Despite Record Low Sentiment, US Retail Sales See Strongest Annual Gain In 8 Months

PayPal Shares Jump Again After "Large Rival" Suitor Revealed As Stripe Update (1558ET): Bloomberg reports that payment processor Stripe has expressed interest in PayPal, a day after the outlet first reported that a "large rival" suitor was exploring a takeover of the payments platform. Bloomberg: STRIPE IS CONSIDERING AN ACQUISITION OF ALL OR PARTS OF PAYPAL STRIPE HAS EXPRESSED PRELIMINARY INTEREST: SOURCES Before the first Bloomberg report hit, PayPal shares in New York were at 2017 lows (with a market capitalization of around $37 billion) and were down more than 85% from the 2021 high...

"Free Speech Has Its Limits", Rules Czech Supreme Court Via Remix News, The Czech Supreme Court has upheld a suspended prison sentence imposed on a former dissident who publicly wore clothing displaying symbols associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to Echo24, botanist Pavel Křivka walked through Pardubice in April 2024 wearing a black sweatshirt bearing a large white letter ‘Z’ and the Russian words “For Victory.” Lower courts convicted him of publicly approving a crime against peace and sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for two years. An appeal to the...

Though large numbers of displaced Lebanese civilians are still being prevented from returning to their homes by the Israeli occupation, a handful are trickling into the area, for lack of anyplace else to go, and because the “pilot zone” areas, at least nominally, are open to them and free of Israeli presence. Those first few […]