Latest news with #373
Khaleej Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Parenting News
Hale Education's programme is in its tenth year American public universities tend to be larger, offer more courses iCademy Middle East's fees starting from Dh19,373
TimesLIVE
12-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Buyers of $TRUMP meme coin pay millions to win dinner with US leader
Buyers of US President Donald Trump's $TRUMP meme coin are expected to learn Monday if they've won an opportunity to dine with the president at his country club outside of Washington DC on May 22. The event, which the president promoted on social media as the 'most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world,' promises the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP meme coin an invite to a gala dinner with the president, while the top 25 will also enjoy 'an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception' with the president as well as a 'Special VIP Tour'. The website says that the winners will be ranked by their "time-weighted" $TRUMP holdings, which are calculated from the time the contest was announced on April 23 to the cutoff on May 12. The top 220 "time-weighted" holdings amounted to $160m (R2.93bn) worth of $TRUMP coin as of Friday, according to crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital. The coins surged to $75 (R1,373) after Trump announced them over his Inauguration weekend before falling to a low of $7.50 (R137). On Sunday, $TRUMP was trading around $14 (R256). The top holder of $TRUMP meme coins on the leaderboard on Sunday was a wallet called 'SUN" with nearly $18m (R329.6m) worth of the coin in time weighted holdings. The wallet is owned by Seychelles-based crypto exchange HTX, according to blockchain analysis firm Arkham. China-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun is a member of HTX's global advisory board, according to his Linkedin profile. HTX didn't respond to requests for comment on the wallet. Sun declined to comment. After Trump won the presidency, Sun said he invested a total of $75m (R1.37bn) into the family's new cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial. In addition to being the single-largest known investor, Sun also became an advisor to the project. In February the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it paused its 2023 fraud case against Sun, citing public interest. The SEC declined to comment. At No 220 on the leaderboard on Sunday was an anonymous wallet simply known as 'Jjj,' which held about $53,000 (R970,600) worth of time-weighted coins. The terms and conditions of the event noted that Trump may not attend and it could be 'cancelled for any reason." In January the Trump Organization announced that the president's investments, assets and business interests would be held in a trust managed by his children and he would play no role in day-to-day operations or decision making. The family named a prominent attorney, William Burck, as an ethics adviser to 'avoid any perceived conflicts of interest.' On April 24 the Trump Organization subsequently fired Burck, citing his representation of Harvard University in its funding battle with the Trump administration. The company has not named a replacement. Burck did not offer comment. The White House and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. In an earlier response to Reuters regarding criticisms by Democratic lawmakers that the meme coin dinner poses conflicts of interest, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: 'President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.' The current market value of all $TRUMP coins is $2.74bn (R50.18bn). A company controlled by the Trump family and a second firm together hold 80% of the remaining supply of the meme coins, which are advertised with an image of the president raising his fist in reference to his July assassination attempt. So far the entities behind the Trump coin have earned $320.19m (R5.86bn) in fees, including at least $1.35m (R24.7m) after the dinner announcement, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Some government ethics experts say the $TRUMP meme coin allows anonymous foreign individuals to personally purchase access to Trump, triggering a volley of complaints from Democratic lawmakers to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Connecticut Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate's permanent subcommittee on investigations, has opened an inquiry into whether Trump's crypto enterprises violate government ethics requirements. Both Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Murphy and Oregon Democratic senator Jeff Merkley have each introduced bills aimed at ending the ability of presidents and members of Congress to profit off crypto assets. California Democratic congressman Sam Liccardo introduced companion legislation in the US House. "The Trump meme coin is the single most corrupt act ever committed by a president,' said Murphy in a statement to Reuters on Friday. 'Donald Trump is essentially posting his Venmo for any billionaire CEO or foreign oligarch to cash in some favors by secretly sending him millions of dollars.' Of particular concern, the lawmakers say, is the way Trump has moved to curb crypto enforcement and ease regulation at the same time as his family stands to benefit financially from the sector. In April, the DOJ dismantled its crypto enforcement unit. A spokesperson for the DOJ told Reuters: 'This department of justice will continue to prosecute those who victimise digital asset investors or those who use digital assets in furtherance of crimes.' Since the $TRUMP meme coin launch three days before the president's inauguration, returns have favored large investors. More than 60 large wallets have profited close to $1.5bn (R27.47bn), with $48m (R879m) in profits occurring after the April dinner announcement, according to reviews by Inca Digital and crypto analytics tracker Bubblemaps as of May 8. At least two of the largest investors in the $TRUMP contest have made profits in excess of $10m (R183.1m) each, Inca Digital found, while 15 investors have made more than $1m (R18.3m). Meanwhile, about 600,000 other wallets have lost $3.87bn (R70.87bn) so far, with $117m (R2.14bn) of losses occurring after Trump announced the dinner on social media, Bubblemaps found. The purchases were on the secondary market, meaning Trump's family collected relatively small amounts of fees. One of those is Kali, a 27-year-old in Hawaii who plans luxury vacations for high net worth individuals and asked that her last name not be used due to fear of being harassed by others in the crypto industry. She said she spent about $10,000 (R183,132) on the coin, at an average of $15 per coin. In the days leading up to the contest, as the coin's price began to climb again, she was holding her breath and hoping to break even by the time the contest ends today. The $TRUMP meme coin is part of the Trump family's growing array of crypto ventures including the trading platform World Liberty Financial, Trump Media & Technology Group's new crypto ETFs, a crypto mining operation, American Bitcoin, and a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar called USD1.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Teachers, Parents, Students Demand ‘Fully Funded Public Schools' at Indiana Statehouse Rally
This article was originally published in Indiana Capital Chronicle. A sea of red descended upon the Indiana Statehouse Monday as hundreds of teachers, parents and students from across the state rallied to demand increased funding for public schools — and to protest pending policy proposals that could shift millions of local dollars to charters. The rally — one of many hosted in recent years by the Indiana State Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union — came just hours ahead of a possible final vote on a massive property tax plan. The latest provisions baked into the legislation could reduce public schools' tax dollars by as much as $744 million over the next three years. ISTA President Keith Gambill said that blow comes in addition to education funding gaps in the newest draft of the state budget. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter 'The overall funding increase of 2% per year — of $870 million — does not even meet inflation,' Gambill said. 'Our students deserve bold investment, not the bare minimum.' He said teachers will be pressing lawmakers in the coming days and weeks 'to ensure that public dollars are staying with public schools.' The legislative session must end by April 29 but could be finished as early as April 24. All bills — including the state budget — must be finalized by that time. 'Our schools deserve to be fully funded — and fully public — so all kids receive a quality education,' Gambill emphasized. Teacher attendance at the rally forced at least three Hoosier school districts to move to an e-learning day, including Indianapolis Public Schools and nearby Pike Township, as well as Monroe County Community Schools in Bloomington. The shift to e-learning appeared to prompt a legislative amendment published Monday morning by Indianapolis Republican Rep. Andrew Ireland. Proposed language filed to Senate Bill 373, an unrelated education bill, sought to jeopardize funding for public school districts that convert scheduled in-person instructional days to virtual because of 'planned or coordinated absence of teachers or other personnel for the purpose of participating in a protest, demonstration, or political advocacy event.' Districts would risk losing state tuition support for each day of a violation, according to Ireland's amendment. Gambill read the amendment aloud during the rally, drawing shouting and boos from the crowd. 'We have got to talk to our legislators today, tomorrow and every day between now and the end of the session. We must be vigilant,' he said. 'We have to speak from the heart, and remind them that behind every policy is a classroom with a teacher and students.' Ireland introduced the amendment Monday afternoon to make a statement, but withdrew it without discussion or a vote. Chants echoed throughout the Statehouse halls for more than two hours Monday morning. 'Schools need funding!' 'Pay our teachers!' 'Defend public education!' Rallygoers, many dressed in red t-shirts, had homemade signs in tow, too. Banners, poster boards, paper placards — and even painted messages on the backs of LaCroix boxes — were raised by attendees amid chanting, cheering and frustrated yells. Everyone's goal was the same: demand 'fair' and 'adequate' funding for public schools. Gambill said recent changes to both bills were improvements from their original versions. But he maintained that increases to base tuition support in the Senate GOP's state budget draft 'are not enough,' and held that amendments added to the property tax measure would divert 'critical' dollars from traditional publics to charters and could allow districts to 'side step' collective bargaining rights for teachers. Monica Shellhamer, a vice president with the Indianapolis Education Association, said during her rally remarks that teachers continue to be left out of conversations around school funding. 'Indianapolis public schools has been a target of the legislature for many years and this year is no different,' Shellhamer said. 'Bill after bill continued to be submitted to shut down or defund Indianapolis public schools.' Jenny Noble-Kuchera, president of the Monroe County Education Association, further pointed to pending education cuts at the federal level. 'The way it is currently, public education as we know it will begin to disappear, and our children are the victims,' she said Monday. 'We already have severe mismanagement at the federal level of Title I grants for our lower-income students, of critical programs supporting students with disabilities, and elimination of programs for our schools.' 'This is bad enough, and now Indiana politicians can't put their youngest constituents first, and support basics, like learning to read and write, and foundational math,' she continued. 'It's not OK.' Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@
Express Tribune
16-04-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Gold soars to record highs of Rs348,000/tola
Listen to article Gold prices continued their record-breaking surge on Wednesday, defying analysts' expectations of a market correction, as both domestic and international rates reached new all-time highs. According to the All-Pakistan Gems and Jewellers Sarafa Association (APGJSA), the price of gold per tola in Pakistan soared by Rs8,600 in a single day, settling at a historic high of Rs348,000. Similarly, the rate for 10 grams rose by Rs7,373 to close at Rs298,353. The international prices for Pakistan also saw a notable jump, with gold prices climbing $86 during the day to reach a record $3,310 per ounce, inclusive of a $20 premium. Commenting on the development, Adnan Agar, Director at Interactive Commodities, said gold continued its upward momentum, touching a record high of $3,319 before slightly retreating to $3,318. "Today's rally wasn't driven by any fresh news, particularly from the US side. Rather, it's a continuation of a multi-day bullish trend," he noted, adding that lingering concerns around the global trade war remain an underlying factor. Agar further cautioned that while there might still be room for another $25 upside, the market is approaching technically overbought territory. "Once that threshold is hit, a correction of $100150 can be expected," he said. On Tuesday, gold per tola had already climbed by Rs600 to close at Rs339,400, highlighting the persistent demand and bullish sentiment in the market. Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee posted a slight gain against the US dollar on Wednesday, appreciating by 0.04% in the inter-bank market. By the close of trade, the rupee settled at 280.46, up by Rs0.11 from the previous day's closing rate of 280.57. On the global front, the US dollar held onto a modest rebound, as investors paused after several weeks of heavy selling, with markets steadying ahead of further developments in US trade negotiations. Moreover, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) raised a total of Rs1.225 trillion through two separate auctions held on April 16, 2025. In the Pakistan Investment Bond - Floating Rate (PFL) Semi-Annual Auction, SBP raised Rs260.83 billion, with Rs67.62 billion from 5-year bonds and Rs193.21 billion from 10-year bonds. Notably, all bids for the 2-year bonds were rejected. In the Market Treasury Bills (MTBs) Auction, SBP raised Rs964.63 billion across various tenors. The breakdown included Rs284.38 billion from 1-month bills, Rs135.02 billion from 3-month bills, Rs76.24 billion from 6-month bills, and Rs469 billion from 12-month bills. Combining both auctions, the central bank mobilised a substantial amount to meet government financing needs, reflecting investor confidence in Pakistan's short and medium-term debt instruments.
Express Tribune
16-04-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Gold price in Pakistan today – April 16, 2025
Listen to article Gold prices in Pakistan soared to a historic high on Wednesday following a sharp rise for the second consecutive day, according to local market data. The All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association reported that the price of 24-karat gold surged by Rs8,600 per tola, reaching Rs348,000. Similarly, the price of 10 grams of gold rose by Rs7,373, now standing at Rs298,353. On the global stage, gold prices also climbed by $46, trading at $3,310 per ounce in the international market. On Tuesday, increase in gold price were observed in both global and local markets. In the international bullion market, the price of gold per ounce increased by $6, reaching $3,224. Additionally, the price of 10 grams of gold rose by Rs514, bringing it to Rs290,980 in Pakistan.
