Buffett touts benefits of buybacks in his shareholder letter
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett said critics of stock buybacks are “either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue” or both and all investors benefit from them as long as they are made at the right prices. Buffett used part of his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders Saturday to tout the benefits of repurchases that fiery Wall Street critics like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and many other Democrats love to criticize. The federal government even added a 1% tax on buybacks this year. And Buffett said Berkshire’s remarkable record of doubling the returns of the S&P 500 over the last 58 years with him at the helm is the result of only “about a dozen truly good decisions – that would be about one every five years.”
Macron defends contested pension plan at French farm fair
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has sought to defend his unpopular pension plan in an effort to show that he hears concerns of farmers and other ordinary citizens. Macron was speaking at France’s biggest farm fair. The pension changes meant to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 were among recurrent topics during the visit at the Paris Agricultural Fair. Macron was scheduled to spend the whole day at the fair on Saturday. Macron has vowed to go ahead with the pension reform despite a series of strikes and protests in France
Irish leader: Brexit talks over N Ireland close to a deal
LONDON (AP) — Ireland’s prime minister says the U.K. and the European Union are “inching” closer to agreeing on a deal to resolve a thorny post-Brexit dispute in Northern Ireland. Leo Varadkar told reporters on Saturday that he believed an agreement may be possible within days. His comments came amid intense speculation that a breakthrough on months-long wrangling over the trading arrangements known as the Northern Ireland Protocol is imminent. Varadhar told broadcaster RTE that “the deal isn’t done yet” but added that he believed “we are inching towards conclusion.” The U.K. and the EU have been at loggerheads over Northern Ireland since the U.K.’s exit from the trade bloc became final in 2020. Post-Brexit trade agreements there have triggered a political crisis in the region.
EU slaps sanctions on top Russia officials, banks, trade
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is imposing new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The bloc is targeting more officials and organizations accused of supporting the war, spreading propaganda or supplying drones. It’s also slapping trade restrictions on products that could be used by the armed forces. The EU’s Swedish presidency said Saturday that the sanctions “are directed at military and political decision-makers, companies supporting or working within the Russian military industry, and commanders in the Wagner Group. Transactions with some of Russia’s largest banks are also prohibited.” The measures were proposed by the EU’s executive branch three weeks ago but only only adopted after much internal wrangling.
Germany wants to ease visa application for Indian IT workers
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says his government wants to make it easier for information technology experts from India to obtain work visas in Germany as the country struggles with a shortage of skilled labor. Scholz said Sunday that improving the legal framework so Germany becomes more attractive for software developers and those with IT development skills is a priority for his government this year. He said it should not be seen as a hurdle if people arrive in the country speaking English first and then acquire German later on. Scholz was speaking on the second day of his trip to India, after meeting Saturday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
Key US inflation measure surges at fastest rate since June
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the U.S. economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year. Consumer prices rose 0.6% from December to January, up sharply from a 0.2% increase from November to December. On a year-over-year basis, prices rose 5.4%, up from a 5.3% annual increase in December. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation rose 0.6% from December, up from a 0.4% rise the previous month.
Fed’s rate hikes likely to cause a recession, research says
NEW YORK (AP) — Can the Federal Reserve keep raising interest rates and defeat the nation’s worst bout of inflation in 40 years without causing a recession? Not according to a new research paper that concludes that such an “immaculate disinflation” has never happened before. The paper was produced by a group of leading economists, and two Fed officials addressed its conclusions in their own remarks Friday. When inflation soars, as it has for the past two years, the Fed typically responds by raising interest rates, often aggressively, to try to cool the economy and slow price increases. The Fed’s higher rates, in turn, make mortgages, auto loans, credit card borrowing, and business lending more expensive.
G-20 meeting in India ends without consensus on Ukraine war
BENGALURU, India (AP) — A meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies has ended without a consensus, with Russia and China objecting to the description of the war in Ukraine in a final document. The meeting hosted by India on Saturday issued the G-20 Chair’s summary and an outcome document stating that there was no agreement on the wording of the war in Ukraine. India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters that the communique carried two paragraphs from the G-20 Bali meeting in November, but Russia and China demanded they be deleted and said they could not be part of the final document this time. She said their contention was they had approved the Bali declaration under the then prevailing circumstances.
German leader seeks Indian support for Russia’s isolation
NEW DELHI (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought assurances Saturday from India that it would support, or at least not block, Western efforts to isolate Russia for waging a devastating war against Ukraine. Following talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, Scholz said that developing countries are suffering energy and food shortages resulting from the war and hopes that India will help secure critical supplies to Asia, Africa and the Americas. Modi maintained his cautious approach and said India wanted the conflict to be ended through dialogue and diplomacy. Moscow is a major supplier of arms and oil to India. Scholz says Russia’s war against Ukraine “violated the fundamental principle to what we all agree of not changing borders through the use of violence.”
Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Twenty years into climate change efforts, California is now relying heavily on a controversial technology — capturing climate pollution from industry and piping it underground, where it’s supposed to remain permanently. But the idea of storing carbon dioxide underground was always controversial in the state because some argue it allows polluters to keep polluting. Now that controversy is peaking. Experts say there is no other way to comply with the law that requires no net addition of carbon pollution to the air by 2045. The pipelines to transport the gas have become the latest flashpoint at time when the federal government is offering unprecedented financial incentives for these projects.
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