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Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trollingBy JOSH BOAK WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was “stupid” not to put his own name on pandemic relief checks in 2021, noting that Donald Trump had done so in 2020 and likely got credit for helping people out through this simple, effective act of branding. Biden did the second-guessing as he delivered a speech at the Brookings Institution defending his economic record and challenging Trump to preserve Democratic policy ideas when he returns to the White House next month. Related Articles National Politics | Biden issues veto threat on bill expanding federal judiciary as partisan split emerges National Politics | Trump lawyers and aide hit with 10 additional felony charges in Wisconsin over 2020 fake electors National Politics | After withdrawing as attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz lands a talk show on OANN television National Politics | What will happen to Social Security under Trump’s tax plan? National Politics | Republican-led states are rolling out plans that could aid Trump’s mass deportation effort As Biden focused on his legacy with his term ending, he suggested Trump should keep the Democrats’ momentum going and ignore the policies of his allies. The president laid out favorable recent economic data but acknowledged his rare public regret that he had not been more self-promotional in advertising the financial support provided by his administration as the country emerged from the pandemic. “I signed the American Rescue Plan, the most significant economic recovery package in our history, and also learned something from Donald Trump,” Biden said at the Washington-based think tank. “He signed checks for people for 7,400 bucks ... and I didn’t. Stupid.” The decision by the former reality TV star and real estate developer to add his name to the checks sent by the U.S. Treasury to millions of Americans struggling during the coronavirus marked the first time a president’s name appeared on any IRS payments. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris , who replaced him as the Democratic nominee , largely failed to convince the American public of the strength of the economy. The addition of 16 million jobs, funding for infrastructure, new factories and investments in renewable energy were not enough to overcome public exhaustion over inflation, which spiked in 2022 and left many households coping with elevated grocery, gasoline and housing costs. More than 6 in 10 voters in November’s election described the economy as “poor” or “not so good,” according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate. Trump won nearly 7 in 10 of the voters who felt the economy was in bad shape, paving the way for a second term as president after his 2020 loss to Biden. Biden used his speech to argue that Trump was inheriting a strong economy that is the envy of the world. The inflation rate fell without a recession that many economists had viewed as inevitable, while the unemployment rate is a healthy 4.2% and applications to start new businesses are at record levels. Biden called the numbers under his watch “a new set of benchmarks to measure against the next four years.” “President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history,” said Biden, who warned that Trump’s planned tax cuts could lead to massive deficits or deep spending cuts. He also said that Trump’s promise of broad tariffs on foreign imports would be a mistake, part of a broader push Tuesday by the administration to warn against Trump’s threatened action. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also issued a word of caution about them at a summit of The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council. “I think the imposition of broad based tariffs, at least of the type that have been discussed, almost all economists agree this would raise prices on American consumers,” she said. Biden was also critical of Trump allies who have pushed Project 2025 , a policy blueprint from the Heritage Foundation that calls for a complete overhaul of the federal government. Trump has disavowed participation in it, though parts were written by his allies and overlap with his stated views on economics, immigration, education policy and civil rights. “I pray to God the president-elect throws away Project 2025,” Biden said. “I think it would be an economic disaster.” Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
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B.C. NDP, Greens enter agreement on shared legislative priorities for coming sessionSAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serve Robotics Inc. (Nasdaq: SERV), a leading embodied AI and automation company, today announced the appointment of Lily Sarafan to its Board of Directors (the "Board"). Sarafan is an accomplished leader with nearly 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, executive leadership and board governance. She is co-founder and former chief executive of TheKey, one of the largest and most trusted in-home care provider networks, where she serves as executive chair. Sarafan currently serves on the boards of Instacart, Thumbtack and Kyo as well as on the board of trustees of Stanford University. She has been recognized as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, a Fortune 40 Under 40, Women Health Care Executives' Woman of the Year, and a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Sarafan holds an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering and a B.S. in Science, Technology, and Society from Stanford University. “We look forward to welcoming Lily as an independent member of the Board. Her extensive leadership experience, particularly in home services and on-demand delivery, will be invaluable as Serve continues to expand our market presence and shape the future of delivery and automation,” said Ali Kashani, Chairman of Serve’s Board . About Serve Robotics Serve Robotics develops advanced, AI-powered, low-emissions sidewalk delivery robots that endeavor to make delivery sustainable and economical. Spun off from Uber in 2021 as an independent company, Serve has completed tens of thousands of deliveries for enterprise partners such as Uber Eats and 7-Eleven. Serve has scalable multi-year contracts, including a signed agreement to deploy up to 2,000 delivery robots on the Uber Eats platform across multiple U.S. markets. For further information about Serve Robotics (Nasdaq:SERV), please visit www.serverobotics.com or follow us on social media via X (Twitter) , Instagram , or LinkedIn @serverobotics. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Serve intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These forward-looking statements can be about future events, including statements regarding Serve's intentions, objectives, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about future events, including Serve's expectations with respect to the financial and operating performance of its business, its capital position, and future growth. The words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "project", "predict", "will", "forecast", "estimate", "likely", "intend", "outlook", "should", "could", "may", "target", "plan" and other similar expressions can generally be used to identify forward-looking statements. Indications of, and guidance or outlook on, future earnings or financial position or performance are also forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include those risks and uncertainties set forth in Serve's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and in its subsequent filings filed with the SEC. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Serve undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. Contacts Media Aduke Thelwell, Head of Communications & Investor Relations Serve Robotics press@serverobotics.com Investor Relations investor.relations@serverobotics.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bdd098f8-8c80-462f-bc1b-c1f2095ed307
5 ways to tell if you’re on track for retirement — and 5 things to do if you need to catch up, according to expertsArticle content Bashar al-Assad, for all his autocratic power, cultivated a relatively modest public image. Recommended Videos He flaunted nothing like the mega-yachts and network of marble baroque and rococo palaces of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein or the gaudy glamour and custom space-age private jet with nightclub-style lighting and silver armchairs of Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi. As Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, Assad and his immediate family “lived, in a way, a normal life in front of people,” said Ammar Mahayni, a retired businessman who for decades lived a block away from the Assad family residence in Damascus. “His children went to normal schools” alongside ordinary if well-to-do Damascus residents, he said, rather than attend elite academies or boarding schools abroad. The family drove regular cars and wore plain “jeans and a T-shirt” out and about. “My sister used to see his daughter in a club swimming pool, sitting with her friends.” But moderation is not what crowds of jubilant Syrians found when they streamed into the newly empty Assad family properties after his ouster this week, to marvel at their contents – and grab what they could, even chandeliers, according to photos taken at the scene and footage widely circulated online. In a video posted to social media, a crowd of people rush up and down the staircase of one of Assad’s homes, including one person carrying out a large Louis Vuitton shopping bag. Another video at the same residence shows someone holding up a Dior garment bag. The Washington Post verified the location of the videos. Looters, along with the simply curious, left in their wake a littering of boxes of designer items including from Hermes and Cartier, on top of a whirlwind of loose paper, smashed furniture and fallen portraits. Video posted to Instagram shows an expansive garage filled with an array of luxury cars on the compound of Assad’s presidential palace. “Save me a Lamborghini,” one man calls out while driving through. The Post verified the video was filmed in the same structure that CNN reported was part of the presidential palace compound, where Aston Martins, Cadillacs, Lamborghinis and Ferraris were housed, but it’s unclear when exactly the video was taken. “It was a surprise for us to see the garage full of cars because he never drove in fancy cars, or even his son,” Mahayni said. “Believe it or not, the people around him were more of a show-off than himself.” While no fan of looting in general, Mahayni said he could recognize what some of the looters might have been thinking: “They were poor. He took everything. We had the right to take it.” The Assad family long ran a complex patronage system, which included shell companies and facades. “These networks penetrate all sectors of the Syrian economy,” the State Department said in a 2022 report to Congress on the Assad family’s wealth. Citing reporting by nongovernmental organizations and the media, the department said this network “serves as a tool for the regime to access financial resources via seemingly legitimate corporate structures and non-profit entities.” The network’s companies were able to “launder money from illicit activities and funnel funds to the regime.” Assad’s hidden life of luxury stands in stark contrast to life in the rest of his country. The State Department in 2022 estimated the Assad family net worth to be between $1 billion and $2 billion. The department noted that the estimate’s imprecision reflected the spread and concealment of the extended family’s wealth across various real estate portfolios, corporations, accounts and tax havens, under different names or obscured ownership. Compare that with the entire country’s GDP, which stood in 2021 at $9 billion – a precipitous drop from prewar figures many times higher. About 3 in four 4 require humanitarian assistance, and more than half struggle to find enough food, according to the United Nations. Many grievances over Assad’s rule centred on corruption, poverty and autocracy. “If you asked me, ‘How do you describe Bashar Assad,’ I would never talk about his lifestyle, because it didn’t matter,” Mahayni said. “What mattered is the secret police that he deployed, the different security departments he created.” As president, Assad cracked down on Arab Spring-era uprisings and waged a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Bashar and his wife, Asma al-Assad, long exerted major influence over the wealth of Syria. “Bashar al-Assad is not known for flaunting his luxury lifestyle. ... He is known, nonetheless, for extorting the business community, known for being exceptionally corrupt,” said Karam Shaar, a political economist and nonresident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute. “One can argue that the only constant in Bashar al-Assad’s rule has been corruption,” Shaar said. Assad utilized crony capitalism, allowing friends and relatives to benefit from the opening up of the country’s economy. Those profits translated to money for him personally and for those entwined in his web of patronage, and to fund the regime and the war – but did not translate to increased tax revenue for the state, Shaar added. Asma al-Assad had major influence, such as over a committee meant to manage Syria’s economic crisis, including decisions on food and fuel subsidies, the State Department said. An effusive 2011 Vogue profile of the first lady titled “A Rose in the Desert” – which was later taken down and mostly scrubbed from the internet – heralded the Assads’ supposed down-to-earth nature, a narrative the family was emphasizing even then. “Her style is not the couture-and-bling dazzle of Middle Eastern power but a deliberate lack of adornment,” the article says of Asma, referring to her as “a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement.” The article’s publication came just before Assad’s deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations, when Assad’s status as a violent authoritarian was cemented. The reporter of the article distanced herself from the article, and the Hill reported that the Syrian government paid an international lobbying firm to help arrange the interview.
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