.

    CEO Laxman Narasimhan called it a “a highly challenged environment.”

    During the earnings call, he added that macro headwinds, “particularly around the pressures that consumers face, particularly with the occasional customer … that’s where the challenge is.”

    This is Starbucks’ first quarterly sales decline since 2020, when COVID shutdowns roiled the industry.

    Revenue for the second quarter dropped 2% year over year to $8.6 billion. Adjusted earnings per share also came in lower, down 8% to $0.68.

    Global same-store sales declined 4% from a year ago, as transactions dropped 6%, which was partially offset by a 2% increase in average ticket size.

    Shares of the coffee chain are down more than 12% in after hours trading.

    Starbucks attempted to lure in customers with afternoon promotions and new offerings like Lavender Lattes, which Narasimhan said “performed nearly as well this past quarter as the PSL (pumpkin spice latte)”.

    However, menu innovations didn’t appear to move the needle for the coffee giant.

    In its North America and US business, same-store sales declined 3%, with foot traffic dropping 7% year over year, though ticket size was up 4%.

    To attract the occasional customers, Starbucks plans to add new promotions to its app. In the US, 31% of all Q2 transactions came through its app. However, the number of 90-day active loyalty members declined to 32.8 million, compared to 34.3 million last quarter.

    Narasimhan also called out speed of service as an area of opportunity. Currently, many customers don’t complete their app orders due to long wait times or lack of product availability. The company is “ramping up supply chain investments to further improve availability,” he said.

    New products like boba tea-like pearls, zero to low calorie energy drinks, and more sugar-free syrups are also on tap.

    For its international business, same-store sales are down 6%, with a 3% decline in foot traffic and ticket size. Similar to that of McDonald’s, Starbucks said conflict in the Middle East weighed on international sales.

    Narasimhan shared his concerns about current events and misinformation being spread about the company in an internal memo in mid-December.

    But China saw the biggest drop, with same store sales down 11%, foot traffic down 8%, and the average ticket size down 4%.

    “Performance was impacted by a decline in occasional customers, changing holiday patterns, a high promotional environment and a normalization of customer behaviors following last year’s market reopening.” Narasimhan said on the call.

    Stores in the US and China make up 61% of the company portfolio.

    The company also revised its 2024 outlook for the third time this fiscal year.

    As of Q2, Starbucks expects 2024 global revenue growth of low-single digits, down from the previous range of 7% to 10%, which itself was down from a prior guidance of 10% to 12%.

    Global and U.S. same-store sales are expected to see a low single-digit decline to flat, down from the previous range of a 4% to 6% growth. China’s same-store sales are expected to see a single-digit decline, down from the previously expected low single digits growth.

    Starbucks originally expected same store growth in the mid-single digits across its markets.

    Here’s what Starbucks reported, compared to Wall Street estimates, per Bloomberg consensus estimates:

    • Adjusted earnings per share: $0.68 versus $0.80

    • Revenue: $8.56 billion versus $9.13 billion

    • Same-store sales growth: -4% versus 1.46%

      • North America: -3% versus 2.05%

      • US: -3% versus 2.31%

      • International: -6% versus 1.36%

      • China: -11% versus -1.62%

    • Foot traffic growth: -6% versus -0.27%

      • North America: -7%, compared to up 6% in Q2 2023

      • International: -3%, compared to up 7% in Q2 2023

    • Ticket size growth: 2% versus 2.41%

      • North America: 4%, compared to up 5% in Q2 2023

      • International: -3%, compared to flat in Q2 2023

    —

    Brooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.

    Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks

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    Where the 10-year yield is a ‘clear problem’ for stocks, Goldman says

    Peter Watson
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    Where the 10-year yield is a ‘clear problem’ for stocks, Goldman says

    Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 29, 2024. 

    Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

    The volatility in the bond market has had equity investors on their toes for months, but at what point will rising yields spoil stocks’ 2024 rally?

    The answer is 5% on the 10-year Treasury yield, according to Goldman Sachs. In a new 19-page paper using market data since the 1980s, the Wall Street firm said when that threshold is reached, the correlation between bond yields and stocks turns negative.

    “While there is no ‘magic number’, historically bond yields at around 5% is when higher yields become a clear problem for equities — that is the point where the correlation with bond yields is no longer decisively positive,” wrote a team of Goldman strategists led by Peter Oppenheimer, chief global equity strategist.

    The benchmark 10-year yield jumped 5 basis points Tuesday to 4.67% after data showed employee compensation costs increased more than expected to start the year. It marked yet another danger sign about persistent inflation, which the market thinks will keep the Federal Reserve on hold until later this year before it starts to consider cutting rates. A basis point equals one-hundredth of a percentage point.

    Goldman said investors are currently in the “optimism phase” of the cycle, where confidence — and complacency — grow, pushing valuations higher.

    “Equity valuations are higher and the cycle is more mature so equity markets are very sensitive to moves in bond yields,” Goldman said. “They underperform with yields moving higher around news of overheating and higher inflation, while they outperform when the market prices Central Banks to cut interest rates.”

    The 10-year Treasury yield, a key barometer for mortgage rates, auto loans and credit cards, has risen almost 80 basis points this year as the market adjusts to a higher-for-longer rate regime. The current rate on the Federal Reserve’s fed funds for overnight lending is 5.25%-5.50%.

    After starting the year forecasting at least six reductions in interest rates, the market is now pricing in a 75% chance of just one rate cut, according to the CME Group’s widely followed FedWatch tracker that derives its probabilities from where 30-day fed funds futures are trading. The central bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee began its two-day meeting Tuesday.

    Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has long stressed the impact of interest rates on all investments, saying higher rates exert a huge gravitational pull on asset values, lowering the present value of any future earnings.

    Rising yields dent the appeal of risk assets as shorter-dated Treasury bills and longer-dated Treasury notes offer solid yields and a risk-free alternative to stocks.

    — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.

    Don’t miss these exclusives from CNBC PRO

    China Collides With Philippines Ship, Hits It With Water Cannon: Video

    Peter Watson
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    China Collides With Philippines Ship, Hits It With Water Cannon: Video

    A screen grab taken from a video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard showing Chinese Coast Guard ships firing water cannons against Philippines vessels near Scarborough Shoal, South China Sea, on April 30, 2024.
    Philippine Coast Guard

    • A video shows a Chinese ship colliding with a Philippine vessel while firing water cannons.
    • The Philippine Coast Guard says the vessel took damage from the attack.
    • The confrontation, inside the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone, is the latest between the two countries.

    Chinese Coast Guard ships confronted a pair of Philippine vessels this week, harassing, ramming, and firing water cannons at them, according to Philippine authorities.

    Official videos and other footage from media members show the latest flare-up between the two countries as China continues to defy international legal rulings on South China Sea territory and engage Philippine vessels in Manila’s exclusive economic zone.

    The Philippine Coast Guard shared video footage on Tuesday of the incident.

    The footage shows Chinese vessels firing water cannons at a Philippine Coast Guard ship and a vessel of the country’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the BRP Bagacay and BRP Datu Bankaw, as the two vessels carried out a “legitimate maritime patrol” near Scarborough Shoal, a contested area of the South China Sea inside the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone where China forcefully exerts control.

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    In the released footage, two larger Chinese vessels surround one of the Philippine ships, firing water cannons from each side.

    “During the patrol, the Philippine vessels encountered dangerous maneuvers and obstruction from four China Coast Guard vessels and six Chinese Maritime Militia vessels,” Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said.

    The latest confrontation resulted “in damage to the railing and canopy,” Tarriela added, including a picture for evidence. “This damage serves as evidence of the forceful water pressure used by the China Coast Guard in their harassment of the Philippine vessels.”

    The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said in a statement that China’s behavior was “shocking and appalling” and that embedded press were able to witness and experience firsthand the “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous actions” of the Chinese side.

    Local News5 journalist Gio Robles published videos to X from the incident showing scenes from aboard the Datu Bankaw.

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    The Telegraph’s Asia correspondent Nicola Smith was aboard the Philippine Coast Guard ship Bagacay and wrote of the experience that as the Chinese ships hammered the vessel with their water cannons, “all you could hear was the thundering of the water and more frantic shouts of the crew.”

    Smith said the ship’s canopy broke under the intense assault and that the Datu Bankaw suffered interior flooding and damage to the onboard radar.

    China’s Coast Guard said in a post on the country’s Weibo social media platform that it had expelled the Philippine vessels for “intruding” in its waters “in accordance with the law.”

    The Philippines, on the other hand, said the vessels “stood their ground and continued their maritime patrol. They were not deterred and will persist in carrying out their legitimate operations to support Filipino fishermen and ensure their safety.”

    A Chinese Coast Guard ship fires a water cannon at Unaizah May 4, a Philippine Navy chartered vessel, conducting a routine resupply mission to troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, on March 05, 2024 in the South China Sea.
    Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

    The video posted on X of a Chinese Coast Guard ship colliding with the Datu Bankaw while spraying it with water notably showed that the Chinese ship was “specifically targeting the Philippine ship’s navigation and communication equipment,” Tom Shugart, a former US Navy officer and current adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank, wrote on social media.

    “It’s aiming to do damage, not just ward off,” he said.

    It’s the latest fight between the two countries as China continues to dominate disputed waters in the South China Sea, defying international law and asserting its dominance in the strategic waterway. Scarborough Shoal, which has a constant Chinese Coast Guard presence, but the Philippines continues to press its claims to this area.

    There have been numerous Chinese attacks on Philippine ships. A recent one in March saw a Chinese water cannon destroy a Philippine ship’s windows and injure four sailors.

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    The Philippine Coast Guard said Tuesday that China had reinstalled a roughly 1,200-foot floating barrier that “covers the entire entrance of the shoal, effectively restricting access to the area,” a prime fishing spot.

    Star Wars: Hunters launches June 4

    Peter Watson
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    Star Wars: Hunters launches June 4

    Free-to-play third-person competitive arena combat game Star Wars: Hunters will launch for Switch, iOS, and Android on June 4, publisher Zynga and developers NaturalMotion and BossAlien announced.

    Here is an overview of the game, via its official website:

    About

    Join the greatest Hunters from across the Star Wars galaxy on the planet of Vespaara where high-stakes competitions are awaiting them in the Arena. Engage in thrilling third-person combat to dominate your opponents in a range of adventurous battlegrounds that evoke iconic Star Wars worlds. Mix and match teams, use skill, tactics and customize your Hunters to find a winning strategy and reap the spoils of victory in the all-new free-to-play game.

    The Planet: Vespaara

    You can find anything on Vespaara—as long as you’re willing to pay for it. Found at the planet’s southern pole, perpetually angled away from the sun, this rocky “oasis” lives in eternal twilight. With every hour considered “magic hour” it is the perfect location to put on the round-the-clock spectacle that the Arena hosts. What’s more, there’s an amazing year-round aurora effect in the sky that constantly shifts and reforms, appearing like a celestial audience of sinister red and purple eyes, always staring down. The show never ends.

    The Hutt Ship

    The centerpiece of the Arena complex is a one-of-a-kind custom-built command ship, the spherical emplacement hovers over the Arena, covered in advertisements for upcoming events and products.

    Battlefields

    • Ewok Village – Based on the forrest moon of Endor, this map includes a faithful depiction of an important Ewok cultural site. This battlefield is full of detailed reproductions of authentic-looking Ewok dwellings and structures: it’s like you’re actually there amongst the trees and high-rise platforms where the fall of the Empire started.
    • Mos Espa Podrace – Hold on to your helmets because this battlefield is a wild ride! Evoking a recreated vista of Mos Espa—home of the famous Boonta Eve Classic Podrace—as its environment; Podrace is where the Arena owners have diverted their repulsor craft pod races to fly through this Tatooine-inspired map to add chaos.
    • Dune Sea Outpost – This arena recreates an abandoned trading outpost on Tatooine where all manner of scum and villainy in the universe once conducted nefarious business deals. Characterized by Mos Eisley architecture, it is now a prime location for smugglers to hide their stolen bounty.
    • Death Star Crossfire – Players will navigate the crossfire of these warring factions, as X-wings and TIE fighters swoop overhead past heavy fire from Turbolaser towers. Navigate devastating crash sites and classic Imperial interiors in this exciting new Arena experience!
    • Vandor Railyard – This new multi-modal map is set on an Imperial Railcrawler Facility, nestled deep in the mountains of Vandor. Players will not only be up against their foes, but they will also face the challenges of the steep cliffs, and you won’t want to be hit by the moving train passing through the map!

    Game Modes

    • Squad Brawl – The first team to reach 20 eliminations wins in this all out assault mode
    • Dynamic Control – In this mode, teams compete to capture rotating Control Points.
    • Power Control – In this mode, Squads must control the majority of Control Points on the battlefield and hold them firmly.
    • Trophy Chase – Two teams aim to hold the Trophy Droid, named TR0-F33! The first Squad to reach 100% wins the game.

    Classes

    • Damage – Inflicting a barrage of heavy attacks, Damage characters are their opponents’ biggest threat.
    • Support – Usually healing and helping out their squad during the match, Support characters are critical in keeping the battle going longer.
    • Tank – Hard to overpower, Tank characters always assert their dominace in the Arena as they take on opponents and keep their team from harm.

    Watch a new trailer below.

    Release Date Trailer

    ‘Euphoria’ diss track tears into Drake amid feud

    Peter Watson
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    ‘Euphoria’ diss track tears into Drake amid feud

    play

    Kendrick Lamar is taking aim at Drake in a brutal new diss track.

    The rapper, 36, on Tuesday tore into Drake on his new song “Euphoria,” marking the latest escalation of their ongoing feud. It’s a response to Drake’s own songs directed at Lamar, who in March rejected the idea that he and Drake are on the same level as rappers.

    If the lyrics didn’t already make it clear enough that the song’s subject was Drake, the title itself is a not-so-subtle reference to the “First Person Shooter” rapper, who is a producer on the HBO series “Euphoria.”

    ‘Euphoria’ lyrics: Kendrick Lamar raps Drake is a ‘scam artist’ in diss track

    In the song, Lamar raps about how the “famous actor we once knew is looking paranoid and now spiraling.” Drake famously began his career as an actor on “Degrassi: The Next Generation.”

    Lamar goes on to call the subject of the track a “pathetic master manipulator” and a “habitual liar” who is “not a rap artist” but “a scam artist.” He says that he makes music “to electrify ’em,” while Drake makes music “to pacify ’em.”

    J. Cole apologizes to Kendrick Lamar for ‘lame’ diss ‘7 Minute Drill’: ‘I was conflicted’

    “I’m the biggest hater. I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk,” he continues. “I hate the way that you dress. I hate the way that you sneak diss.”

    “How many more fairytale stories about your life ’til we’ve had enough?” Lamar raps. “How many more Black features ’til you finally feel that you’re Black enough?”

    Drake, who is biracial, was previously called out by Pusha T in a similarly vicious feud for a photo featuring him in blackface. After Pusha T used the picture as the cover for his diss track “The Story of Adidon,” Drake said the blackface photo was from 2007 when he was working on a “project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast.” Pusha T also revealed Drake had a child, unbeknownst to the public at the time.

    J. Cole takes apparent swipe at Drake in ‘Red Leather’ after Kendrick Lamar diss apology

    Lamar also seems to take a shot at Drake’s relationship with his son, Adonis. “I got a son to raise, but I can see you don’t know nothing about that,” he raps.

    What to know about Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s beef

    Lamar and Drake’s feud goes back more than a decade to 2013, when Lamar rapped on the Big Sean song “Control” about how he wanted to “murder” Drake and other prominent rappers.

    Earlier this year, Lamar appeared on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” and rejected the idea of there being a “big three” in rap, declaring on the track, “It’s just big me.” The lyric was a response to J. Cole referring to himself, Drake and Lamar as the “big three” on Drake’s 2023 track “First Person Shooter.”

    Drake subsequently fired back with two diss tracks directed at Lamar, “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” “Taylor Made Freestyle” was later pulled from streaming services after Tupac Shakur’s estate threatened to sue over the use of a AI voice imitation. “The unauthorized, equally dismaying use of Tupac’s voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately, compounds the insult,” a cease-and-desist from the estate obtained by USA TODAY said.

    Lamar references this on “Euphoria” by rapping that Shakur is turning “in his grave.”

    J. Cole also responded to Lamar on the song “7 Minute Drill” in April, rapping, “He still doing shows but fell off like ‘The Simpsons.” He also rapped that Lamar is past his “prime.” But shortly after releasing the song, Cole apologized and said it was “lame” and “goofy” of him to do so.

    “I ain’t gonna lie to y’all the past two days felt terrible,” he told the audience at the Dreamville Festival days later, going on to call Lamar as “one of the greatest.”

    Listen to Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track ‘Euphoria’

    Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track “Euphoria” is available to stream on YouTube, where the display photo shows the dictionary definition of the title word.

    Contributing: Naledi Ushe and KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY

    Victoria Beckham on crutches as she continues to recover from injury | Lifestyle

    Peter Watson
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    Victoria Beckham on crutches as she continues to recover from injury | Lifestyle

    Victoria Beckham is still walking on crutches as she continues to recover from a broken foot.

    Taking to social media, the star, 50, posed in a white dressing gown as she prepared for a photoshoot for her own beauty band, revealing she is still healing from her recent accident.

    She posed for a mirror selfie, leaning on a crutch in a pair of strappy heels.

    Posh Spice suffered an injury at the gym in February and has been using crutches since.

    Despite her injury, Beckham recently insisted she is happier than she’s ever been after turning 50 earlier this month.

    Jamal Murray, pushing through injury, cements himself as all-time NBA playoff performer

    Peter Watson
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    Jamal Murray, pushing through injury, cements himself as all-time NBA playoff performer

    DENVER — In the moments after Jamal Murray ended a series for the Denver Nuggets and ended a season for the Los Angeles Lakers, he bumped into his head coach Michael Malone and delivered maybe the understatement of the year.

    He had just hit the shot that won yet another game for the Nuggets, his second such make of the first round. He did so with a strained left calf that limited him in nearly debilitating ways on Monday night at Ball Arena.

    GO DEEPER

    ‘You’re going to hit the game-winning shot’: Jamal Murray’s teammates knew he would deliver in Game 2

    But the sense of humor, which Murray has plenty of when he’s in the right mood, was as good as ever.

    “It’s a good thing you played me tonight, coach,” Murray told Malone. “I don’t know if we win if I don’t play tonight.”

    Jamal Murray has yet to be an NBA All-Star in his career. He’s never made an All-NBA team. And yet, how many guys are you taking over him in a playoff setting? That’s what you call a rhetorical question because the answer should universally be: Not many.

    Murray’s put up 50-point heaters in the postseason. His playoff run last spring was instrumental to the Nuggets winning their first title in franchise history. Whatever Murray is during the regular season, he’s cemented himself as one of the all-time playoff risers in the history of basketball. And in no way should the previous sentence be a controversial statement.

    Monday night added to his lore. When Murray dribbled twice to his left and stepped back on one foot to shake Lakers guard Austin Reaves, we all knew what was about to happen. The 15-footer was pure. It gave Denver a 108-106 win at Ball Arena. It gave the Nuggets a 4-1 series win. It gave Denver a much-needed respite before a series with the Minnesota Timberwolves that promises to be a grueling one.

    “In truth, we were all banged up,” Malone said. “We didn’t know who we were going to have available to finish this game.”

    In a Game 3 win in Los Angeles, backup point guard Reggie Jackson sprained his ankle, an injury that put him on crutches and in a protective boot during Denver’s off day at its Santa Monica hotel. In the first half of Monday night’s Game 5, starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sprained his ankle bad enough that he left the game twice during the remainder of the first half. He came back in the second half, gutted through it, and made multiple big shots.

    Murray strained his calf in the second half of Game 4, Denver’s lone loss of the series. He began Monday as questionable to play. So Murray arrived at Ball Arena earlier than normal to receive treatment, try to stretch and loosen the calf, and make a decision as to whether he would be able to play. Calf strains are by nature a tricky and dangerous injury. They are soft tissue injuries that heal slowly. More importantly, they typically lead to more serious ailments, such as Achilles injuries.

    In past playoffs, the 2019 NBA Finals series featuring the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors changed when then-Warriors forward Kevin Durant returned from a calf strain and ended up rupturing his Achilles. In 2021, a second-round series featuring the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers turned, in part, when then-Jazz point guard Mike Conley strained his calf. In this current postseason, the Milwaukee Bucks haven’t had Giannis Antetokounmpo in a first-round matchup against the Indiana Pacers because of a strained calf he suffered toward the end of the regular season.

    These examples serve to tell the story of why the Nuggets themselves didn’t want Murray to play on Monday night. And on the surface, the reasoning was sound. With a 3-1 lead heading into Game 5, if Denver defeated the Lakers without Murray that would give the point guard seven days to heal. If not? Then the hope would be that Murray would be ready to go in Thursday night’s Game 6 in Los Angeles.

    “I came in a little earlier just to get some treatment, and I did feel like I could play,” Murray said. “They told me no. I didn’t say no. I didn’t want to leave my teammates out there. I didn’t want to hang them out to dry. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I didn’t everything that I could in order to be on the floor tonight.”

    Monday night wasn’t the first time this season that Murray played in a game against Denver’s advice. Toward the end of the regular season, the Nuggets wanted to sit Murray against the Utah Jazz to protect against Murray’s left knee soreness. The Utah game was the front end of a back-to-back, a road game, with the Nuggets then facing the Timberwolves back at Ball Arena the next night. On the team flight to Salt Lake City, Murray approached Malone and begged him to play. He did so and turned in a big fourth quarter to propel the Nuggets over the Jazz, and played the following night, a win over Minnesota.

    Murray is an honest and raw human being. He’s passionate and will let you know exactly what he’s thinking. Malone is a good fit for him because he’s open to honest and sometimes harsh and emotional conversation. This was a key on Monday night. The worry, of course, was that Murray would play in Game 5 and injure the calf, and that’s something the Nuggets didn’t want. But Murray wasn’t going to sit out of a playoff game, not if he could help it. So, he and Malone had that talk. And then Murray and Malone and the training staff had that talk. They laid out a plan, and Murray suited up and got ready to play.

    “I knew he was going to play, to be honest,” Denver star Nikola Jokić said. “Without talking to him, I knew he wants to play and that he wants to be in the big games. Even though he didn’t shoot his best, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

    Murray was 13 of 28 from the field on Monday night, while making five of his 10 3-point attempts. He scored a game-high 32 points, including making gargantuan shots down the stretch outside of the game-winner. He dunked on LeBron James, who was amazing in his own right, and flexed in front of him. He sliced through the defense at will in the final five minutes.

    He wasn’t anywhere close to 100 percent.

    From the opening possessions, it was clear Murray couldn’t explode off the dribble the way he wanted. It was clear that he didn’t have his usual first step. The Nuggets wanted to limit his minutes as much as they could, but he ended up playing 40 on Monday night. Ironically, that may have been the best thing for Murray, because playing kept the calf warm and loose, and Murray played and shot the ball better as the game progressed.

    “I was moving well enough to play,” Murray said. “But jumping was the biggest thing for me. That was the toughest challenge, leaving the ground, even on my jump shot. So I went to a deeper gather before I shot the ball, because I wanted to put as little stress on my calf as possible.”

    Deep into Monday night, Malone talked about the question the Nuggets faced. Did they want to sit Murray? Or did they want to put their chips in the middle of the table, and go all in on trying to end the series with the Lakers? It was a collaborative conversation, but eventually, the Nuggets settled on the latter. The prize was a win in Game 5, nearly a week of rest and the fact that Murray didn’t hurt himself further.

    And now, the Nuggets and Wolves get to the series many have been waiting for.

    “The bigger the moment, the bigger Jamal Murray shines,” Malone said. “He’s one tough cookie.”

    (Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

    Turning Invisible Dark Matter Into Visible Light

    Peter Watson
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    Turning Invisible Dark Matter Into Visible Light

    Galaxy cluster, left, with ring of dark matter visible, right. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. J. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)

    Explorations in dark matter are advancing with new experimental techniques designed to detect axions, leveraging advanced technology and interdisciplinary collaboration to uncover the secrets of this elusive component of the cosmos.

    A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are reflected in its name: dark matter.

    Several experiments have aimed to unveil what it’s made of, but despite decades of searching, scientists have come up short. Now our new experiment, under construction at Yale University in the US, is offering a new tactic.

    Dark matter has been around the universe since the beginning of time, pulling stars and galaxies together. Invisible and subtle, it doesn’t seem to interact with light or any other kind of matter. In fact, it has to be something completely new.

    The standard model of particle physics is incomplete, and this is a problem. We have to look for new fundamental particles. Surprisingly, the same flaws of the standard model give precious hints on where they may hide.

    The Trouble With the Neutron

    Let’s take the neutron, for instance. It makes up the atomic nucleus along with the proton. Despite being neutral overall, the theory states that it it made up of three charged constituent particles called quarks. Because of this, we would expect some parts of the neutron to be charged positively and others negatively –this would mean it was having what physicists call an electric dipole moment.

    Yet, many attempts to measure it have come with the same outcome: it is too small to be detected. Another ghost. And we are not talking about instrumental inadequacies, but a parameter that has to be smaller than one part in ten billion. It is so tiny that people wonder if it could be zero altogether.

    In physics, however, the mathematical zero is always a strong statement. In the late 70s, particle physicists Roberto Peccei and Helen Quinn (and later, Frank Wilczek and Steven Weinberg) tried to accommodate theory and evidence.

    They suggested that, maybe, the parameter is not zero. Rather it is a dynamical quantity that slowly lost its charge, evolving to zero, after the Big Bang. Theoretical calculations show that, if such an event happened, it must have left behind a multitude of light, sneaky particles.

    These were dubbed “axions” after a detergent brand because they could “clear up” the neutron problem. And even more. If axions were created in the early universe, they have been hanging around since then. Most importantly, their properties check all the boxes expected for dark matter. For these reasons, axions have become one of the favorite candidate particles for dark matter.

    Axions would only interact with other particles weakly. However, this means they would still interact a bit. The invisible axions could even transform into ordinary particles, including – ironically – photons, the very essence of light. This may happen in particular circumstances, like in the presence of a magnetic field. This is a godsend for experimental physicists.

    Experimental Design

    Many experiments are trying to evoke the axion-ghost in the controlled environment of a lab. Some aim to convert light into axions, for instance, and then axions back into light on the other side of a wall.

    At present, the most sensitive approach targets the halo of dark matter permeating the galaxy (and consequently, Earth) with a device called a haloscope. It is a conductive cavity immersed in a strong magnetic field; the former captures the dark matter surrounding us (assuming it is axions), while the latter induces the conversion into light. The result is an electromagnetic signal appearing inside the cavity, oscillating with a characteristic frequency depending on the axion mass.

    The system works like a receiving radio. It needs to be properly adjusted to intercept the frequency we are interested in. Practically, the dimensions of the cavity are changed to accommodate different characteristic frequencies. If the frequencies of the axion and the cavity do not match, it is just like tuning a radio on the wrong channel.

    Powerful Superconducting Magnet Moved at Yale

    The powerful magnet is moved to the lab at Yale. Credit: Yale University

    Unfortunately, the channel we are looking for cannot be predicted in advance. We have no choice but to scan all the potential frequencies. It is like picking a radio station in a sea of white noise – a needle in a haystack – with an old radio that needs to be bigger or smaller every time we turn the frequency knob.

    Yet, those are not the only challenges. Cosmology points to tens of gigahertz as the latest, promising frontier for axion search. As higher frequencies require smaller cavities, exploring that region would require cavities too small to capture a meaningful amount of signal.

    New experiments are trying to find alternative paths. Our Axion Longitudinal Plasma Haloscope (Alpha) experiment uses a new concept of cavity based on metamaterials.

    Metamaterials are composite materials with global properties that differ from their constituents – they are more than the sum of their parts. A cavity filled with conductive rods gets a characteristic frequency as if it were one million times smaller, while barely changing its volume. That is exactly what we need. Plus, the rods provide a built-in, easy-adjustable tuning system.

    We are currently building the setup, which will be ready to take data in a few years. The technology is promising. Its development is the result of the collaboration among solid-state physicists, electrical engineers, particle physicists, and even mathematicians.

    Despite being so elusive, axions are fuelling progress that no ghost will ever take away.

    Written by Andrea Gallo Rosso, Postdoctoral Fellow of Physics, Stockholm University.

    Adapted from an article originally published in The Conversation.The Conversation

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