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Chinese shares plunged about 8% Monday after the country's securities regulator imposed margin trading curbs on several major brokerages, a sign that authorities are trying to rein in the market's big gains. It was China's largest drop in six years.
Other markets in Asia and Europe were mostly higher. Markets in the U.S. were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Shanghai Composite Index dived 7.7% to close at 3116.35, giving investors a wild ride after a year of surging prices despite slowing economic growth; at its nadir, the index was down 8.3%.
For the past three months, the index is still up 32%. Its dive rubbed off on Hong Kong where the Hang Seng was off 1.5% at 23,738.49.
In Europe, Germany's DAX was up 1.1% and Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.6%. France's CAC-40 rose 0.9%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% to 17,014.29 after a government report showed rising consumer confidence. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8% to 1902.62. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 5309.10. Shares were also higher in Taiwan, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission imposed curbs late Friday on margin financing, or borrowing to purchase stocks, following an investigation of the industry. The three affected brokerages, Citic Securities, Haitong Securities and Guotai Junan, were forbidden to lend money and shares to new customers for three months after they allegedly were caught extending margin trading contracts in violation of the rules. The Shanghai Composite has surged almost 60% in the past year. Investors fear regulators believe prices have risen too much recently and might impose more curbs.
Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities in Hong Kong, said regulators want to tamp down some of the riskier financing practices underpinning the mainland Chinese stock market's astonishing surge. With the rally "overdone," regulators want to "simply give pause" to the brokerages, he said. "The recent bull market is mainly driven by margin financing." Mainland Chinese regulators allowed margin financing and short selling only in recent years and Wong said many mainland investors may still be unaware of the risks involved.
Investors are awaiting China's economic growth data due Tuesday, which is likely to show a further slowdown in the fourth quarter, and are also anticipating possible stimulus moves by the European Central Bank.
Markets generally settled down after volatility provoked by the Swiss central bank's shock decision Thursday to untether the Swiss franc from the euro. Japan's central bank is not expected to make any major moves in a policy meeting that wraps up Wednesday.
Based on the judges' scores, Mya and Dmitry would already be declared the winners, but this isn't the Olympics, this is “Dancing with the Stars.” In four of the nine seasons on Dancing with the Stars, the couple with the highest overall scoring average did not walk away with the Mirror Ball Trophy.
Last year, Gilles Marini scored better than Shawn Johnson (you'd think Johnson, of all people, would accept a judge's score), but still lost. Other instances where the scoring leader didn't win include Mel B. in season 5, Mario Lopez in season 3 and John O'Hurley in season 1.
Will Mya fall victim to the same fate? The only way to find out is to watch tonight and come back to this site to follow along and comment with the live blogging.
Fresh off a walk-off victory Sunday afternoon against Dayton, the Massachusetts baseball won’t have to wait until the weekend to try and put together a winning streak. Instead UMass will jump right back into the action on Tuesday when it hosts Siena for a one-game set.
The Minutemen (4-19) will send junior right-hander Andrew Grant to the mound to face the Saints. Grant has pitched 13.2 innings this year with a 7.90 earned run average, but his performance is trending upwards. His last five outings include three scoreless relief appearances, and his most recent performance was a quality start against Hartford. Although he took the loss, Grant threw six innings while allowing just three runs on four hits.
Grant will face a Siena (5-23) team that is losers of five straight and six of seven overall. Vincent Citro is leading the Saints heading into the matchup, batting .327 with 37 hits on the year, both team highs. In fact, Siena boasts four players hitting .290 or better with 27 hits or more.
But a struggling pitching staff is what has held the Saints down. The team earned run average currently sits at 7.43.
UMass is led by breakout freshman Mike Geannelis, who leads the team with a .297 batting average. Geannelis also leads the team in slugging and on base percentage.
UMass coach Mike Stone praised the unexpected contribution the freshman has made.
Despite an important conference showdown looming this weekend against Saint Louis, Stone has the Minutemen focused for showdown against Siena.
An area that UMass will have to improve on against Siena is its play in the first inning of games. The Minutemen have been outscored by a total of 17-6 in the first frame and it’s a problem that Stone can’t quite put his finger on.
Tuesday’s game is scheduled for a first pitch at 3 p.m. at Earl Lorden Field.
Tuesday’s game against Siena isn’t the only one-game set for the Minutemen this week.
They’ll host Northeastern (13-15) on Wednesday in a preview of this year’s first-round matchup in the baseball Beanpot at 3 p.m. at Earl Lorden Field. The Huskies were swept this past weekend in a road trip to Delaware, losing all three games of the series.
Northeastern topped UMass in last year’s Beanpot championship game, winning 6-3 and Wednesday’s game will represent a matchup of the past two Beanpot champions, as the Minutemen won the 2012 championship.
Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RossCollegian.
OAKLAND, Tenn.-- Police in Oakland, Tennessee are investigating after a woman told police a man attacked her in a Dollar General parking lot.
The victim feared she was going to be sexually assaulted.
Off Highway 64, in the quaint and normally quiet city of Oakland a woman told police she was attacked Monday morning.
She told officers she was walking out of the Dollar General around 9:30. She was on her way to her car when she says a man grabbed her on the side of the building.
Oakland's police chief says she was able to fight the man off. Police are now looking for a man accused of attempted sexual battery.
"That's really scary to know something like this happened close to where I live, especially in this small community," Breann Hoseney said.
The Dollar General where the woman said she was attacked is where Hoseney frequently shops.
"It's very convenient. No one likes going to Walmart all the time," Hoseney said.
She comes to the store at various hours.
While police say the crime is bizarre for the area, they also say the time it occurred is unusual too, at 9:30 a.m.
"That's kind of odd," Hoseney said.
One thing that might make the investigation more difficult is there are no cameras up in the area where the chief says this alleged assault happened. So now they're really depending on witnesses to provide clues about the attacker.
"I don't park on that side," Liz Cates, another shopper explained.
Cates say hearing about attacks like this reminds her to stay aware...and park in visible areas.
"Where I see people in and out. "
Thankfully police tell us physically the woman in the attack will be OK.
"I'm glad her instinct kicked in to kinda fight back because a lot of people would freeze," Hoseney said.
Now they need the person responsible held accountable.
Police say nothing was taken from the woman and the suspect description is vague.
If you think you know anything you can call Oakland Police at 901-465-0070.
The trial of former Nazi Klaus Barbie, which begins May 11 in the southeastern French city of Lyons, could well be the last great courtroom drama resulting from the Holocaust. It could also foster a period of soul-searching in a nation that, some say, has not yet come to terms with its World War II past.
The trial, which is expected to last six to eight weeks, threatens to bring up the grim ghosts of France's past - a past that includes not only the fighters of the French resistance, but also Frenchmen who collaborated with the German occupiers and Vichy government officials who sometimes were as eager as the Nazis to persecute Jews.
The deportation of 84 people in February 1943, following a roundup at the headquarters of Lyons' General Union of French Israelites. Among those deported was the father of former Justice Minister Robert Badinter who helped bring about Barbie's expulsion from Bolivia in 1983.
The deportation of 44 children and their teachers in April 1944 from the Jewish orphanage in the village of Izieu. Only one, a teacher, survived.
The deportation from Lyons of about 300 Jews and 300 resistance members to concentration camps in August 1944, during the final hours of the German occupation there.
Other arrests, executions, and deportations of resistance members classified as crimes against humanity.
Nearly 100 witnesses, including people who say they were victims of Barbie's interrogation techniques, are expected to be called during the trial.
Barbie's controversial lawyer, Jacques Verges, who will be pitted against about 35 attorneys for civil parties, says his strategy will be to put France, not his client, on trial. He intends to reveal that Jean Moulin - the leader of the resistance, Gen. Charles Degaulle's representative in France, and allegedly tortured virtually to death by Barbie - was denounced by his comrades in arms. Mr. Verges also plans to detail French collaboration and to suggest that the French, during the Algerian war in the early 1960s, were no better than the Nazis, using torture extensively to get suspects to talk.
Many French people are afraid such tactics will sully the memory of the resistance and sow confusion. They worry that Verges will trivialize the issues, diverting attention from what they believe should be the only focus of the trial, the horror of the Holocaust and Barbie's role.
If Veil is wary about the trial, others apparently are not. Writer Marek Halter believes France will have a chance to learn and to remember. Halter, who has become a spokesman for the Jewish community in Lyons during the trial, has been encouraged by a recent public opinion poll. It shows that 68 percent of the French believe the trial is necessary because Nazi crimes should not go unpunished.
Prime Minister Jacques Chirac has asked French schools to devote time this month to what he calls the ``black pages of history'' so that students can review the mass deportations and anti-Semitic legislation enacted by the Vichy government 45 years ago.
Oft-criticized for its lack of a business model that could actually make the company some money, Twitter may be able to shut up those critics for a bit. BusinessWeek has learned that the company will be able to post a small profit for 2009 thanks to the content deals it signed during the year.
It’s deal with Google was worth about $15 million, and with Microsoft for Bing about $10 million. Without actual data on the company’s operating expenses — it does not publicly release this information — BW is guessing expenses would run about $20-25 million. That means Twitter may actually have an ever-so-small profit this year.
Helping Twitter to achieve this feat was efforts at cost reductions. It’s text messaging offering which sent tweets to mobile phones were one of its biggest expenses — with Twitter very popular, the company was able to leverage this to get better deals on messaging rates.
It remains to be seen whether Twitter can remain profitable. Job one of course seems to be these content deals, the easiest way for the company to generate revenue. Plans to charge for commercial accounts is another way — tweeting is the new fad in customer relations — and advertising is another way.
Such changes may affect Twitter’s feel slightly as it becomes more commercial, however the current business model is not very sustainable. There’s just no way in it for the company to make money. Venture capitalists are in the business to make money, you know.
Can Virender Sehwag and Ravi Ashwin take them all the way?
What position would he play for the Red Devils?
He also told her he had 'the biggest bat in the wooooorld'.
He's not taking his punishment lightly.
One of the true superstars of cricket doing his thing.
Chris Gayle was pretty happy to have helped the West Indies to a six-wicket victory over Australia in the World Twenty20, as he celebrated the win with a rather aggressive Gangnam dance – before falling unceremoniously on his backside.
IRS Proposes Generous Rules For Opportunity Zone Investors, But What Will They Mean For Communities?
Taxes I research and write on tax for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Last Friday, the IRS published its first set of proposed regulations for Opportunity Zones, a provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), that created an attractive set of tax incentives intended to encourage investments in economically-distressed communities.
Earlier this year, Treasury approved roughly 8700 economically-diverse Zones, covering 12 percent of all census tracts in the US. Now IRS has expanded the tax advantages for Opportunity Zones even more, potentially magnifying their cost. The guidance is favorable to investors, giving them flexibility and certainty without requiring them to document or demonstrate the value of their tax-subsidized deals. But the jury is still out on the social benefits of these investments.
The tax incentive works like this: Suppose you just made a $500,000 profit in the stock market. You invest these capital gains in an opportunity fund which, in turn, invests in property in a Zone. The statute permits you to delay the capital gains tax on your $500,000 until the end of 2026. You could also exclude 15 percent of that gain from any tax if you hold the fund investment for 7 years. And you can completely exclude the gain on any further appreciation of your investment if you hold the fund for 10 years.
The IRS now offers much more flexibility. The IRS would allow the funds to take up to 31 months to invest in Zones. But investors could defer the tax on the gains they invested in these funds immediately—and could start the clock running to receive further tax benefits. The IRS would also permit investors to continue to claim tax benefits from the program until 2048, even though the TCJA sunsets the Opportunity Zone designations in 2028.
The IRS also said that Opportunity Funds could make qualifying investments in a business where a minimum of 70 percent of its assets (“tangible property”) is in the Zone—meaning that 30 percent could be held elsewhere. This flexibility would make it easier to invest in operating businesses. But it would also mean that more dollars will leak to more affluent communities and residents where a share of the business’s assets may be located.
And, significantly, the IRS guidance would also expand a TCJA provision that required investors to spend at least as much to improve property as they paid for it. The proposed regulation only applies this requirement to buildings and not to underlying land value. This would considerably expand opportunities for real estate investors.
As a result, the proposed regulations would further open the door to both meaningful and marginal investments. A fund, for example, could use your money to rehab a block of abandoned homes into sound, affordable housing. If so, the fund won’t need to include the land costs to determine whether its investment meets the percentage requirements for property improvements. And the community could benefit significantly.
Or the fund could use your money to buy a parking lot. Merely repairing the parking attendant’s shed, under the regulations as currently proposed, would meet the test for substantially improving the property. You and your fellow investors get a sizable tax break from the federal government. But what has the local community or its residents gained from the federal largesse?
What would the proposed regulations mean for the designated communities? We expect that many —though not all—would see greater levels of investment thanks to these favorable terms. Yet neither the statute nor the guidance ensure that the investments will benefit low- and moderate-income residents of these communities.
The investment flexibility makes it very difficult to evaluate the success of Opportunity Zones? Congress and the IRS did little to curb the program’s cost. Congress projected it would cost a net $1.6 billion over 10 years, largely because it assumed the gains that were deferred in the early years of the program would be recognized by 2026 (as required by the law). Maybe lawmakers expected the program’s costs to end by 2028—or perhaps they were playing games with the 10-year budget window. Either way, the generous rules in the proposed regulations would likely add substantially to the incentive’s long-run cost.
And what of the targeted communities? We’ll never know without proper recordkeeping. The next round of IRS regulations and tax forms is expected to detail those reporting requirements. It will be vital that this disclosure provide the public with the answers to a series of basic questions: Who is investing in Opportunity Zones? How much is being invested? How is the money being used?
The IRS’ proposed guidance would give investors broad flexibility in how they use their tax-subsidized dollars. But there is a serious risk that Opportunity Zones will foster a lot of investor interest, without substantially benefiting the communities. Only robust reporting will tell us whether this increasingly generous tax program is achieving its stated ends of drawing new capital into economically struggling communities and improving the lives of their residents.
The author would like to thank his colleagues, Brett Theodos and Brady Meixell, for their substantial contributions to this blog.
There's more good news on the fight against Ebola in America, ISIS shows another propaganda video with a Western hostage, and a homeless man shows that talent can be found anywhere.
Keep calm and carry on: Even though most Americans think there will be another Ebola diagnosis in the coming weeks, the majority are pretty sure the government can prevent a nationwide epidemic, according to the latest CNN/ORC International poll. And while an infected doctor remains hospitalized in New York, a quarantined nurse who said her rights were being violated in New Jersey was released after proving - once again - she didn't have the virus.
Propaganda machine: Once again, ISIS is touting a propaganda video featuring a Westerner. This time, British hostage John Cantlie is shown in the Syrian city of Kobani claiming the border town is mostly controlled by ISIS - contrary to recent Western media reports.
Deadly lure: The five victims in last week's shooting at a Washington high school were invited to the same lunch table by the shooter, authorities said. Witnesses also said Jaylen Fryberg, a popular freshman, sent a selfie to his ex-girlfriend showing himself holding a gun not long before the attack that killed two students.
Closer and closer: Lava from Kilauea Volcano is now about 70 yards from the closest home and has been moving about five yards per hour. Many residents in Pahoa have fled, spawning another fear - looters rampaging through the village.
Blade Runner fights back: South African prosecutors will appeal the verdict and the sentence in the Oscar Pistorius case. A judge sentenced Pistorius to five years in prison last week after finding the double-amputee track star guilty of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Firemen rescue snoring horse from pool: Do we really need to say more?
Day two and my comments are still awaiting moderation. And I don't see any other comments.
I always look forward to this post in the mornings. The videos at the end are always so enjoyable.
Good morning CNN team. I'm aware of and understand the comment policy. But I find it rare that no comments were made yesterday other than the ones that I made. And they are still awaiting moderation. I look forward to commenting on New Day topics. I truly enjoyed the homeless man's piano playing as much as the people who stopped and listened.
Hey CNN, I am done with this website. You can blame the loss of a reader on the almost full screen ads on the sides of my screen. I can barely touch my damn iPad without being redirected to some BS advertisement. Oh yeah, and if you could relay a message to those advertisers.....I will NEVER buy anything they sell for being so annoying!
ANAHAIM, Calif., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Pop singer and television star Miley Cyrus celebrated her 16th birthday at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., last weekend, the amusement park said.
The bash took place Sunday, weeks ahead of the teen sensation's Nov. 23 birthday.
Disneyland said about 5,000 party guests sang "Happy Birthday" to Cyrus, the star of the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana."
Among those invited were special guests from Youth Service America, an organization that Disneyland says "shares her passion for promoting youth volunteerism."
Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger presented a gift of $1 million to the group Sunday on behalf of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
"I always love coming to Disneyland but celebrating my birthday here with my family, friends and the kids from YSA is really awesome!" Cyrus said. "This is a night I'll never forget."